Onenewsnow.com reported last week that Rick Warren has “apologized to his homosexual friends for making comments in support of California's Proposition 8.”  Moreover, the mega-church pastor ‘now claims he "never once even gave an endorsement’ of the marriage amendment.”  Of course, that is untrue.  Warren’s comments were recorded, so he’ll have a hard time backing away from them altogether.  He stood before his church with the election on the horizon and said:

"The election's coming just in a couple of weeks, and I hope you're praying about your vote. One of the propositions, of course, that I want to mention is Proposition 8, which is the proposition that had to be instituted because the courts threw out the will of the people. And a court of four guys actually voted to change a definition of marriage that has been going for 5,000 years.
 
"Now let me say this really clearly: we support Proposition 8 -- and if you believe what the Bible says about marriage, you need to support Proposition 8. I never support a candidate, but on moral issues I come out very clear.
 
"This is one thing, friends, that all politicians tend to agree on. Both Barack Obama and John McCain, I flat-out asked both of them: what is your definition of marriage? And they both said the same thing -- it is the traditional, historic, universal definition of marriage: one man and one woman, for life. And every culture for 5,000 years, and every religion for 5,000 years, has said the definition of marriage is between one man and a woman.
 
"Now here's an interesting thing. There are about two percent of Americans [who] are homosexual or gay/lesbian people. We should not let two percent of the population determine to change a definition of marriage that has been supported by every single culture and every single religion for 5,000 years.
 
"This is not even just a Christian issue -- it's a humanitarian and human issue that God created marriage for the purpose of family, love, and procreation.
 
"So I urge you to support Proposition 8, and pass that word on. I'm going to be sending out a note to pastors on what I believe about this. But everybody knows what I believe about it. They heard me at the Civil Forum when I asked both Obama and McCain on their views."

Additionally, Dr. Warren said he did not want to comment on or criticize the Iowa Supreme Court's decision last week to legalize same-sex "marriage" because it was "not his agenda."  But why?  Why would a pastor come out so strongly in favor of the protection and proper definition of marriage then recant (and refuse to comment on the further advance of the homosexual marriage agenda)?  The answer is simple:  Warren, along with many well-meaning pastors, has bought the lie.  Many pastors believe that the current homosexual ‘crisis’ in America is a result of the fact that the church “has not loved homosexuals enough”.  Of course, this thinking is naive at best.

What Warren and others don’t seem to understand is that the homosexual movement does not want “love” or sympathy from Christians; they want us to deny the truth of the gospel.  They want us to bow the knee to the lord god of relativism and confess that their relationships are as loving, fulfilling, and God-honoring as ours.  In short, they want us to stop being Christian.  Don’t believe me?  How about two of the chief architects of the radical homosexual propaganda machine? 

I have quoted from Kirk and Madsen’s book, After the Ball on a number of occasions.  Their comments are no less relevant to this topic.  With sarcasm dripping from their pens, they write:

“Some of the more forgiving churches have taken a lenient stand:  they will permit the [homosexual] to remain in their congregation so long as these unfortunates renounce vile, [homosexual] practices.  Love the sinner, hate the sin!  After all, it is plainly the godforsaken [homosexual] lifestyle that makes these creatures so suicidally miserable. (p. ix-xx)

Kirk and Madsen are mocking what all homosexual activists despise.  Unfortunately, many Christian “leaders” haven’t gotten the memo.   The gospel is offensive!  It always has been, and it always will be.  Homosexuals don’t hate us because we have loved them insufficiently; they hate us because “this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:19 ESV) Does this mean I hate homosexuals?  Of course not!  I don’t hate homosexuals any more than I hate fornicators, or adulterers.  However, when the Bible calls any one of those things sin, I agree.  (funny how no one goes around saying, “We just haven’t loved adulterers enough”)

I wish I could say that I am surprised by Warren’s reversal.  However, I am not.  What surprised me was the fact that he actually came out in support of Prop 8 in the first place.  I almost passed out when I heard the original announcement.  I thought he would hide behind his pulpit in an effort to preserve his relationships with leaders in the homosexual movement.  I could not comprehend how he would be able to move forward with his AIDS-focused work and rub elbows with some of the fiercest opponents of the gospel in our time if he was going to stand on his hind legs and call homosexual marriage sin.  I guess he couldn’t figure it out either.  I wish he’d have a talk with my good friend, Conrad Mbewe in Zambia.  The Reformed Baptist movement there is as uncompromising as they come.   They also care for AIDS victims in one of the hardest-hit regions of the world with as much compassion as anyone (more when compared to those of us who have the luxury of ‘parachuting’ in, spending a few weeks and a few disposable dollars, then coming home with pictures to prove how “Christian” we are).  And they do it without kowtowing to the homosexual lobby.   

For those wondering why a political issue like this even belongs in the “religious” discussion, allow me to quote Sam Waldron.  Writing in, A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, Waldron (addressing chapter twenty-four of the confession) writes:

Does it surprise you that the Confession contains a chapter on the subject ‘Of the Civil Magistrate’?  Are you inclined to ask, ‘What does politics have to do with Christ?’ If that is something of your response, may I suggest that you are a victim of a religious background which has retreated from its social responsibilities under a wrong view of the separation of church and state?  Such an attitude has virtually denied the sovereignty of God over all areas of life.  To restrict Christianity to the ‘spiritual’ realm is, ultimately, to destroy it. ( p. 284)

AMEN!

VB