Category Archives: Evangelicals Concerned
Church cancels Kirk Talley appearance over gay conference
Earlier this month, we blogged about southern gospel music former star Kirk Talley and his new dalliance with the gay christian movement. Talley did not respond to our attempts to get his “side of the story”. As a note, generally as a courtesy, we do attempt to contact individuals for comment when information about them is published on GCM Watch. Individuals are under no obligation to respond and quite often, they do not respond.
But, we learned on yesterday that due to his association with the homosexual church Open Door Sherwood and his upcoming appearance at a gay christian event sponsored by Evangelicals Concerned, one church has cancelled his appearance. After being contacted by the church, Talley told them it (the gay conference) was “just business”.
But another church defended the appearance. According to an email from Pastor DeWayne Howard of Bridges of Hope Fellowship Talley was personally interviewed by him.
“I spoke with Kirk on the phone to let him know and to ask some very personal and pointed questions to hold him accountable and to clear up any misconceptions that were floating around out there. After much research and speaking with Kirk and the office of the Evangelicals Concerned, I do not find that Kirk is in any way out of line. Kirk is not attending this conference as an attendee, but rather will be there for one night to sing and minister through sharing his story. I firmly believe that God uses all of our experiences to bring Him glory and to help others find the way. Kirk is not going in support of the gay, lesbian, or whatever kind of lifestyle. He is going to share God’s story for his life. We should applaud him in being willing to help others to overcome their struggles in life, not condemn him or try to destroy him for being obedient to the call of God that has been given to us all. Kirk’s struggles in life are no different than yours or mine. What makes it sin is when we act on those struggles (desires) of the flesh. Until then, we have to take every thought captive and submit it to the Lord.”
The issue is not whether Kirk Talley is engaging in homosexuality, but whether his appearance and tacit approval by such an appearance of those who do and claim to be Christians is against God’s Word. That’s the issue at hand. Pastor Howard says that we should “pick up the phone and call Talley before judging him.” While Pastor Howard conveniently evokes the J-word, he altogether ignores the scriptural restrictions of 1 Corinthians 5.
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 3 For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. 4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the sinful nature so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. 6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with any who claim to be fellow believers but are sexually immoral or greedy, idolaters or slanderers, drunkards or swindlers. With such persons do not even eat. (TNIV) our italics
We couldn’t help but wonder if this ECWR engagement is “just business” to Talley then how does that allow for him to “minister” as Howard noted? Perhaps Pastor Howard isn’t aware that Talley told the other church a different story? At this point it seems like every phone call yields a different story. Furthermore, its highly unlikely that ECWR will allow Talley to tell them that homosexuality is a sin and that God isn’t pleased with their lifestyle.
h/t to mlj
UPDATE: Read more about what Kirk Talley said about his visits to homosexual churches.
GCM Watch seeking former members of gay churches
Gay Christian Movement Watch is seeking first hand accounts and personal narratives of several categories of individuals who have had personal experience with gay churches and organizations.
First, GCM Watch is seeking testimonials of former members of gay churches namely: Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), any affiliate churches of The Fellowship (Bishop Yvette Flunder), Unity Fellowship Church Movement or any independent gay church. In addition, if you were part of an “affirming” or “inclusive” church, but left because you no longer accepted its false doctrines, please contact GCM Watch as soon as possible.
Secondly, if you have visited, but never joined a gay/affirming/inclusive church your personal narrative of that experience is also welcomed.
Third, if you know of someone who fits the criteria above, forward this information to them and ask them to contact GCM Watch.
These personal narratives are being sought to provide a balanced and truthful counter to the lies currently being promoted by gay churches about biblical sexual morality. These organizations promise an overabundance of love, value and acceptance but what are they actually delivering to hurting and confused people?
- Contact GCM Watch at gcmwatch@yahoo.com
- Partial list of “affirming/inclusive” religious organizations here and here.
This announcement will repost each month.
GCM Watch to gospel singer Kirk Talley: repent and choose
It wasn’t that long ago when we learned about Kirk Talley (pictured), one of southern gospel music’s “stars”. Talley had sung with all the genre’s top names and was celebrated in churches all across the country. Without a doubt, Kirk Talley was southern gospel music “royalty”.
Then, news broke that a man in Knoxville, TN attempted to blackmail Talley. Reports state the two met while searching for male sex online. The story’s publicity and Talley’s subsequent admission that he was homosexual set off a chain reaction which caused him to forfeit many of the lucrative singing engagements he had once enjoyed.
Placed under the care of a ”restoration team”, Talley suspended his career and set about to recover from his homosexuality. Less than a year later, on October 6, 2004 the “restoration team” announced that Talley was ready for a comeback. No one knows what the conditions of his “restoration” were, nor did the unnamed restoration team make public exactly what Talley had accomplished in order to be restored. That may have been a blunder simular to the one with Ted Haggard.
But GCM Watch has learned that things have indeed changed, although Kirk Talley is not being honest about those changes. Talley seems to be weaving his way into the gay christian movement while still performing at unsuspecting churches which are not aware of his new friends and their false doctrine. Talley is scheduled to perform in July at the Evangelical Concerned conference which describes the event as “a four-day retreat experience with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians.”
In September 2006, Talley was a guest speaker at an “exgay” conference in Macon, GA where he talked about how he changed after the blackmail episode.
In November, he appeared on James Robinson’s Life Today (interview transcript)show where he told Robinson,
I tell my story and my story only. I don’t get off into all the arguable points of the issue. I tell my story and my story only in hopes that somebody will not end up out on the sidewalk like I was, trying to…”
Robinson finished the line with ”…Have no choice but to go into this other lifestyle”[of homosexuality].
But just a year after the LifeToday appearance, Talley is becoming quite the fixture on the gay christian scene. Talley’s website makes no indication of why he has changed his mind about telling people they can overcome homosexuality. Is he being intentionally dishonest just to make money at the expense of people’s souls? His website —oddly enough— makes no mention of his upcoming appearance at the gay conference.
Talley, who won 2007 “Songwriter of the Year” at the Southern Gospel Music Awards, doesnt seem to mind people knowing that he is now very comfortable at homosexual churches. After all, the pictures are posted all over Flickr. What does this mean? Well, homosexual churches, unlike some so called “loving” Christian churches will not allow anyone opposed to their lifestyle to preach or sing in their churches. They possess zero tolerance while hypocrtically demanding to be “inclusion” in other churches.
GCM Watch encourages Kirk Talley to (1) repent (2) stop deceiving pastors and churches and (3) obey the scripture:
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath Light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the Temple of God with idols? For ye are the Temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-16 KJV)
Should Kirk Talley refuse our call to repentance, we ask that he have the decency to call every church on his performance list and tell them he no longer shares their biblical views concerning homosexuality. Give them the choice as to whether they want someone spreading false doctrine through song in their churches.
We will be watching.
Methods used to spread gay theology
Gay church theology ranks among the most egregious forms of biblical errancy confronting the Christian church today. Its two-sided operationality encompasses all aspects of its evil desires. Side A is an intoxicating mix of feel good philosophy, promises of safety, well placed cultural platitudes, and a religious veneer bathed in the coating of false love. This is the gay christian movement’s public face. Side B, the one intentionally hidden from public view, is an agressive mix of pride, arrogance, vulgarity, vengeance, and lust. This is the gay christian movement’s private face.
Many Christians coming in contact with gay theology are unsuspecting of its deceitful web because personal biblical study isn’t being stressed in Christian churches. Gay theology, with its broad declarations of “radical inclusion” and “loving acceptance” of all people is seductive to the many hurt and wounded walking in the religious realm. It sounds good to the ear and appeals to the carnal man. Its the same tactic used against Eve in the garden.
Satan’s intent is not to frighten man, but rather seduce him with things and words and which appear on the surface beautiful, welcoming and harmless. This is why the gay christian movement hates the tough language the bible uses to battle sin. They avoid it at all costs, while instead focusing on broad issues of love minus moral restrictions.
For the individual who in conflicted with their homosexual inclinations in light of what the scriptures teach, satan offers a compromises. Thus, the struggle with homosexuality is resolved by “reconciling sexuality with faith”. No such reconciliation exists in the scripture nor is it a biblical principle. The only reconciliation the bible speaks of is man’s reconciliation with God through Christ. True reconcilation comes, not by adding a sinful identifier, but by renouncing one’s sinful ways. Yet, satan manipulates the person’s uneducated failures and offers the compromise: you can be Christian and homosexual. We need to point out that not all of those who are gay christians are victims of simple spiritual misinformation. Some have willfully rejected truth because they refused to give up their lust for members of the same gender. Neither did they want to give up the Christian facade they had grown accustomed to. The spread of gay theology can be directly attributed to its use of cultic methods which distort, deform, and disfigure scripture. Let’s review several of the most used methods of spreading gay theology within the Christian church.
INACCURATE QUOTATION: A biblical text is referred to but is either not quoted in the way the text appears in any standard translation or is wrongly attributed. See this story.
BIBLICAL HOOK: A text of Scripture is quoted primarily as a device to grasp the attention of readers or listeners and then followed by a teaching which is so nonbiblical that it would appear far more dubious to most people had it not been preceded by a reference to Scripture. See this story.
THE FIGURATIVE FALLACY: Either (1) mistaking literal language for figurative language or (2)mistaking figurative language for literal language. See this story.
SELECTIVE CITING: Better known as “cherry picking”. To substantiate a given argument, only a limited number of text is quoted: the total teaching of Scripture on that subject would lead to a conclusion different from that of the writer. See this story.
REJECTING BIBLICAL AUTHORITY: Either the Bible as a whole or texts from the Bible are examined and rejected because they do not square with other authorities – such as reason or revelation = do not appear to agree with them. See this story.
WORLD-VIEW CONFUSION: Scriptural statements, stories, commands or symbols which have a particular meaning or set of meanings when taken within the intellectual and broadly cultural framework of the Bible itself are lifted out of that context, placed within the frame of reference of another system and thus given a meaning that markedly differs from their intended meaning. See this story.
Adapted from Scripture twising methods of the cults by James Sire.
ECWR removes pastor from conference roster
Just ov
er a month after GCM Watch uncovered a black pastor’s involvement in an upcoming gay christian conference, Evangelicals Concerned quietly removed Pastor Mary Emma Evans off its roster of conference guests.
The original pdf flyer is listed here. Evans was scheduled to perform a gospel concert during the conference.
On June 8th, GCM Watch sent an unacknowledged letter to ECWR stating an intent to contact Pastor Evans and request that she reconsider her appearance. GCM Watch spoke at length to Pastor Frank Sossaman who is Pastor Evans’ overseer in the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC). Pastor Sossaman confirmed that neither he nor the IPHC supported homosexual christian activities. Read the IPHC’s Covenant of Committment dealing with gay and lesbian relationships.
GCM Watch heartily commends the IPHC, Pastor Frank Sossaman and Pastor Mary Emma Evans for upholding biblical fidelity in the face of growing partnerships with individuals and groups who seek to devalue the truth of God’s Word.
