By Danzil Monk Sr.
A response to his message posted on Facebook July 23, 2015 at 11:52 by Titus Jackson who thinks it is the best sermon he has heard in 5 years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOe3siDAyJA [1]
A very close Christian family member sent me a link to a Facebook page that she received from her homosexual son who she loves dearly. He sent it to his mother to show her that there are Christians who accept their Homosexuality and have no problem with it. Her son is a dear friend of mine who I care deeply for.
While I was not yet prepared to dedicate my time to a full commentary on the issue of Homosexuality, I could not delay in providing a reply to the message by Dewey Smith, knowing that providing a timely rebuttal would be helpful if only to deflate any idea that Dewey Smith was a reliable source for homosexuals to gain biblical truth from concerning their sexual preference.
While this reply is brief, I hope it will be useful to my brothers and sisters in Christ who also are being challenged by this video.
Dewey’s message was titled: 'Blessings in disguise" contains a segment where he proclaimed: “You Can't Evangelize and Antagonize at the same time”, and in it he basically parrots old and quite thoroughly refuted homosexual activist’s arguments.
While I fully agree with the statement, I object to his delivery and message, and strongly disagree with most of his arguments.
Dewey Smith thinks that he is putting the “Black church” in its place by pointing out that the “Black church” is guilty of hypocrisy, he is not; at least not at the points where he is incorrect. He is not putting “the Black church” in its place, but only some of the predominantly black local churches that are indeed guilty of hypocrisy. That is not all “black churches” and he should have made that clear, but he was so focused on the impression of supporting homosexuality that he did not think it necessary to be balanced and accurate in his delivery.
He is in error in his analysis of many of those churches, in that many are not truly dedicated to the Bible in the first place, and are more likely just religious congregations professing to be serving Jesus.[2]
Therefore such “pastors” were and are not only using homosexuals for entertainment and music but most likely they themselves had no problem with homosexuality and also practiced many sinful acts themselves that are clearly contrary to God’s word.
While such churches have qualified as Christian churches to the public and too many lukewarm ministries, they may not have been and may not be a part of the true church (Matthew 7:21-23), and the true church cannot rightly be condemned with them.
On the other hand, he errors in his analysis by not recognizing that there are and where many true churches who did and do indeed follow a high standard of holiness, while yet trying to love and encourage members who had homosexual tendencies to stay in the church and grow to a full relationship with Jesus so that they could overcome all of their ungodly desires, not just their homosexual tendencies. These so called “homosexuals” had not, or were not any longer having homosexual sex; they only had the attractions and the tendencies or mannerisms of the opposite sex.
These ministers were not “using homosexuals” for their talents; they were giving members, struggling with same sex attractions and who had opposite sex mannerisms, something spiritually constructive to do to keep them from falling into the promiscuous crowd that would surely pull them deep into homosexual lasciviousness. I know this from personal conversations with such pastors, and have witnessed this in my church.
While it can be argued to an extent, that allowing them to function in what is clearly a ministry role, singing in or directing the choir in the church while yet not delivered from their same sex attraction, or while they still had the mannerisms of their opposite sex, as it would give the impression that they might be practicing homosexuals)[3], and verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:22 says: Abstain from all appearances of evil", and therefore is contrary to the biblical standard of holiness, that argument can be countered by the fact that being tempted without yielding is not a sin, if it was, there would be no choir or church ministry for that matter. Besides, we are not given the right to judge based on appearances alone.
In John 7:24 Jesus said: "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
And this is also why it is important to rightly divide the text so as not to misapply its meaning. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 is an admonition to the believer to avoid doing anything that could be easily misunderstood to be and evil or sinful act. It is not an indictment against your learned mannerisms. But indeed, men and women are to be trained to properly represent their sex.
Additionally, he forgets that he and many others most likely have members in their choirs who are fornicating, committing adultery, lying, stealing and doing all kinds of ungodly deeds and he himself is most likely not living close enough to Jesus to be able to discern all of who is doing what.
The point is that true Christian pastors do not knowingly allow practicing homosexuals or any other kind of practiced sinner to minister in any capacity in their churches, but Dewey does not seem to think acknowledging this is important in his sermon. Again, his goal seems to be to please the homosexual community.
Lastly, he failed to include in his analysis, the fact that there are many holiness churches that do not and have not permitted any known homosexuals to participate in the ministerial duties of the church, but do provide much love, nurturing, counsel, and encouragement to them while they sing in the congregation along with the choir singing in the choir stand.
While Dewey Smith may think he was being “deep”, “keeping it real”, or “telling it like it is”, in fact, he was simply repeating an old rebuke that is not original, it has been preached and written about many times, and has usually been incorrectly directed at the “black” churches without wisdom or due consideration for the many who were not guilty of the hypocrisy.
And while he clearly was encouraged by the massive praise he was receiving from his congregation, he should have known that the “black churches” are known for their jubilance and preacher support while they hammer away their message. But the churches “AMENS” and shouts, do not make a bad sermon good, nor does it justify preaching an unbalanced, inaccurate and even erroneous message.
I am very concerned about how loosely some preachers claim that “God spoke directly to them” and said something.
And then make an unsound statement that was supposedly from the Lord.
Dewey said that God spoke to him, apparently directly and rebuked the “black Church” for condemning the “Supreme Court system” (I doubt that God would say that, since most objectors do not condemn the Supreme Court “system” but object to the illegal and wrong rulings of the justices and abuse of their powers. They have been clearly guilty even by their fellow dissenting Justices observations). Additionally, one would be hard pressed to prove that the Supreme Court was above Divine condemnation.
Dewey is clearly following the script of the homosexuals, liberal Bible scholars and liberals, who utilize their twisted misinterpretations and misapplications of the Bible, and he shamelessly claims that God was telling him this. That is lying, and therefore he clearly was not concerned about God there, his concern seemed to be only wowing the people and pleasing the homosexual community. (Rom. 1:25)
As John 12:43 says: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. And Paul in Romans 1:25 speaks of those unrighteous people "who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen"
God would know that there are aspects of His law that were done away with and others that were carried over into the New Covenant. He surely would not make such a foolish mistake as to rebuke someone for using Leviticus to teach against homosexuality while not preaching against or abstaining from something that was no longer an issue under the New Covenant.
A dedicated Bible teacher would know this and would never make that mistake, but to claim that God himself did make such an error, in my opinion boarders on the blasphemous.
Dewey’s sermon may please the homosexual seeking divine support to remain in his condition, but it would not please God or any true Bible student.
Peter preached against sin and for holiness using Leviticus 11 but in that same chapter God forbid the eating of certain kinds of foods, and said to do so was an abomination. But Paul makes it clear in Romans 14 that food is not unclean of itself (verse14) and that only those who are weak think they cannot eat certain foods that were once forbidden to Israel, (verse 1-2). Thus, using Old Testament texts to support modern holiness even when other information in the same text is no longer binding on us today, is biblical. It is a simple matter of taking the time to understand the structure of the Bible, then you will know how and when to apply what is stated.
Dewey would know this if he were not following a homosexual script. His shouting church would also have known if they were alert and true students of the Bible, but they ate it up.
So when Dewey says “we”, he certainly is not referring to me or many truly, dedicated Christians. We are a different breed who understands that it is not only right but biblical to speak out against ungodliness, including homosexuality, and that doing so is not hateful or unloving. We understand that love speaks the truth in love and does not try to win sinners over by lying to them and deceiving them to make them feel good about their sin.
While homosexual activists, true to their Nazi history have indeed done an effective job in keeping the facts about the dangers and extreme harm of homosexuality from the media and institutions of education by their savvy misinformation and intimidation tactics, the fact remains that there is an abundance of statistical data from top line research that demonstrates beyond any doubt that homosexuality is indeed a threat to the spiritual, psychological and physical health of human society.
I have had, (some are dead now), and have a few friends who are homosexuals, and while they have never heard me compromise my Christian standards, they know that I loved them and we never had a cross word. It is unfortunate that there are some radical homosexual activists whose mission is to disrupt what is normal and normalize what is wrong. And even more unfortunate that they have been so effective in infiltrating key areas and using their positions and deceptive tactics to influence the public with misinformation and psychological tricks. And that the deception has made its way to even claiming to be truly Christian.
We do not have to lie to or deceive homosexuals to let them know that we love them. Nor do we have to celebrate or condone their ungodly desires and actions for them to feel loved by us.
Those who insist that we must are either operating under a delusion or they are pushing an agenda; we should never allow them or false brethren or misguided Christians to twist reality and make us feel that we are the problem.
Pastor Dewey said that the women of Samaria (clearly referring to John 4) had “sexual Identity problems”. In the context of his sermon, that would mean that she was not sure she was a woman and wanted to be a man, but there is nothing in the text that says that. She was fully woman and had many husbands to prove it. Nor is there any indication in the text that she thought she was another ethnicity. So again, he was clearly trying to please the crowd and not preach truth. How sad.
He asks “what about the people who are born this way” again proving that he was preaching from a homosexual/liberal script.
The “Born that way” argument has been used to defend the “homosexuals cannot change” doctrine, but it has been discredited and many homosexual activists have abandoned that claim now since they no longer need to promote that lie. But there are many more who in spite any kind of evidence that refutes the born that way claim, will not give up the lie that has done so much for their cause.
In 1 Corinthians 6: 11, Paul makes it clear that homosexuals can and did give up their homosexuality. But even if it were true that they could not, Dewey as a pastor should know that being born with a tendency towards sinning is something we all were born with, but that has not excused us in God’s eyes. We must still strive to avoid practicing sin. Humans have to deal with resisting desires all the time, and if we do not, we will be condemned and eventually suffer divine punishment.[4]
Mr. Dewey foolishly parrots the now getting old idea that the Black church was and is using homosexual talent by letting them direct and sing in their choirs, and our singing songs that they wrote, as if they were able to write them “because” they were homosexuals.
That is a strange claim or insinuation that he and others who use it need to be forced to evaluate more carefully. By what logic do they equate homosexuality with writing great songs (or doing anything else well)? People of all kinds of preferences and practices have written great songs and have done other great things, not because of their sexual practices but because of their God given potential for human talent and from their experiences and learning. To suggest that most or so many great songs were written by homosexuals that if we did not use them, we would have little or no songs to sing in church; is not only false, but illogical.
It does not even occur to this man that homosexuals who wrote great gospel songs were inspired by the same learning and church experience that straight great gospel song writers have been.
Their negative homosexual experiences may have helped them to write about faith and forgiveness and hope and deliverance with passion, but people have always drawn from their negative experiences and positive experiences for inspiration. That is “human” not “homosexual” talent. But Dewey and most in his congregation do not seem to be aware of this.
Dewey tells us that we all need Jesus as if that is a profound revelation, but I see nothing about the fact that we all need Jesus, that mandates that we give homosexuals a free pass and not inform them about the dangers of their practices before God, and seek to help them overcome.
I am sure that he will get plenty of financial support and gifts from the homosexual community for his services rendered to them. But he will also have to answer to God for every homosexual that he encourages to remain in their homosexuality, because they heard his sermon and felt that it was a confirmation that the church was a mess, and not in any place to instruct them in how they should live and practice their sex-lives.
As I have long argued, our primary problem is not just the Devil and his demons, but false and ignorant brethren whose work and ministry are counterproductive to the propagation of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Dewey Smith seems to occupy that place on this part of his sermon.
Dewey here, and many others are guilty of a variety of misinformation tactics that either completely sanitize the homosexual life, or so minimize the obvious harm that its dangers both natural and spiritual are viewed as inconsequential. This deceptive sin cannot be separated from the sinful status of those who actually participate in the acts.
My apology as a Christian goes out to every homosexual who has been tricked by Dewey to believe they are just fine because we all need Jesus.
The message of the Christian who is following God’s word-to the homosexual, is that we as Christians love you and God loves you, and because He loves you He has made His will known to you so that you can obey His word and find peace in relationship with Him through salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. You must be born again, John 3:3, 5.
When Jesus Christ is invited into your heart and allowed to rule as your Lord, no sinful sexual desires will be allowed to rule in your heart or mind. (1 Corinthians 6:11).
It is my prayer that Christians will so strongly and effectively take a biblical stand on such issues that the deceptions of false or foolish brethren and homosexual activists will be made so plain that no sincere person will be confused about where the truth rest.
(Please note that before publishing this article, I did make the effort to reach out to Pastor Dewey Smith via phone and email, but received no reply.)
[1] Please note the above link content may change soon and no longer contain the sermon I am responding to. If that happens please contact me for a copy.
[2] I am generalizing here, as most churches are comprised of the true believers and the fake believers, as well as many in between.
[3] 1 Thess. 5:22
[4] Romans 2:5-11