THE CHURCH MILITANT
Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse.
And so, Noble has been busy on the preaching circuit, doing a
leadership podcast (dude, he was fired for poor leadership) and helping
churches get more money out of their Christmas offerings.
Apparently, Noble’s ability to attract a crowd has made him appealing
among the church growth / seeker-friendly crowd. And, most recently,
the (formerly?) drunken pastor (who is currently living apart from his
wife and children, and is in the process of legal separation) is
dropping some hard language on Facebook. You know, to “keep it real” and everything.
Noble defiantly says, “I will not sanitize this article to
appease those who may be offended at the language and want a scrubbed
and safe [we think he means ‘sanctified’] version of Christianity that simply doesn’t work in the world.”
One shouldn’t be surprised that the man who was officially rebuked by the head of the South Carolina Baptist Convention for so terribly botching a sermon about the Ten Commandments (Noble said they were “Ten Promises”)
would accuse basic sanctification of “not working” in the real world.
Whether or not it works – an argument of pragmatism – is, of course,
irrelevant. The question is if sanctification is commanded and if filthy talk is offensive to God.
Noble used the expletive four times in the post, to mixed reviews of
his thousands of followers. The vast majority, so it seems, approved of
his use of the word, and a good number used some expletives of their own
toward those they called “Pharisees” and “Holier than Thous.”
Paul tells the church in Ephesus, “Let no corrupting talk come out of
your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the
occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).
Jesus said that it was out of the heart that the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34).
James said that “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet
does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s
religion is worthless” (James 1:26).
Dropping a four-letter word for feces is one thing, but doing it on Facebook is another. Doing it in the name of Jesus is yet another. But, don’t worry. At the end of Noble’s post, he reveals that neither he – nor anyone else – is a piece of [feces].
The accuracy of that assertion remains undecided.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Jen Hatmaker is the popular mommy-blogger and evangelical preacher
who was once part of the in-crowd of lady pastors on the mysti-chick
speaking circuit. That was, until 2016 when she told Jonathan Merritt (a
popular Christian journalist who has had his own homosexual encounters)
that she supported sodomy-based marriages and claimed that they could
be “holy.” She then took to the blogoshere to encourage churches to give
sodomites full inclusion (ostensibly, including membership). Since
then, Lifeway “Christian” Resources dropped her material (which was
about time, considering we were warning you of Jen Hatmaker for years.
Since then, Lifeway “Christian” Resources dropped her material (which
was about time, considering we were warning you of Jen Hatmaker for
years). Hatmaker has had to change crowds, with many of the conservative
evangelical female fans moving on to other gurus, but she has been
embraced by the likes of sodomy-soft evangelicals like Tony Compolo,
David Neff (the former editor of Christianity Today) and David Gushee.
However, don’t think for a second that Hatmaker has lost the full
fidelity and support of her good friend, Beth Moore. Moore, who is still
Lifeway’s best-selling author, is acting like nothing at all has
happened regarding Hatmaker’s plunge into apostasy.
Leaving an altogether nonsensical if unhelpful, seemingly random thought of nonsense on her Twitter account, the Cash Cow of Bashan
said that she didn’t much care for “ianity” in “Christianity,”
preferring just the “Christ.” Of course, the “ian” was added to “Christ”
in the town of Antioch in Acts 11:26.
The “ian” is a Biblical term that was applied to Christians in the
first Gentile church. So, a couple thousand years of church tradition
enshrined in the Holy Scripture, Beth Moore is not “into.”
One assumes that Moore is speaking about organized religion (as
though there were any other kind), church membership, elders, deacons,
or some kind of official church structure. Presumptively, Moore was
echoing the sentiment of Mahatma Ghandi, “I like your Christ, but I do
not like your Christians.” This pagan expression has been recently
turned into, “I love Christ, but I don’t like organized religion.”
Of course, Christ organized his religion, so the comment makes no
sense. Nonetheless, Beth Moore isn’t into the Christianity that has made
her into a multi-millionaire. Nah, she’s just into Jesus.
Jen Hatmaker – who rightly should have been disfellowshiped anyone
with a semblance of understanding of godly separation or holiness,
marked as one who causes division by giving contrary doctrines (Romans 16:17) – reached out to Moore, calling here shedding of Christ-“ianity” a “relief.”
Hatmaker says, “It actually feels like a relief. I swear to you on a
stack of Life Application Study Bibles that Jesus is the only thing that
made sense to me this year. I cry when I think about Him.”
Hatmaker has turned herself into a victim of the evangelical
establishment, a poor woman who just wanted to love the marginalized
when she was systematically persecuted by Christians who summarily
kicked her out of their club for no good reason. None of that makes
sense to her. Jesus does, however, make sense to her.
Beth’s response was, “I love you, Jen.”
But does Jesus really make sense to Hatmaker? Regarding sodomy-based marriage, Hatmaker said…
From a spiritual perspective, since gay marriage is legal
in all 50 states, our communities have plenty of gay couples who, just
like the rest of us, need marriage support and parenting help and
Christian community. They are either going to find those resources in
the church or they are not.
Not only are these our neighbors and friends, but they are brothers
and sisters in Christ. They are adopted into the same family as the rest
of us, and the church hasn’t treated the LGBT community like family
When asked if she would attend a gay wedding, she said…
I would attend that wedding with gladness, and I would
drink champagne. I want the very best for my gay friends. I want love
and happiness and faithfulness and commitment and community. Yes. That’s
an easy answer.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
This special edition of The Glazov Gang presents The Sandra Solomon Moment, with
Sandra Solomon, an ex-Muslim who grew up in Saudi Arabia who is now
valiantly fighting against the Islamization of the West — and of her new
home country of Canada in particular. (Support Sandra on her Facebook Page HERE.)
Sandra tells her personal journey: From Israel-Hater to Israel-Lover, sharing her recent visit to the Jewish State and why she now loves the Jews.
Don’t miss it! Subscribe to the Glazov Gang‘s YouTube Channel. Please donate through our Generosity Campaign or Pay Pal account to help The Glazov Gang keep going. Thank you!
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
WASHINGTON – In a development that has drawn ire from abortion supporters
and praise from pro-life groups, the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) has affirmed in a new document that life begins at conception
and that improving healthcare in America includes the unborn.
The Department’s recently-released draft of the agency’s strategic plan for fiscal years 2018-2022 includes language expressing a commitment to caring for unborn children.
“The mission of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) is to enhance the health and well-being of Americans, by providing
for effective health and human services and by fostering sound,
sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health,
and social services,” the plan’s introduction says.
Immediately following the opening paragraph, the agency states its commitment to care for all Americans, including the unborn.
“HHS accomplishes its mission through programs and initiatives that
cover a wide spectrum of activities, serving and protecting Americans at
every stage of life, beginning at conception,” the strategic plan’s
introduction states.
In two other instances, the proposed HHS plan for 2018-2022 references life beginning at conception.
“A core component of the HHS mission is our dedication to serve all
Americans from conception to natural death,” says the opening statement
of the agency’s “Strategic Goal 3.”
“The research pursued under this strategic goal is to be conducted
consistent with the understanding that human subjects [sic] protection
applies to all human beings from conception to natural death,”
reads “Strategic Goal 4.”
The draft also mentions the agency’s commitment to caring for children who are not yet born.
“While we may refer to the people we serve as beneficiaries,
enrollees, patients, or consumers, our ultimate goal is to improve
healthcare outcomes for all people, including the unborn, across
healthcare settings,” the opening paragraph of “Strategic Goal 1” says.
The HHS updates its strategic plan every four years. Although the
previous edition of the department’s strategic plan mentioned “life
span,” “every stage of life,” and “between life and death,” it made no
mention of caring for the unborn or life beginning at conception.
OB/GYN Dr. Jen Gunter drew attention to the document in a blog post on Monday. Gunter, who is a supporter of abortion, criticized the references to life beginning at conception as unscientific.
“It’s concerning because HHS isn’t just a theoretical group that
writes think pieces no one reads,” she said in an interview with
ThinkProgress. “We are replacing science with beliefs.”
However, others lauded the HHS for affirming the dignity of the unborn.
“Each life is a gift from God. Encouraged to see @HHS recognize that
life begins at conception,” Texas Senator Ted Cruz said in a tweet.
“The change might be five little words, but its meaning is deep,”
wrote Live Action’s Nancy Flanders. “It signifies that at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services knows and accepts the truth,
that life begins at conception (fertilization). Pro-life activists have
said it for decades, scientists have proved it, and abortion supporters
have denied and flat-out ignored it, but it’s true: life begins the
moment a new human life is created—at fertilization.”
The HHS draft strategic plan is open for public comment through October 27.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The Trump who said that this was a disastrous deal that should be
dismantled was more correct than this McMastered Trump. Get the full,
horrifying details of exactly how bad this deal is, and of Iran’s global
jihad adventurism, in my book The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran.
“Trump Keeps Iran Deal, Refuses to Certify Compliance to Congress,” by Ian Mason, Breitbart, October 13, 2017 (thanks to Ken):
President Donald Trump will not re-certify to Congress
Iranian compliance with the landmark nuclear deal signed in 2015 under
President Barack Obama, but will keep the agreement itself in place.
Congress will be urged to pass new “trigger points” to hold the
Iranians to account and the Treasury Department will be directed to
place additional sanctions on the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC), a wing of the Iranian military accused of terrorist acts
in support of the Iranian regime throughout the region.
“The President has come to the conclusion that he cannot certify …
that the sanctions relief we provided [Iran] is proportionate to the
benefit we are seeing,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on a
Thursday evening press conference call where he and National Security
Advisor H.R. McMaster laid out the broad strokes of what a White House
fact sheet referred to as “President Donald J. Trump‘s New Strategy on Iran.”
The plan, according to McMaster, was the product of “months of an inter-agency process.”
The administration will not certify to Congress Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),
better known as the Iran nuclear deal, or that the sanctions relief
given under the deal is providing proportionate benefits to the United
States.
It is required to do so every 90 days under a law called the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA),
passed nearly unanimously by Congress in the furor that surrounded
President Obama reaching the agreement with the Iranians largely without
consulting the Republican-controlled Senate. Although there has been no
showing that the Iranian government has violated the terms of the JCPOA, Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Hailey said last month that the president “has grounds to stand on” in refusing to certify compliance should he choose to do so.
Reporting Wednesday indicated
the administration has suffered serious internal tension over whether
to certify under INARA since July, when the pro-certification elements
of President Trump’s national security team won out before
the last certification deadline. Last week, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, the
former White House advisor and Breitbart News national security editor,
who was present at those negotiations, told Breitbart News,
“I can tell you one thing: I was in the Oval the day it was recertified
last. It was the president behind the Resolute Desk. It was Steve
[Bannon] and myself on the side of the president. It was H.R. McMaster,
Rex Tillerson, [Steven] Mnuchin who were saying we have to recertify.”
Gorka believed it was unlikely the president would approve of another
round of IRANA certification, a prediction borne out in Tillerson’s
pronouncements. On Wednesday, Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney told Breitbart News Daily that he considered decertification without withdrawal, the strategem on which the administration has now settled, to “be a bait-and-switch.”
Tillerson called the JCPOA, against which Trump ran extensively during his campaign for the presidency, was “only one piece of what concerns us in our relationship with Iran.”…
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
This is absolutely justified. Said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin:
“The IRGC has played a central role to Iran becoming the world’s
foremost state sponsor of terror. We urge the private sector to
recognize that the IRGC permeates much of the Iranian economy, and those
who transact with IRGC-controlled companies do so at great risk.” The announcement of this move said the group provides “support to a
number of terrorist groups, including Hizballah and Hamas, as well as to
the Taliban.”
Indeed. Find out just how bad the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
really is, and what it is doing in Iran and around the world, in my book
The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran.
“Trump designates Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group, calls for more sanctions,” by Joel Gehrke, Washington Examiner, October 13, 2017:
…”I am authorizing the Treasury Department to further
sanction the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for its support
for terrorism and to apply sanctions to its officials, agents, and
affiliates,” Trump said in a White House speech.
“I urge our allies to join us in taking strong actions to curb Iran’s
continued dangerous and destabilizing behavior,” Trump added.
“The IRGC has played a central role to Iran becoming the world’s
foremost state sponsor of terror,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
said Friday. “We urge the private sector to recognize that the IRGC
permeates much of the Iranian economy, and those who transact with
IRGC-controlled companies do so at great risk.”
As Trump spoke from the White House, the Treasury Department
announced it was designating the IRGC as a terrorist entity under a
White House Executive Order. That announcement said the group provides
“support to a number of terrorist groups, including Hizballah and Hamas,
as well as to the Taliban.”
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The report to which I linked earlier focuses on Trump keeping the Iranian deal that he repeatedly denounced. However, this one says: “Trump promised to fully cancel the deal if Congress and U.S. allies did not allay his concerns about the agreement.”
Congress and U.S. allies will not allay his concerns about the agreement. So we can only hope this deal is on its way out.
Get the full details of exactly how bad the Iran deal is, and of how
Iran aids al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Hamas and more, in my book The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran.
“Trump on Iran Decision: ‘Radical Regime’ has Spread ‘Death, Destruction and Chaos’ Around Globe,” by David Rutz, Washington Free Beacon, October 13, 2017:
President Donald Trump on Friday laid out Iran’s long
history of terror sponsorship and destabilizing behavior in a speech
announcing he would not certify the nuclear deal, calling the country a
“radical regime” that has spread “death” around the world. “Iran is under the control of a fanatical
regime that seized power in 1979 and forced a proud people to submit to
its extremist rule,” Trump said. “This radical regime has raided the
wealth of one of the world’s oldest and most vibrant nations, and spread
death, destruction and chaos all around the globe.”
Trump delved into various illicit acts by Iran and its sponsorship of
past terrorist acts that killed American soldiers and civilians.
“The Iranian dictatorship’s aggression continues to this day,” he
said. “The regime remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism
and provides assistance to al Qaeda, the Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas and
other terrorist networks. It develops, deploys and proliferates missiles
that threaten troops and their allies. It harasses american [sic] ships
and threatens freedom of navigation in the Arabian Gulf and in the Red
Sea. It imprisons Americans on false charges. It launches cyber attacks
against our critical infrastructure, financial system and military.”
“The United States is far from the only target of the Iranian
dictatorship’s long campaign of bloodshed. The regime violently
suppresses its own citizens. It shot unarmed student protesters in the
street during the Green Revolution. This regime has fueled sectarian
violence in Iraq and vicious civil wars in Yemen and Syria.”
As expected, Trump announced that his administration would not
re-certify the nuclear deal and punted the issue to Congress. Congress
must now decide whether to reimpose a large set of nuclear sanctions
that were lifted as part of the agreement.
“Based on what I put forward, I am announcing that we cannot, and will not make this certification,” Trump said. Trump promised to fully cancel the deal if Congress and U.S. allies did not allay his concerns about the agreement….
"While these statements, if true, would constitute a legitimate reason
to “decertify” the deal, some of Trump’s statement had little, if
anything, to do with whether the Iranians were abiding by the agreement
of 2015. For example, Trump said, “In Syria, the Iranian regime has
supported the atrocities of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and condoned
Assad’s use of chemical weapons against helpless civilians, including
many, many children.”
If true, this would be despicable, but would not justify
decertification of the Iran deal. And there is actually strong evidence
that it is not true; yet President Trump ordered the bombing of Syria in
retaliation — all without congressional authorization, as required by
the U.S. Constitution.
Perhaps the best argument against the Iran deal itself was that the Senate shirked its constitutional duty.
As a practical matter, Trump’s reasons for decertification of a deal
with Iran should have absolutely nothing to do with what Assad did or
did not do in Syria, or how the Iranian regime treats its own people. We
can certainly sympathize with the Iranians living under that hellish
government, but citing such considerations in a nuclear weapons deal is
yet another example of the “policeman of the world” attitude that has
infected presidents for decades — an attitude that Trump rightly
condemned during the 2016 presidential campaign."
____________________________________________________
"The statements of Trump and Haley do not contradict one another. This
is, however, a truly monstrous deal. Find the details of just how bad it
is in my book The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran. If Trump can’t get the most
egregious elements of the deal altered, he should stick to his guns and scrap it.
Trump, Haley said, will be working “very closely with Congress to try and come
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Charging Senate Republican leaders with failure and betrayal, a
group of conservative leaders is demanding the resignation or removal of
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his deputies from
their leadership posts. “We call on all five members of the GOP leadership to step down or
for their caucus to remove them as soon as possible,” Senate
Conservatives Fund President Ken Cuccinelli said at a press conference Tuesday. Those members consist of McConnell, Assistant Republican Leader John
Cornyn (R-Texas), Republican Conference Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.),
Republican Conference Vice Chairman Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), and Republican
Policy Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wy.). All are
middle-of-the-road legislators; their cumulative Freedom Index scores range from Blunt’s 55 percent to Barrasso’s 72 percent. In a scathing letter to McConnell, the conservative leaders stated:
2017 has been a disappointing year for
the millions of Americans who fully expected, and had every right to
expect real change in Washington. Republicans were given full control of
the federal government. They — you — have done nothing. Worse, it is
painfully clear that you intend to do nothing because, as is most
apparent, you had no intention of honoring your solemn commitments to
the American people. You were not going to “drain the swamp.” You are
the swamp.
And that was just for openers. The letter listed several promises on
which Senate leaders have reneged: stopping illegal immigration,
shrinking the size of government, ending deficit spending, repealing
ObamaCare, enacting tax reform, and defunding Planned Parenthood. Failing to repeal ObamaCare was “perhaps the greatest betrayal,” the
leaders wrote. Republicans, they maintained, control the White House and
both houses of Congress because of their longstanding vow to expunge
“the single most devastating piece of legislation against freedom ever
crafted” from the books. “President [Donald] Trump and the House of
Representatives have done their part,” they averred, perhaps overlooking
the fact that every bill the House passed this year left significant
portions of ObamaCare intact. “You sank it all.”
“The Senate under the leadership of Mitch McConnell has done nothing
to honor their promises,” said Media Research Center President Brent
Bozell. “Even worse, this Senate leadership has nothing on the horizon
to honor these promises. It’s shocking that apparently the Senate
leadership is virtually incapable or never had any intention of keeping
faith with the American people. It’s been an absolute betrayal.”
The conservatives also faulted GOP leaders for failing to confirm
Trump’s judicial nominees. “There are more than 100 vacancies in the
federal judiciary and there are more vacancies today then there were on
the day that Donald Trump was sworn in as president,” said Jenny Beth
Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. “Because the Senate has taken
off so much time they’ve only confirmed six, six nominees not named
Gorsuch.”
In their letter, the leaders pointed out that while the House has
passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Protection Act “three times” — most
recently, last week
— and Trump “has publicly stated his eagerness to sign this
legislation,” McConnell’s team has “not lift[ed] a finger to advance
this bill” and Cornyn has called it “not a short-term priority.”
In addition, they criticized Senate leaders for doing things that
serve their own interests and those of their donors at the expense of
ordinary Americans, such as “deceitfully advancing the Export-Import
Bank.”
On top of all that, they claimed that McConnell, et al., have engaged
in “vicious, continuous, merciless attacks on grassroots Republicans,
but most especially conservatives.”
“America,” they told McConnell, “is too good for you to lead it.”
“This pattern of failure of McConnell’s gang of five leadership team,
while loathing and attacking their own base, the most loyal bloc of
voters that has elected them, and all of their caucus members, can no
longer be tolerated,” declared Cuccinelli.
“If this was a football team and you’ve lost this many times, you’d
start firing the coaches,” said ForAmerica President David Bozell.
According to the Daily Caller,
“Most of the leaders demurred when asked who could replace McConnell as
majority leader.” Cuccinelli said it was “up to the caucus” to pick
more principled and effective leaders. But given that these same people
chose the current leaders, how likely are they to select better ones
next time?
_____________________________________________________ SEE FULL LETTER HERE: http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/McConnell-Ltr-11Oct17-1.pdf
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) fell from grace at astounding speed. From being touted as the Obama administration's “global partner” in globalizing education
just a few years ago, to facing a massive financial crisis and even a
U.S. government exit today under President Trump, UNESCO is on track to
become a byword for globalist corruption and tyranny. It also offers
Americans a powerful example of how easy it is to restore ceded U.S.
sovereignty and crush globalist schemes that undermine liberty,
morality, self-government, and common sense. Israel also announced its
departure. Now, it is time to focus on the broader United Nations. Today, the U.S. State Department formally notified UNESCO boss Irina Bokova — an actual communist swamped in corruption scandals — that the United States is leaving the organization. In a statement, the U.S. State Department said
the decision “was not taken lightly.” The reason for the decision,
officials said, includes “U.S. concerns with mounting arrears at UNESCO,
the need for fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing
anti-Israel bias at UNESCO.” More on each of those important points in a
moment.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
This is most welcome and long overdue. Next step: withdraw from the
UN entirely and kick it out of New York. UNESCO (like the UN as a whole)
is simply a tool of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Last
year it passed a resolution declaring the Temple Mount Muslim, not Jewish. It renamed
the Western Wall “Al-Buraq Plaza.” And those were just two of its
ridiculous moves, defying history, reason, and any fair treatment of
Israel. This is a good step. Now, Mr. President, take the next one.
“U.S. withdraws from UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural organization, citing anti-Israel bias,” by Eli Rosenberg, Washington Post, October 12, 2017 (thanks to Paul):
The United States plans to withdraw from UNESCO, citing
financial reasons, as well as what it said was an anti-Israel bias at
the U.N.’s educational, cultural and science organization.
The decision to withdraw from UNESCO, which the United States helped
found, was announced Thursday morning by the State Department, which
said the United States would remain involved as a nonmember observer. It
will take effect at the end of 2018.
It marks yet another decision by the United States to distance itself from some parts of the international community.
Some of the United States’s closest allies are among UNESCO’s 195
members. France’s U.N. ambassador, Francois Delattre, had urged the
United States to remain in UNESCO this week, saying the United States
“must stay committed to world affairs.”…
But the United States has at times had an ambivalent relationship
with the Paris-based organization. The government stopped paying its
dues in 2011 after UNESCO voted to include the Palestinian Authority as a
member.
And senior Trump administration officials — including U.S. Ambassador
to the United Nations Nikki Haley — have been critical of the
organization….
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
DALLAS, Texas —A blasphemous Baptist minister in
Texas known for his book “The Queering of an American Evangelical” says
that he supports polyamorous—or plural—relationships and believes that
God Himself is polyamorous.
“The Holy Trinity is a polyamorous relationship,” Jeff Hood, who
holds a doctorate with a focus in “queer theology” from Brite Divinity
School and who was ordained at a church within the Southern Baptist
Convention, asserted during a recent Patheos interview with Chuck McKnight.
“You can’t talk about the level of intimacy and ecstasy that these
three beings are constantly experiencing without defining their
relationship in such a way,” he claimed. “Their love has always been and
will always be a shared phenomenon. In the Holy Trinity, love is never
denied. We should spend our lives making sure that the love of
polyamorous individuals is never denied and always protected. The Holy
Trinity demands it.”
Hood has stated before on his website that he believes that “the
disciples and Jesus were involved in some sort of polyamorous
relationship.”
In August, he told Jennifer Martin of Splinter that he thinks polyamorous relationships reflect the Trinity.
“Not only is polyamory a positive thing, I think it’s a holy thing,”
Hood opined. “I think it mimics the personhood of God. Different
relationships can show us different things, and I think polyamory can
show us what the Trinity looks like.”
Hood has also outlined that he believes that because “love is love,”
polyamorous relationships should be supported just like same-sex
relationships.
“While there could be many explanations of the polyamorous God, the
one that matters the most is this: God dwells within the oppressed and
marginalized (Matthew 25). Polyamorous folks are constantly oppressed
and marginalized,” he told McKnight. “God is polyamorous, and if we want
to get saved than we have to figure out a way to become connected to
polyamory.”
Hood acknowledged during the interview that his views are rejected by
many Christians, who he called “church [expletives] that have no
knowledge of God.”
“Do these people sound like they know anything about
love? [Expletive] no. I ain’t listening to a [expletive] word they say,”
he said. “I know who I’m listening to. I hear the voice of God, ‘I am
the way, the truth and the life. No one can can love Me and condemn
polyamory, for I am polyamorous.'”
Hood’s views on the subject have been met with mixed reaction.
“God explicitly condones polygamy and the whole Bride of Christ is polygamous,” one commenter wrote.
“Plural unity within the Trinity is not polyamory,” another stated.
“What people want to do is their business; however, if you feel the need
to justify it scripturally, at least be less sloppy when you try.
Otherwise you’re just preaching to the choir, so to speak.”
“Jeff Hood is clearly biblically ignorant. His so-called knowledge of God comes from Satan,” a third wrote.
