“Homosexuality isn’t the only sin!”…Pentecostal pastor warns

By James Kokulo Fasuekoi|Editor-Publisher|editor@globalekklesia.com 

Last Friday night was another cold winter night in Minnesota. Yet as soon as twilight started to take shape, visitors and worshippers of a young Coon Rapids church consisting of Africans from Liberia, waded through piles of snow to attend the opening of a two-day spiritual revival.

Revivals are quite common here at this time each year, and Liberians-perhaps with the largest immigrants population in the state-flock to these revivals: most come from far and near-often expecting to hear message on financial breakthroughs, or the breaking of stagnation and “curses” hindering their lives.   

However, Friday night revival at Tabernacle Evangelistic Ministries, 227 Coon Rapids Blvd, was anything but a revival for financial breakthrough and pulling down of curses; instead, Rev. Lawrence Hayes turned a spotlight on Pentecostals ministers themselves, and alleged some are in fact “hypocrites.”  

Rev. Hayes, the main speaker, went ballistic, thereby rebuking some Pentecostal and Full Gospel movements pastors he accused of using their pulpits-for the most part-to condemn LGBTQ+ lifestyles although according to him, they (pastors) aren’t any better than gays and lesbians because they harbored “bitterness” or “malice” against fellow Christians. 

“We have prostitutes on the pulpit preaching. ‘Prophetess’ no longer respect their husbands and yet we are talking about Gay and Lesbians. Homosexualist is not the only sin,” declared Hayes, an immigrant, originally from Liberia. He spoke on this topic: STOP TRIPPING!

In his broadside accusations he charged some of his counterparts of both denominations for not only engaging in alleged corrupt practices involving church funds but said they also indulge in acts of fornication, a sin detestable before the LORD.   

“Do not think you are better than homosexual people…when you are cheating on your wife, or your husband, or doing blood sacrifice! There’s no small sin or big sin; they all are equal before God,” he stressed, adding, those who sin and not repent “will go to hell and won’t see Heaven”.  

He viewed as an absurdity how “pastors” refused to pay tithes and offerings in the church but yet have the audacity to “force the poor to pay for the Gospel,” money he said they allegedly used “to buy good shoes and coat suits to wear.” “Jesus said, “Freely ye have received, freely give,” he screamed, as he quoted Matthew 10:8.  

Midway in his sermon Rev. Hayes made it plain that he’s not a supporter of homosexuality but argued he’s tired of hearing fellow Pentecostal pastors using their pulpits to denigrate gay and lesbian people while they give a blind eye to their own sins.   

Hayes didn’t name a particular church (es), or individual(s) allegedly involved or associated with any of the numerous grotesque behaviors he so listed; and neither could Global Ekklesia News Magazine authenticate such allegations.

Earlier, visiting clergyman Pastor Thomas Freeman together with Tabernacle Evangelistic Ministries’ pastor, Rev. Martha Foley led the congregation in exaltation and thereafter the church’s choir took the stage.  

Nevertheless Hayes’ allegations against the church didn’t come as a surprise to many in that these claims plus more against the Body of Christ continue to plague some churches today just as the days of Apostle Paul in Ephesus. 

The Vatican or Pope Francis for example, spent much of last year defending a “confusion” he had ignited within the Catholic Church by endorsing and requesting priests of Catholic parishes worldwide to bless “same-sex couples” while pushing for a ban on gay and lesbian union.  

The situation on the whole is so serious that most have turned away from God’s Word as a result of their insatiable lusts-the result is the misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the Word of God, although Deuteronomy 4:2 and Revelation 22:19 have warned that no one should add or subtract “anything” from the Holy Bible.

God is Holy, and for this reason, orderly too-and not one of “confusion.” He abhors sexual sin because it affects the body, mind and soul. As a result, He has devoted more than 100 Bible verses that address “sexual misconducts”; among all, no verse perhaps captures God’s “loathing” for such vile acts so potently than the below passage from Corinthians 6:9:

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

Genesis 1:27 tells of how our God of grace and mercy created man in His own Image. Thus, He placed a high-value on man’s life which requires Christians to keep themselves pure and sanctified for the glory of the LORD. Also, He warned us against engaging in carnal acts-encompassing humans-as cited in Deut. 27:21, “Cursed be anyone who lies with any kind of animal.”

Certainly, God’s edicts aren’t intended to deprive Christians from enjoying life. Instead, they are there to protect us against unwarranted demonic afflictions and diseases, for if we stray off, we open “door”, giving Satan a free license to strike us-and such attacks can be long lasting and debilitating spiritual warfare which we can’t fight on our own except through Jesus Christ, our LORD!

James Kokulo Fasuekoi is an award-winning journalist, author, documentary writer and news photographer. He previously covered civil wars in West Africa for both local and international news media, including The Associated Press. Listed on his college’s Dean’s List for academic excellence, he holds an AA Degree in Biblical Theology and became a Bush Foundation Scholar twice in 2017. His works as a civil war journalist in Africa have also brought him face-to-face with the law in his native Liberia and in the U.S. where the Fed subpoenaed him twice to give testimonies as state-witness in two major international war crimes trials of 2017 & 2018 in Philadelphia. Once an African national ballet dancer, he now writes, photographs and dances for Christ. Read profile @ https://globalekklesia.com/profile/