Largest Presbyterian Denomination Gives Final Approval for Same-Sex Marriage
After three decades of debate over its stance on homosexuality, members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted on Tuesday to change the definition of marriage in the church’s constitution to include same-sex marriage.
The final approval by a majority of the church’s 171 regional bodies, known as presbyteries, enshrines a change recommended last year by the church’s General Assembly. The vote amends the church’s constitution to broaden marriage from being between “a man and a woman” to “two people, traditionally a man and a woman.”
Other religious denominations that have officially decided to permit their clergy to perform same-sex marriages include the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the Quakers, the Unitarian Universalist Association of Churches and, in Judaism, the Reform and Conservative movements. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America left it open for individual ministers to decide.
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SEE ALSO:
EXCERPT:
In response to the passage of Amendment 10a, more than 150 congregations voted to disaffiliate from the mainline denomination.
Carmen Fowler LaBerge, president of the conservative Presbyterian Lay Committee, said in a statement released in response to the approval of the marriage amendment that it showed PCUSA surrendering to social norms.
“Any prophetic voice that the denomination may have once had to speak truth and call people to repentance is now lost,” stated LaBerge.
“All she (PCUSA) can do now is echo the voices of the world for she has abandoned the clarion call to bear faithful witness to the God who has clearly spoken on this matter.”
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March 19, 2015
Presbyterian USA group again chooses sodomy over the Bible
By Gina Miller
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and
research purposes:
"The world is overflowing with deception (good is evil, and evil is good), false religions and doctrines forged in Hell. Among the world's false religions, there are none more sinister – in my opinion – than those that claim the name of Christ while espousing all kinds of unbiblical error and even things the Lord calls abomination. While other false religions are no less dangerous to the eternal spirits of those beguiled by them, it is supremely detestable when false gospels are presented under the name of Jesus.
Jesus is the Son of God, and He is God. He came to earth to offer Himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. We are all accountable to God for our sins. We are all born in sin, and we each struggle with sin all our lives (at least those of us who recognize our sinfulness struggle with it, but others may not consider it at all). Jesus lived a sinless life as God in the flesh, and his willing sacrifice on the cross was perfect and acceptable to cover the sins of anyone who would believe in Him. Jesus is the only way – the only way – for man to be reconciled to God. He died so we could be free from sin, not be "out and proud" of our sin! The devil knows this and wants to prevent as many people from being saved as he possibly can, so he has labored from the beginning of Christ's earthly ministry to infiltrate the church, to infuse it with his evil, subtle deceptions and myriad divisions. He has been greatly successful.
Today, we see rampant apostasy in many so-called Christian churches. There are plenty of denominations and churches that have created their own set of man-made traditions and regulations apart from Scripture, and in some cases, contrary to it. When churches that purport to be Christian rely on anything other than the Bible alone for revelation of God's plan for mankind, then error is inevitable. When the Rock is not your foundation (no, the Rock is not Peter; it's Jesus), then you will be prone to swallow all manner of false teachings.
Thus it is with the Presbyterian USA group, which voted this week to add the acceptance of sodomite "marriage" to its constitution. This follows on the heels of a 2011 vote that saw the group amend its charter to accept the ordination of unrepentant homosexuals to leadership position in its churches.
The New York Times, in reporting this story, quoted the response of a Presbyterian homosexual activist:
"Finally, the church in its constitutional documents fully recognizes that the love of gays and lesbian couples is worth celebrating in the faith community," said the Rev. Brian D. Ellison, executive director of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, which advocates gay inclusion in the church. "There is still disagreement, and I don't mean to minimize that, but I think we are learning that we can disagree and still be church together."
That's a devilishly wrong statement. The "love" of homosexuals is, at best, sexually perverse lust, and in no way worth "celebrating," much less in the "faith community." This man, Brian Ellison, is a homosexual working within the Presbyterian USA group to inject the radical homosexual agenda into the organization. A press release from 2012 announcing his appointment as Executive Director of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians quotes him:
"I am deeply honored by this opportunity to offer leadership as executive director in the years ahead," said Brian. "Having given all of my vocational life to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), I joined with others in celebrating last year's constitutional changes permitting sessions and presbyteries to ordain all those whom God calls. Now, I believe that the Covenant Network is uniquely poised to help the church live into this new day that has dawned. There is still much work to do, and I look forward to joining in the good work Covenant Network is doing as it continues to seek a church as generous and just as God's grace."
Brian plans to work from the Kansas City area, where he lives with his partner, Troy Lillebo.
He praises the 2011 decision of the Presbyterians to allow unrepentant sodomites to be church leaders; and worse, he claims those unrepentant sodomites are part of "all those whom God calls" to ministry leadership. That's a lie from the pit of Hell. God calls unrepentant sinners to repent, period. He does not call to ministry leadership those who not only callously embrace their sin and refuse to turn from it, but whose very identity is their sin itself.
Do not misunderstand what I'm saying here. Every one of us sins, and that includes church leaders, but those with a foundation based in Biblical knowledge understand that we are called by the Lord to turn from our sins, to repent, and become new creatures in Christ and to strive daily to avoid the sins that used to hold us prisoner. Only then is it possible for the Lord to move men forward and possibly use them in church leadership positions. Those who are "out and proud" in their sin are not, in their present state, called by God to church leadership.
Then there's the issue of marriage. With this latest choice, the Presbyterian USA group has further rejected the Word of God as its foundation, and instead has embraced the evil destruction of marriage. They are also apparently ignoring the tyranny against the freedoms of their fellow Americans that the radical homosexual movement (with its same-sex "marriage" crusade) represents.
This group has rejected Christ in firmly rejecting His clear teachings in the Bible – the whole of which is His Word. The leaders of Presbyterian USA have no business calling it a Christian organization. This is not to say that the Lord cannot save someone who is in this Presbyterian group, because He can save anyone. If those who remain in a "church" that embraces anti-Christian heresy manage to find Christ, it is in spite of the false doctrine they hear, not because of it."
Jesus is the Son of God, and He is God. He came to earth to offer Himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. We are all accountable to God for our sins. We are all born in sin, and we each struggle with sin all our lives (at least those of us who recognize our sinfulness struggle with it, but others may not consider it at all). Jesus lived a sinless life as God in the flesh, and his willing sacrifice on the cross was perfect and acceptable to cover the sins of anyone who would believe in Him. Jesus is the only way – the only way – for man to be reconciled to God. He died so we could be free from sin, not be "out and proud" of our sin! The devil knows this and wants to prevent as many people from being saved as he possibly can, so he has labored from the beginning of Christ's earthly ministry to infiltrate the church, to infuse it with his evil, subtle deceptions and myriad divisions. He has been greatly successful.
Today, we see rampant apostasy in many so-called Christian churches. There are plenty of denominations and churches that have created their own set of man-made traditions and regulations apart from Scripture, and in some cases, contrary to it. When churches that purport to be Christian rely on anything other than the Bible alone for revelation of God's plan for mankind, then error is inevitable. When the Rock is not your foundation (no, the Rock is not Peter; it's Jesus), then you will be prone to swallow all manner of false teachings.
Thus it is with the Presbyterian USA group, which voted this week to add the acceptance of sodomite "marriage" to its constitution. This follows on the heels of a 2011 vote that saw the group amend its charter to accept the ordination of unrepentant homosexuals to leadership position in its churches.
The New York Times, in reporting this story, quoted the response of a Presbyterian homosexual activist:
"Finally, the church in its constitutional documents fully recognizes that the love of gays and lesbian couples is worth celebrating in the faith community," said the Rev. Brian D. Ellison, executive director of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, which advocates gay inclusion in the church. "There is still disagreement, and I don't mean to minimize that, but I think we are learning that we can disagree and still be church together."
That's a devilishly wrong statement. The "love" of homosexuals is, at best, sexually perverse lust, and in no way worth "celebrating," much less in the "faith community." This man, Brian Ellison, is a homosexual working within the Presbyterian USA group to inject the radical homosexual agenda into the organization. A press release from 2012 announcing his appointment as Executive Director of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians quotes him:
"I am deeply honored by this opportunity to offer leadership as executive director in the years ahead," said Brian. "Having given all of my vocational life to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), I joined with others in celebrating last year's constitutional changes permitting sessions and presbyteries to ordain all those whom God calls. Now, I believe that the Covenant Network is uniquely poised to help the church live into this new day that has dawned. There is still much work to do, and I look forward to joining in the good work Covenant Network is doing as it continues to seek a church as generous and just as God's grace."
Brian plans to work from the Kansas City area, where he lives with his partner, Troy Lillebo.
He praises the 2011 decision of the Presbyterians to allow unrepentant sodomites to be church leaders; and worse, he claims those unrepentant sodomites are part of "all those whom God calls" to ministry leadership. That's a lie from the pit of Hell. God calls unrepentant sinners to repent, period. He does not call to ministry leadership those who not only callously embrace their sin and refuse to turn from it, but whose very identity is their sin itself.
Do not misunderstand what I'm saying here. Every one of us sins, and that includes church leaders, but those with a foundation based in Biblical knowledge understand that we are called by the Lord to turn from our sins, to repent, and become new creatures in Christ and to strive daily to avoid the sins that used to hold us prisoner. Only then is it possible for the Lord to move men forward and possibly use them in church leadership positions. Those who are "out and proud" in their sin are not, in their present state, called by God to church leadership.
Then there's the issue of marriage. With this latest choice, the Presbyterian USA group has further rejected the Word of God as its foundation, and instead has embraced the evil destruction of marriage. They are also apparently ignoring the tyranny against the freedoms of their fellow Americans that the radical homosexual movement (with its same-sex "marriage" crusade) represents.
This group has rejected Christ in firmly rejecting His clear teachings in the Bible – the whole of which is His Word. The leaders of Presbyterian USA have no business calling it a Christian organization. This is not to say that the Lord cannot save someone who is in this Presbyterian group, because He can save anyone. If those who remain in a "church" that embraces anti-Christian heresy manage to find Christ, it is in spite of the false doctrine they hear, not because of it."
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REV. BRIAN D. ELLISON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
COVENANT NETWORK OF PRESBYTERIANS (LGBT)
ELLISON AND LILLEBO LIVING TOGETHER:
EXCERPT:
Ellison called the letter “the end of a long period of discernment.” He added, “by the time I got to this, I was so clearly doing the right thing, there wasn’t any question left in my mind.” He began at Parkville, his parish, in 1999. In 2003, he began dating Troy Lillebo, who moved to Kansas City one year later. They began living together in 2005.
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SEE ALSO: http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/faith-and-morals/item/20458-presbyterian-church-u-s-a-approves-of-same-sex-marriage;
EXCERPT:
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SEE ALSO: http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/faith-and-morals/item/20458-presbyterian-church-u-s-a-approves-of-same-sex-marriage;
EXCERPT:
Carmen Fowler LaBerge, president of the conservative Presbyterian Lay Committee, was quoted in the Christian Science Monitor as saying that the new definition of marriage was “an express repudiation of the Bible” and approved “what God does not bless."
The Presbyterian Lay Committee has urged Presbyterians to protest the change by withholding their donations from the national church until the original marriage definition is restored.
The Monitor also quoted the Reverend Robin White, a leader of More Light Presbyterians, which advocates for acceptance of homosexuals within the church, who said many “families” headed by same-sex couples “have been waiting for decades to enter this space created for their families within their church communities.”
