Malakos and Arsenokoitēs : the practice of Homosexuality
I decided to make this a page rather than a post because of the large number of searches that have been done on the topic.
There is apparently a deep need within the Body of Christ to address this issue with Christian men who struggle with this battle. I pray that they find victory.
The Word of God is good for edification, exhortation, and comfort. (1 Corinthians 14:13) Therefore, when we look at what the Bible says about homosexuality we need to find all three.
Sin just keeps getting more accepted. And as it does, it becomes harder for those who long for Christ to be freed from the bondage and deception. Why? Because the prince of the power of the air who is the devil, the ruler of the kingdom of darkness wants people bound. He wants to bind men of God. He does not want them to accept the freedom in Christ that Christ died to give them.
Sin is sin. And we all struggle. And the way to break free from any sin is the same.
But in order to be freed from bondage, you must know you are in it. If you do not admit you are bound, you bind yourself.
If you want to be set free from homosexuality then you must realize one thing…
You choose it. Don’t be deceived into thinking that those who tell you it is not a choice are demonstrating love to you. They are not. They are preventing you from experiencing the freedom and deliverance Christ died to give you.
If it were purely biological… why isn’t there research on medicine to reverse it? Because the fight is not a biological one… it is a moral one.
You have believed a lie. And the Lord wants you to know the truth of His freedom.
The hard truth…
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 bold mine
Malakos and Arsenokoitēs, these are the words for effeminate and abusers of themselves with mankind. Together they describe the active and passive (giving and receiving) acts of homosexuality.
“If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination” Lev 20:13
“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it [is] abomination.” Lev 18:22
YOU (if you practice homosexuality) are NOT an abomination… the act is.
To be tempted is one thing. To act is another.
When you engage in a homosexual lifestyle, you are “believing” that it is acceptable. Why? Because believing is acting according to your confession. Confessing is saying along with. Confession is a statement of agreement.
When we confess that Jesus is Lord, then we say along with the Holy Spirit that Jesus is Lord. We agree with Him.
The question is then, “Who are you agreeing with?”
If you are practicing homosexuality you are agreeing with a spirit that is contrary to the Holy Spirit that you are homosexual and that you cannot help it.
You have heard and agreed with a lie, and you listen to it. Listening is acting on what you have heard.
I used to be oppressed of the devil for years. I could not stop thinking about suicide. For years, every day, throughout the day, I considered taking my own life. The world would have told me I was depressed, or that I was suffering from depression. But I knew I was oppressed.
I wonder…, why don’t they tell you that you are suffering from homosexuality?
One day, after decades of oppression, I heard the Spirit of God say to me, “Stop listening.”
When that truth hit my heart… the truth that I was actively engaged in the conversation… and I stopped listening… I was delivered.
I haven’t been oppressed since. No medication. No therapy. Only the comfort that comes through the Holy Spirit.
No matter what the sin… no matter what temptation seems to be getting the best of you… you have to realize that you are hearing a lie… and listening to it. You are acting as if it were true.
Thoughts are things you receive. We do not come up with the thought… we devise the thoughts we have received. That is what thinking is.
If we “have” a thought that is contrary to the Word of God it did NOT come from Him.
Therefore it came from the enemy.
And just as we can receive Godly thoughts through the words of others… so too can we receive ungodly thoughts through the words of others.
But the Lord has other plans for you, even if you have physically acted on the lie that you are homosexual and that there is nothing you can do about it.
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11
Years of listening to the lie of the enemy… a history of having believed it and acted as if it were true… does not make it true! People acting as if there is not a God in heaven does not change the fact that He IS!!!
If you want freedom from the bondage of homosexuality (or any habitual sin of the flesh… like lewdness, fornication, drunkenness…) then you must reclaim the place where it all took root.
The heart! Because that is where we think!
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so [is] he” Proverbs 23:7
And know that we can guard our hearts with all diligence. (Prov 4:23)
The first step in being more than a conqueror is a step closer to Jesus. Surrender your thinking to Him.
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” 2 Corinthians 10:5-6
Stop believing the lies of the enemy. And give no care to what others might say or think. The thoughts that Jesus has for you are greater than you can imagine.
Confess
Repent
Believe
Confess that, in the past, you agreed with the lie of the enemy that you were a homosexual.
Repent… which is to change your thinking… and say along with the Spirit of Christ that you will no longer listen to the enemy.
Believe: Act according to your new confession… that you are not what the enemy declared you to be. That you are washed, sanctified, and justified by Christ. Do not act on the lies of the enemy. Do not practice homosexuality. And do not listen to the old recordings in your heart… do not act according to them.
And when the enemy would send a thought to you to condemn you or bind you… do not receive it! Send it back to where it came from. Say it out loud if you have to, “I do not receive that lie!”
You can choose.
The following is a prayer that I pray often. I pray that the Holy Spirit will move in you as you pray this prayer. And I pray that you will find the freedom that Christ has died to give you.
“Lord,
In the name of Jesus I take every thought captive into obedience unto Christ. Let them not enter into my heart, but let them do what you would have them do. I do not received any thought that does not come from the Holy Spirit.
I confess that in the past I believed the lie of the enemy that (insert whatever lie it was here). But I repent! I change my thinking and now confess along with the Holy Spirit that I am (insert the opposite of the above lie here) in Christ. I receive the power from the Holy Spirit by the Blood of Jesus to be more than a conqueror, to BELIEVE what I have no confessed and to go and live in that power.
In Jesus Name!
AMEN”
May you find the victory in Christ that He died to give you.
SDG
SDG
