Can You be a Gay Christian? | EXTENDED Interview

back in walking the program here enter the books phenomenal thank you so much really really terrific thank you I want to start that day at the coffee shop your life began to radically change very unexpected for you tell us about that day well I was in a coffee shop in Los Angeles and with my best friend and we noticed the table next to us with Bibles on the table we I had never seen a Bible in public in LA sir in 15 20 years or 15 years Wow I'd never seen a Bible none of my friends we never talked about God ever once no one talked about God it was assumed that God didn't exist and that it was all a fairy tale so we saw these Bibles my friend love to kind of stir up conversation and so he urged me to talk start talking to this group of people so I turned around and I just said are you guys Christians like what's the deal with the Bible's and they they really got and I said well what do you believe because I you know I was raised Catholic I don't even remember what what the gospel is I don't know what religion is like tell me what you believe oh they're probably loving it right I know it's like it's like a Christians fantasy of a question and so they explained the gospel they explained what they believed and then I got to the $64,000 question after the near the end of our conversation and I said well what is your Church in Hollywood believe about homosexuality and they said well we believe it's a sin and and what's interesting is I just kind of accepted that I didn't protest I didn't I wasn't upset I just kind of was I was actually I liked how honest they were and they didn't beat around the bush they were just very open and frank about it and so I they invited me to church to their church the following Sunday and I was like well I don't know if I'm gonna do that but I'll think about it well how did you did you struggle with that decision or I did I had a week to mull it over and I was like should I do this I don't know and at that point in my life I was open because I kind of everything been everywhere did you know travelled the world done all these fun things and it wasn't satisfying me anymore and I so I was open to something else and I wasn't sure and I you know of course I wanted to know the meaning of life and so I spent the week thinking about it and then the following Sunday I woke up and I said to myself self I said am I gonna do this and I just the light was like yeah I'm just gonna do it and I got dressed got in my car and drove to this church in Hollywood you're a little nervous I wasn't nervous I was more I just was kind of full of sort of expectation there I guess I wasn't nervous but as soon as I walked into the church it's in a auditorium in a high school I heard Christian worship music and I forgot I forgot Christian music existed and so when I heard the music I was like oh gosh Christian music because it had been satirized so much on different TV shows and like so I was just like oh no and then that was like wait a minute it's not bad actually it's good and and then I found my seat near the front of the church and Wow went right up front I went up front and I just had the people who invited me I didn't see them I just I don't know where they were but I just walked up and sat by myself and then the pastor came out and started preaching on Romans chapter 7 and while he was preaching for an hour and while he was preaching everything suddenly started shifting in me and I it was weird because I didn't know what was going on but everything he was saying every word he was saying every sentence he was saying was resonating his truth in me in my mind my heart and I was like this is the gospel like a way what are you saying about the gospel was turning everything I thought religion was on its head and I was like oh my gosh this is a gospel and it was really I was the edge of my seat the whole time I could I didn't want him to stop preaching and then he left to stay he left the pode the pulpit and he had invited people to get prayed for on the side of the church during the second part of worship which was lasted 30 minutes and so I was there was you know a guy over on the side of the church and I was like should I go over there and ask for prayer and if I do it's humiliating and what if what if this is all wrong and what if it's all fake and and so I went over and this guy I said you know I don't know what I believe that I'm here and this guy was like well let me pray for you and he laid his hands on me which was weird and then he started praying and I I just the prayer seemed so intense and so powerful and I remember thinking how does this straight dude love me so much cuz the prayer was so full of love and and then I thanked him after the prayer I went back to my seat and I was processing the prayer the sermon the the worship music was just still going on for another 25 minutes and all of a sudden the Holy Spirit just like overwhelmed me it was like Paul on the road to Damascus kind of thing it was like and I God was like I'm God and Jesus is my son and you are now adopted into my kingdom and I was like whoa and it was like Isaiah in the temple when he sees the holiness of God he comes undone and I just came undone I started bawling uncontrollably for the rest of the service and I was crying so hard that people around me were actually worried about me and I just knew it I was crying over the joy of meeting Jesus Christ but also crying over the sorrow of my sin and and so it was this mix of joy and sorrow but it was mostly joy over like meeting and finally knowing like the meaning of life it was like the curtains had parted and I can see the truth and I could see I knew why where I came from why I was here and where I was going I also knew in that moment that homosexuality being gay was no longer a part of my identity it was like that was my old man and it was gone it was just was so quick and it just was like okay that's not who I am anymore that's not my life I'm happy to be single and celibate for the rest of my life because I just met Jesus Christ any fear of how do you share this with friends that you were very close to that we were identifying themselves as gay yeah it wasn't so much fear chi was so full of joy at that point that I was so euphoric that I wasn't afraid to share it but it was an interesting time because it took me three weeks to tell all of my super close friends i sat them down one at a time at dinner or whatever and you know I would say I have to tell you something really crazy and they were like what are you moving did you meet a new guy like are you he kind of did you buy a house like I'd like well actually did meet a guy I met Jesus and they were they were stunned like shocked didn't know what to think and a lot of them they didn't really know to say and a couple people were pretty hostile about it especially when I got to the part where I told him about I was no longer gonna live as a gay man they they were a couple people got really upset about that um but for the most part people my friends were supportive and loving about it they were kind of like it was kind of like I'm happy that you're happy and I'm yeah I thought you found your path kind of thing you know you did something that I think a lot of people who are already Christians haven't done is you just devoted yourself fully to Jesus Christ all of you I mean you jumped in all the way and it you were surrendering every part of you yeah and were joyful and doing it well I mean I was yeah I was so blown away by God's love that day that I mean I would just I mean for like a year I would just wake up every morning in tears just because I was like I can't believe I know God and I'm in the kingdom and I have eternal life by the way that was just crazy and so I was so and I couldn't say couldn't stop reading the Bible I was just obsessed with the Bible and every word on the page was like it was like a symphony it was like every single word rang true to know and and I listened to like hundreds and hundreds of sermons from different pastors around the country because I just was like I need more I want more more like and I just remember that first couple of years every time I would listen to a sermon or read the Bible I would just start crying because I was like this is true and I can't believe I know it like what a crazy thing this is power the Holy Spirit yeah don't go anywhere I'm done with us but I do want to tell you in the meantime this is a phenomenal book it will encourage you it's called a change of affection a gay man's incredible story of redemption it's available wherever books are sold I urge you to get a copy and we have more with Becca to come after the break Terry and I are gonna talk to him some more about questions about same such same-sex attraction homosexuality such as questions like this can you be gay and a Christian we're gonna hear what he has to say don't go away [Music] all right well we are back Terry are usually not disclose nice to have you we are back with Beckett cook author of a change of affection a gay man's incredible story of redemption and we realize many of you have someone in your life who may be gay and there's a lot of confusion in the church today surrounding this issue so we're gonna ask Beckett a few questions okay so back if someone a friend a family member comes out and says I am gay and let's say you're a Christian how do you recommend Christians family members etc respond in that moment well first of all I'll say it's a very that's a difficult moment because the child who comes out has had many many years to wrestle with that internally and by the time they come out to a parent your you want the parent to be on board immediately so in that and that's usually it's usually a shock to the parent and it takes time for the parent to process that and so I I recommend that both sides give each other grace because the the parent needs time to grieve and mourn because it is it's shocking to a parent and you know the parent eye needs to kind of take a step back and maybe go to a closet and cry and pray and the child needs to give their parents grace too and but I think in that moment the best thing for a parent to do is to and I know it's hard but to just lovingly walk through that whole thing with the child and not react in a you know really negative way but just because my parents were when I came out to my parents they were very very loving about it they didn't fly off the handle they didn't kick me out of the house they were they were loving and you a child when they come out a gay child remembers that moment like nothing else forever forever you remember how your parents react and so so that's an important time so Beckett I think the question that a lot of Christian parents that might be facing this would have is where do you draw a line that's a standard for your family you write in the book about wanting to bring a boyfriend home one Christmas and dealing with that I think that's the question on people's minds is how do I love you as my child but say we we don't really stand with you I know that's such a difficult question and it's I think you know parents have to stand by their convictions and and also be loving at the same time to their child but see the the issue with that is you know when I was going through that I knew my family loved me sure but I but I also knew that they believed what who I was who I thought I was was a sin so I always felt alienated from them even though they didn't even know they didn't mean it they didn't mean to they did yeah but I felt alienated and judged but to draw that line it's that's a difficult thing because you don't want to break that relationship with a child so I it's it that's kind of a thing you need to go to prayer with like with to Jesus because you have to pray about those things like do I attend this thing or do I allow this boyfriend to come or not or do I go that's difficult and if I don't how do I say no without my child feeling rejected right yeah and that's the that's the thing is you don't you don't want that to to cut off a relationship because that's the thing as my family and it's in my parents and especially my sister-in-law they kept they never judged me and they never condemned me they kept that door wide open for me you know for all those kind of like the prodigal son you know the the father in that story it's like the doors always open right and when the son comes home he's like he runs to him and it's like that's important to keep that channel open to the child and not just like cut that off because cutting and off is not gonna help it's not gonna help that child come to Christ for sure we're trying to fix it immediately yeah we're trying to fix it trying to you know read Bible verses or anything that's not gonna change anything that's just gonna actually push the child further away so I think honestly the best approach is just to love generously love your child we through that time and just pray for them and pray and pray and pray after your dramatic encounter with God is and you became a Christ father I assume people in the gay community would say well you're still gay right or people on the other side Christians would say well you're no longer gay right I mean how did you answer a question like that then I I was on his suit and the photographer from New York came to LA to do this view with us and he said how are you doing back it has life and and I was like well I'm a Christian now and you know I and I told him the whole story and I said you know I don't and I'm like gay I don't live that life anymore I'm not gay anymore and he said no he first said I said I'm a Christian and he said you can't be gay and be a Christian and I said David I'll get to that later but but yeah I would never identify myself as a gay Christian because it's like why would you identify as a greedy Christian or gossiping Christian I wouldn't identify as a heterosexual Christian right yeah it's like but so I being gay that was my old man that was my old self and that was crucified with Christ and so I I don't identify as a gay cry when people ask me what are you I am like I'm a Christian my identity is in Christ it's not in my sexuality and you know I happen to struggle with same-sex attraction but but it doesn't matter because I have Jesus and I want to speak to that because I think if I imagine if I were gay and listening to you talk about this I would say but where do you go with all of that temptation that has been a part of your life but what I see in you and what I read in your book is that a transformation happened I mean it wasn't just you got a new identity and even though you may have moments of that temptation I may have moments I mean this is an odd comparison but to gossip or to be jealous of someone else or to and and so you're treating that as an area that you need to make choices about in your life but Jesus does make a difference yeah yeah I mean God had so much grace on me that day when I when you say - and my my thought life before I was a Christian was dominated by sexuality yes after that day it was diminished you know dramatically so it went from like a hundred percent to like ten percent and so it doesn't I never missed that life I don't miss relationships with guys at all and I and I know that this doesn't happen with everyone but but I don't miss that life and I'm just you know I'm so enamored with Christ and and how much satisfaction he gives to me that I don't I don't need anything else way and that's how we should all live Manning enamored a book for everybody please get a book it's called the change of affection and it's a phenomenal read great story we're so glad you came to visit us thank you thank you thank you alright we'll see you next time on 700 club interactive bye bye

Channel: 700 Club Interactive

Views: 210,613

Rating: 4.7978144 out of 5

Keywords: can you be a gay Christian, is being gay a sin, does god hate gays, my son is gay, my daughter is lesbian, i think i might be gay, does god hate me, gay pride, pride month, i hate christians, anti-christian, Was Jesus gay, can a gay person becom heterosexual, i'm gay, I just came out, coming out of the closet, story, encountered jesus, testimony

Id: -Y24l9gX1Bc

Length: 17min 34sec (1054 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 19 2019