July 3, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The mainline Protestant denominations are melting pots of religious apostasy. They even boast in their "unity in diversity." They are an unholy and unscriptural mixed multitude of evangelicals and liberals, believers and unbelievers. Nothing illustrates this more plainly that the issue of homosexuality.

THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, for example, formally states that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching, and in 1984 and again this year voted to prohibit ordination of self-avowed, practicing homosexuals. In practice, though, these statements mean very little. As soon as the prohibition against homosexual ordinations went into effect in 1984, United Methodist bishops brazenly ordained sodomites in Colorado and California. The New York United Methodist Conference passed a resolution which said, "We deeply regret our denomination’s continued oppression of homosexual persons. . . . We look forward to the day when the church will accept gay and lesbian persons into full fellowship." Retiring UMC bishop Melvin Wheatley spoke to the Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) in Sacramento, California, in 1985, and said the MCC is "wonderful because you are mixing the gay and Christian experience." The MCC is a homosexual denomination. Wheatly said in 1983, "I clearly do not believe that homosexuality is a sin. . . . Homosexuality, quite like heterosexuality, is neither a virtue nor an accomplishment. It is a mysterious gift of God’s grace . . . His or her homosexuality is a gift--neither a virtue nor a sin." Many United Methodist churches have performed wedding ceremonies for homosexuals, and a number of homosexuals have been ordained to the ministry. James Conn, pastor of a UMC congregation in Ocean Park, Calif., said, "The gospel as I understand it is about the quality of the relationship, whether it is a homosexual or heterosexual one." Ignacio Castuera of Hollywood First Methodist Church said the church is under a moral obligation to bless gay requests for marriage ceremonies. When Melvin Talbert was ordained head bishop for Northern California and Nevada in 1988, he stated: "I do not believe we know enough about homosexuality to make hard and fast rules. I would have hoped we could be more open and compassionate to people of different sexual orientations. I come with no prejudgments." Also in 1988 the California Methodist Conference sponsored an "enrichment weekend" for homosexual couples. In 1992 the UMC Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns declared itself open to the full participation of all people, including gays and lesbians, and the top judicial body of the UMC ruled that the agency was within its rights to make such a declaration. (Homosexuality is not the only moral perversion condoned in UMC circles, by the way. The UMC communications agency in 1988 issued a statement on "erotica" which approved of sexually explicit pornography as long as it was not violent or coercive!) In May 2000, the United Methodist Quadrennial Assembly voted to retain its ban on "holy union’’ services and homosexual clergy, but in practice it is immorality as usual in large segments of the United Methodist denomination. Only four months earlier, in January 2000, 14 United Methodist leaders joined more than 800 other liberal "clergy" in signing "a declaration on morality" that calls upon all faiths to bless homosexual couples and allow homosexual ministers. Signers included United Methodist Bishop Roy Sano of Pasadena, California, and professors from United Methodist seminaries in Dallas; Denver; Washington D.C.; Claremont, California; and Evanston, Illinois.

A SIMILAR SITUATION EXISTS IN THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH USA. A vote to disassociate the PC-USA from homosexual ministries within the denomination failed by a margin of 2-1 at its 1984 Assembly. The PC-USA has a formal policy that allows for homosexuals to be received as members, and even allows for the ordination of homosexuals as long as they do not engage in same-sex relationships. In practice, homosexuals within the PC-USA routinely carry on with their perverted lifestyles, and the PC-USA brings no discipline against them. The committee which recommended the change in homosexual policy in 1991 equated "sexism" and "heterosexism" with "racism" and condemned resistance to homosexuality as homophobia. The 1988 assembly of the Presbytery of Genesse Valley, New York, invited the Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus to perform a concert. In 1991 the PC-USA filed a "friend-of-the-court" legal brief in support of the attempt to overthrow Kentucky’s sodomy law. In 1992 the PC-USA Committee on Educational Ministry recommended that the denomination refuse to allow Boy Scout troops to use church basements to punish the Scouts for their policy of barring homosexuals from being troop leaders. Erig Graninger, associate general counsel for the Presbyterians, said, "It is not for the state to tell the citizens of Kentucky what their morals should be." Delegates to the 1993 PC-USA Assembly voted to support Clinton’s effort to remove the military’s ban on homosexuals. A poll taken in 1996 showed that 35 percent of PC-USA pastors and 32 percent of the members supported homosexual ordination. The attitude of many of the homosexuals within the PC-USA is represented by a statement made by Howard Warren at the General Conference, July 1996 -- "I do not like how THIS HETEROSEXUAL DICTATORSHIP treats my people." There are 73 PC-USA congregations which identify themselves as "More Light" churches, "meaning they are willing to ordain gay and lesbian members to church office." According to the Associated Press, July 5, 1996, "about 20 ordained pastors have told their congregations they are gay or lesbian." In January 2000, seven professors from Presbyterian USA seminaries signed "a declaration on morality that calls upon all faiths to bless same-sex couples and allow gay and lesbian ministers" ("Liberal Clergy Endorse Declaration on Sexual Morality," Associated Press, Jan. 18, 2000). On May 24, 2000, the Presbyterian Church’s Judicial Commission made two rulings in favor of homosexuals. It ruled that ministers may perform "holy union" ceremonies for homosexual couples as long as they don’t call it "marriage." It also ruled that a church in New Jersey may accept a homosexual man as a candidate for ordination ("Presbyterian Church Approves ‘Holy Unions’ for Gays, Lesbians," San Francisco Chronicle, May 25, 2000). On June 30, 2000, the Presbyterian Church’s General Assembly narrowly voted to prohibit ministers from officiating at "holy union" ceremonies for homosexuals. This does not settle the matter, though. The measure (which passed by a vote of 268 to 251) must go before the denomination’s 171 presbyteries. It becomes church law only if passed by a majority of the regional bodies. Even if it becomes law, the Presbyterian Church USA will continue to be the same unholy mixed multitude that it has been from its inception, because there is no call for unrepent homosexuals to be put out of churches as the Bible demands (1 Corinthians 5).

The mainline denominations do not follow the Bible; they practice religious politics. That is apostasy. The Bible commands God’s people not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, and it is not possible to obey this command while remaining within these denominations.

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (2 Corinthians 6:14-16).