Troubling: Pastor Martin Ssempa Shows Gay Porn in Church
http://www.yesumulungi.com/index.php/apostasy-watch/405-troubling-pastor-martin-ssempa-shows-gay-porn-in-church.html
Kato Mivule | February 20th 2010
BBC News reported this week how a Ugandan Evangelical Pastor, Martin Ssempa showed Gay Porn in his Church service in his continued fight against Homosexuality in Uganda. According to the BBC News Service, Pastor Martin Ssempa claims that since Ugandans are in the process of legislation, they have to know what homosexuals do.
This however, is going to the utmost extreme! There is no biblical and scriptural basis for such action. No single scriptural reference can be given by Pastor Martin Ssempa for such actions as showing Gay Porn in a Church Service. This so-called battled and war against Homosexuals in Uganda is one that Pastor Ssempa and others have lost.
Jesus Christ and the early Church did not engage in legislative maneuvers to fight sin and establish morality. They did not run for office seeking to change Roman laws and impose a Christian Legal system. Yet Homosexuality was live and well during the times of Paul the Apostle in the Roman empire. It is our hope that Ugandan Evangelicals will wake up and not be misled in believing they can fight against sin through legislative means... such a fight against sin is mere flesh and blood and New Testament Teachings refer to that as carnality.
Some ignorant Evangelical Christians in Uganda have accused us of being “Homosexuals”, “Brain Washed by the West” and many other terms that they ignorantly concoct. Yet up to this day none of them have come up with any New Testament Scriptures to backup their absurd positions. To make even matters worse, none of those engaged in the so-called Fight Against Homosexuality have risen up to the occasion to fight for instance against rampant corruption in Uganda that seems to be destroying the country, a display of hypocrisy with impunity.
Personally as a New Testament Believing Christian, I believe that homosexuality is sin and I do not believe in Gay Marriage. I strongly disagree with the legislation of 'Christian Morality' and the extreme nature with which Uganda's Evangelical Church has taken its so-called fight against homosexuals by even showing Gay Porn in Church. Jesus Christ did not preach Legislation of Christian Values but preached repentance.
Secondly as a Christian, I believe in the Dignity of every Human Being and that includes Homosexuals. Thirdly we should remember that at one point of time in History, Evangelicals and Christians were heavily persecuted for their faith and killed, so reciprocity does play here and Evangelicals might well be on the receiving end of the Laws they create in their physical fight against sin.
Thirdly I think Paul's Teachings in Ephesians Chapter 5:11 were taken out of context to mean that one can expose anything in Church including Gay Porn...
Eph 5:11-12 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. (12) For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
The same scriptures state that it is a shame to even mention what is done by them in secret... In other words even as we preach against sin, it is a shame to even mention the practical details of how such sin is practiced. In this case, it was shameful to show Gay Porn in Church so that Christians can “know” what goes on in the Gay Camp. It would otherwise be honest for Pastor Ssempa to likewise show Heterosexual Porn in Church, Acts of Murder, Acts of Theft, Acts of Adultery, etc...but Pastor Ssempa will not show such videos in Church.
We should remember that the scriptures call us to fight evil with good...and to live peaceably with everyone. Paul the apostle was writing to Christians who lived in Rome the center of the Roman empire where Homosexuality was live and well, Roman Senators at that time were known to openly practice Homosexual life. We must remember too that the New Testament was written for Christians to live a Christian Life in a None Christian World and not written to be used as a guide to make so-called Christian Laws.
Pastor Ssempa's action should be categorically condemned and our prayers is that he should see the light and stop misrepresenting The Testimony of Jesus Christ by trying to impose a Christian Utopia. Ironically if Pastor Martin Ssempa can endure showing one hour of Gay Porn in Church, he can as well endure to have a Gay Neighbor with whom he strongly disagrees but at least peacefully coexist.
Rom 12:17-21 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. (18) If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. (19) Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. (20) Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. (21) Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Kato Mivule
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Uganda cleric shows gay porn film - BBC NEWS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8521471.stm
The pastor showed the pornography to about 300 people in his church
An anti-gay clergyman in Uganda has screened gay pornography in his church, in an attempt to gain support for proposed anti-homosexuality laws.
"We are in the process of legislation and we have to educate ourselves about what homosexuals do," Pastor Martin Ssempa told the BBC.
Gay rights activists suggested the pastor "needed medical help".
The anti-gay bill, which proposes the death penalty for some gay people, has caused outrage around the world. US President Barack Obama described the proposals as "odious". Moral defender? Homosexuality is already against the law in Uganda and punishable by lengthy jail terms.
But supporters of the bill, including the pastor, want the punishments ramped up.
"In Africa, what you do in your bedroom affects our clan, it affects our tribe, it affects our nation," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
He showed the pornography to about 300 people in his church.
The pastor had planned to lead a march in the capital, Kampala, but was forced to abandon the plans because of "security concerns".
Monica Mbaru, from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, roundly condemned the pastor's behaviour.
"You cannot screen pornographic material to your followers and then want to argue that you are upholding society's morals," she told the BBC.
"I think we are dealing with someone who needs medical help."
The anti-gay proposals garnered wide support among Ugandan MPs, but President Yoweri Museveni recently hinted that he was coming under international pressure to scrap the private member's bill.
