In some disheartening news, Pastor Alistair Begg has doubled down on his insistence that Christians can attend LGBTQ weddings and even buy the couple a gift, according to the leadership of American Family Radio, resulting in Begg’ show being terminated from the lineup.
Begg, who pastors Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio, and whose program Truth for Life has aired on AFR for the last 12 years, sent representatives to speak on his behalf to AFR Vice President Ed Vitagliano and AFA Vice President Walker Wildmon. The results, they shared, were discouraging:
Taking over the timeslot previously occupied by Truth for Life to speak directly to Begg’s audience, AFR leadership said they contacted the pastor to give him “an opportunity to say ‘I messed up right there'” and to provide him with the opportunity to say ‘I said the wrong thing, and I’d like to recant,'” but that no apology or clarification was forthcoming:
The two individuals that we talked with, Walker and I with two individuals from Alistair Begg’s ministry, they made it clear that Alistair Begg believes that homosexuality is wrong, he hasn’t changed that his views on that. He does not believe that homosexual marriage is valid and that the practice of homosexual activity is, as the Bible says, an abomination.
So all four of us were in agreement with that. But what we could not get them to change, and they said that Alistair Begg is not going to change his mind, was on the issue of whether Christians should attend.
…And the goal of the call, and the goal of all Christians when approaching these issues, should be reconciliation, but reconciliation in truth. And so that was our goal with the call with Alistair Begg’s team and unfortunately we didn’t get there. But we did press the issue multiple times and we even asked point-blank ‘So are you guys stating that pastor Alistair Begg is standing by his original comment? He has no regrets? He didn’t misspeak? He doesn’t want to further clarify nothing?
And they said ‘yes, he’s standing by his original comment.'”
The hosts lamented Begg’s response.
So very disappointing. And you know I even told… the gentleman and lady that we were on the call with with Truth for Life, that pastor Alistair Begg has such a long, decades long track record of biblical fidelity and truthfully teaching the Word of God, that this is extremely disappointing. This isn’t something that we saw coming. This isn’t like- some of the others Evangelical leaders that have drifted, this is not one that was on the list that we could have seen this coming.
Update! Alistair Begg Doubles Down On Attending LGBTQ Wedding, Says He’s Not Budging.
While Begg sent staffers to speak in his stead, he has yet to personally address the matters publicly or justify holding such a dangerous and theologically decrepit view. Begg’s show still airs on 1800 radio stations, and he’s slated to be a speaker at the upcoming Shepherds Conference.
Gay Anglican priest Sam Allberry, known for partnering up with the Gospel Coalition and the ERLC to be one of the architects for the acceptance of Same-Sex Attraction (SSA) “Christianity, has revealed that he wears a wedding ring on his ring finger, despite being single, as a reminder that God is “pursuing him.” For this reason, he believes he is just as “swept up” in the “whole marital romance” thing as a married couple might be resulting in him being “taken by Jesus.”
As a single person with an increased capacity for friendship that comes with that, there’s a breadth of intimacy I get to experience that you don’t. So there’s, again, there’s some unique pluses to being in my situation. And I keep coming back to ‘I know the bridegroom’. I’m not actually missing out. I’m not getting that the temporal signpost of the love of God that marriage is designed to be. I’m not getting the appetizer, but I’m getting the entrée, and the entrée is so good I can skip the appetizer.
So if I have the bridegroom, then I’m not missing out on the whole marital romance- all of that stuff-actually, I’m just as swept up in it. That is profoundly meaningful to me. I’m wearing a ring on my ring finger, which is a cultural signal for ‘hey, I’m married.’
There’s other stories to why I’m wearing this to do with medical research, it’s a smart ring. But I felt, I felt actually, I’m gonna wear on this ring because I’m taken. I belong to someone. And it’s a nice tangible reminder to me that the bridegroom pursues me.”
This type of thinking is strange behavior, particularly because he’s not ‘taken’ in the way he thinks. He could easily marry a woman if he so chose, rather than suggest he’s married to Jesus, then deal with the scriptural pretzeling that would result in trying to justify his divorce/ annulment from his marriage to the Almighty to pursue a real one.
Honestly, this is the sort of thing a newly converted 14-year-old girl who just returned from a bible camp run by women youth pastors would come up with. Still, the line of thinking is consistent with the sexual ethos of the SSAC movement that Allberry has spearheaded and continues to promote.
Bonus: SSAC is the movement within the larger evangelical movement that narrowly defines the sin of homosexuality to include only acting upon one’s sinful desires, and defines the sinful desires themselves as simply a part of a person’s identity and something God is content with not changing in the heart of the believer.
The false beliefs of the SSAC movement include:
Same-sex attraction is never a result of early childhood abuse and is always unchosen.
Same-sex attraction only becomes sin if it is acted upon.
Homosexual acts are no different than other sins.
Christian regeneration has no influence over same-sex desire.
The church is guilty of oppressing this group instead of helping them bear their cross of unchangeable same-sex attraction.
In an interview with Sam Wan featured on the Gospel Coalition, Simon Shead, a 24-year-old from New South Wales, spoke about his intention never to get married, serving as a microcosm for the problems with TGC as a whole.
He explains that the primary reason he is choosing lifelong celibacy and singleness is because “I believe that being single helps us to understand the sufficiency of Christ and to be undivided in our posture towards him.”
Shead offers that a secondary reasons for being single is counter-cultural, as “Non-Christians might wonder where my hope is placed if it is not in the deeply fulfilling sexual relationships we see on TV. This provides me with a great gospel opportunity.”
And the third? Out of solidarity with the gays.
Sam: You say singleness and celibacy is a godly and possible choice for straight Christians—and for the communities they are a part of. Why is that?
Simon: It is godly and possible because it is scriptural. Both marriage and singleness are great ways for a person to serve Christ!
But the cry I hear from celibate gay evangelical Christians is that straight Christians are not quite upholding the standard we apply to them. Sometimes the message from the evangelical church can feel like: “Marriage is great! Get married, everyone’s doing it. Oh, but if you’re gay, singleness is good too …”
I think a good way we can support our brothers and sisters in Christ in this area, is to stand in solidarity with them; to reclaim the gift of singleness for the church… it is worth gently pondering in the current cultural climate, is this a way we can further support our gay brothers and sisters in Christ?
Interviewer Wan affirms his decision, noting:
‘Standing in solidarity with your brothers and sisters who experience attraction to the same sex is such an important thing, and the choice you’re making is really putting your money where your mouth is.”
Talk about peak TGC right here.
Bonus: The message from the evangelical church should be that if you’re ‘gay and single,’ then you need to mortify that, as even the desire and inclination towards homosexuality are sinful. Thankfully, Christ died for those sins, and the scriptures clearly state that ‘such were some of you” is possible and in fact, is the natural progression in a life that has been submitted to Christ for sanctification.
A heart given over to God becomes given over to heterosexuality, as there is not one realm of our life that the Holy Spirit does not conform.
There’s no need to stay single, as a “same-sex attracted Christian” who will only be so temporarily as he conforms himself to Christ, ought to find a spouse in a similar position as they are or different, and get married, make babies, and conquer the world.
This above reality is what makes the upcoming comments so disastrous, as it reinforces their status as someone whom Christ can’t change and is destined to singleness and celibacy forever, suggesting it as support when, in reality, it is spiritually severing.
