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Sincerely,
Brian Anthony Bowen, Author
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Many well meaning Christians have tried in vain to "convert" gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender people by proclaiming God's prohibitions against our sexuality, but that's not how Scripture instructs us to do it. Actually, as we learn from the Book of Acts 8:29-40, Philip set the standard of evangelism of all people with the account of the Ethiopian Eunuch.
God has also granted great power and strength to those "sons of man" that helped begin to make God's House of Prayer a House of Prayer for ALL people in the only account of evangelism in the entire Bible. We'll see here that Holy Spirit of God actually caught up Philip and transported him 30 miles away after reaching out to and converting and baptizing a eunuch! We'll also see from these Scriptures that Philip had simply followed the promptings and leadings of the Holy Spirit to teach the eunuch about God's plan of salvation, and how to claim his inheritance with all the other born again believers. The only requirement for being saved and baptized was that he believes that Jesus Christ is the son of God!
Let's look first at how the story unfolds in Acts 8:25-35:
25 Now when [the apostles] had borne their testimony and preached the message of the Lord, they went back to Jerusalem, proclaiming the glad tidings (Gospel) to many villages of the Samaritans [on the way].
26 But an angel of the Lord said to Philip, Rise and proceed southward or at midday on the road that runs from Jerusalem down to Gaza. This is the desert [route].
27 So he got up and went. And behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem to worship.
28 And he was [now] returning, and sitting in his chariot he was reading the book of the prophet Isaiah.
29 Then the [Holy] Spirit said to Philip, Go forward and join yourself to this chariot.
30 Accordingly Philip, running up to him, heard [the man] reading the prophet Isaiah and asked, Do you really understand what you are reading?
31 And he said, How is it possible for me to do so unless someone explains it to me and guides me [in the right way]? And he earnestly requested Philip to come up and sit beside him.
32 Now this was the passage of Scripture which he was reading: Like a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so He opens not His mouth.
33 In His humiliation He was taken away by distressing and oppressive judgment and justice was denied Him [caused to cease]. Who can describe or relate in full the wickedness of His contemporaries (generation)? For His life is taken from the earth and a bloody death inflicted upon Him.
34 And the eunuch said to Philip, I beg of you, tell me about whom does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?
35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this portion of Scripture he announced to him the glad tidings (Gospel) of Jesus and about Him.
NOTE: Let's pause here and take a minute to look at the Scriptures from Isaiah that Philip shared with the eunuch, and we will find that the Holy Spirit led Philip to teach the eunuch about the Messianic prophecies concerning Jesus Christ, and read from Isaiah 53:1-Isaiah 56:8.
Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed (trusted in, relied upon, and clung to) our message [of that which was revealed to us]? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been disclosed?
2 For [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He has no form or comeliness [royal, kingly pomp], that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has made to light upon Him the guilt and iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, [yet when] He was afflicted, He was submissive and opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who among them considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living [stricken to His death] for the transgression of my [Isaiah's] people, to whom the stroke was due?
9 And they assigned Him a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief and made Him sick. When You and He make His life an offering for sin [and He has risen from the dead, in time to come], He shall see His [spiritual] offspring, He shall prolong His days, and the will and pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see [the fruit] of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; by His knowledge of Himself [which He possesses and imparts to others] shall My [uncompromisingly] righteous One, My Servant, justify many and make many righteous (upright and in right standing with God), for He shall bear their iniquities and their guilt [with the consequences, says the Lord].
12 Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great [kings and rulers], and He shall divide the spoil with the mighty, because He poured out His life unto death, and [He let Himself] be regarded as a criminal and be numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore [and took away] the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors (the rebellious).
Isaiah 54
1 Sing, O barren one, you who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who did not travail with child! For the [spiritual] children of the desolate one will be more than the children of the married wife, says the Lord.
2 Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; spare not; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes,
3 For you will spread abroad to the right hand and to the left; and your offspring will possess the nations and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
4 Fear not, for you shall not be ashamed; neither be confounded and depressed, for you shall not be put to shame. For you shall forget the shame of your youth, and you shall not [seriously] remember the reproach of your widowhood any more.
5 For your Maker is your Husband--the Lord of hosts is His name--and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; the God of the whole earth He is called.
6 For the Lord has called you like a woman forsaken, grieved in spirit, and heartsore--even a wife [wooed and won] in youth, when she is [later] refused and scorned, says your God.
7 For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion and mercy I will gather you [to Me] again.
8 In a little burst of wrath I hid My face from you for a moment, but with age-enduring love and kindness I will have compassion and mercy on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer.
9 For this is like the days of Noah to Me; as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you.
10 For though the mountains should depart and the hills be shaken or removed, yet My love and kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace and completeness be removed, says the Lord, Who has compassion on you.
11 O you afflicted [city], storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in fair colors [in antimony to enhance their brilliance] and lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 And I will make your windows and pinnacles of [sparkling] agates or rubies, and your gates of [shining] carbuncles, and all your walls [of your enclosures] of precious stones.
13 And all your [spiritual] children shall be disciples [taught by the Lord and obedient to His will], and great shall be the peace and undisturbed composure of your children.
14 You shall establish yourself in righteousness (rightness, in conformity with God's will and order): you shall be far from even the thought of oppression or destruction, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15 Behold, they may gather together and stir up strife, but it is not from Me. Whoever stirs up strife against you shall fall and surrender to you.
16 Behold, I have created the smith who blows on the fire of coals and who produces a weapon for its purpose; and I have created the devastator to destroy.
17 But no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This [peace, righteousness, security, triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the Lord [those in whom the ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced]; this is the righteousness or the vindication which they obtain from Me [this is that which I impart to them as their justification], says the Lord.
Isaiah 55
1 Wait and listen, everyone who is thirsty! Come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Yes, come, buy [priceless, spiritual] wine and milk without money and without price [simply for the self-surrender that accepts the blessing].
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for what does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness [the profuseness of spiritual joy].
3 Incline your ear [submit and consent to the divine will] and come to Me; hear, and your soul will revive; and I will make an everlasting covenant or league with you, even the sure mercy (kindness, goodwill, and compassion) promised to David.
4 Behold, I have appointed him (Him) [David, as a representative of the Messiah, or the Messiah Himself] to be a witness [one (One) who shall testify of salvation] to the nations, a prince (Prince) and commander (Commander) to the peoples.
5 Behold, you [Israel] shall call nations that you know not, and nations that do not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you.
6 Seek, inquire for, and require the Lord while He may be found [claiming Him by necessity and by right]; call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have love, pity, and mercy for him, and to our God, for He will multiply to him His abundant pardon.
8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain and snow come down from the heavens, and return not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
12 For you shall go out [from the spiritual exile caused by sin and evil into the homeland] with joy and be led forth [by your Leader, the Lord Himself, and His word] with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name of renown, for an everlasting sign [of jubilant exaltation] and memorial [to His praise], which shall not be cut off.
Isaiah 56
1 Thus says the Lord: Keep justice, do and use righteousness (conformity to the will of God which brings salvation), for My salvation is soon to come and My righteousness (My rightness and justice) to be revealed.
2 Blessed, happy, and fortunate is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold of it and binds himself fast to it, who keeps sacred the Sabbath so as not to profane it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.
3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, The Lord will surely separate me from His people. And let not the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
4 For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths and choose the things which please Me and hold firmly My covenant--
5 To them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial and a name better [and more enduring] than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.
6 Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to minister to Him and to love the name of the Lord and to be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath so as not to profane it and who holds fast My covenant [by conscientious obedience]
7 All these I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
8 Thus says the Lord God, Who gathers the outcasts of Israel: I will gather yet others to [Israel] besides those already gathered.
Notice that the only message from Scripture that was given to the Ethiopian Eunuch was those from the Prophet Isaiah. In these verses, we learn the same message of salvation and the prophecies concerning Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, as any other potential believer must know in order to verify that Jesus is Lord. To me, this is where we get back to the basics of evangelizing people instead of trying to convince them of how "wrong" their lives are. Now let's continue with what happened after Philip read these Scriptures to the Eunuch, as we pick back up in Acts 8:36-40:
36 And as they continued along on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch exclaimed, See, [here is] water! What is to hinder my being baptized?
37 And Philip said, If you believe with all your heart [if you have a conviction, full of joyful trust, that Jesus is the Messiah and accept Him as the Author of your salvation in the kingdom of God, giving Him your obedience, then] you may. And he replied, I do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
38 And he ordered that the chariot be stopped; and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and [Philip] baptized him.
39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord [suddenly] caught away Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing.
40 But Philip was found at Azotus, and passing on he preached the good news (Gospel) to all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Friends, I believe that if we return to Philip's original example and learn how the Holy Spirit led him to teach God's message of salvation to the Ethiopian Eunuch, we can become much more effective at gaining more souls for the Kingdom of Heaven than ever before. In addition, I have come to realize how so many of the GLBT affirming passages located elsewhere in Scripture often refer back to these eunuch prophecies from Isaiah as a central message of inclusion in God's House of Prayer for ALL People. So let's continue to explore these prophecies, and how inclusion of GLBT Believers in God's congregations are so very critical to the Return of Jesus Christ, because until God's House of Prayer is a House of Prayer for all people, Christ cannot return, because He is bound by Scripture.
Again, we see the importance of Isaiah's prophecies concerning making God's House of Prayer a House of Prayer for all people, and again and again, the Church has ignored its teachings and significance. The point I am most concerned with (as was Paul in his letter to the Church at Corinth) is that the time is winding down to when the Lord will return to the earth, but He cannot until ALL prophecies have been fulfilled. I contend that the only prophecy left to be fulfilled is that one, and yet so many preachers have said over and over that all the prophecies necessary for the return of Christ have been fulfilled.
It's this kind of willful ignorance to God's Word that is keeping our Lord from returning, just as God said it would in Isaiah 56:10-12 (right after the eunuch prophecies), saying:
10 [Israel's] watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, they love to slumber.
11 Yes, the dogs are greedy; they never have enough. And such are the shepherds who cannot understand; they have all turned to their own way, each one to his own gain, from every quarter [one and all].
12 Come, say they, We will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink! And tomorrow shall be as this day, a day great beyond measure.
I say it's time for the Church to wake up and realize that the only thing holding Jesus Christ back are those "blind Church Shepherds" who cannot understand. I believe it is up to all of us to show the Church that the days of fetching wine and thinking that everything will keep going on like it has been have come to an end, and help bring the Church into a new beginning, and help prepare the way for the Lord's return to the earth!
As this message continues to be shared with the Church, and as we learn that God loves ALL His children, I believe hearts will be softened, eyes will be opened, and the stigma of GLBT Believers being included in the congregation will soon become a thing of the past. When it does, parents will no longer have to leave a church in shame simply because they become aware their child may be gay. GLBT Believers will no longer need to face life without a church home. And hate will no longer be tolerated as "business as usual", but will be eradicated by the shed blood of the lamb, and the power of our testimony!
We see in the only account of evangelism that God included in the Scriptures that simply quoting Scriptures to someone will not necessarily TEACH them about Jesus. It must be explained, and by someone who can guide and lead them in the right way.
That's what Philip did. He didn't start quoting Scripture to the Eunuch, he started answering his questions. In fact, we can see the Eunuch didn't even know if the Scriptures he was reading were talking about the prophet Isaiah, who wrote them, or about someone else.
Philip didn't start saying "God says this and God says that, and you must believe it." No, instead, Scriptures say
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this portion of Scripture he announced to him the glad tidings (Gospel) of Jesus and about Him.
And look what happened once Philip finished doing this:
36 And as they continued along on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch exclaimed, See, [here is] water! What is to hinder my being baptized?
37 And Philip said, If you believe with all your heart [if you have a conviction, full of joyful trust, that Jesus is the Messiah and accept Him as the Author of your salvation in the kingdom of God, giving Him your obedience, then] you may. And he replied, I do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
38 And he ordered that the chariot be stopped; and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and [Philip] baptized him. Acts 8:36-38
Philip didn't start preaching about sin but about salvation. He didn't start preaching about the Eunuch's sexuality, but about his spirituality. And Philip didn't just have a conversation when he was done, he had a convert!
Philip did not give the eunuch a fight.....he gave him faith!!
I think this is what makes the vital difference between someone accepting the message of Jesus and rejecting it, and that is whether or not they even have it proclaimed to them. I have seen little proclaiming of Jesus amongst those who have opposed gay marriage in this thread, and have seen them more focused on sin rather than salvation, more focused on damnation than on destiny, more focused on sexuality, instead of spirituality, and more focused on rhetoric instead of results.
I think the sooner that folks learn that ANY Christian can quote Scriptures, the sooner they will see there is a difference between being a Messenger and just being a Mess. And there is a difference between proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel, and the Good Noose.
And that difference is what makes an Evangelist out of a Christian, and makes Believers out of nonChristians.....at least according to God's Word and His way of doing things.
