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Pastor Price Debates Homosexual Issue
Pastor James E. Price was matched against Dr. Sylvia
Rhue, who described herself as a “religious scholar, writer and
documentarian,” and who indicated she had been “part of the
civil rights movement with Dr. Martin Luther King.”
Dr. Rhue had her titles. Pastor James had his Bible. The two
took different sides over one of the most compelling issue of
our day – homosexuality.
An admitted lesbian, Dr. Rhue told the audience of about thirty
at the Lucy Florence Coffeehouse that she was “absolutely, 1,000
percent for marriage equality,” which meant that she and others
have the right to marry whomever they want, whether their
partner are male or female. She said she was director of a group
called Equal Partners in Faith.
Pastor Price talks of being a veteran of Vietnam, and how God
had brought him through his injuries. He discussed his five
years as a pastor in Montebello and his twenty-one years as
assistant pastor at Crenshaw Christian Center.
He told the group that marriage is a union between one man and
one woman, according to the Word of God. He asked, “Where does
God bless homosexuality in the Bible?”
“The Bible is silent on sexuality,” answered Dr. Rhue. She said
the word homosexuality did not make it into the Bible
until much later historically. She also implied that there might
have been a relationship between Naomi and Ruth, as well David
and Jonathan.
Among those in attendance were Keith Hardine and Marvin Stewart,
both of whom as Christians had been invited to participate in
the debate. Hardine read a passage from Leviticus 18:22-24,
which says:
“You shall not lie with a male as a woman. It is an
abomination.
“Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile
yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to
mate with it. It is perversion.
“Do not defile yourselves with any of these
things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am
casting out before you.”
Dr. Rhue was asked to respond.
She said the reference was to one of the 619 holiness code laws
in the Hebrew Bible, which had to do with being unclean [and not
with homosexuality].
The meeting, which was held on November 20, seemed to prove
beyond a doubt that many homosexuals have what Christians
perceive to be a distorted view of Christianity, even those
homosexuals who call themselves Christians. Most homosexuals at
the meeting interpret Scriptures dealing with homosexuality as
having meanings almost totally opposite of what most other
Christians understand them to mean.
An earlier speaker – Herndon L. Davis, the author of the book,
Black, Gay & Christian – said from his studies he found “no
condemnation of homosexuality” in the Bible.
Clearly, we as Bible-believing Christians have a responsibility
to pray for those caught up in the homosexual lifestyle, says
Pastor Price. We can see the level of deception that Satan has
caused. We must pray that the veil be taken away from their
eyes.
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L.A. County Supervisors Refuse to
Defend Cross
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’
decision to remove the cross from the county seal, despite a
large, vociferous protest by ministers, members of church
congregations, non-Christians and a wide cross section of local
citizenry, had some people seeing red.
More than a thousand concerned citizens stormed a
regular Board meeting on June 10, to lodge their protests and
let the Board know that they felt betrayed by the vote. Many
asked the supervisors to rescind their earlier decision and
instead place the matter on the November ballot, where the
voters could decide the issue. That idea was shot down, as well.
On Sunday, June 13, three days after the meeting in which he
addressed the Supervisors, Pastor James E. Price updated the
Long Beach Christian Center congregation on the Board’s
decision. He told them that he would contact other local
churches about what LBCC and they might do to let the Board of
Supervisors understand how appalling their decision not to fight
to maintain the seal in its present design was to the Christian
community.
The Board buckled under a threat by the
American Civil Liberties Union to sue the county to remove the
cross from the seal because it is viewed as a religious symbol.
Three of the five supervisors voted to remove the cross from the
seal; two – supervisors Mike Antonovich and Don Knabe – voted to
maintain the cross as it is. Explaining their positions, the
three supervisors who voted to remove the cross wrapped
themselves in the U.S. Constitution by saying that they were
following legal precedents that indicated that the courts have
little tolerance for such symbols on government property.
They also cited the fact that the county’s legal counsel had
advised the Board that a court battle to maintain the seal as it
is would probably lose because arguments to maintain such
symbols have been ruled unconstitutional. Among the arguments
against the county entering a court battle over the change was
the cost that would ensue.
Supervisor Yvonne
Brathwaite Burke, her voice rising as protesters interrupted her
explanation for voting to remove the cross, referred to the
protest as a “religious frenzy.” Gloria Molina was quoted as
saying, “There’s no way we’re going to be able to please this
crowd.”
Nevertheless, the large crowd had gone to
the supervisors’ meeting to be heard. And they packed the
meeting room to express their passion in defense of the cross,
as more protesters outside waved their signs. One after another,
the speakers trooped to the microphone to address the
supervisors.
Among the other LBCC speakers on June
10 were Ella Reed, Kathy Rich, and Stanley O. Williford. Lending
support by attending were James E. Price III, Patricia Silas,
Shawn Brown, Hattie Batten-Bragg, and Cheryl Williams. Members
who addressed the board from Crenshaw Christian Center included
Pastor Craig L. Hays, Keith Hardine and Doris Morgan. Several
other Crenshaw members attended. Dr. Jack Hayford represented
Church on the Way and other Four Square churches in the region,
and Dr. Kenneth Ulmer represented Faithful Central.
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, more than
700 protesters crammed the Supervisor’s meeting. Still, after
all was said and done and many of the protesters had left, the
supervisors voted again on the issue and the vote remained the
same.
The furor over the county seal began shortly
after a similar controversy over the city seal of Redlands,
which also contained a cross. Two Redlands residents complained
to the ACLU in February that the cross was a religious symbol.
An ACLU attorney wrote a letter informing Redlands that the U.S.
Supreme Court had declared that government logos and seals
bearing such symbols were unconstitutional.
Faced with a possible lawsuit, Redlands immediately
caved in and ordered the cross removed from every city logo.
The ACLU then received more calls complaining that there was
a cross in the Los Angeles County seal. The organization wrote
the Board of Supervisors, giving them two weeks to act on
removing the cross. Despite objections by supervisors Antonovich
and Knabe, the Board voted to remove the cross and avoid a legal
fight.
The Board then requested that the ACLU let them
phase in the removal of the cross rather than replace all the
emblems immediately. For example, rather than place the new seal
on county vehicles right away, only new, incoming vehicles would
have the new seal, as the old vehicles are put out of service.
The procedure would work the same on county business cards,
stationery, paper products and all other replaceable materials.
However, the giant seals on county buildings, and those on the
county websites would be replaced immediately.
Several law organizations, the American
Center for Law & Justice among them, have reportedly offered to
defend the county on a pro bono basis, meaning that the county
would not have to pay legal costs to fight against removal of
the logo. Apparently, a majority of the Board is unwilling to
defend the cross.
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The Body of Christ needs to be informed of
issues that may affect it and its ability to worship in freedom.
Christians who hold true to the Bible, the Word of God, need to
be alert so that they will not lose their ability to obey the
God of their salvation.
We have the right to vote, but if we do not use that
right then we will suffer the consequences.
We plan to stay informed as much as possible and keep you,
our readers, informed.
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The following are links that
will provide useful information, and from time to time we will
add more:
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