Bi-Sexual Southern Goth Womanist Christian Claims to Find God By Leaving Church For 5 Years
Preston Sprinkle’s recent Theology in the Raw Conference could be likened to a sandwich of false teaching and heresy. On day 1 of the conference, Francis Chan likened the Lord’s Supper to having “intercourse with Jesus”, while pushing ecumenism under the false idea that the church didn’t have any issues with division or disagreement until the Reformation. On day 3 of the conference, Sprinkle discussed the issue of hell, and promoted the heresies of annihilationism and universalism orthodox views of hell.
Sandwiched between the first and third days of this conference was day 2, which featured a session that promoted side B Homosexuality, the idea that people can identify as both Christian and a sexual deviant as long as they don’t commit physical sexual sins. Many of the presentations made to advocate Side-B homosexuality leaned heavily on personal testimonies of the individual coming to grips with their sexuality, while battling against unsupportive elements in their church or family. Ultimately the heroes in these stories are always the story-teller and those who decide to support their decision to “come out”, and the villains are any church or person who teaches Biblical sexuality.
Preston invited Johana Marie-Williams, a self-described “Bi-sexual, Southern Goth Womanist” to tell her story as part of the day 2 discussions. Williams begins her “testimony” by claiming a special revelation from the Holy Spirit that led her identify as bisexual.
I usually begin my testimony between the ages of 16 and 21, from when I first started contemplating what a Christian should believe and sexuality, to when through the power and prompting of the Holy Spirit I let go of my denial about my own sexuality and admitted to myself that I was bi(sexual).
I tend to begin my story here because I was only able to do that, admitting my attractions to myself, about my attractions to people regardless of their gender, because of an unrelated in-depth scriptural study of, and contemplation on the love of God. (2:18:10-2:18:40)
This enlightenment that Williams obtained through sexual gnosticism didn’t lead her to a deeper commitment to her faith. On the contrary, according to her own words, it led her away from the church.
At 21, I recognized my attraction. I’d come to a theological position, and now I needed to figure out exactly what that meant, to live as a Christian that was Bi-sexual. So I stopped going to church for 5 years. (2:19:20-2:19:35)
Like many of the other speakers in the Theology in the Raw sexuality conversation, Williams railed against the idea of feeling shame and place an emphasis on the deliverance from shame rather from the deliverance from sin. The church is cast as the villain in her struggle.
…I knew I needed time and space to figure out what this new lack of shame about my sexuality paired with my commitment to celibacy meant, not just theologically but in the day to day, in my real day to day life, and I knew that the church at that time had no grace or equity in this conversation, because at 21 I had already watched my two younger siblings come out. I had watched at least 3 acquaintances come out of the closet and struggled to find a place in the church. Without fail their pastors, peers, mentors failed to express the assurance of God’s love that allowed me to even confront my sexuality in the first place. (2:19:50-2:20:38)
Williams proceeds from this point in her story to create a strawman of the church that hates and persecutes what she calls self-identified “Queer Christians” who she claims are capable of spiritual maturity and should be considered for church leadership. While claiming to be celibate in her bisexuality, Williams admits that she openly spurned the teaching of churches that urged believers to avoid temptation, compromising situations, and seeking advice from others who had also fallen into sexual sin.
I need to connect to other believers who were queer in ways that the churches I knew of explicitly discouraged. The internet has been and continues to be a huge boon for building those kinds of relationships and connections. (2:23:15-2:23:35)
In summary, Williams believes that “Queer Christians” who “find themselves” and learn to not feel shame are mature believers, while the Bible-believing Christians who understand that God’s definition of “love” isn’t disobeying his commands are immature and “misrepresenting God’s emotions,” as if the opinions and emotions of God on the issue of sexuality aren’t clearly stated in scripture.
The idea of “Side B” homosexuality that Williams represents is patently false, because scripture clearly demonstrates that sin begins in the heart. Jesus explained this in Matthew 5:28-19, when he explained that adultery began with the sin of lust in a person’s heart.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
When addressing sexual sins, if we look at what Jesus said, the understanding is clear that the sin of adultery begins with a sinful desire in the heart of man. The idea of accepting a man’s lust after a woman as just an “orientation” that he was born with clearly isn’t compatible with Jesus’ explanation of how sin begins in the heart. Advocates of homosexuality and other deviant lifestyles that are clearly against the Biblical teachings on marriage and sexuality somehow believe that their status in a “sin special interest group” and deviant heart “orientation” towards sin is different and somehow excuses them from being called to repentance rather than celebrating and claiming an identity that is rooted in open rebellion towards God and debauchery.
Sexual deviants don’t need deliverance from shame. They need repentance, the Gospel, deliverance from sin, and a new heart that pursues God. In this perverse generation, many, including Preston Sprinkle and his followers, have abandoned these fundamentals of the faith in pursuit of a compromise with God that doesn’t exist, because God is Holy.
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In other words, she is not ashamed of her desire to disobey, rebel against, and dishonor her Creator.
She found the god of this world who is the prince of lies!