I’ll get right to the point, then I’ll give the experience that backs it up.
I believe that homosexuality and gender confusion are spiritual issues, and furthermore that they are two separate spirits who confuse, condemn and bind the host, until the identity of the host is overtaken by the oppressing spirit.
“I was born a homosexual.” Bull. Homosexuality may have come your way at an early age, but no one is born with a sexual preference. A couple of years ago, I had a very candid talk with an 18 year old wearing a T-shirt that read “I’m not gay, but my boyfriend is.” We were in a home office, a very unthreatening environment for either one of us. Until that time, I guess you could say that I had suffered a bit from homophobia, but nothing hateful as I have always insisted in hating the sin, but loving the sinner.
We talked about church, he was interested but not a believer. He went to my church (a seeker-friendly church) about one out of 3 weeks, and went to his “gay church” about once every three weeks, and must have slept in with his boyfriend on the other one (but that’s his affair). This kid said that he would be very interested and WOULD attend, if my pastor preached on the Biblical view of homosexuality. The opportunity was lost because our pastor (my former pastor) liked to stay away from controvercial issues (I actually see some wisdom in that most of the time.)
This kid was very open and the discussion flowed easily, and he answered all my questions, changing my view of homosexuality forever:
Q: What was your relationship with your father like?
A: My dad never liked me. I could never do anything right. He was hardly home any of the time anyway, but when he found out I was gay, he disowned me.
Q: What was your mom like?
A: She was OK. She never disciplined me, and let me try whatever I wanted to do.
Q: Why do you think so many gay men talk the same, move the same, walk the same way?
A: I don’t know.
Q: When did you first realize that you were gay?
A: I was 12 years old. My mom was driving, I was in the back seat. There were men outside the car doing road work, and one had his shirt off. I remember looking at him and realizing that I was turned on by looking at him.”
Q: Were you raised in the church?
A: No.
The conversation was about an hour long, and I only included the points that seemed to have the most relavence to my hypothesis. I came away thinking, “This kid never had the OPPORTUNITY to make right choices!” He never had a loving father to show him what being a man of good character was like, his mom never disciplined or corrected him, and the very fist thing that he felt deeply about an older man (physical attraction), he latched on and let that be the basis for his view of men. He was not being rebellious, he was not choosing to be gay because he thought it was cool, or even because that was modeled for him. He was gay because he was prepared in every way for a demon of homosexual lust to jump on him and give him the identity he lacked.
My next example is because I once had a man living in my house (with me, my wife and two daughters) who had (among other things) gender confusion. I knew going into this that he had been a seemingly hopeless alcoholic (15 months sober at the time), addicted to cigarettes and to a prescription medication that helped him focus and perked him up. He was also “aided” by a clinic for gender confused individuals with a prescription for estrogen. (I know this sounds nuts, but God directed my path in terms of taking him in.) There was much positive that he brought to our table and he taught me a lot about myself in this process, so it is not quite as one-sided a deal as it would seem to the casual observer.
It is hard not to try to justify my conclusions, while writing. I’ll try to get to the point.
I have seen the lies that he had accepted as part of his identity:
1. I hate people, they’re all idiots.
2. I’ll never be in my son’s life. He’s bette off without me.
3. I like the way estrogen makes me feel. I wish I had all the issues in my life worked out as firmly as that one.
4. I am going to die young, by a bullet to the chest.
5. Pornography is not a sin.
6. I am a homeless streetperson, and I cope by chaging my environment.
7. If I ignore the problem, issue or task, it will just go away.
Anyway, I had sort of consoled myself by telling myself “Well, at least he’s not a cross-dresser.”… Then one day I stepped into his room and found a bra and woman’s top hanging among his clothes on the back of the door. I said “Are these yours?” His reply was that they were, and when he was down and his medication…mumble…. and the longer he stayed, the more it surfaced, he was a cross-dresser.
Anyway, I was picking him up at Walmart, and I thought I saw him standing by the front entrance. The height, build and posture was EXACTLY right, as was the way (s)he moved right down to how the cigarette was smoked, so I pulled up to pick him up. It was a woman, about his age, but it was clearly a manly woman, one with the same sort of issue. I suddenly realized that these two people were oppressed by the same spirit.
Did you ever wonder why you feel that you have met someone before that you know you haven’t? Ever wonder why some people could go into groups, with the way they look, they move, their attitudes, and ther mannerisms are the same?
Could it be that the same common spirit (an actual spiritual being) is manefesting itself in these people?
Now for the most uncomfortable question. Which spirit(s) define(s) me and you?