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The same Bible that condemned me held in it the promises that could save me. I just had to believe it. “It” being what it said about Him: God. Jesus had the guilty in mind when He was hung high and stretched out wide. On it, He died in my place, for my sin. He bare-bodied and face set on joy, became as slaughtered lamb underneath the wrath of God. You would think His Father would have a better memory than that. Didn’t he know that that wrath was mine? It even had my name on it. But He knew. His justice wouldn’t allow Him to forget. His love is what He wanted me to know and remember, and I did. (p75-76)
Being strengthened to endure and being given the power to obey doesn’t make obedience easy, but it does make it possible. (173) Shortly after that pivotal night, I was doing the painful work of breaking up with my girlfriend. Her tears were too loud to listen to without regret. She knew how much I loved her, how childish my face got when she was around. Inaccurate media reports are circling stating that the student in question was expelled from our school solely for a social media post,” the statement said. “In the fall, we met with the student to give her a final chance to begin to adhere to our code of conduct. Unfortunately, she did not live up to the agreement, and therefore, has been expelled.”
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Eventually, she is threatened by God. After she is told that a lover will cause her death, she totally surrenders. She realizes that she needs freedom not just from lesbianism but from every sign of ungodliness. She accepts Jesus as Lord, and although she is aware that it is a long road ahead, she trusts that God will see her through. Perry sees a difference between “false teachers,” those who willingly deceive others while living ungodly lives, and “false teaching,” which comes from a well-meaning but misinformed believer. She considers Bethel Church’s teachings to fall into the latter category. These days, leaders are often measured not just by their own actions, but by the company they keep—which is becoming easier for followers to spot and scrutinize on social media. The thought of death was so matter-of-fact that it made an immediate mess of my mind. Like God had thrown himself inside of my world, in one immediate gesture, while I watched everything shred, fly up, and rain down all at once” (70). To me, what I knew to be God calling me to himself sounded an awful lot like God calling me to be straight, as if his only intention were to transform me partially. But that was far from the truth. Though God was very concerned with how I lived out my sexuality, he was just as concerned with what I did with my hands and if my fingerprints would be found on anything righteous. He was just as concerned with my mind and how it held hell in it at all times. He cared deeply that I use my mouth in a manner that showed some awareness that he was always listening.
I was able to want God because the Holy Spirit was after my affections just as much as he was after my obedience. You might see me on platforms with Reformed folk one day and non-Reformed folk the next day. You might see me laughing it up with the Southern Baptists one moment and being churchy with some Cogic (Church of God in Christ) saints the next. Why? Because I believe that God’s church is big and multi-faceted, and it’s made up of people that are complicated and nuanced. Perhaps Perry’s most helpful theological point is this: “God isn’t calling gay people to be straight” (177). This isn’t the true gospel, but the “heterosexual gospel,” a misleading message that’s hurt many people and kept them from the truth and from knowing Jesus. While being clear that homosexuality behavior is sinful, Perry helpfully points out that God’s ultimate call on gay people is not straightness. Perry clarifies that God is calling all people—whether SSA or not—to a life of faith in and obedience to Christ. Her clarification was helpful for me as a believer who desires to build up the church and minister to those outside of Christ. I want to love people well—all people—by pointing them to the only true gospel of salvation. The SSA Christian that is called to marriage is no more of an apologetic for the power of God than the SSA Christian that is called to singleness. In both, God is glorified. Hill Perry also released her own book, Gay Girl Good God, which was published September 3, 2018. She is also author of a Bible study for women and teen girls "Jude: Contending for the Faith in Today's Culture.". [19] Hill Perry released her second book, "Holier Than Thou: How God's Holiness Helps Us Trust Him" in 2021.
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But a different kind of controversy arose when she participated in a recent conference for Propel Women, a ministry founded by Christine Caine, alongside Pentecostal leaders including those from Bethel Music. If Jesus needed the strength to endure for the sake of obedience to His Father, how much more do we? I know now what I didn’t know then. God was not calling me to be straight; he was calling me to himself. The choice to lay aside sin and take hold of holiness was not synonymous with heterosexuality. . . . In my becoming holy as he is, I would not be miraculously made into a woman that didn’t like women; I’d be made into a woman that loved God more than anything. (69) Video: Swoope - #SameTeam Remix ft. The Industry". Rapzilla. Philip Rood and Chad Horton. August 11, 2014 . Retrieved October 29, 2014. At the close, Perry delivers a beautiful gospel presentation that all readers will do well to remember:
Aside from the doctrines of grace, it's one concept that has really renewed my mind when it comes to faith and sin. Now, when I look at certain sins, it's not, 'Oh, I'm just doing this because I want to.' No, what in this sin do you think will satisfy me that God can't? It makes my processing of my issues a lot deeper, and it's also expanded my view of God. [16] Writing [ edit ]
Is this what it feels like to be a Christian? I thought to myself. Is it to have a quiet war inside of yourself at all times? (83) Here, the author declares that being a Christian and enduring temptation from the devil is hard, but just as the Father sent an angel to strengthen his son when he was overwhelmed, so has the Holy Spirit come to strengthen believers. There’s also something unique and attractive about Perry’s poetic language. There were a few places I found it hard to follow, but this was the exception. Her writing is warm, inviting, and striking all at once: To leave her, us, our love, made no sense apart from the divine doing of God. She was both my woman and my idol. She was the eye Jesus said to gouge out and the right hand he commanded me to cut off (Matt. 5:29–30). Though it was as painful as the extreme act of removing a part of the body, it was better for me to lose her than to lose my soul. It is the identity that we ascribe to God out of doubt or faith in his Scriptures that will determine the identity we will give ourselves and ultimately the life that we inevitably live. If he is the Creator, then we are created. If he is Master, then we are servants. If he is love, then we are loved. If he is omnipotent, then we are not as powerful as we think. If he is omniscient, then there is nowhere to hide. If he cannot lie, then his promises are all true. It is faith in the truths of God’s character that has the power to completely revolutionize how our lives are lived out. (160)
As CT reported in a 2016 cover story, critics of Bethel often take issue with the church’s belief in the continued work of apostles and prophets—a tenet of the New Apostolic Reformation movement—as well as the claims of healings and other miracles.Vissman, Donna (January 17, 2016). "Lecrae Releases Church Clothes 3 with Kanye West & Jay-Z". Williamson Source . Retrieved February 25, 2021. Having struggled with same-sex attraction (SSA) for as long as she can remember, Perry recounts her story with humility, pointing us ultimately to her good God. From the beginning, she tells us that’s her agenda:
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