June 29, 2015 ISI Radio Show with Pastor Ronjour Locke on “Same-Sex Marriage & the Hijacking of the Civil Rights Movement”
The June 29, 2015 interview was with Ronjour Locke, a Black conservative & theologically Reformed Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Brooklyn, MD, on to discuss: “SAME-SEX MARRIAGE & THE HIJACKING OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT”.
Transcript
Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron, a radio
platform on which pastors, Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues
facing the church and the world today.
Proverbs 27 verse 17 tells us, Iron sharpens iron so one
man sharpens another.
Matthew Henry said that in this passage, quote, we are cautioned to take heed whom we
converse with and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another
wiser and better.
It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next hour and we hope to hear
from you, the listener, with your own questions.
Now here's our host, Chris.
Arntzen.
Good afternoon Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and the rest of humanity on the planet Earth
listening via live streaming.
This is Chris Arntzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Monday and
I'm so delighted to have for the very first time as a guest on our program
Pastor Ronjor Locke.
He is pastor of First Baptist Church of Brooklyn in Baltimore, Maryland, and he is married to Annie,
and they have four children, Joshua, Noah, Micaiah, and Naomi.
He is a Maryland native and a graduate of Washington Bible College and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary,
and Ronjor exists to display and declare the greatness of Christ in all of life that
all may delight in the glory of God.
To that end, he cares deeply about preserving the biblical pattern of marriage for the display of the
glorious union of Christ to his church, and today we're going to be addressing in light
of the tragic, horrific, but sadly fully expected decision of the
Supreme Court last Friday, Friday, June 26, as I said last week, which is a day that
will live in infamy when same -sex marriage was legalized.
We are having our new guest Pastor Ronjor Locke today to speak on the
hijacking of the civil rights movement by the homosexual left,
and it's my pleasure to welcome you for the very first time, Pastor Ronjor Locke.
And before I forget to say it, I'll make sure that I state it now, and hopefully I'll repeat it a few
times later, but the website for First Baptist Church of Brooklyn, Maryland, is
firstbaptistbrooklyn .org.
That's firstbaptistbrooklyn .org.
A lot of our listeners may, well obviously most people on the globe know Brooklyn,
New York, but many of them may not know about Brooklyn,
Maryland.
Yeah, and they've only had it a
short while, too.
And well, Ronjor, tell us something about your background and your church
before we even go into the topic.
I want to let our listeners know that I'm interviewing Ronjor Locke today
because of the high recommendation of a mutual friend of ours, Eric
Redman, who is now on the faculty of Moody Bible Institute.
But Eric Redman is a dear brother in Christ, a dear friend who I had on the
older version of Iron Sharpens Iron between 2006 and 2011.
He became a dear friend over those years, and I had him speak at a pastor's
luncheon out on Long Island, New York, and all of the pastors, without exception,
gave glowing reviews to Eric's preaching.
But Eric was originally invited to do this program today but could not due to previous engagements, and he
gave a glowing, glowing recommendation of our guest, Ronjor Locke, and said, in fact, that he believes that Ronjor will
do a better job than he would today.
And I also want to quickly thank Richard Bennett of Berean Beacon Ministries, the former Roman Catholic priest
who is now a born -again believer in Christ and a Reformed Baptist and a
zealous, diligent evangelist of the gospel.
He gave us the liberty to move his two interviews that were originally going to take place
today and tomorrow to later in July so that we could obviously address a very timely subject like
the one we're doing today, the hijacking of the civil rights movement by the homosexual left.
And so let's go back into my original question to you, Pastor Ronjor.
If you could, please give our listeners some background about yourself and about your church,
First Baptist Church of Brooklyn, Maryland.
Amen.
And in
fact, I'd
like
to have
you
back on
again
in
the
near future
to.
Address the riot situation over there and give a pastoral response to that.
And I think it's significant to mention that you are a black pastor because of
the subject matter.
If I didn't mention that, there may be some who wouldn't think that you, as a guest, would have a right to speak
about who has and who has not hijacked the civil rights movement.
So I mention that for that reason.
And also, I think it's of interest to note that you're in an interracial marriage,
and some on the left might think that you are betraying the progress of the civil rights because
you yourself, not that long ago, especially in the South, would have
been putting your life at risk for doing such a thing, and that there may have been places that wouldn't have, and there were no
doubt places that would not have married you.
And so therefore, what is your response, your response to this
horrific Supreme Court decision on same -sex marriage being legalized, and the
fact that you are just as aware as I am that the homosexual left,
they have really used, in a great way, the civil rights movement as
a tool, if you will, to get their own rights
to freely practice their depravity in even greater.
Ways
now.
So
if
you
could
response
to
that.
Yes.
Yes,
yes.
If
there
is a
big.
Difference between the color of one's skin, or the origins of their
ethnicity, and violation of a command of God.
And these two things are constantly being mixed, as if they are one in the
same.
Homosexuality is being treated just as if it deserves special rights,
like people of all ethnic groups and races and creeds and colors and so on.
But obviously, this is not the case.
Now, the thing that I find interesting, you are a black pastor who happens to be
theologically conservative, with theologically reformed leanings, and
the, from what I have seen, not necessarily, or should I say not at all, in the
media, but what I have seen, not only in the Christian media, but the more conservative
media, and also in my own travels, having been involved in Christian radio for 30 years,
I've seen even the black pastors and the black congregants of many
churches that would be clearly more liberal than you are.
The African -American community and the Hispanic community seems to be
very much in disagreement with homosexuality and same -sex marriage in particular, aren't.
They?
Amen.
And I
don't
know
if
anything
has
changed
with your
phone,
but
for
some.
Reason you've been cutting out a little bit, and I'm not certain why.
Okay.
But hopefully that won't continue to occur.
And of course, as I mentioned earlier, you happen to be in an interracial marriage, and
we want to make something very clear, that even though there have been wicked people who professed faith in
Christ, who have opposed that, there is nothing biblical
that would prohibit people of different races or colors or
ethnicities to be.
Married
together,
correct?
When
you look
in
the
scriptures
on
marriage,
it's the very
thing that
they are to have
in Christ.
Amen.
Right, and of the opposite sex.
That is.
Correct.
Yes, and of course one stunning example we have of God's anger toward
racism is when Moses's sister criticized him for
marrying or being married to a.
Woman of another race, and the Lord struck her leprous, did
he not?
Yes.
And
it.
Also seems absurd that in regard to the Great Commission, that we are to go into
all the world making disciples, that God did not fully intend
those individuals going into all parts of the world to eventually be marrying people of different
races and ethnic origins.
Right.
And so what we do have a question, and in fact I want to
repeat the email address for Iron Sharpens Iron.
It's ChrisArnzen at gmail .com.
ChrisArnzen at gmail .com.
That's C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.
We do have a listener in Elizabethton, Tennessee, Nathan Lane.
Now, it's not the Nathan Lane that everybody knows who would certainly be in favor of same -sex marriage.
This is a completely different Nathan.
I'd be happy to talk to him, too.
He asked something that you
basically already answered, but you can touch on it again if you had anything further to say, but I
thought that the question is worthy of repeating, and Nathan in Elizabethton, Tennessee
asked, could you please speak on the distinction between the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the current
Homosexual Rights Movement?
But I would even like to ask, can you compare the Civil Rights Movement of.
The
60s
to
the
Civil
Rights
Movement
in
general
today?
Fundamental.
Now,
you
have
Back in the 60s, you did have some black homosexuals like James Baldwin
who were a part of the Civil Rights Movement in a way.
What do you think do you know anything about what Dr. Martin Luther King and some of the more prominent
members of the Civil Rights Movement would have said today about homosexuality, and what do
you think that they would have been in favor of what we see happening, and especially what we heard last Friday
in regard to the.
Supreme
Court
decision
legalizing
same
-sex
marriage?
And we're
going
to
be.
Going to a break right now.
If you have any questions for our guest, Rondra Locke, who is the pastor of the First Baptist
Church of Brooklyn, Maryland, please email us at chrisarnson at gmail .com.
Chrisarnson at gmail .com.
Please include your first name, your city and state, and if outside the United States, please
include your country as well.
We're gonna be right back after these messages, so don't go away.
God bless.
...in fellowship, play, and together.
Hi, I'm Pastor Bob Walderman, and I invite you to come and join us here at Linbrook Baptist Church and see all that a.
Church can be.
Call Linbrook Baptist at 516 -599 -9402.
That's 516 -599 -9402, or visit linbrookbaptist .org.
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...it's about God and his glory, and the gospel is about man and his...
Welcome back.
This is Chris Arnzen, if you've just tuned us in.
Our guest today is Pastor Ron Gerlach, and he is the pastor of First Baptist Church of
Brooklyn in Maryland, and we are discussing today the hijacking
of the civil rights movement by the homosexual left, and just
because of the fact that it makes it more relevant as far as our discussion is concerned,
our guest today, Pastor Locke, is a black pastor.
He also happens to be a conservative Baptist and a
believer in the doctrines of sovereign grace.
Once again, our email address, if you have any questions, is ChrisArnzen at gmail .com,
C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.
We do have a listener in Dublin, Ireland, Joe, who
actually has recommended his pastor for a future interview, because as many of you
may know, same -sex marriage has already been legalized in Ireland, and
he thinks that this would be a good program, and we will definitely look into this, Joe.
We thank you for listening in Ireland and for sending us the email.
That's Dublin, Ireland, and hope to develop a program with your pastor
there in Dublin at the Reformed Baptist Church there.
And again, our email address is ChrisArnzen at gmail .com.
We do have another listener in Fort Myers, Florida.
His name is Mike, and he asks, given the faulty recent Supreme Court decision on
same -sex marriage, what pastoral advice would you give conservative evangelical Christians
to go about discussion in the marketplace, if and when the subject is broached by those, whether
they be a confessing believer or not, who support the new law?
Thank you and blessings.
Could you give some pastoral advice on how to speak on this issue in the public
marketplace, Pastor Locke?
If
you
are,
you
have
to be
coming
in,
none
of
that
is
possible.
And we do have another listener, Jacob in Lansdale, Pennsylvania.
I was curious about what you and Ron Jour think about countering Christians who support same
-sex marriage and are convinced that this Supreme Court ruling is a victory for civil
rights for Christians.
Now, that doesn't seem to make sense to me, but I personally don't think that a born
-again believer in Jesus Christ, who has the Holy Spirit dwelling within them,
could possibly support same -sex marriage.
You might have some that have different political understandings on how the government has authority over marriages
and that kind of thing, but if you could respond, Ron Jour.
Attempt
to...
Yeah, a lot of people who say that they're Christian, and a lot of them, all they mean by that is
that they're not Jewish or Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist, and they celebrate Christmas and
Easter and may have been raised with some kind of a nominal
background where their parents told them something about the Jesus story in the manger or whatever,
but these people are not truly disciples of Christ.
They're not born -again believers in His Word and followers
of His teachings, correct?
Unique
for
my...
Yeah, and I believe that a lot of this misconception about what Christianity
is comes from people who have a TV,
movie, or greeting card understanding of Jesus that is only
humility, love, compassion, gentleness, meekness, mildness.
They forget that the baby that was in the manger is no longer a baby, and
when he returns, he will be a wrathful judge, and they can seem to completely
forget or purposely eliminate that entire aspect of Christ's
anger and wrath towards sin and towards sinners.
And we do have Ted in Tuscaloosa, Alabama listening who wants to know if I'm
interviewing the guy who played first base for the Expos in the 70s,
Ron Jorlach.
No, that's a different person.
And leave it up to a guy from Tuscaloosa to ask that question, but anyway...
Well, we're going to be going to our final break right now.
If you have a question for Ron Jorlach, not Ron
Jorlach, if you have a question for Pastor Ron Jorlach, please email
us at chrisarnsen at gmail .com, C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N.
We are talking about the hijacking of the civil rights movement by the homosexual left, and we look
forward to hearing from you and your questions after these messages, so don't go away.
I'm James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries.
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Welcome back, this is Chris Zarnes, and if you've just tuned in to Iron Sharpens Iron, our guest today is Pastor Ranjour Locke,
who is pastor of First Baptist Church of Brooklyn, Maryland, and we are discussing the
hijacking of the civil rights movement by the homosexual left in a response
to last Friday's horrific decision by the Supreme Court legalizing same
-sex marriage.
And I did say horrific, not terrific.
And we do have a listener from Toronto, Canada, Brian, who
says, I chatted with a Christian who supported same -sex marriage, but he only supported it for the reason
that he believed all should have freedom.
But at the same time, his theology was against same -sex marriage.
I've seen him as more confused than not being a Christian.
I pointed out that the Bible calls Christians ambassadors, and as ambassadors for Christ, we must
uphold what our King says.
He has seen my point, and as far as I know, changed his mind about supporting same -sex marriage.
So that was more of a comment than a question, but I think it's a good one that, as I even
said in my initial response to the earlier question, there are people, for instance, libertarians
who are born -again Christians who are very, very conservative and in many points would be
more to the right than your average Republican, but who
believe that the government should be so small that they shouldn't even be meddling in anybody's marriage.
So there you have, I think that that somewhat touches on this person's belief.
But what do you have to say about what our listener Brian in Toronto, Canada had to say?
Mm
-hmm,
right, right.
Yeah, they've
had
to
redefine
exactly what marriage is,.
And it's almost like saying we demand the right for men to give birth to babies.
Well, you can't because that's just not what giving birth means.
It's impossible.
So therefore, no matter what a ceremony or a pledge may be between two
men or two women, it's not a marriage.
Help out.
No,
I
do
understand.
Now we do
have
another
listener,.
Johnny in Ridgewood, Queens, New York, who says, how do you respond to the argument that
the Bible is completely silent on same -sex marriage?
And that is quite a ridiculous argument, isn't it?
Because if the Bible clearly condemns homosexuality, then there's no way that it could.
Be condoning same -sex marriage.
But if you
could further
comment.
Yeah, I would -.
Are you there, Rondreau?
You disappeared there.
Yeah, but you did cut out, so I didn't hear like half of your sentence.
Homosexuality, but he
did
explicitly
speak.
When the Bible is absolutely clear,
came
one
flesh.
Yeah, homosexuality
is okay.
But the problem, of course,
is
And you and I both saw the MAFA
21 DVD, which is a
If those of you listening have not seen MAFA 21, you must see it.
It's spelled M -A -A -F -A 21.
It's about the origins of the abortion industry and then specifically Planned
Parenthood and the racist roots of this horrific practice, this
genocide of children or infanticide.
What was said during that documentary is that a lot of the
people in the limelight of the black civil rights movement today have
really sold their souls to the Democratic Party because of
the fact that they know that they would not receive a penny of financial aid for their own
campaigns and their own activities if they were to begin to speak out against not only abortion,
but same -sex marriage.
Now, same -sex marriage didn't come up in the MAFA DVD documentary, but I'm
applying it now.
Do you think that that is a reason why the blacks in the limelight of
the civil rights movement, the ones that you see most often in the media, do you think that's why they're silent on the issue?
Unprecedented.
Yes, exactly.
And we're out of time right now.
I'm sorry, Pastor, and we thank you so much for being on the program.
1stbaptistbrooklyn .org is his website.