Written by B. Nathaniel Sullivan |
Thursday, August 26, 2021
Learn enough about the new Netflix movie Pray Away to stay away from its overall message. Jesus really does change people from the inside out, and no amount of distortion or propaganda ever will change that.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. —The apostle Paul to the Christians at Corinth, and to us, in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11—
Key point: Because certain truths are difficult for many to accept, they and the people advocating them are regularly maligned, distorted, and misrepresented. Yet these realities still are true, and they still have all the power and authority accorded everything true. People ignore and dismiss such truths, and the people presenting them, to their own peril.
If someone were to ask you to describe Jesus, what adjectives would you use? Many Christians would use adjectives like these: caring, compassionate, and loving. Certainly He was all of these, but I believe one of the Lord’s most important qualities — and one of the most forgotten — is that He was controversial. He was loved by many but hated by many more. Moreover, He warned His disciples that if they truly followed Him, they, too, would be misunderstood, misrepresented, and hated.
Jeffrey McCall: A True Disciple of Christ
Nearly two years ago I introduced you to Jeffrey McCall. He is a former homosexual who was radically transformed by Jesus Christ. Jesus changed this young man from the inside out, and he became the founder of the Freedom March, a movement that calls on men and women who have been delivered from a gay lifestyle and found freedom in Christ to come together and publicly declare how Christ transformed and delivered them. We have highlighted Freedom March events more than once at Word Foundations.1

Luis Ruiz and Angel Colon also have been involved in the Freedom March. Both of them came out of homosexuality and gave their lives afresh to God after the bloody shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on June 12, 2016. Ruiz and Colon now have a ministry and website called Fearless Identity.
Can Homosexuals Change?
Ex-gays are the most misunderstood minority in America. Also, they are the most discriminated against group in the nation, bar none. The prevailing narrative regarding homosexuals is that they were “made” that way or “born” that way, and efforts efforts to change their sexual orientation are extremely harmful. Yet, if a person truly is objective, he or she cannot overlook men and women who have come out of homosexuality. These people are real, and their number is growing. Jeffrey McCall, Luis Ruiz, Angel Colon, Becket Cook, Stephen Black of First Stone Ministries, Daren Mehl of Voice of the Voiceless, and Anne Paulk of Restored Hope Network are only a few of many who would testify to authentic change in their lives.

Have all of these individuals overcome every element of same-sex attraction? No. But at a deep and authentic level, they no longer desire sexual encounters with members of the same sex; and with God’s help, they have walked away. In other words, they have shed their gay identity. Speaking about his conversion encounter with Christ, Becket Cook put it this way on the Eric Metaxas radio show that aired on August 8, 2019. You can learn more about Becket here.
Can homosexuals change? Resoundingly, formerly gay men and women who’ve been transformed by Christ say yes! Some, like Becket Cook, still may struggle with same-sex attraction (SSA) or homosexual temptation. Even so, these men and women have renounced a gay identity and welcomed an identity in Christ that aligns with the purposes for which God made them. This includes embracing biblical masculinity or femininity, as well as heterosexuality as part of God’s good design. Such a change in perspective and outlook has given these men and women a freedom they never could have attained without Christ.

What About So-Called “Conversion Therapy” ?
While some Christians with homosexuality in their pasts have experienced profound transformations in their sexual desires and moved toward heterosexuality without the help of professional counseling, others have found such counseling very beneficial. Go here to read about what legitimate counseling in this area looks like.

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Jesus prohibits a critical spirit, but does not forbid all use of the critical faculty. To follow Jesus, we must therefore discover why he says, “Judge not,” in Matthew 7, but says, “Judge with right judgment,” in John 7. Notice first that Jesus tells His disciples to make judgments in the very chapter that says “Judge not.” Later in Matthew 7, Jesus says, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them (vv. 15-16). That is, disciples must discern – must judge – who is a false prophet and who is a true one. 

I just read again what is most likely the most misused and abused passage in all of Scripture. And I also just read two obvious correctives to such lousy interpretations and understandings that immediately follow from it. I refer of course to Matthew 7. Verses 1-5 – especially v. 1 – are the ones routinely massacred, even by so many Christians. They are certainly quite well known:
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
How many times have you heard it said – even by rather clueless Christians – that we must never judge? Yet if you press these folks and say that folks ARE to make distinctions between what is true and false, right and wrong, they will reply, ‘Oh, but that is different.’
Um, no it is not different. You cannot judge without being discerning and making distinctions. Whenever you discern and test and evaluate you are of necessity making a judgment. They go together – it is a package deal. Christians and non-Christians alike thus judge every single day – whether they are making a choice between a cappuccino and a flat white, or between one person and another for a marriage partner.
Judgment and discernment go together. And the very next verse in Matthew 7 makes this clear. Jesus goes on to say this in v. 6: “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” Deciding who is a dog or a pig, and deciding what is holy, are all matters of judgment and discernment. – can’t be avoided.
But it does not stop there. Just a few verses later we get even more commands by Jesus to judge and discern. Verses 15-20 say this:
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
No one reading all of Matthew 7 can ever come away with the nonsensical notion that the Christian is not to judge. Quite the opposite: while the Christian is not to engage in HYPOCRITICAL judging (which is exactly the point of verses 1-5), the believer IS to constantly judge, discern, assess, test, and weigh things up. This is commanded throughout Scripture.
All sensible (and discriminating) expositors of Scripture of course understand this. They will not fall for the ‘do not judge’ silliness. Let me draw upon a few of them here. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his Studies on the Sermon on the Mount says this:
If our Lord had finished His teaching with those first five verses, it would undoubtedly have led to a false position. Men and women would be so careful to avoid the terrible danger of judging in that wrong sense that they would exercise no discrimination, no judgment whatsoever. There would be no such thing as discipline in the Church, and the whole of the Christian life would be chaotic.
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The burdens and suffering of Southern Appalachians are real and heavy, but they are not too heavy for Jesus. His wounds and scars say otherwise, as does the resounding hope of the empty tomb. Times of crisis also prompt questions such as, “What can we do?” or “How can I help?” Scripture teaches us that “if one member suffers, all suffer together” (1 Cor. 12:26). Despite geographical distance, the church shares a unity with its hurting brothers and sisters as one body, and we are called to serve and love our neighbors as ourselves.

This past year, my family relocated from the mountains of North Carolina to the coast. Yet a piece of my heart will always be in the Appalachian Mountains of Western North Carolina. Reading reports of the lives lost and seeing photos of the physical devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene has made my heart ache for the place I once called home. My family lived in Boone, North Carolina, for almost eight years, and some of our most cherished memories were made there. Southern Appalachia is a special place with wonderful people, churches, and institutions. Appalachians are resilient people who need prayer and support during this difficult time.
Tragic situations often prompt big questions such as, “Why would God allow this?” or “Where is God?” These questions wrestle with God’s sovereignty and the nature of suffering, death, and pain in this life. Speaking on suffering, Dr. R.C. Sproul comments, “The apostle said he was ‘hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed.’ He made no attempt to mask his pain in a fraudulent piety. The Christian is not a Stoic. Neither does he flee into a fantasy world that denies the reality of suffering. Paul freely admitted the pressure he experienced.” The people of Southern Appalachia are being hard pressed on every side. The pain of this world is staring them right in the face. There’s no time for “fraudulent piety” or “denying the reality” of pain and suffering. Many are without power and clean water and are cut off from the rest of the world due to collapsed roads.
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