Joe Dallas - The Gay Gospel?: How Pro-Gay Advocates Misread the Bible

Must reading for all who sincerely seek the clearest explanation yet for the Christian attitude toward homosexuality. I pray that this work will have the impact on all segments of our society that it deserves.

D. J AMES K ENNEDY, P H. D.

Senior Minister,

Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church

To be caught in the trap of homosexuality is difficult enough, but to be held captive in the snare of the strong delusion of a false gospel requires the stronger arm of truth. Writing the truth in love, Joe Dallas reveals how to set the captive free.

J ANET P ARSHALL

Nationally syndicated talk show host and author

More than ever, Christians are challenged to articulate and defend the Bibles position on homosexuality. In The Gay Gospel? Joe Dallasone of Christianitys most able and articulate spokesman on human sexualitycodifies the arguments and arms us with clear, concise and convincing answers. This resource is both compelling and compassionate.

H ANK H ANEGRAAFF

President of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Answer Man radio broadcast

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture verses marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All emphasis in Scripture quotations has been added by the author.

Cover by Koechel Peterson & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota

Cover photo Tom Henry / Koechel Peterson & Associates

THE GAY GOSPEL?

Updated and expanded edition of A Strong Delusion

Copyright 1996/2007 by Joe Dallas

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN-13: 978-0-7369-1834-3 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-6036-6 (eBook)

ISBN-10: 0-7369-1834-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dallas, Joe, 1954-

[Strong delusion]

The Gay Gospel? / Joe Dallas.

p. cm.

Originally published: Strong delusion. Eugene, Or. : Harvest House Publishers, 1996.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN: 1-56507-431-9

1. HomosexualityReligious aspectsChristianity. 2. Homosexuality in the Bible. 3. HomosexualityBiblical teaching. 4. Dallas, Joe, 1954- I. Title.

BR115.H6D36 2007

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To the churches and families willing to speak loving truth in a time of error: KEEP STANDING!

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, then I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is tested.

M ARTIN L UTHER

Contents

Nothing is so easy as to deceive oneself; for what we wish, we readily believe.

D EMOSTHENES (384322 BC )

I remember clearly, and with inexpressible regret, the day I convinced myself it was acceptable to be both gay and Christian.

It was the fall of 1978, and the local Metropolitan Community Church was opening its morning service just as I slipped into a seat near the back. I had passed the plain white building hundreds of times before, having once been the associate pastor of a Foursquare church not three blocks away, and Id heard plenty of stories about this gay-friendly denomination that had recently been founded by an openly homosexual minister named Troy Perry. I knew that most of its members were homosexual. I also knew it subscribed to the belief that homosexuality and Christianity were compatible, and that it was a visible and outspoken advocate for a number of gay causes. What I didnt know, those countless times Id driven past the church shaking my head at the very thought of gay Christians, was that Id someday step inside and identify myself as one of them.

Whod have guessed? I was, after all, a conservative, born-again believer whod cut his teeth under the teachings of Pastor Chuck Smith, founder of the Calvary Chapel movement, during the heady days of whats often called the Jesus movement. Id been an ordained minister and lived a sheltered, sanctified lifestyle since my teens, so how could Ior anyone, for that matterpredict my next stop would be the gay church? Back then, the idea was unthinkable.

Not that homosexuality was foreign to me. Unbeknownst to my friends and associates, Id privately wrestled with it since childhood. In fact, by the time I converted to Christianity at age 16 Id had numerous sexual experiences with both men and women. But Id assumed that, having come to Christ, my sexual desires would either vanish or somehow conform to biblical standards and behave themselves until I was married. Sex wasnt discussed much in church back then, so I wasnt quite sure how this little miracle of transformation would come about. But I was certain that, with adequate prayer, fellowship, and Bible study, Id eventually achieve a lust-free existence where no sexual fantasies or desires, homosexual or heterosexual, would intrude.

But they did, again and again. Even as I grew spiritually and my ministry expanded, my mind would often wander back to past sexual encounters or pornographic magazines Id viewed years earlier. Without realizing it, Id spent the early part of my life amassing a library full of erotic images, lodged in my brain like old books ready to be taken out and browsed through. Becoming a Christian hadnt erased them, and at times I have to admit they held a certain appeal. So when the rigors of ministry or personal stress made themselves felt, Id retreat to my sexual fantasies for entertainment and comfort. I didnt feel good about that, but I consoled myself with the fact that I wasnt doing anythingviewing porn, for example, or committing fornication. So my sexual fantasies, while sinful, didnt seem that sinful. I was, in other words, indulging in a mental compromise that was setting me up for a bigger fall than I thought I was capable of.

One step into an adult bookstore seven years after my conversion was all it took to end my ministry and plunge me into a series of sexual excesses, culminating in a yearlong relationship with the owner of a gay bar. He was committed to another man, but no matter. Wed meet every night after hours, and Id drive home drunk at four in the morning, then rise for work, exhausted and confused.