“They are coming for your children … right through your church’s front door, Part 2”   

In Part 1, we examined the “Christian” leaders who have pushed the LGBTQ+ agenda in our conservative churches, especially in the SBC and PCA.

To quickly summarize before continuing, these leaders (esp. Dr. Russell Moore and Dr. Albert Mohler in the SBC, and Dr. Ligon Duncan in the PCA), have been peddling this heretical “Same-Sex Attraction (SSA)” theology that denies the Holy Spirit’s ability to sanctify and transform homosexuals so that they can live heteronormative lives (1 Cor. 6:9-11).

These leaders could rightly be called betrayers, because they have betrayed not only the very nature of the Gospel, but those whom they have led spiritually as well.

The next group of SSA theology proponents are those who describe themselves as “Gay Christians” or “Same-Sex Attracted Christians,” and who are publicly advocating for acceptance of their sinful desires from the Church. These speakers (esp. British Anglican priest, Sam Allberry, the PCA’s Pastor Greg Johnson, and SBC-trained Dr. Nate Collins) could rightly be called players, because they are, first, being willingly played by the betrayers (by allowing themselves to be used to advance a theological & political agenda to reshape entire conservative denominations), and they are, also, playing those unsuspecting believers, who listen to their message, with their sinister deception.

Just as the betrayers required the help of the players in order to pull off this takeover of conservative churches, so they also needed the assistance of the conveyers, which are the New Calvinist (not true Calvinist) denominational and parachurch organizations that provide the necessary personnel and technical support to arrange conferences, to create and maintain websites, and to found publishing companies in order to widely disseminate this SSA heresy. As previously discussed in Part 1, these are primarily the SBC’s ERLC (Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission) and the parachurch orgs., Together for the Gospel (T4G) and The Gospel Coalition (TGC).

Each of the betrayers has been instrumental in one or more of these key conveyer organizations. For example, Moore accelerated the leftward trajectory of the ERLC shortly after assuming the presidency in 2013, including 1) promoting the SSA heresy at the two 2014 venues mentioned in Part 1, and shortly afterward, 2) teaching Christians that the proper way to respond to an invitation to a gay marriage was to attend only the reception.

Within just five years of the 2006 founding of T4G by Duncan, Mohler and others, one of its co-founders, C.J. Mahaney, was already embroiled in scandal.

And all of the three betrayers (Moore, Mohler and Duncan) have held leadership positions in the highly influential TGC, which has successfully drawn the “Young, Restless and Reformed” crowd toward liberal theology and politics. In fact, the TGC has now become so apostate that its authors 1) regularly recommend that readers watch TV shows and movies with pornographic (both gay and straight) content, and 2) endorse same-sex civil unions and marriage.

In addition to these large conveyer organizations, the players (Allberry, Johnson and Collins) have also created their own SSA-specific orgs. to further promote this heresy.

First, in 2013, Sam Allberry, Ed Shaw and Sean Doherty co-founded Living Out, a U.K.-based website for “Gay Christians.” Then in 2018, host pastor Greg Johnson and founder Dr. Nate Collins held their inaugural Revoice conference.

The next step required for the betrayers, players and conveyers to succeed was to infiltrate nearly every other denominational and non-denominational parachurch organization within Christianity, even those that had been previously theologically sound. These are the displayers, who facilitated the actual leg-work of implementing the LGBTQ+ agenda in our conservative churches. And what is most alarming is that their prime marketing target is our teens and children.

(In order to fully grasp this, a bit of history is helpful. As previously explained, the two SSA-specific orgs., Living Out and Revoice were founded by key players, Allberry and Collins.

Serious concerns were raised by conservative pastors due to the unbiblical, sexually immoral advice given on their websites and at their conferences. For example, in 2019, SBC Pastor Tom Buck became alarmed when he examined the sexually improper resources that Allberry and his co-founders provided for teen boys (See Part 3 article below):

When I [Tom Buck] wrote Living Out to ask what counsel they would give to a young teenager struggling with same-sex attraction, one suggestion they gave was for me to visit the website of True Freedom Trust, which they “highly recommend.” When I visited that site, I immediately found an article that focused on how some same-sex attracted Christians meet “their longings for intimacy.” Some of those ways were “visiting naturist (nude) beaches” or “visiting gay bars or nightclubs without the intention of sexual intimacy.”[8]   l

https://www.aomin.org/aoblog/homosexuality/living-out-part-1/

https://www.aomin.org/aoblog/homosexuality/living-out-part-2/

https://www.aomin.org/aoblog/homosexuality/living-out-a-follow-up-and-call-to-further-action/  Part 3

While Pastor Buck expressed some initial optimism in Part 3 at the time about Allberry’s true intentions, this has completely vanished, as evidenced by his 2022 Twitter response to TGC’s Allberry:

Shockingly, this LGBTQ+ agenda that Allberry and the other players so ardently promote has now infiltrated the leadership and curriculum of many children’s orgs. as well. The most surprising of these is AWANA, which has a massive, global impact, reaching millions of children and partnering with about a hundred denominations.

For most of its history, AWANA has been theologically sound, but in 2006, one discernment ministry expressed its concern about AWANA’s recent affiliation with seeker-sensitive Willow Creek Church, and with contemplative spirituality and Spiritual Formation leaders, such as Ken Blanchard and Richard Foster, who was a Universalist.

In 2019, AWANA went fully woke, pushing the “racial injustice” narrative on unsuspecting children and parents, and elevating a heretic (who denied the deity of Christ) as a spiritual role model. Then in 2020, they virtue-signaled the prevailing CRT (Critical Race Theory) talking points about racism in a since-deleted Facebook post.

Also in 2020, AWANA tapped (see screenshot below) Ed Stetzer, an influential SBC figure who has been a leading LGBTQ-affirming advocate since at least 2012, as one of their speakers for their free Child Discipleship Online Experience conference. Notice that back in this 2014 video, Stetzer nods affirmingly as recently outed (2012) homosexual “Christian,” Jonathan Merritt (whom Stetzer had known for years) explains that he foresees that the popular view of homosexuality within our churches will progress from a being a curse, to bearing a cross, to eventually wearing a crown.

Then AWANA chose Stetzer again in 2021 as one of its speakers for their inaugural in-person Child Discipleship Forum (CDF). [Unsurprisingly, in October 2022, Stetzer fully and publicly embraced those who say that openly practicing homosexuals can be Christians, by attending and celebrating at the NAE Flourish Conference, hosted at Amy Grant’s concert venue. (In 2021, Grant had announced her open support for homosexuality, and then just recently, on December 5, 2022, Joe Biden honored her as the first Christian Contemporary artist to receive a Kennedy Center Award. Grant proudly wore the LGBTQ insignia, the “gay-rainbow” ribbon, around her neck. Then on December 9, 2022, an author at Stetzer’s website, wrote a glowing, uncritical article announcing that Grant would be hosting her niece’s same-sex wedding.)]

But in 2022, AWANA went even further, enlisting the following speakers at their Child Discipleship Forum (CDF): 1) LGBTQ-affirming polytheist, John Mark Comer, 2) “Gay Priest” Sam Allberry, and 3) “SSA Mixed-Marriage-Lesbian” Rebecca McLaughlin.

1) Comer, former pastor of Solid Rock Church and Bridgetown Church, both in Portland, OR, affirms the heretical SSA theology (from 33:30-37:45) regarding a fixed sexual orientation, a fluid gender identity, and the downplaying of this area of sin before God. After asking for input from Western Seminary professor, Gerry Breshears, Comer concurs that homosexual sin is no more wicked than other sins (38:12).

2) We have already discussed TGC– and ERLC-linked Allberry, and we will soon come back to him with further comments regarding his heretical views about the Person and Work of Christ.

3) McLaughlin (also from TGC and ERLC) is in a “mixed orientation marriage” (meaning that she continues to lust after women even after becoming married to a man), and has argued that “SSA Christians” are a necessary component of the Body of Christ in order to teach the Church doctrine through their suffering:

“For too long we have let our siblings shiver in the dark, feeling that they are weird and unwanted and unloved. Our churches must become places where same-sex attracted Christians are embraced and encouraged in their discipleship. In fact, faithful, Christ-following, self-denying, SSA Christians in our churches are not an embarrassment. They are an asset. People are stopping their ears to the gospel because they think we’re homophobic bigots. Same-sex attracted Christians are our God-given SWAT team to burst through those defenses… We must repent of the way we have allowed racism to thrive in our churches. We must repent of the actual homophobia that has infected our thinking for years.”

In addition, she says that children need to be educated about gender dysphoria:

Rebecca McLaughlin’s final word on this topic was in the Q&A section of her talk. When someone asked about elementary-aged children with gender-transitioning friends, she counseled,

“We must teach children not to stigmatize people for the very real experience they have of gender dysphoria.”

But Allberry goes even further than McLaughlin, arguing in 2017 and 2019 that Jesus Christ suffered from gender dysphoria (being unsure of his maleness) while on the Cross. This is outright heresy, since He is the Son of God and the Passover Lamb (which had to be male, Ex. 12:5) for our sins.

Sam Allberry has also recently claimed that Jesus is romantically pursuing him, so he wears a wedding band. This is known as theoeroticism, which has been popularized by heretic Ann Voskamp, who wrote, “I fly to Paris and discover how to make love to God.”

As you can clearly see by now, the proponents of SSA theology are fully outside orthodoxy, questioning key doctrines about the Person & Work of Christ. In addition to Allberry’s heretical statements about gender dysphoria, his Living Out co-founder and current director, Ed Shaw, has claimed that Jesus struggled with same-sex attraction, which means that, in both cases, He sinned (Mat. 5:28, Ro. 1:26-27, Col. 3:5-11).

This is not surprising. It’s already what openly practicing “Gay Christians” have tried to argue for decades in order to salve their guilty consciences. For example, “Pastor” Brandan Robertson recently alleged that Jesus used a racial slur against the Syrophonecian woman in Mark chapter 7, and thus sinned.

Therefore, the true goal of the LGBTQ+ agenda (whether it is the Trojan-Horse SSA variety, or the open practice thereof) is to twist Scripture to make Jesus Christ appear guilty of sin in some way. But if He had been a sinner, He would not have been able to be the “spotless Lamb of God,” “who takes away the sin of the world” (1 Pe. 1:19, John 1:29). In other words, if Jesus had sinned, He could not have been God (because God is holy), nor could He have been the perfect Son of Man (because He would have been disobedient), thus preventing Him from being the required perfect sacrifice in order to save us from our sins. This heresy is as serious as Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses. This is another Jesus (2 Cor. 11:4) and the spirit of antichrist (1 John 2:22-24).

However, there is another component of the SSA heresy that is just as grave: the denial of the deity of the Holy Spirit. Pastor Jim Andrews, on his radio website, has grouped several sermons in which he addresses the Deity and Personhood of the Holy Spirit. In addition, on another page, he has posted relevant sermons and a written discussion of the Office Work of the Holy Spirit, which includes 1) indwelling all believers at conversion, 2) bringing the new birth, thus making us new creatures in Christ, 3) convicting of sin, and 4) empowering us for righteous living, just to name a few.

Thus, the SSA theology proponents not only deny the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also deny the deity of the Holy Spirit by arguing (from secular psychology) that one’s sexual orientation is fixed and cannot be changed, even after conversion. Thus they deny a key attribute of the Holy Spirit’s deity, His omnipotence, without which He cannot be God.

So then, what business do these speakers have training parents and AWANA workers on how to disciple children? None. They are not Christians, because they deny 1) the Person [including His Deity] and Work of Christ, 2) the Person [including His Deity] and Work of the Holy Spirit, 3) the infallibility of God’s inspired Word, and 4) the unchangeable nature of God’s created order.

However, it is absolutely essential to understand that, while the AWANA example is quite shocking, these same betrayers, players, conveyer organizations have already infiltrated nearly every other “Christian” ministry (called displayers), and they are all similarly promoting the LGBTQ+ agenda.

So then, what can we do about this? Our first resolution must be to obey every apostolic command, without wavering, regarding false teachers. As Pastor Jim teaches us (see blog article) from Eph. 5 and 2 Peter 2, we are NOT to participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness (Eph. 5:11a). Thus, once we realize that a formerly sound ministry, such as AWANA, has been theologically compromised, we must not continue to partner with them and ask ourselves several tough questions.

For example, in addition to the disgrace brought to Christ’s name by any Bible-believing church lending its name (such as on AWANA’s website, as one of the participating clubs) to an unbiblical ministry that promotes the LGBTQ+ agenda, we must realize that our financial dues & costs or donations are funding the kingdom of darkness and not of light. The typical total annual cost (dues, uniform and expenses) for AWANA is about $100 per child. How much of that money goes to paying heretical pro-LGBTQ conference speakers, such as Stetzer, Comer, Allberry and McLaughlin? This is literally supporting the Devil’s work.

For the Apostle Paul further commands us in 2 Cor. 6:14, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” Calvin explains,

On this account Paul inveighs here against outward idolatry, and exhorts Christians to stand aloof from it, and have no connection with it. He begins, however, with a general statement, with the view of coming down from that to a particular instance, for to be yoked with unbelievers means nothing less than to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, (Ephesians 5:11,) and to hold out the hand to them [610] in token of agreement.

Many are of opinion that he speaks of marriage, but the context clearly shows that they are mistaken. The word that Paul makes use of means — to be connected together in drawing the same yoke. It is a metaphor taken from oxen or horses, which require to walk at the same pace, and to act together in the same work, when fastened under one yoke. [611] When, therefore, he prohibits us from having partnership with unbelievers in drawing the same yoke, he means simply this, that we should have no fellowship with them in their pollutions.

Pastor Jim also teaches this key principle in his expositions of other passages, such as 2 John v.5-10 and v.11-13.

https://www.thefinalwordradio.com/sermons/2-john-5-10/

https://www.thefinalwordradio.com/sermons/2-john-11-13/ ]

Second, we must not merely avoid participating with darkness, but must proactively follow Jude’s command (v.3) and “earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.” So then, on “Monday morning,” what does that look like in practical terms?

The Apostle John says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1-2

Thus, we as believers must research the websites of all “Christian” organizations and businesses that we partner with, using the help of discernment websites as general guides (though none are fully exhaustive or authoritative):

https://disntr.com

https://pulpitandpen.org

https://protestia.com

https://capstonereport.com

Next, we should research the booksellers where personal and church resources are purchased. “Christian” booksellers such as Lifeway, Christian Book Distributors (aka, www.christianbook.com), etc. are notorious for selling anything heretical that is popular, including Joyce Meyer and others (under the counter), and SSA theology authors such as Allberry, etc. LifeWay (under the leadership of Thom Rainer and Ed Stetzer) even continued to sell (for several years) a heretical book about a boy’s trip to Heaven even after he had recanted, become truly born again, and demanded that they stop.

There are a few sound bookstores that will be added here later as an update. One example is www.solid-ground-books.com/books.asp )

Lastly, we should not buy anything from Christian publishers without checking them thoroughly. For instance, LifeWay, publisher of The Gospel Project (TGP) Sunday School curriculum and other materials, is an SBC company that was originally formed to publish Sunday School materials and other resources for the denomination.

Their highly popular TGP was founded in 2012 by longtime LGBTQ-affirming (and now openly LGBTQ-endorsing on his website) Ed Stetzer and others. One of his co-founders, TGC and ERLC leader Trevin Wax, has endorsed Roman Catholics Richard Rohr (priest) and SSA Revoice lesbian Eve Tushnet, who praised an X-rated, BDSM gay film.

Even previously respected publishers such as Crossway and others are promoting their books with authors such as Allberry and McLaughlin

Finally, in order to put this all in perspective, let’s examine the list of speakers for AWANA’s 2023 CDF conference. In addition to pro-LGBTQ Stetzer, one new speaker should alarm every parent. Jared Kennedy is the author of the ERLC-published e-book, A Parent’s Guide to Teaching Your Children About Gender (2020).

As Littleton explains in this article, Kennedy quotes repeatedly (more than any other source) from pro-LGBTQ Revoice founder, Dr. Nate Collins, as an expert on these issues. In addition, because ERLC President Russell Moore enthusiastically promoted this book, we now have explicit confirmation of his support for Revoice and the SSA heresy. (Moore left the ERLC in 2021 for the apostate magazine, Christianity Today, one of whose authors, SSA Revoice leader, Tish Harrison Warren, recently embraced same-sex marriage for society.)

Finally, here are the subjects listed in his book that Kennedy thinks parents should help their children explore, with the SSA heresy viewpoint being fully endorsed (bolding added):

“In this book, I want to help you navigate these difficult conversations. I want to link arms with you and search the Scriptures together to learn how to respond to our children biblically as we raise them in a broken world. But before we begin exploring how to help our kids navigate this: 1) Gender Identity—A term that is used in our culture to refer to an individual’s personal sense of identity as masculine or feminine, or some combination of each. This involves my self-understanding—how I think about myself. 2) Gender-Fluid—A term used for people who prefer to be flexible when expressing their gender identity. 3) Transgender—An umbrella term for the state or condition of identifying and expressing a gender identity that does not match a person’s biological/genetic sex.” – Jared Kennedy

Truly scary.

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This article will be continued in Part 3.