The most popular video on our church YouTube channel is a message I brought you last year to combat PRIDE month. It was called LGBT FAQ. I answered common questions christians have about homosexuality. Are people born gay? Can you be saved and gay? What if I struggle with same sex attraction?
I answered all those questions and more. Go watch that video this afternoon on the NoLimits Church YouTube channel if you are looking for those answers. Seeing how that message was so needed, I canât let PRIDE month go by without going further to help you navigate this issue. Now, I am going to expose what is truly behind the LGBTQ movement.
Itâs so easy to get distracted by drag queen story hour, whatâs happening at Target, and poor ole Bud Light. These are legitimate issues, but they are really just symptoms of the main issue. If we can cut this thing off at the root, all the symptoms will fade away. But if we focus on the symptoms, weâll fight hard with no real resolve. So, letâs get our focus on the right place.
What we are dealing with is nothing new. These issues have been around forever. We have ancient records of cultures having a sexual identity crisis. One of the most familiar is Sodom and Gomorrah. Four thousand years ago, a man named Lot was visited by two angels. He invited them into his home. While they were there, look at what happened:
Genesis 19:4-5 NLT - But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. They shouted to Lot, âWhere are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!â
This city was so messed up that all the men of the city demanded to have sex with what they thought were the two new men in town, when in fact, they were angels. Lot tried to protect the angels by offering his two virgin daughters in their place. Again, this place was messed up. But they didnât want the daughters, they wanted the men.
At this point, the angels blinded the men so that none of them could find their way inside. They ended up giving up and left. This was over four thousand years ago! The same stuff we are dealing with today.
God ended up destroying Sodom and Gomorrah because the sin there became so extreme. But the same problems have resurfaced several times throughout history. About 2,400 years ago, we have record of a goddess named Ishtar.
Most people know her as the goddess of love, fertility, and sex. But she is also the goddess of war. How could one goddess be known for both love and war? Thatâs our first indicator that this is really a spirit that causes confusion. One that occupies both ends of the spectrum.
On ancient Mesopotamian tablets, youâll find this is how the goddess described herself, âWhen I sit in the alehouse, I am a woman, and I am an exuberant young man.â
In other words, Ishtar was a woman and, at the same time, a man. She could go back and forth and express the characteristics of either gender. Youâll also find an ancient Sumerian hymn that says, â...turn a man into a woman and a woman into a man, to change one into the otherâŠâ
This goddess had male priests that presented themselves as women. They wore women's clothing, put on makeup, and paraded themselves around. Sound familiar? There was one month out of the year when this goddess especially possessed culture. Want to guess what it was? June. And she was even known as the goddess of pride.
This same problem has resurfaced time and time again. Each time, under a new name and disguise. What once was referred to as Ishtar is now referred to as LGBTQ. This war cannot be won if we are fighting a distraction. We are not fighting people. We are fighting against an ancient demonic spirit that has been allowed to infiltrate our culture.
There was a time when these issues were not common in America. They were around but extremely rare and kept in the shadows. America was a culture that had been cleansed of this demon. But take a look at what happens when we drop the ball:
Matthew 12:43-45 NLT - When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says, âI will return to the person I came from.â So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.â
Notice that for the demons to return, the house has to be left empty. America was once full of God. The Bible was required reading in school. Every day started with prayer. Church was prioritized over everything else, even kids' sports.
Then, in 1962, prayer was taken out of schools. Just a few years later, the feminist movement took off. Then, in 1973, it became legal to murder children in the womb. This house we call America was once full of God. But when we took God out, it gave place for these ancient evil spirits to come in and possess an entire generation.
The ancient spirit we are talking about today has three goals:
They develop a disdain for male leadership. They buy into the feminism movement, or maybe I should say âwomenâs rightsâ. They gloat about their independence, saying, âI donât need a man. I can do it myself.â They covet a manâs job.
They act like overgrown children living in their momâs basement. They are unfit for leadership. They are weak and pitiful, walking around with a victim mentality. They become consumed with appearance.
Make no mistake. What started as feminism has become LGBTQ and every sexual perversion you see today. Feminism was the bait offered by this ancient demonic spirit. A majority of women took it hook, line, and sinker. This evil spirit used these women to accomplish the end goal.
Now, feminism has been destroyed by transgenderism. What was supposedly âwomenâs rightsâ was really a war on women. Our culture doesnât even know what a woman is anymore.
Altering the God-assigned role of males and females is how it all started. For the enemy to get the foothold he has, he had to blur the lines and disguise it as equality. Once the foundation was laid, this ancient demonic spirit could unleash the sexual and gender identity crises going on today.
Can you see who the real enemy is? Take a look at how Ephesians explains it:
Ephesians 6:12 NLT - For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
We are at war with evil spirits. Donât get distracted by what you see. Keep your focus on the real issue so we can cut it off at the root.
I believe a massive move of deliverance is coming for those being tormented by these evil spirits. As soon as we realize it is a spiritual issue, we can exercise our authority in Christ to cast it out and free the captives.
Now that we know the problem, how do we eliminate it? Letâs turn to Jesus for the answer. We talked about this a few weeks ago. But since casting out demons is kind of new for us, I want to refresh your memory.
Luke 4:33-36 NLT - Once when he was in the synagogue, a man possessed by a demonâan evil spiritâcried out, shouting, âGo away! Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you areâthe Holy One of God!â But Jesus reprimanded him. âBe quiet! Come out of the man,â he ordered. At that, the demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched; then it came out of him without hurting him further. Amazed, the people exclaimed, âWhat authority and power this manâs words possess! Even evil spirits obey him, and they flee at his command!â The news about Jesus spread through every village in the entire region.
The New Living Translation uses the word âpossessâ. It said, âa man possessed by a demon.â And thatâs how most of us would think about a situation like this. We would call them possessed. But letâs take a look at what the New Kings James Version says:
Luke 4:33 NKJV - Now in the synagogue, there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon.
So, this got me curious. What does this word translated to âhadâ in the NKJV and âpossessâ in NLT actually mean?
In the original Greek language, the word is âecho,â and it means:
Notice it said nothing about having possession of your spirit. Yet that is how most of us think about demonic issues. We think it is a full-on possession, spirit, soul, and body. You are giving the devil too much credit. Iâve yet to find where the Bible says a demon can possess your spirit.
Your body? Yes. Your mind? Yes. And digging into the Greek word âechoâ gives us insight into how this happens. It all starts when someone begins to hold on to the things of the devil. Then they start to wear them like clothing.
Weâre talking about any kind of sin that you embrace. As you continue to wear these things, the devil takes possession of your mind. Now you canât stop thinking about it. Your thoughts drive you deeper and deeper into darkness.
Then you become joined together with this thing, much like a marriage. No longer can you just casually walk away from it. Now you have to get a full-on divorce. Hereâs a simplified version of this progression:
Thatâs why the demon threw the man on the ground on its way out. Divorces are not pretty.
If you read my book, Jesus Ainât Woke, you know that I was delivered from homosexuality. This progression matches exactly what I went through. It started with me picking it up and putting it back down. Picking it up again and putting it back down. Then I picked it up and put it on. It didnât take long before it possessed my mind.
Then, I became joined together with this unclean spirit. I had a demon. But only because I opened the door and allowed it in. This will throw you for a loop. I grew up in church. My grandpa was a pastor. We were in church every Sunday and every Wednesday.
I loved God. I loved the church. I loved Jesus. I was even leading a youth worship band. Godâs presence would manifest in the midst of these worship services I was leading. Yet, I was joined together with an unclean spirit. I had a demon.
Did I feel conflicted inside? Oh, yeah. I should have been diagnosed as bipolar because I was one person at church and another at school. Almost daily, I would be thrilled by the unclean spirit and then be crying out for forgiveness from God that night.
No one knew I was being tormented. When I was a church, I was all in. When I was with the wrong crowd, I was all in. Both sides of my life thought I was good. But I wasnât. I thought it was me. I was fighting myself. I was asking God for forgiveness. I was making promises that I would never do it again. But nothing was working.
Then people were telling me, âWhy are you fighting this? Itâs how you were born. Itâs nothing to be ashamed of.â Speaking of, I want to counter that lie right now. There is nothing to prove that homosexuality is a genetic disposition that cannot be escaped. Even Harvard did a study and could not prove people are born gay.
Itâs well known in the scientific community that if homosexuality were genetic, then if one identical twin were homosexual, 100% of the time, the other would be too. But itâs not the case.
So thereâs nothing to prove that people are born gay. But there are plenty of people who can prove otherwise. I am one of many who used to be a full-on homosexual. But now, for more than 16 years, I have been a full-on heterosexual like God designed me - a man of one wife.
No one is born gay. Homosexuality is a demonic stronghold to be delivered from. And Jesus gives you the power to step into freedom. He did it for me. He can do it for you.
So this man we were reading about that had an unclean spirit, he came to church that day. He was just sitting there quietly, listening to Jesus teach.
We donât know for sure, but I bet he went to look for a way out of his torment that day. He heard about the amazing teaching of Jesus and probably thought, âHe has the answer.â The teaching of Jesus was so agitating to the demon that it cried out. It couldnât hide any longer. It knew its time was limited.
So with a simple command, Jesus delivered this man from his torment. He made the demon leave but let the man stay. These days, when there is a manifestation like this at church, we leave the demon in the person and ask the person to leave.
Let me remind you of what Jesus actually told us to do regarding this:
Mark 16:17 NKJV - And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demonsâŠ
The first on the list is casting out demons. If it's the first on the list, that means it will be a frequent occurrence. So, whatâs going on? Iâve been in church for 34 years. I was a worship leader for 10 years. Iâve been a lead pastor for 5 years. And it wasnât until about a month ago that I began to see demons cast out of people.
Does that mean there were no demons around here all this time? Or have we become so used to them that we let them hang around? All you have to do is look at the state of our nation to know that demons are definitely having a heyday in America. So, it must be the latter. We have become desensitized to unclean spirits.
They do their best to fly under the radar. Demons do not want to be noticed. But why have we been allowing them to do so? Why donât we do what Jesus did and agitate them so much that they must manifest? This is an important part of deliverance because if we donât know itâs there, how can we cast it out?
The bold teaching of Jesus agitated that demon so much that it came out of hiding and manifested itself. So thatâs the first step. Agitate the demons with the unhindered Word of God. You canât water it down.
You canât skirt around unpopular issues like homosexuality. The only way to agitate the demonic realm is with the unhindered Word of God. It comes out of your mouth like a sword. But you canât just stop there. Once the demon makes itself known, you have to cast it out.
Most Christians would just get scared at this point as if the demon has more power than they do. Most church leaders would try to âprotect the churchâs reputationâ by removing the person.
Jesus told us to do neither of those. He didnât say to run and hide. He didnât say to keep things nice and calm. He said to cast out demons. It should be happening on the regular. So why are we letting demons hang around? Because weâve been duped.
Casting out demons is too messy. It doesnât fit into our perfect performance church services. It doesnât work with the seeker-sensitive church model, where we are urged to create church services that make lost people comfortable.
Nothing about following Jesus was promised to be comfortable! He never told us to make people comfortable. Actually, He made it very clear that following Him is uncomfortable. You have to crucify your flesh daily!
On top of all this comfort nonsense, weâve been taught that a Christian cannot have a demon. So people are going to church every Sunday while living in a constant state of torment. We tell them to read the Bible more. We tell them to go see the doctor and get meds. We tell them to go through a 12-week program.
Can I tell you something? If a demon is causing the torment, the only way to get rid of it is to cast it out. Medicine wonât work. Prayer wonât work. Memorizing scripture wonât work. Not for this! We must stop trying to devise our own solutions and do what Jesus told us to do: cast out demons!
Am I saying that everything is a demon? No. But we canât keep acting like nothing is a demon. Just look at the ministry of Jesus. One of the first things He did was cast out a demon. Then He kept at it, casting out demons everywhere He went.
Then He had His disciples cast out demons. Then He told us to cast out demons. This tells me that there are demons to be cast out. And they are not just tormenting non-believers. They are tormenting people right within the church.
Even as a born-again believer, you can pick up sin and put it back down. You can pick it up and put it on. You can keep it around so that it consumes your mind and then joins together with you. That was me. I was joined together with that unclean spirit of homosexuality. Until one day, I had enough.
I was in my bedroom seeking God when I dropped to my knees and said, âGod, I donât just want your forgiveness. I want freedom. Take this thing from me so I can live for you.â
At that moment, I sensed something leave my body. And in its place, I was overwhelmed with the love of God. I was weeping uncontrollably because I knew I was finally free.
After this, I was no longer consumed with homosexuality. It still presented itself as a temptation, but now I had the power to overcome it. For every temptation, Jesus provides a way out.
I am overjoyed to report that I havenât picked up that sin since the day I was delivered over 16 years ago. Now, if satan presents his temptation, I just chuckle and carry on. Heâs an idiot. Letâs head to Luke 6, where we gain more insight into how demons torment people.
Luke 6:17-19 NLT - When they came down from the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed. Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone.
In Luke 4, Jesus delivered a man who HAD a demon. This scripture says He delivered those TROUBLED by demons. Letâs dig into the word translated to troubled so we can understand the difference.
Wow. That last definition brings a lot of clarity. Some people with demons were molested by demons at a young age or at a weak point in their life. Thereâs a study that proves this. It found that sexually abused young males are up to seven times more likely to self-identify as gay than their peers who were not abused.
Many of those who struggle with their sexual identity do so because of something that happened when they were young. They were molested, which allowed demons to torment them. Now we know people can have demons because they opened the door by engaging in sin or demonic things.
Others have demons because they were molested by demons. There are even those who had a mob of demons sent against them. And, because they didnât know their authority in Christ, they continue to deal with those demons today.
Whatever the cause, in order to receive deliverance, you must first recognize you need it. That demon has to come out of hiding so it can be cast out. You have to make a decision to cut ties with that unclean spirit so it can be cast out. Because if you want to keep it, God will not override your will. Itâs up to you.
This all sounds terrifying, but itâs really not. All it takes for demons to be cast out is for someone to use the authority Christ gave and command them to come out. But if that demon can convince you that this is not a demonic issue, youâll stay in bondage.
Youâll stay tormented in your mind. Because if the cause is a demon, nothing will work except casting it out. If you are afraid that it will come out screaming, throw you on the ground, and ruin your reputation, that demon is perfectly fine hiding behind your pride.
But as soon as you find out the torment in your life is caused by a demon and you decide to cut ties with it no matter how ugly the divorce is, freedom is yours, my friend.
Once you are free, you must know your authority in Christ so you donât open yourself back up to the same torment. You can also use the same authority to help others find freedom.
So, I want to end today with a brief explanation of the authority of Christ. After Jesus rose from the dead, He had a few things to tell the disciples before He ascended into heaven. Here is one of them:
Matthew 28:18 NLT - Jesus came and told his disciples, âI have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
How much authority? ALL. Jesus is the king of kings. Where does the authority work? In heaven and on earth. In other words, in the spiritual realm and the physical realm.
Let me put it to you this way. Jesus has it all. He knows it all. Heâs mastered everything. He is bound by nothing. His strength is endless. His power is unmatched.
Can you see why the modern representation of Jesus as this super nice guy who tolerates everything is so dangerous? Thatâs a counterfeit Jesus. People are believing in a fake Jesus and will end up in hell if they donât meet the real Jesus.
The real Jesus is a boss. God has given Him all authority in heaven and on earth. His power is unmatched. All things are under His jurisdiction.
When Jesus came two thousand years ago, He came as a Savior. When He comes back, He is coming as a warrior to destroy the devil and all of his followers.
If you picture Him as the tolerant Jesus, you cannot live under His authority. Donât buy into hippy Jesus. Thatâs not who He is. He is the king of kings. His strength is endless. His power is unmatched.
How do we know that we can operate under the authority of Christ? Letâs head to Luke 9:
Luke 9:1-2 NLT - One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases.
Once again, notice how casting out demons is first on the list. Yet, it has been last on the churchâs list since I can remember. If you donât like that we cast out demons now, take it up with Jesus. He is the One who prioritizes casting out demons.
As for me, Iâm not going to ignore it anymore. We will set the captives free with His authority, just like Jesus told us to. I hope you can now see Jesus as He really is. Yes, He is your savior. But in order to spend eternity with Him, He has to be more than just your savior. He has to be your Lord.
Let me put it to you this way, there will be no one in heaven who refuses to submit to the authority of Christ. Salvation requires you to confess Jesus Christ as Lord. You must bow to the King of kings. This brings up a common question. Can you be saved and gay?
Even those who have never struggled with homosexuality probably know someone who has. So this is a question almost every Christian wrestles with at some point. The Bible says that salvation requires two things.
Romans 10:9 NLT - If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
So, two things. You must believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. And you must openly declare Jesus is your Lord. What does that mean? It means that you decided to abandon your desires and pursue the way of Jesus.
Salvation cannot be earned with your right behavior. Salvation is given to you as a free gift when you submit your life to Christ. But, since you are submitted to Christ, your behavior lines up as a result of your salvation.
You have submitted to the authority of Christ. Therefore you live as He commands you to live. He knows you wonât get it perfect. Perfection is not required. Quick repentance is what is required.
Repentance is kind of a churchy word, so here is what it means. When King Jesus tells you to get something out of your life, you quickly turn away from that thing and follow Jesus.
So, can you be saved and gay? Maybe for a little while. But it doesnât take long to figure out that homosexuality is not the way of Christ. And since you are openly declaring Jesus as Lord, you are going to have to leave that lifestyle.
If you donât abandon homosexuality, you reveal that Jesus isnât your Lord. Instead, you are saying, âMy way is better.â
Thatâs why this is called the PRIDE movement because everyone who participates is saying, âMy way is better. I donât care that I just destroyed my family. I donât care that God considers it an abomination. Iâm going to do what I want.â
Pride turned angels into demons. Pride turns believers into unbelievers. Jesus canât be Lord if you are. But know this. When Jesus becomes not just your Savior, but your Lord, when you truly submit yourself to Him, He will give you the power to live free from homosexuality.
He did it for me, He can do it for you. And here's the best part. As soon as you submit to His authority, you have His authority. You donât have to be tormented by demons anymore. When the enemy tries to tempt you, all you have to say is:
âALL authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus. And because I am submitted to His authority, I have His authority. So I command every evil spirit to get out of me and stay away from me.â
