WHEN "CHRISTIANS" REJECT THE WORDS OF JESUS: A REMARKABLE DIALOGUE ON FACEBOOK

This interaction took place on the Facebook page for A Queer Thing Happened to America from about 2:00 AM until 4:30 AM, Tuesday morning, June 26, 2012. My posts here are identified as "MLB." Aside from removing an unrelated comment or two, as well as the comment of a colleague, this is the exact dialog as it unfolded. I post it here in its entirety, not to shame those I was reaching out to -- in fact, your hearts will break for them as you read -- but because it is one of the clearest examples of spiritual deception you will ever see. Take the time to read it through, and you will be amazed.

The original post was from a man named Nathan who said he would be watching what Facebook did carefully in terms of censoring pages that carried Christian perspectives about homosexuality. This is what followed. (One further note to the reader: I had interacted with Will many times before and he had actually been banned from all our other pages because of the nature of his posts, but I wanted to reach out to him again.)

Will: MANY of us are watching, Nathan .. like hawks. God is watching, as well.

MLB: Will, yes God is watching and reaching out to you, calling you to Himself and calling you to repentance and salvation and new life.

Will: Mike, if you talked with people instead of at them ... and if you honored Paul's words from Romans 14:1-4 ... God would, at least in part, be honored. ONLY you and satan would say what you just said. God and I know better.

Will: Fr. Martin Laird has reminded us that when satan, the prince of darkness, comes against us with his lying vanities as he did to Jesus in the wilderness .. the proper response is the truth of God's Word. He is our defender against every lying accusation from the pit of hell. Even against those things uttered by tongues whose entire agenda is self promotion and using God's beloved for financial gain. As I said earlier ... even more importantly than those of us who watch with vigilance .. God is watching, as well.

MLB: Will, how utterly, terribly tragic that you mistake God's offer of repentance, forgiveness, and new life for the voice of Satan! As for Paul's words, he was speaking about issues like observance of different holy days or eating of certain foods, not sexual sin. On this, he was 100% clear: 1 Cor 5:1-13. If you came here saying, "I want to follow and honor the Lord but I struggle terribly with same-sex attraction and can't see how God would consign me to a life of loneliness and celibacy," I and others would reach out to you and help you any way we knew how, crying with you and praying for you and encouraging you. But when you mock God's truth, falsely accuse me and others of all kinds of foul things, and then call the Father's voice the voice of Satan, you make it very difficult to help you. Nonetheless, I will pray for you, knowing that God can have mercy on us in the midst of our ignorance.

Will: Michael, I utterly reject the bastardized perversion of Christianity that is Fundamentalism ... and I live by faith according to the promises and faithfulness of Christ .. not any sort of Jewish Law that is based on the knowledge of good and evil. There is little sense in discussing anything with you .. so I will leave it, once again, at my original statement. GOD IS WATCHING, Michael. Be certain of it.

Will: You do NOT speak the word of God, Michael ... you speak "the knowledge of good and evil" which is the voice of satan that destroyed the union God intended with Adam in the first place. It is you, sir, that is confused and taking God's name in vain .. not me. You have nothing whatsoever with which to help me. Your relationship is with religious dogma, not with the Spirit of life in Christ, and it is very apparent. Now, let's not waste each other's time .... GOD IS WATCHING, Michael .. be certain of it.

MLB: Will, I base every word of what I wrote here on the God-breathed, life-giving truths of the New Testament. You can accuse all you like, but what you are shouting aloud is that you will reject and twist God's beautiful standards and holy Word based on your sexuality rather than submit to the liberating lordship of Jesus. As for me, I am blessed and thrilled and encouraged by the fact that God watches over me. My Father is wonderful beyond description, and what I do, I do out of love for Him.

Will: For my response ... see above.

MLB: Hear what the Spirit is saying to you, Will: "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart" (Ps 95; Heb 3). I do hope there is still a place of repentance and salvation for you.

Will: For my response .. see above. I do not embrace the anti-Christ faith of fundamentalism or Jewish "knowledge of good and evil". GOD IS WATCHING .. be certain of it.

Will: Your faith is fundamentalism, mixed in with judaism, Michael. It is NOT Christianity. Now I am going to bed. I won't be drawn into your chaos or your arguments based on "the knowledge of good and evil". It is the faith of anti-Christ and I utterly reject it.

MLB: Will, the chaos is within your own soul. What you reject is Jesus the Christ. What you reject is the Holy Spirit. What you reject is the true faith. What you reject is the holy Word of a holy God. That is what and who you utterly reject, and there is no corner you can hide in that is out of His holy sight. I'll say it once more with urgency: Do not harden your heart any longer to the Spirit's voice.

Will: Michael you are truly foolish to be telling me what is in my heart. You don't know me, nor do you know anything about me. I realize that you are desperately trying to save face, and I understand that... but you really are looking very foo...

See More

Deanne Will is a beautiful person, he loves everyone...........who are you to judge him?

Will: Thank you Deanne ... I'm through wasting my time and energy here. This book and this whole "ministry" has the validity of a dead slug in the road. I don't know why I even bothered this much. Good to see you by the way!!

Deanne: You want to know what's "queer" in this country, Michael...people living on the streets because they have no where to go, and people living in million dollar mansions with twenty bathrooms. That's queer

MLB: Deanne, I am not judging him. I am offering him the gift of salvation and forgiveness and repentance through the blood of Jesus, who comes to save us from our sins (and homosexual practice is a sin for which Jesus died). Why reject God's grace? As for Will loving everyone, he has not shown that side to me yet. In any case, I didn't start the conversation here, Will did (I've never tried to post on his FB page or the like), so if he comes to criticize and attack, he will met here by love and truth. What's wrong with that? In fact, I don't have the time to interact with everyone who posts on our sites, but because Will has posted on many of my sites and pages, I decided to take the time to reach out to him again here with God's loving truth. Jesus said the truth will set us free!

MLB: Will, you are the only looking foolish and desperate, sad to say, and you forget that the vast majority of people who will see this interaction are followers of Jesus who embrace His Word rather than reject it, as you do. You keep claiming you are done here, only to post again and again, which really prompts me to pray for you all the more seriously. I will do that right now.

Deanne: Children going to bed hungry because they have no food. And children getting thrown a thousand dollar birthday party and crying because they didn't get the exact pony they wanted.....that's queer

MLB: Deanne, I used the word "Queer" because it's been mainstream and popular for years now. As for the materialism and greed of our culture, I agree with you! Please take a minute and read this: What Christian Orphans In India Can Teach Our American Youth. This is the kind of work the grads from my ministry school are involved with day and night around the world. This is the fruit of the gospel of Jesus that we preach, by His grace. Again, please take a minute to read this article.

Deanne: No, sorry. All I've ever seen in Mr. Will is love for everyone. All I see in you is judgement. I'm Roman Catholic, eleven years of Catechism, you see my picture. I believe with all my heart in God and Christ, and it would be my honor to hold Wills hand and walk through the gates with him.

Deanne: I'll pray for you

MLB: Deanne, Will's posts and comments were so ugly that he was banned from numerous sites of mine, sad to say. As for judgment, please show me where is any wrong judgment in a single comment I have made here, OK? As for walking through the gates with Will, that will only come through faith and repentance. It's not up to you to sit in judgment of God and tell Him what to do. He sets the standards, and He offers change: "Don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people-- none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1Co 6:9-11)

Also, did you take the time to read the article I linked?

Deanne: I see your rules. Guess you're the only one on earth who'll be seeing God. Say hi to Him for the rest of us.

MLB: Deanne, I quote God's Word to you and you see "my rules"? Do you not see what you are doing, Deanne? And did you completely miss the last verse? "Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." Jesus literally changes us! There is hope for the worst of sinners -- I was shooting heroin at 15 and lost in my sin before God saved me in 1971 -- and that means for you and me and Will. But we have to receive God's mercy, turn from our sins, with His help, and follow Him. There is no other way. That's why Jesus said, "Not everyone who calls out to me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter." (Mat 7:21)

Deanne: Who are you to speak for God?

MLB: Deanne, I'm quoting His words to you! You seem to be very happy to speak for him and to decide that you and Will are going to heaven (and I pray that you will enter His kingdom through repentance and faith in His Son Jesus), but when I quote Scripture to you, you reject it. Why do you reject God's Word?

Deanne: I'm sorry, I didn't realize you had his cell phone number.

Deanne Seems I heard somewhere that His Son said Love thy neighbor. Oh well.......who knows.

Deanne: And yes, I think Will and I will enter, because we love

MLB: Deanne, I have His Word. Do you accept that? And when I speak the truth to you and Will, I am practicing loving my neighbor. So, to be clear, do you reject the Bible as God's Word? More specifically, do you reject the words of Jesus and the words of Paul as God's Word? That's all I have shared here.

Deanne: Jesus and Paul preached love. Not judgement and hate.

Deanne: They were tortured because they were “queer."

MLB: Deanne, I'm quoting their words to you and yet you reject them. Why? I quote the words of Jesus and Paul and you call it judgment and hate. Can you honestly not understand that your problem is not with me but with Jesus and Paul?

Deanne: How do you know God and Christ and Paul, and what they said?

Deanne: Christ and Paul never spoke of homosexuality, they spoke of love

MLB: First, I have a wonderful personal relationship with the Lord. Second and more importantly, the words of the Father and Jesus and Paul are written for us in the Scriptures, and we can read them in the original Hebrew and Greek. What they said is quite clear if we're willing to listen.

MLB: Deanne, Paul explicitly wrote against homosexual practice in several of his letters, and Jesus made 100% clear that God's plan for human beings was male-female marriage. You are making things up out of your own head, Deanne. I'm sharing with you what they actually said. Love tells the truth.

MLB: I'm on EST, so it's 3:45 AM and I need to end this discussion for now. If you're really serious about this, take out the New Testament and start reading, OK?

Deanne: 1 Corinthians 13:13, and now these things remain. The greatest is love. Your site preaches intolerence and hate.

MLB: Deanne, I quoted from 1 Corinthians too, yet you call that intolerance and hate. The same Paul who wrote 1 Cor 6 wrote 1 Cor 13. Why do you accept some of his words and reject the others? And why do you sound so terribly intolerant and hateful yourself? I bring a message of the transforming love of God for all people -- the gospel! -- and yet you call it intolerance and hate. Your argument with is with Jesus, not with me. Again, though, I've got to end this discussion now, since it's past 4:00 AM.

Deanne: Will loves God also. And God loves him. Good night

MLB: Jesus said, "If you love me, obey my commandments. . . . Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them." (John 14:15, 21) We demonstrate our love for Jesus by obeying His commandments, and that means living a life of holiness to Him. I'm glad you care about Will -- I care about him too -- but preaching a false love will not help him or you. Love tells the truth. Good night to you.

Deanne: Holier than though doesn't make you holy

MLB: Deanne, I share Jesus' words with and you attack again with empty religious phrases. Please, Deanne, enough with your ad hominem attacks on the Lord and His words. You need to deal with Him, not me.

Deanne: I love Him, I believe in Him. He knows that.

Deanne: You're unimportant but your site is offensive, that's all

MLB: Deanne, it doesn't matter if I'm important or not. Jesus is important, and you have to wrestle with what He says. He is the one that offends you, not me.

Deanne: Actually, Christ and I get along quite well.

MLB: Then why do you reject His words when I post them? Why do you call them intolerance and hate?

Deanne: It seems to me that you're a sanctimonious a--. Sorry, but it is how you come off to me anyway.

MLB: Deanne, you sound incredibly judgmental and intolerant -- yet you claim to be so full of love? I quote Jesus' words to you and Paul's words to you, straight out of the Scriptures, and all you do is respond with venom. This is very revealing and very sad. Also, please watch your language if you want to post here.

Deanne: Sorry, its not like me. Sometimes my thumb works faster than my brain. :)

MLB: Forgiven! We've all typed too fast and posted too soon.