October 1, 1997 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - This summer, Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Ames, Iowa, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), unanimously voted to keep Steven Sabin as pastor, though he divorced his wife and is living in a homosexual relationship with his live-in male "lover." Sabin said he realized he was gay in 1990 and divorced his wife of ten years. In 1992 he began to date a man from San Francisco, and in 1995 they began to live together. Earlier this year, Sabin’s bishop, Philip Hougen of the Southeastern Iowa Synod, asked Sabin to resign, but he refused. While the ELCA does not officially allow the ordination of homosexual pastors on paper, it does allow them in practice. The denomination officially allows "non-practicing" homosexuals to be ministers and "welcomes congregation members of all sexual orientations."

Promise Keepers says it wants to break down the walls between the denominations. That was the theme of their conferences in 1996. It welcomes men from any church or denomination to participate. This news item illustrates the reason why we are opposed to such a philosophy and practice. To think that the mainline denominations today represent Bible Christianity is absolute blindness.