Confronting the Homosexual Agenda — Michael L. Brown

Be with everybody here. I want to say in all seriousness that God sent me here this morning. I was supposed to be ministering elsewhere in Florida and felt, it's about a week ago, that I wasn't supposed to be there this weekend.

And then providentially we just, the meetings were cancelled. I felt not to be there, the pastor felt not to have the meetings. And then I got a call from Pastor Robin a few days ago asking if I could be here this Sunday.

I said, I'm in town, it's the Lord. And even though I get to travel all over and bring the word all over, I just had a special anticipation knowing that it's a God thing that I'm here today. And I just want to say a couple things before we open the word.

I'm a New Yorker. My wife and I are New York Jews. And when he asked if people here from any other country, yes, New York. God sent us down to Pensacola for seven years. It was wonderful spiritually in the midst of revival, but culturally it was a little different.

I'm not being critical, but I'm not from lower Alabama. And you put someone from lower Alabama in New York, it'll be culture shock for them just like for us. I mean, to this day I have not eaten grits and I don't plan to eat grits.

I don't own a pickup truck or a shotgun. I've never gone hunting or fishing. And as I shared with the folks at the earlier service, I don't talk like a Southerner and I'm not fixing to talk like a Southerner.

So when God called us out of Pensacola, I was heading back north. I wanted to get back to the New York area. I mean, New York City, man, a ton of stuff happens there. And three million Jews in the greater New York area, and that's a part of our calling to reach my people.

And God started to speak to some on our leadership team that we were to come to Charlotte. Charlotte, I told them when one of the brothers said, I think we're supposed to go to Charlotte, I said, I don't want to go to Charlotte.

I want to get out of it. Look, I know it's called North Carolina, but this is South, okay? Look, I'm going to make a confession here. I would not know the face of a famous NASCAR driver if he showed up here today.

I'm just sharing that from my heart, okay? I know that's counterculture here, but I'm just being honest. But God started speaking that we were to be here. And he spoke it first to others on our leadership team, then he spoke it to me.

I knew we were to be here. And once we got here, remember my wife and I were driving around thinking, why are we here? I mean, look, you want to tour the city. If you have two, three minutes to spare, you can do it.

I mean, just drive through this downtown Charlotte. I mean, it's just, it's like, why are we here? And God made it plain. Listen, God made it plain to us that he was going to pour out his spirit in this area and that we get to be part of it.

That, hear me, God wants to do something in this area that gets the attention of the nation. We were so warmly welcomed here by Rick and Robin and Steve and the leadership here. We began to be amazed to find out how many ministries and churches and organizations God had planted here or brought back here.

And then as I've gotten to know some of the city leaders, found out how many were praying for years and years for outpouring here. In fact, I don't know if you know the story, but many decades ago, there was a prayer meeting in the home of Billy Graham's parents and two words were spoken.

They were praying and they felt there were two specific things to pray for. One was that God would raise up somebody from there that would have a massive worldwide ministry. The other was that God would send revival to Charlotte.

Well, the first thing happened in extraordinary measure with the ministry of Billy Graham. The second is yet to happen, but God's going to do it. So the other thing that's interesting is that all the years when we lived in Pensacola, there was a vision for God touching the whole city, but I never had a particular burden for the city.

And being a New Yorker, sure, my heart beats for New York and the city. My wife's brother was killed 9 -11 in the World Trade Center. I mean, we're joined to that place, but in a very distinct and definite way, God has given me and our team a real burden for this area.

And when stuff's happening in the Charlotte area, our feeling is, that's my city. That's our place. And it's not supposed to be like that. So I come here. We're a little bit north of the city. You're a little bit south of it.

I come here as a fellow laborer and as a fellow worker with a message from God for us to join together and see a city, a region, transformed by the power of the Gospel. Amen? So we're going to open that up in a little while.

I just want to mention to you that we're having a conference at FIRE, May 4th through 6th. You've got one going on then too, but if you want to visit ours, you can get a brochure on our book table on the way out.

It's the Sounds of the Revolution Conference with the theme, It's Time to Take Back Our Cities. So you can grab a brochure about that on the way out. And if you want to get online, listen to some free messages, read some free articles on Jesus' revolution and revival in Israel, go to our ministry website, ICN Ministries, like Israel Church Nation, icnministries .org.

When you get online, sign up for our e-list. We'll send you announcements of things and keep you posted on what God's doing and new messages that come out, icnministries .org. And it'll also help you to know how to pray for some of these key things that are going on.

And on the way out, stop by the book table if you want to get some materials. It looks like a Christian resource table. That's a nice way to say it. It's actually filled with revolutionary propaganda, okay?

If you've never read this book, Revolution, The Call of the Holy War, make sure you grab one on the way out. This book was released at The Call, D .C., together with Cheyenne, Lou Engel, our dear friends.

We gave away over 70 ,000 copies of the book that day when it just came out. And we encourage you to get hold of it. Some materials on Jewish ministry, if you'd like to listen to a nice lively debate with a rabbi friend of mine, you can do that, and other materials.

So go over to the table. And on the way out, there's going to be something for you to sign about taking a stand in the local area. I'll explain that to you. But we'll have some folks at the tables on the way out.

It'll be easy for you to sign when you leave. But I'll talk to you more about that in a moment. All right. How many have open hearts and ears? Amen? You know, I'm a late night person. When people invite me for 6 a .m. prayer, I tell them I'd love to go.

It's just hard to stay up that late. You know, my orientation is kind of different. So you know, I live about 45 minutes away from here. So got to get up early, then come over here for the 9 o 'clock service.

So come 11 o 'clock, I'm just starting to get alive and energetic. But you guys are alive. Amen? Going to drink in the Word. Okay, last question. How many of you enjoy deceiving yourselves? Anyone? Okay.

If you want to deceive yourself, just hear the message, say amen to the message, say great Word, and don't do anything about it. Be a hearer and not a doer. If you want to be blessed, put this into practice.

All right? Let's pray. Father, I ask you to give us ears to hear what your Spirit is saying. I ask you for clear and definite Word from heaven that would penetrate hearts. I ask you for a spirit of wisdom and revelation that we might know you better.

I ask you to touch us so we can go out and touch our world. I ask you to change us so we can go out and change our generation. Speak Lord, your servants are listening. In Jesus' name, amen. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 5.

Jesus’ Call to Be Salt and Light

Matthew chapter 5. When I give you the title of this message, you might think this is not why I came to a church service. This is not why I'm here. This is not what I need to hear. Trust me, this is why you're here and this is what you need to hear.

I'm going to speak to you about our calling to change the world, in particular, our calling to confront the homosexual agenda. Matthew chapter 5, in the Beatitudes, beginning in verse 10, Jesus says, blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

He's speaking words of blessing and saying you are truly blessed, you are truly happy when you are persecuted for righteousness. That means that your life is different than the world. That means that your light is shining in dark places.

That means that you are being noticed and making a difference. That means that you are being identified with Jesus, therefore you are blessed. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. We are like the prophets of old. We receive a message from heaven and we make it known to the world.

We are like the prophets of old. We are the conscience and the voice of God to the world that does not know Him. Then Jesus says, you are the salt of the earth. The salt, more than anything, was a preservative.

You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men. In other words, if we do not bring a certain effect to the world, if we are not a moral conscience to the world, a preservative of the world, then we have no purpose.

We have lost our saltiness and we just get crushed and trampled by the world, which by and large is what has happened to the church in our generation. We have lost our distinctives. We have lost our saltiness.

We smell and taste and act and look like the world. Therefore, the world either ignores us or mocks us. And we get trampled underfoot. Jesus said, you are the light of the world. Now remember elsewhere He said He was the light of the world, therefore in this world we are like Him.

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. When you got saved, it was for public purposes. When you got saved, it was not just so that you could deal with your inner guilt or inner struggles or inner battles.

Yes, Jesus in His love and compassion deals with all those things and transforms us, but He transforms us on the inside out so our light can shine. You got saved not just to be hidden. You got saved not just to enjoy the blessings of God.

You got saved to serve. You got saved with a calling to be a soldier in a world changing revolutionary movement. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. If I go into a room and the room is dark and I flip on the light switch and the room stays dark, I don't get mad at the darkness.

I don't curse the darkness because the darkness is just being itself. The problem is something is wrong with the light. The reason America is in such moral and spiritual darkness is because something is wrong with the light.

The reason America is messed up is because the church is messed up. The reason the church is messed up is because so many of us in leadership are messed up. There's responsibility that comes from the leaders from the body to the world.

Inner Renewal Before Public Transformation

Look at what Jesus says in Matthew the sixth chapter and we can apply this on a national level. Verse 22, the eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good your whole body will be full of light, but if your eyes are bad your whole body will be full of darkness.

If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness? How great is the moral confusion? How great is the moral breakdown when the light within the nation is darkness and compromise? If we are going to change the world, we ourselves must be changed.

We cannot give away what we do not have. We cannot call people into something we are not experiencing. We cannot set others free if we ourselves are bound. How are we going to change the world if we have the same standards as the world does?

How are we going to make known the kingdom of God unless we are a holy counter culture movement? What we've done for at least a generation if not longer is this. The word calls us to come out of the world in terms of sin and go into the world in terms of souls.

We've done the reverse. As far as sin, we've gone into the world. As far as winning the loss, we've come out. Instead of the church changing the world, the world has changed the church. Come on, just look at things that would have been abominable, shocking, unacceptable in the homes of our grandparents or great grandparents who didn't even know the Lord and they are acceptable and normal in the homes of believers today.

Come on, when grandma, great grandma was going to get married, it was just taken for granted that she had preserved her purity. Even if she didn't know the Lord, that was just the norm in society before marriage.

Now we've got to fight a pitched battle for our teens in the church raised in the Lord to keep their purity. Something's wrong with that picture. I'm not saying this to condemn anyone. Maybe you have been hurt.

Maybe you're a victim of divorce. Maybe you're in the process of healing. I stand with you to put an arm of encouragement around you to say God can rebuild your broken world. God can bring mercy into that situation.

But I just want to say something plainly. Something's terribly wrong when the divorce rate in the world is the same as the divorce rate in the church. Something's wrong with that picture. Something's wrong with the picture when the divorce rate among believers is higher than the divorce rate among atheists.

Something's wrong with the picture when national leaders preaching on television can make the announcement that God told them they married the wrong woman in the Lord, then divorce and seven days after the divorce be married to the so-called right woman and still be preaching on TV.

Something's wrong. No wonder there's so much confusion in America. Look at what's written in Ephesians, the fifth chapter. God's up to something and He's going to do something radical and wonderful and by His grace we're going to get to be part of it, in the thick of it, in the middle of it.

But it's going to mean change and the change has to begin with us. It says in Scripture, judgment begins with the house of God. When I begin to preach repentance, I first preach to myself. I first examine my own heart in life to receive mercy and grace afresh and to ask the light of God to examine my heart for any self-righteousness, sin, pride, junk in me.

God's called us to raise up a coalition in this region called the coalition of conscience. I'll share more with you about that in a little while. As I began to write out some statements about where we stand, still in the process of finishing that, but the first statement I made was the principal problem in America today is religious hypocrisy.

The principal problem in America today is a compromised church. We've seen the enemy and it's us. Before we point fingers at others, we have to point them at ourselves and change and get before God, recognizing that sin is never for our good, that catering to the flesh is never for our good, that being holy is something beautiful.

It's not just a set of laws. It's not legalism. It's not external standards being imposed on a hardened heart. No, it's transformation of life, that we can become like Jesus in thought, word, and deed.

Bob Jones shared with me that he had a vision this morning of Christians who were drinking from polluted wells, but he saw earnestly men, women, children digging afresh and receiving pure water and pure life that was going to change the generations, that they were tapping back into the truths and the purity of the household of faith, and it was going to have a transforming effect, and that there were many who were doing it earnestly.

Listen, if we're drinking polluted waters, we are weakened ourselves. If we are drinking polluted waters, our own standards, our conception of right and wrong, it's blurred. We need awakening ourselves.

Revival has to begin among us. Our hearts have to get stirred. We need a burden afresh. We need awakening afresh. And then when something begins to happen in us, it can then have an impact on society.

The Great Commission and Transforming Society

The Great Commission is a call to go and change the world. It's a call for disciples to go and make disciples, for people who have left everything and now live and die for the Gospel to go and make disciples.

It's not a call just to get people to adhere to our religious beliefs. It's not a call just to get people to come to a church service. It's not a call even just to get people to give money or have a Bible study.

It's a call for transformation, for spiritual and moral transformation. And someone said, Jesus transforms people. People transform society. Our light starts shining in dark places. It will make a difference.

We start functioning as a prophetic voice to our society. It will make a difference. We start living with compassionate, sacrificial love for a hurting world. It will make a difference. Jesus said we're the light of the world.

Some of that light is doing good deeds, helping the poor, helping the oppressed, giving to the thankless, overcoming evil with good. That's part of our calling. But that's not the only thing that light does.

Ephesians 5. If you've not meditated on this chapter recently or start in the fourth chapter and go through the purity that we're called to, I encourage you to do it. See, we become insensitive. We become desensitized if we feed on wrong things.

You know, somebody used to smoke cigarettes. And you could be in a smoke-filled room and didn't notice it. And then you give up cigarettes by God's grace or you just got rid of it before you even knew the Lord.

And then you go in a smoke-filled room and you start to choke. And you come out and your clothes smell like that smoke. You used to smell like that but you didn't notice it. Maybe you used to be in the military or something and the people you were with were just full of profanity day and night.

And then you get away from it. And then the moment you hear profanity you're kind of jarred. But we get used to things. We're entertained by the same trash that entertains the world. We feast on it. We take it in.

We see the same scenes, the same unclean things, hear the same unclean words. It blurs our consciousness. We don't feel convicted anymore. It's not because we've gotten more mature. It's because we got harder.

Little by little God begins to work and sensitize our hearts again. And we step back from these things and the light within us starts to get bright. And that's when we come into holy conflict with the world.

One of the things God spoke to me about the move of God that's in its early stages now is that it will be the passion of Jesus' revolution together with the power of revival. And it will bring the church into holy conflict with the world.

You can go to our website and listen to a message there called Revival Revolution, the next wave. But look at what it says here in Ephesians 5 verse 8. For you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord.

How did we live before we knew Him? What were our standards like before we knew Him? That's what we used to be. Some of us were just gross sinners. Even though I was raised in a good home, I was shooting heroin at the age of 15, living in complete rebellion until Jesus radically saved me when I was 16.

You were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. Our question should not be what can I get away with? I mean who of you goes to a restaurant and you've been told they have food poisoning and you wonder, I wonder how much food I can eat without getting food poisoning?

You go down to some quiet part of the beach where you can be alone and then people come running at you. Lifeguards notice that you don't want to go in that water. Four people have just drowned. There's a terrible undertow and current.

You don't think, I wonder how far I can get out without drowning? Why do we do that with worldly things? Why do we do that with worldly entertainment? Why do we do that with worldly standards and worldly dress and worldly behavior?

I wonder how far I can go before this thing bites me? No. Live as children of light. Find out how bright you can be. Find out how much light can come out of your life. Find out with kids and parents and people in the business world, what does it mean to be light walking in this dark place?

Not self-righteousness, not a haughty spirit, not a legalism, not a looking down at others, but something about us that singles us out and makes us different in such a way that the world knows it. They may kill us for it, but that's when you rejoice because you're different.

Better you get killed for being different than live a long life for being the same. Live as children of light for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. And find out what pleases the Lord.

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Part of us being light is to expose darkness. Part of us being light is to raise a standard and call people up to that standard and lay down our lives to help people live up to it by the power and grace of God.

For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret, but everything exposed by the light becomes visible for it is light that makes everything visible. It is light that makes everything visible.

Moral Relativism Among Young People

A few years ago George Barna took a survey of the spiritual state of young people in America. On the one hand there's a definite move of God happening among the young people. It's been my privilege to be pouring myself out in a major way for years into this younger generation.

I still feel like I'm 18. We've got three grandkids, a fourth on the way, but I still feel a connection in my heart. George Barna did this survey and he said basically the way to summarize the moral standards and the moral convictions of the young generation, both those who are in the church professing to be evangelicals and born again, the best way to summarize the moral standards, convictions of the young generation is one of their favorite words, whatever.

Whatever. Just doesn't bother me. Just don't feel this is right or wrong. Just don't care. Listen, the world is in darkness, but we should not be. The world is confused and stumbling around, but we should not be.

We should be, as one Jewish scholar said, as the prophets, we should be the ones that feel the blast of heaven. If we really want to be prophetic, it's more than receiving words for one another, although that's wonderful and absolutely biblical and an important ministry from heaven, and we affirm it on every level.

But it's more than that. It's also hearing what God's saying for a dying world and raising a standard. In the last few years, God has given me a very definite focus. I'm not asking for this any more than you would ask for it.

I'm sure your lives are full. My life's full. Heading up our school of ministry, leading our leadership team that has a congregation and has missionaries, our grads as missionaries, a couple hundred of them in 25 different nations we oversee them.

Then being engaged in Jewish ministry and then writing and then traveling and preaching and going overseas and so on and so forth. And then being involved in scholarly biblical work. My life's full, just like you can get up and tell me your lives are very full.

The Call to Confront the Homosexual Agenda

I was not asking for a new challenge or something to take on. And God made it very clear that there was a battle that we were to fight. And it was the battle confronting the homosexual agenda. As two Christian authors put in the subtitle of a recent book, it is the principal threat to religious freedom today.

Now listen, some of you know me well, some of you don't know me from Adam and you're still wondering why are you sitting here at a Sunday service hearing about a homosexual agenda. Let me say this as plainly as I can and please hear it the way I'm saying it.

I don't normally have my educational or academic credentials announced at the beginning of the service, but Robin made a deal with me that if he would announce them then we would give him an honorary doctorate.

No, he doesn't care about that. I've got a PhD in ancient Semitic languages. I know how to do meticulous research. I've written thousands of pages of either biblical commentary or apologetic stuff in detail.

I'm not some alarmist and extremist that thinks the sky is falling all the time. I'm not looking for the latest conspiratorial theories. I'm not trying to unearth some secret, oh I discovered this secret thing happening.

It's the trilateral Illuminati Mason Da Vinci Code conspiracy all rolled into one. I'm doing an outreach, God willing, with an evangelical brother and a rabbi that will be part of the discussion in mid-May in New York City, a roundtable about the Da Vinci Code.

A book that sold 12 million plus copies in the States, 40 million worldwide. I never paid attention to it until getting ready for this outreach. It's amazing how many people read it and believe all this absolute nonsense and bunk, but they're going for it because they're told the church is suppressing stuff.

There's conspiracy everywhere. I mean it's just bunk. What I'm talking to you about today is not bunk. I'm not seeking to be alarmist. I'm here with a message sent by God and together we're going to see change happen in this city, in this region, as an example to the rest of the country.

If we'll humble ourselves before God and work together in the life and power of His Spirit, it will happen. As preposterous as it seems, it'll happen. Just like other things God spoke to me in years past in my own life that seemed so preposterous and impossible.

And before they happen, you question it and you think you're crazy and it's never going to happen. And why did you ever open your mouth and speak it? And yet He does it. He's first say that the more God has immersed me in this, in reading and seeking to interact with homosexual men and women, the more my heart breaks.

The more compassion I have, the more I hurt for the struggles they go through. The last thing I'm doing is standing up here throwing stones. And we've reduced it to two simple phrases, reach out and resist.

Reach out and resist. Reach out to homosexual men and women with compassion and sensitivity. Resist their agenda with courage and strength. Reach out and resist. I'm scheduled to have lunch this Friday with a leading homosexual activist in the city here.

When I called him and said, let's dialogue, he wanted to know why. I mean, he was very open to it. He contacted me immediately when I initially contacted him. He didn't know who I was, but wanted to dialogue when I told him things.

And I said, listen, I'm going to be opposing a lot of the things you stand for. I want to put a face behind the agenda and I want you to know my heart for you. I want you to know my love for you as an individual and my respect for you as an individual, even though I stand against things that you stand for.

Reach out and resist. He said, well, why is this such an issue? Why is this such a large subject? Hear me now. I'm not prophesying to you so much what's going to come. I'm telling you what has happened and what is in the process of happening.

And you know what they say about taxes, you can pay me now or pay me later. You know, you go to the dentist and he tells you you need some work done on your teeth. Well, I don't think so. He says, pay me now when it's easy or pay me later when it's bad.

If we don't wake up to this, we're going to pay later big time and regret it. In a nutshell, this is what's happened. One group that considered itself an oppressed, misunderstood minority, in reality, perhaps 3 of the population.

This group was in the closet. It was considered shameful in our society to say that you are homosexual. Now, it is considered shameful to say that it's wrong. This group that was in the closet in the late 60s as a result of the counterculture revolution and the sexual revolution beginning in 69 in particular, a gay revolution started, a homosexual revolution.

Some of the activists said, we're going to write the revolution into law. You can actually see checklists of various goals that activists had. I understand if you talk to your average homosexual man and woman, he doesn't have an agenda, she doesn't have an agenda any more than leave me alone and let me just live my life.

But there are activists with agendas that are being implemented throughout our society. You can see checklists of what they want to do and what they want to see happen and in front of our eyes it's been happening and then you see the checklist on what's coming next.

I'm going to give you some facts and information and quotes in a moment. This group came out of the closet and then began to say, we demand our, quote, rights. Then they began to look especially at conservatives and Christians and said, we demand you recognize our rights.

Then they began to say, we're going to take away your rights. And you know what's coming next and is starting to happen? You are going in the closet. Just a couple of quotes. God moved on me last year to start writing a book.

Those of you that are intercessors and prayer warriors and want to join this battle with me, pray for the right publisher. We feel called to get this out not just to the church but to a secular audience as well.

So I'm writing to reach the world. It'll take the right publisher to publish a book called A Queer Thing Happened to America. Don't just let the arrows hit me. I need a few intercessors getting hit first.

Religious-Liberty Conflicts and Public Speech

Here, Ackie Green, Swedish pastor in his 70s, in his church in Sweden preached a message in which he spoke with compassion but spoke clearly against the sin of homosexuality and was arrested and given a prison sentence for it.

Here, listen to this. The prosecutor of the case, when questions about the pastor's rights stated, when he started reading Bible verses about homosexuality, he crossed the line. Swedish ambassador Cecilia Julian said, Swedish law states that public addresses cannot be used to instigate hatred towards a certain group.

This was ultimately overturned only when it got to the Supreme Court of Sweden. Christian leader in Pennsylvania at a city council meeting where you have an open mic, open forum. We've gone, different leaders in the city here and activists have set up city council meetings where all ten of us address the same issue about righteousness things in the city and speak to the mayor, speak to the council members.

Sometimes they have an open mic. Each person can address any issue for three minutes. This Christian leader began to speak of his concern with the gay agenda in the city and where the city council was going.

They told him he couldn't speak of that. He began to read from Romans 1. They said, you can't put your interpretation on the passage. He said, I just want to read the Bible. They said, you can't. He said, it's on my time.

They said, your time is up. He was arrested for disorderly conduct and disrupting of public affairs here in Pennsylvania. Quote from the district attorney, the assistant district attorney, the borough president perceived what he was reading as hate speech.

It would be homophobic today. They couldn't let him go on. You can't go up to the podium and start reading from the Bible. Thankfully, that was overturned by the courts, but this stuff is just in motion.

People have been fined in Canada for putting out ads. One man put out an ad in a newspaper after being repulsed by what happened in a gay pride week with every kind of public lewdness and obscenity taking place, being paraded, the presence of children and young people.

He took out an ad in a newspaper that simply had a picture of two men holding hands and then just the no sign through it, like a no smoking sign and scripture references against homosexuality. He didn't even print the verses.