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By Andrew Wommack
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I want to share with you a brand-new teaching I’ve entitled Christian Philosophy II. This goes beyond the theological issues I dealt with in the first teaching, and it expounds on a Christian way of thinking—moral and social issues of our day such as homosexuality and abortion.
Before I deal with those things specifically, let me establish my right and obligation as a minister of the Lord to speak out on these things. I feel there needs to be some explanation because many Christians have bought into the belief that we ought to just stick with the Word and leave social issues alone. But the Bible has volumes to say about all our social issues today. Not to preach those truths is not to preach the whole Word of God. It is the foundation of this country.
If you saw my recent Gospel Truth programs with David Barton on God and Country, you learned that America would not exist without the influence of the Bible and Christian ministers who spoke out on the issues of their day. The misinformation and misapplication of the phrase “separation of church and state” has led some to believe that the only place for Christians to speak out is in church. But that certainly wasn’t true of ANY of the founding fathers of this nation. It was Christians’ exit from the public forum and their retreat inside the four walls of the church that created the vacuum where the ungodly have been thriving for the last generation or two.
I want to touch on some of these hot topics using not only a biblical perspective but also a logical and statistical one that even nonbelievers would have to accept if they aren’t prejudiced. I personally don’t need any proof outside of the Bible, but as I’ve said many times, most people don’t let the Bible get in the way of what they believe. This is certainly true about many of our social issues today.
Therefore, I am presenting biblical truths with empirical facts that reinforce and confirm the values taught in God’s Word. I don’t have any delusions about this approach changing anyone who is closed-minded or wants to believe a lie because it’s convenient. I can’t argue anyone into believing. But I do pray that true believers who have simply been misinformed or uninformed will prayerfully consider and acknowledge the timeless truths of God’s Word.
For instance, many people think that saying homosexuality is wrong, is hate speech and have therefore adopted a tolerance toward the whole issue. Aside from the obvious scriptural teaching that says homosexuality and lesbianism is sin, consider some of these facts: Homosexuals average living twenty years less than their heterosexual counterparts.1 THINK OF THAT! The government mandates that health warnings be put on cigarette packages, and smoking, on average, takes ten years off a person’s life.2 That means that on average, homosexuality reduces a person’s life 200 percent more than cigarette smoking. If there was any objectivity on this issue, people would speak out against homosexuality twice as much as they do against cigarettes.
However, the homosexual community tries to portray their lifestyle as normal, like the traditional couple next door. That is an absolute lie. Statistics show that domestic violence among homosexuals is 300 times greater than traditional couples.3 Suicide is 200 percent greater, and depression among homosexuals is 50 percent greater than heterosexuals.4
Some argue that these statistics are so high because homosexuals are denied acceptance in our culture. But look at societies like the Netherlands where homosexuality has been legalized for years. The rate of psychiatric illness is statistically similar to countries that haven’t granted this recognition to homosexuals.5 Therefore, that argument dies.
In the states that have allowed homosexual marriages, such as Vermont, only about 25 percent of homosexuals have availed themselves of marriage.6 Think about this—43 percent of homosexuals have had sex with 500 partners or more in their lifetimes. And 28 percent of homosexuals have had 1,000 or more sexual partners.7 That is HUGE! They aren’t moral people who want committed relationships. These statistics show that the majority of homosexuals are not “normal” by any measurement but their own. Their lifestyle is not only destructive to themselves but also to society.
When the spiritual effects of homosexuality are factored in, this is one of the most destructive lifestyles possible. It’s not a hate crime to say homosexuality is wrong any more than it’s a hate crime to say smoking is hazardous to one’s health. It’s just the truth. If we truly loved those trapped in homosexuality, we would speak out on this issue. But those who are telling the truth have been branded as hate mongers when just the opposite is true. Those who endorse homosexuality are burying their heads in the sand of “political correctness” and encouraging destructive behavior.
Leviticus 19:17 says,
“Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.”
It’s sin not to speak the truth to homosexuals. It’s not loving them. It’s loving ourselves and avoiding the persecution that will surely come our way for taking a stand.
I once saw a wreck where a man hit a horse on a foggy night, and they both lay right in the middle of a winding mountain road. I saw one car plow into them and barely escape a disaster. So I ran back up the road, around a curve, and started jumping out in front of cars going sixty-plus miles per hour. I had cars swerve to miss me, and some stopped and cussed me out. I’m sure many people thought I was crazy. But how could I let people speed around the corner and possibly kill themselves or someone else just because I didn’t want to be misunderstood? I stopped over thirty cars before the police arrived and took over. I’m sure terrible things were said about me by those who didn’t understand what I was doing, but I’m also sure I was right.
Certainly there have been “religious Christians” who have condemned the sinner and not just the sin. Hate crimes have been committed by mean-spirited people, and they have done tremendous damage. But that doesn’t change the fact that homosexuality is wrong from a moral and social point of view. Just because some homosexuals have been treated wrongly, that doesn’t make homosexuality right.
I have a number of friends who have been involved in homosexuality, and I have not treated them badly. I’m still their friend, and I have helped them work through those issues without any condemnation. But I’ve never told them what they did was okay. It’s wrong by any measure, and saying that isn’t prejudiced.
Likewise, some Christians think abortion is all about women’s rights. They feel that any regulation on this issue is an infringement on freedom. But that is completely against what the Bible teaches and all the scientific research that says that’s not so.
An unborn child is not a “fetus” but a human being. When Roe v. Wade opened the door to abortion on demand in the United States in 1973, it was argued before the Supreme Court that a child wasn’t really human until he/she could survive outside the womb. At that time, there wasn’t any scientific “evidence” to the contrary, so the liberal court chose to abandon what had been believed throughout history. But since that decision, which has led to the abortion of over 49 million children in the U.S. alone,8 it has been proven scientifically again and again that a child is an individual person from the moment of conception.
So this isn’t a matter of women’s rights; no one has the right to murder another person. About 80 percent of all abortions are performed on unmarried women, who are often using abortion as birth control. Three-quarters of all abortions in the United States are performed on women between the ages of 13-30.9 Less than 8 percent of abortions are done for “hard cases” (4 percent because of risk to the mother’s health, 3 percent because the baby may have a health problem, and near a half percent for rape or incest.10 Ironically, they perform abortions because the baby may have health problems. They reason that death is preferable to possibly living with some health issue. No one should be able to choose that another person would be better off dead for health reasons.
David said in Psalm 139:13-16,
“For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”
God only possesses people, not fetuses or hunks of flesh. Notice that all David’s substance (ours too) was curiously wrought, seen, and recorded before it was even formed.
Look at John the Baptist. He leaped for joy in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:40-45). He had emotions in the womb, and science has proven over and over that all unborn children have emotions. Also, John was filled with the Holy Spirit at that time. God’s Spirit didn’t come and live in mere tissue; He filled and inhabited a real human being who hadn’t been born yet.
For anyone who believes the Bible, those two scriptural accounts, as well as others, are undeniable. But even from a natural point of view, facts show that at the moment of conception, a child exists. MSNBC reported on January 16, 2007, sixteen months after being rescued as a frozen embryo from a hospital flooded by Hurricane Katrina, Noah Benton Markham was born.11 Even in a frozen embryonic state, every detail of Noah was intact. All he needed was the chance to be born.
This is why embryonic stem cell research is wrong and unnecessary. Adult stem cells are readily available without killing children, have the same potential for cures, and have none of the damaging side effects. Using embryonic stem cells has an increased risk of producing tumors in those who are injected.12 That hasn’t happened with adult stem cells.13
This is just a very small sample of what I deal with on my new Christian Philosophy II album. I encourage you to get a copy of this teaching for yourself and others too. Christians need to stand for the truth, or they will fall for anything. That’s exactly what’s been happening. Please help me get these truths out. We can’t force people to believe the truth, but we can make sure they hear it.
References:
1. Oxford Journals – “Modeling the impact of HIV disease on morality in gay and bisexual men” – http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/26/3/657
2. British Medical Journal – “Morality in relation to smoking: 50 years’ observations on male British doctors” – http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/328/7455/1519
3. U.S. Department of Justice: Office of Justice Programs:30; and Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report.11 – “Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to Married Couples” – http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IS04C02
4. BioMed Central Psychiatry – “A systematic review of mental disorder, suicide, and deliberate self harm in lesbian, gay and bisexual people” – http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-244X/8/70
5. Catholic Education Resource Center – “The Health Risks of Gay Sex” – http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/homosexuality/ho0075.html#14
6. USA TODAY – “Vermont’s gay civil unions mostly affairs of the heart” – http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-01-07-cover-vt-gay-unions_x.htm
7. Journal of Sex Research – “A comparative demographic and sexual profile of older homosexually active men” – http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2372/is_n4_v34/ai_20536043/pg_8/?tag=content;col1
8. National Right to Life – “Abortion in the United States: Statistics and Trends” – http://www.nrlc.org/ABORTION/facts/abortionstats.html
9. Guttmacher Institute – “Trends in the Characteristics of Women Obtaining Abortions, 1974 to 2004” (pages 7 and 9) – http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2008/09/18/Report_Trends_Women_Obtaining_Abortions.pdf
10. National Right to Life – “Why Do Women Have Abortions?” – http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/facts/reasonsabortions.html
11. MSNBC – “Baby is born from embryo rescued after Katrina” – http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11497302/
12. U.S. News & World Report – “Why Embryonic Stem Cells Are Obsolete” – http://health.usnews.com/blogs/heart-to-heart/2009/03/04/why-embryonic-stem-cells-are-obsolete.html
13. LifeNews.com – “Scientists Use Adult Stem Cells to Fix Tumor Problems of Embryonic Stem Cells” – http://www.lifenews.com/bio2845.html
