Opinion
By Judge John Marshall Meisburg, Jr., 12-7-24
The so-called “gay rights “movement and same sex marriage have become one of the biggest legal, political and cultural issues of our time in America. And, this issue and the ordination of homosexual priests has split the Christian church worldwide, doing great damage to the Church. A Biblical analysis of this issue follows.
God says that we are to hate what he hates and love what he loves. Romans 12:9; Proverbs 8:13. As Christians, we are also to hate the sin and love the sinner. See Jude 1:22-23. And the greatest love we can show the homosexual is to pray for them and speak the truth in love to them about their sin and their need for salvation. 1 Timothy 2:1; Ephesians 4:15.However, many pastors in America are afraid to talk about this explosive issue. I have even heard that George Soros is spending millions of dollars to brainwash Christian pastors in regard to the LGBT agenda and philosophy. A new book called “Shepherds for Sale” documents this terrible trend in Christian churches. And, when was the last time you heard a sermon on this topic? When did you ever hear a deep theological presentation or discussion on this important spiritual issue? In 70 years as a Christian I have never heard a full Biblical exposition of this matter. In the South, it has always been an issue that nobody talks about socially. But now is the time for that to change. The Christians of America must know the truth about God’s perspective on sodomy and homosexuality from the Word of God, and must be prepared to speak the truth in love.
Some also say we should not talk about homosexuality because adultery is also a sin, and we are all “sinners saved by grace.” The big difference is this: the gays are saying that homosexuality is not a sin! And that is a lie from Satan that we must refute. Therefore, Christians must have a solid Biblical basis for our argument to be persuasive in the church and in the culture. We start with this important truth: the Holy Bible is very clear in both the Old and New Testament that sodomy and homosexuality is a serious and mortal sin. In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, Chapter 19, we read the story of how God destroyed the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah primarily due to the sin of sodomy and homosexuality. God Almighty rained down fire and brimstone from Heaven to totally destroy those towns in Israel. We know that sodomy was a major reason for this wrathful act of God, because of the context: the people of the town came to Lot’s door seeking to have homosexual relations with two angels who had appeared there. The angels struck the people blind in self defense. Then, God told Lot to leave the city because He was going to totally destroy it. The destruction of those two towns in Israel was so complete that nothing remains of them today. In fact, some scholars say that Sodom and Gomorrah now lay UNDER the Dead Sea, which is the lowest point on planet earth. That location is significant both physically and spiritually. Recently, scientists have also found massive amounts of brimstone in this area, a confirmation that this event really happened. And, Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt when she disobeyed God and looked back at the destruction taking place. When I was in Israel, I saw Lot’s wife! She is still a pillar of salt standing by the road leading to the Dead Sea! And, Jesus said: “Remember Lot’s wife!” Luke 17:32. Indeed, the very term “sodomy” takes its name from Sodom, the city where homosexual perversion brought down the wrath of God.
Secondly, God says clearly in the book of Leviticus that homosexuality is not just a sin, it is an “abomination”. God says that some sins are so awful to Him that they deserve the term “abomination.” Webster tells us that an “abomination” is an act that is “exceptionally loathsome, hateful, sinful, wicked or vile.”
In the book of Leviticus 18:22 God says this: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” And in Leviticus 20:13, God says that the sin of homosexuality is so serious that the proper penalty is death: “If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense.” (NIV translation). I believe that under the New Covenant, that penalty is no longer appropriate. But, that Scripture reveals the heart of God, and his absolute loathing of this sin. Jesus said that he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them. According to Proverbs 6:16-19, there are other sins that the Lord hates, but sodomy and homosexuality are clearly hated by God.
The prohibition against homosexuality is not just in the Old Testament. God also strongly warns in the New Testament as well that sodomy and homosexuality are a sin and abomination to God. In Romans Chapter One, the Apostle Paul makes it clear that homosexual acts are sinful. Paul says that ‘The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so they are without excuse. Because they knew God they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image man like corruptible man – and birds and four footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them over to uncleanness in the lists of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever, Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do these things which were not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceitful evil mindedness that are whisperers, backbiters, haters, of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventers of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving unforgiving. unmerciful whom, who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such thing are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.” Romans 1:18-32.
Finally, in the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John says that “The cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death”. God is saying that homosexuals who do not repent of their sin will end up in the Lake of Fire (which is far worse than Hell).
So why is homosexuality such a terrible sin to God? First, God is pro-life, and homosexuality is pro-death.
God created marriage and sexual relations to be very holy and for the primary purpose of the procreation of children for His Kingdom. So sex is very holy to God, and is reserved for marriage between one man and one woman. The first words ever spoken by God to man were : “Be fruitful and multiply”. Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 9:1-2.
The first words of God are very important. God said this in the Garden of Eden, and then to Noah after the Great Flood. Jesus also made this clear in the New Testament as well. In Matthew 19:4-6 Jesus said this: “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female and said for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together lest no man separate?” Homosexuality is a terrible perversion of this holy process. It is the very antithesis of this holy union and process. It is a seeking after evil sexual pleasure without the possibility of procreation and reproduction. Homosexuality is a major perversion of holy marriage and Godly sexual relations. The term “perversion” means to turn something around and make it contrary to its original purpose; the changing of something so that it is not what is was or should be. Sodomy (and “same sex marriage”)turns holy marriage on its head and makes it the opposite of what it was intended.
Second, submission to God’s authority and ways is extremely important. Homosexuality is a blatant refusal to obey the commands of God, and is a major affront to His authority.
Third, to take “pride” in the sin of homosexuality is truly an abomination to God in the second and third degree. It is like literally spitting in the face of God Almighty. To take pride in sin is the ultimate sin.
For 3000 years, homosexuality and sodomy were mortal sins in every major religion; Christianity, Judaism and Islam are good examples. And for 500 years, sodomy was a crime under English and American law. In 1290 English common law said sodomy was an offense against God with the punishment being “buried alive in the ground, or burnt to death.” In 1533, the English Buggery Act made sodomy punishable by death. In 1828, the English Offenses Against the Person Act provided that male sodomy was publishable by death. In 1861, the Act was amended to make the punishment life in prison at hard labor for at least ten years. Two men were executed for sodomy in England in 1835. In America, there was a Capital Sodomy law in New York and New Jersey in 1676. In 1682 the Quaker Colony of Pennsylvania made sodomy illegal with hard labor and life imprisonment for the second offense. A law in 1706 made sodomy illegal and gave 39 lashes for a penalty and castration and divorce for married men. In 1718 a law in Pennsylvania adopted the common law of England and provided for the death penalty for sodomy. A new law in 1860 made sodomy a crime but reduced the penalty to 5-10 years in jail in solitary confinement and hard labor. In 1879, Pennsylvania made sodomy illegal. Sodomy was a felony crime in the Colonies in the 1700’s and could be punished by execution. Five men were so executed in the 1700’s.
In 2003 The Supreme Court reversed 3000 years of moral law and 500 years of English and American law by legalizing sodomy, and in 2015 the Court legalized same sex marriage. Marriage and sex were always issues that were left to the states under the Tenth Amendment, and there was no such thing as same sex marriage for thousands of years. These Supreme Court decisions were, in my opinion, an abomination to God, and a blight on the American legal system. They are already bringing down the wrath of God upon America in many ways in my opinion. Hopefully these decisions will soon be reversed by our new Supreme Court appointed by President Trump. Justice Thomas has already stated in writing that these decisions should now be reconsidered in view of their decision striking down Roe v. Wade. Marriage, sexual relations and sodomy, like abortion, are issues left to the states and to the people under the Tenth Amendment, and do not implicate any federal Constitutional rights.
The American Psychiatric Association designated homosexuality as a disordered mental illness in 1952, only to delete that condition as a mental illness in the DSM in the year 1973, due to ultra liberal influences.
Another liberal lie is that homosexuality is very prevalent in our culture. If you watch TV now you would think that is true. But the truth is that homosexuals only comprise between 3 and 7% of the population, which supports the position that it is aberrant, unnatural and disordered. This figure is confirmed my many recent national polls and surveys. It is very important for Christians to know the Biblical truth about homosexuality and sodomy if we are to speak the truth in love and be light and salt to our culture and government. If you have read this article, you now know the Biblical truth and an are ready to speak it out to America! The Roman Empire was destroyed in part by this sin, and America may be next unless we turn to God and His ways. People who are caught in this sin are more to be pitied that censured. They have been brainwashed by our radical liberal society and culture which has even created “Gay Pride Month” for them. Pride goes before a fall, especially if it is pride in sin. The Lord loves and has great compassion for all people, and does not wish that anyone will be lost and be consigned to Hell and the Lake of Fire. He wants all people to be saved and spend eternity with Him in Heaven. As Christians we are to hate what God hates and love what God loves. We must hate the sin and love the sinner. So we should pray earnestly that the Lord will give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that they will repent of this sin and lifestyle, be born again spiritually, and receive their salvation and eternal life with God Almighty!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR- JUDGE JOHN MARSHALL MEISBURG JR.
Judge John Marshall Meisburg, Jr., was a U.S. Administrative Law Judge with the Social Security Administration for 26 years in Jacksonville, Florida. He retired as a judge in 2021 and is now practicing law in Fernandina Beach. He has been married for 44 years to Dr. Denise Meisburg, a Christian counselor. They have six children and 11 grandchildren. Prior to being a judge, he was a lawyer with the Federal government for 23 years, serving in all three branches of the government, with the U.S. District Court, EEOC, Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., U.S. House of Representatives, Office of Special Counsel and FDIC. He was in the private law practice one year in Washington, D.C. and filed the lawsuit that became the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case on sexual harassment. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from the University of Kentucky, and a Juris Doctor law degree from the University of Kentucky College of Law. He is a member of the Bar of Florida and Kentucky. He is a lifelong Christian, being raised in the Baptist faith in Louisville, Kentucky. He was an Elder at New Life Christian Fellowship in Jacksonville where he taught Sunday School, the Jewish Roots of the Faith and the Christian Heritage of America. He was a leader of both the National Day of Prayer and the House of Prayer in Jacksonville for over ten years. He has published 12 books relating to Christian and legal issues. He is now a member of Living Waters World Outreach Center in Fernandina Beach, where he serves in the prayer and home group ministry, and is a member of the Board of Directors for Faith Christian Academy. He is now an Honored Listee in the Marquis Who’s Who in America.
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida
