Is there really a “gay agenda?” Yes and no. Let me begin with a short story from scripture.
13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. 17 When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
Acts 19:13-20
That may sound like a strange passage to connect to the topic of the gay agenda, but stay with me for a moment.
Power We Cannot See
What we see from this passage is that there were people casting out demons who started invoking the name of Jesus, whom they did not serve, and Paul. The demons let them know what they thought of that in no uncertain terms. What is even more interesting than the beating these seven men received from one man through supernatural strength is how the church responded.
All of a sudden, the believers realized that their secret vices were not so harmless. They saw that there was real power in what they were playing around with. The “unbaptized arm” they had been holding on to now took on new meaning to them and they wanted no more to do with it. This led to a revival amongst the new church of Ephesus.
There was real power in the magic arts they were playing around with. They thought it was just part of their culture. Harmless. Unimportant to their faith in Jesus. So what if they played around with a little magic. Did it really hurt anyone?
In unison they decided the answer was “yes.”
How Does This Apply?
We hear the term “gay agenda” quite a bit in this nation as we debate the rapidly deteriorating moral position of decades past. It is the term used to imply there is always a hidden agenda whenever we see people speak about equal rights for homosexuals. I said the answer to this question of there really being a gay agenda was “yes and no.” It depends on who and what you are talking about.
When it comes to people, there is no hidden agenda. Gay men and women in this nation are fighting for what they believe is rightly theirs with no hidden motives. They have been quite clear and loud for many years now that they believe they are unfairly discriminated against. While I disagree with them on the substance of their argument–that they are suffering human rights oppression the same way blacks, Jews, etc. have in centuries past–it is perfectly within their rights to make that case.
Gay people are fighting for everything they can have under the laws of the United States, just like most of you reading this blog would want to fight for religious freedom. We should not be surprised by this. If you look at it from their perspective, it is easy to see why they would feel discriminated against.
I am not saying that there are not good legal reasons to oppose gay marriage, etc. (because I believe there are and the people fighting that fight do well). What I am saying is that if you were in their shoes, you would probably do the same.
So no, there is no gay agenda there. And that is the conclusion that more and more evangelicals are coming to very rapidly these days. When you can take a step back and understand things rationally, there is no other conclusion you can come to.
Enter The Unseen
But that is not the end of the story, just as the Ephesians could attest to. There is an unseen realm that we in America have forgotten about. We have long denied its existence, but it is alive and well.
Whenever sin is advanced in a society as good, especially with the kind of energy behind it we see today, you can bet there is a hidden agenda. There is serious energy behind all kinds of sin in America today, not just homosexuality, but we must clearly define homosexuality as sin. (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Romans 1:26-28)
Whenever we see this energy behind approving of sin, we should know that the hidden agenda is demonic. There is real spiritual power behind these things. Look at the very real world that Daniel opens up to us:
12 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.
Daniel 10:12-13
We must not be unaware, then, that the battle we fight is not against “flesh and blood, but against the powers, principalities and rulers of the darkness of this world” (Ephesians 6:12). If we are not fighting against a man-made “gay agenda,” but a spiritual one, what will fighting against it with words accomplish?
We Are Getting Beaten
The seven sons of Sceva were fighting against demons with nothing more than words, and they left broken, beaten and naked. There was no power behind their words because they did not belong to the Jesus whom Paul preached. There is a gay agenda, but it is not one that can be opposed with mere words. The agenda is spiritual, and the fight must be also.
Christians all over this nation have been lulled into thinking that these magic books they have are of no consequence to their lives today. The sin of homosexuality is no different than any other thing, so we should just accept it and let people who love each other love each other freely, as the thinking is going. More Christians are falling into this trap every day because they realize that the words we have been fighting with are meaningless.
What they have not considered, or been told, is that there is a very real, very dark, very dangerous dark power behind this fight. We must not continue to fight it with words, or with violence, but with prayer and fasting. Our spiritual power is drawn from these.
God responds when His people cry out, and the darkness has no answer for it.
I am a writer, author and purveyor of ink on paper. I also preach, teach and create Excel spreadsheets.
I’ve heard the arguments that people are born with these tendencies, but I’ll share something that to me bears out what you’re saying.
Years ago my grandmother befriended a young man who to me was what we’d refer to as a “flamer.” To me, his gayness was obvious…screamed at me even. But my grandmother, a Godly woman if there ever was one, didn’t see it. To her, he was just a friendly young man with a good sense of humor. Over the course of a year my grandmother told the man about Jesus and even convinced him to go to church with her (I’m sure she was praying too). Three years went by before I met the man again. At that point he was straight as an arrow, married and had a baby on the way. God can do miracles when we let him.
Sandy,
That is the other half of this. We cannot talk people out of being gay. Homosexual tendencies are deep-seated struggles that have persisted for years by the time they surface, or “come out” to family and friends. We cannot, in any meaningful way, convince someone who has come out to simply go back. By the time they have made that painful admission, there is too much water under the bridge. But we serve a God who is bigger than our words. He will use our words for sure, but there must be the power of prayer behind them. I think many believers have done harm (well-meaning as it were) to openly gay people with their flippant words. We must lovingly call people who claim to be Christians back to righteousness, but to the lost we must temper our tongues on such issues. Your grandmother sounds like a great example to us. We must love the lost, no matter what state they are in. I have a feeling your grandmother may have known a little more than she let on to, but her commitment to share Jesus’ love is priceless. We would do well to follow her lead.
Thank you Darren for your kind words. My grandmother was the most loving presence in my life too.