persecute vt. to afflict constantly as to injure or distress, as for reasons of religion, race, etc. persecution n.
In doing research for our social experiment project at Victory Christian Center Austin, we discovered an uncanny parallel between persecuted Christians and the lesbian, gay, bi and transgendered community; we have all suffered persecution because of bad religion.
Having been raised in the Christian faith ourselves, and having reconciled the afflictions of our religious upbringing with our sexual orientation, Ceil and I shuddered at the idea of voluntarily throwing ourselves back into the CLOSET, for the sake of finding answers through this experiment. For too long, our people have suffered in silence, persecuted from the pulpits, while asked by their church leaders to give money for people elsewhere in the world to live the way God intended - freely.
With great zeal, Evangelical church leaders encourage their congregations to support missionaries with their offerings. In fact, they are staunch supporters of the Bush doctrine of spreading democracy and religious freedom around the world at whatever the cost.
The sad irony is these Evangelical leaders fail to see that they themselves perpetrate the very same religious persecution and intolerance toward people who are not like them. Hundreds of thousands of our LGBT people have lost their families, their churches, and their lives because of religious persecution and condemnation. This is completely contrary to their "pro-life" doctrine, and like the horrendous act of throwing salt on an open wound, these intolerant and hate-filled institutions are rewarded by our government with tax exempt status... go figure!
November 09, 2007
August 23, 2007
A Deal with the Devil
In our covert investigation conducted at Victory Christian Center (VCC) in Austin, TX, we collected mounting evidence of how the Republican political strategy is employed from the Bush/Rove White House on down to their base of conservative Evangelical churches.
David Barton, Vice-chairman of the Texas GOP and founder of an organization called Wallbuilders, was invited to be the guest speaker at both of VCC's Sunday morning worship services on August 20, 2006. According to Pastor Lee Boss' introduction of David Barton to the congregation, he's "been used by God to touch more elected officials in this nation over any other organization." Armed with old-time bibles, a swanky PowerPoint presentation, and much jibber-jabber, Barton mobilizes the Evangelical Christians to the polls by replacing the word "voting" with "stewardship". He concludes by telling us that Republican political candidates are the obvious choice in our stewardship if we are concerned with biblical issues.
Karl Rove understands the conservative Evangelical voices are a powerful and very well organized tax exempt, money making machine for the Republican party. As long as these Evangelical church leaders have an insatiable appetite for power and influence, Rove will continue to use them to succeed on his mission of establishing a permanent Republican majority. Watch how all the Republican Presidential candidates are scrambling in a tizzy to court the Evangelical / Religious Right vote. It's funny to see the conservatives salivating at the bit, waiting for the next self-righteous politician with the right outside package that they can rally behind. Ever notice how the GOP have to beat up on a minority group of people in order to rally their base? How Christian or Christ-like is that?
David Barton, Vice-chairman of the Texas GOP and founder of an organization called Wallbuilders, was invited to be the guest speaker at both of VCC's Sunday morning worship services on August 20, 2006. According to Pastor Lee Boss' introduction of David Barton to the congregation, he's "been used by God to touch more elected officials in this nation over any other organization." Armed with old-time bibles, a swanky PowerPoint presentation, and much jibber-jabber, Barton mobilizes the Evangelical Christians to the polls by replacing the word "voting" with "stewardship". He concludes by telling us that Republican political candidates are the obvious choice in our stewardship if we are concerned with biblical issues.
Karl Rove understands the conservative Evangelical voices are a powerful and very well organized tax exempt, money making machine for the Republican party. As long as these Evangelical church leaders have an insatiable appetite for power and influence, Rove will continue to use them to succeed on his mission of establishing a permanent Republican majority. Watch how all the Republican Presidential candidates are scrambling in a tizzy to court the Evangelical / Religious Right vote. It's funny to see the conservatives salivating at the bit, waiting for the next self-righteous politician with the right outside package that they can rally behind. Ever notice how the GOP have to beat up on a minority group of people in order to rally their base? How Christian or Christ-like is that?
June 13, 2007
God, Gays, and the Sanctity of Marriage
Husbands, love your wives. Wives, respect your husbands because of the position God has ordained for him, not whether you think he deserves it or not. Now turn your bibles to Ephesians 5:21-33 to see what "God" (Paul, actually - not God) has to say about keeping your marriage blessed. - This is a paraphrased excerpt of a six-week series taught by Pastor Lee in the mainstream Evangelical church we infiltrated and investigated as CL and Cammy Morrison.
Ironically, on the Sunday the Pastor began the marriage series, we witnessed on our way to church, a display of "the sanctity of marriage" the Conservatives so righteously fight for. About five blocks away from the church, I noticed a Latino man roughing up a woman. There was also a young girl with them; she looked between 5 or 6 years old. I immediately told Ceil and we pulled into the parking lot where this abuse was taking place. Remember, we were in our characters, so CL, in a deep voice hollered, "Hey!" at the guy as we pulled up beside them. I picked up our cell phone and asked if I needed to call the police. He froze and looked at us, then made it obvious to us that he didn't speak English. Cammy asked the woman, "Is he hurting you? You need help?" She replied in broken English, "No, no; he's my husband", and proceeded to turn and start walking. The little girl, wide-eyed with fright, soon followed beside her mother. The man ceased roughing up his wife and walked slightly behind them. We continued to watch for her safety, and especially the little girl's, until they were out of sight.
I couldn't help but wonder if our characters' appearances that day, as male and female, didn't help a little in this particular situation. Ceil and I, as two females, would have confronted the situation all the same, but I would venture to guess that had it been the case, the abusive man would have reacted differently toward two women than he did with CL and Cammy.
The Pastor prefaced his marriage teachings with his explanation of Adam and Eve. He taught that God is both male and female. In the beginning, God created Adam both male and female as well. Then God wanted to bless Adam with a "help-mate", so God took the female characteristics out of Adam and made Eve. God intended for the man and woman, together through marriage, to be a manifestation of both the female and male attributes of God.
Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but most lesbian, gay, and transgendered people we know are keenly aware of both the female and male attributes we were created with. In fact, most of us celebrate that gift of versatility and diversity.
So according to this Evangelical Pastor's teachings about male and female and Adam and Eve, the impending question is... are homosexuals and transgendered people created more like God than heterosexuals?
For more, please visit FaithoftheAbomination.com
Ironically, on the Sunday the Pastor began the marriage series, we witnessed on our way to church, a display of "the sanctity of marriage" the Conservatives so righteously fight for. About five blocks away from the church, I noticed a Latino man roughing up a woman. There was also a young girl with them; she looked between 5 or 6 years old. I immediately told Ceil and we pulled into the parking lot where this abuse was taking place. Remember, we were in our characters, so CL, in a deep voice hollered, "Hey!" at the guy as we pulled up beside them. I picked up our cell phone and asked if I needed to call the police. He froze and looked at us, then made it obvious to us that he didn't speak English. Cammy asked the woman, "Is he hurting you? You need help?" She replied in broken English, "No, no; he's my husband", and proceeded to turn and start walking. The little girl, wide-eyed with fright, soon followed beside her mother. The man ceased roughing up his wife and walked slightly behind them. We continued to watch for her safety, and especially the little girl's, until they were out of sight.
I couldn't help but wonder if our characters' appearances that day, as male and female, didn't help a little in this particular situation. Ceil and I, as two females, would have confronted the situation all the same, but I would venture to guess that had it been the case, the abusive man would have reacted differently toward two women than he did with CL and Cammy.
The Pastor prefaced his marriage teachings with his explanation of Adam and Eve. He taught that God is both male and female. In the beginning, God created Adam both male and female as well. Then God wanted to bless Adam with a "help-mate", so God took the female characteristics out of Adam and made Eve. God intended for the man and woman, together through marriage, to be a manifestation of both the female and male attributes of God.
Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but most lesbian, gay, and transgendered people we know are keenly aware of both the female and male attributes we were created with. In fact, most of us celebrate that gift of versatility and diversity.
So according to this Evangelical Pastor's teachings about male and female and Adam and Eve, the impending question is... are homosexuals and transgendered people created more like God than heterosexuals?
For more, please visit FaithoftheAbomination.com
May 15, 2007
Looking for Answers
Utter frustration and defeat was what Ceil and I felt after we left the first Evangelical church in 2005. Lamenting over the injustices and questioning the purpose of it all eventually lead us on a deep search for the Truth.
Would we have been treated differently and accepted as part of the church family had we been heterosexual? Would we have had opportunities to minister had we been males in that organization? Would those people have taken time to know us had there been no walls of religious doctrine separating us from them? Sadly, the answer to those questions were YES for both of us.
At this point, however, that was only our assumption and opinion, and not our truth. Neither one of us had ever experienced life as male nor heterosexual. With a burning passion and conviction to find Truth, we embarked on a social experiment to get some answers. Ceil and I would alter our physical appearances and become what we perceived as "acceptable" by church leadership standards. We wanted to see if the Evangelical church would get to know us and connect with us, perhaps even love us, if we looked and acted just like them.
It was unbelievable, some of the things we witnessed and experienced as a man and woman inside the inner circle of a powerful Evangelical church. It's all recorded in the documentary. The most heart-breaking truth we discovered is the fact that many religious leaders in both communities, gay and straight, have lost sight of the most noble purpose of humanity - to build up one another through love.
Would we have been treated differently and accepted as part of the church family had we been heterosexual? Would we have had opportunities to minister had we been males in that organization? Would those people have taken time to know us had there been no walls of religious doctrine separating us from them? Sadly, the answer to those questions were YES for both of us.
At this point, however, that was only our assumption and opinion, and not our truth. Neither one of us had ever experienced life as male nor heterosexual. With a burning passion and conviction to find Truth, we embarked on a social experiment to get some answers. Ceil and I would alter our physical appearances and become what we perceived as "acceptable" by church leadership standards. We wanted to see if the Evangelical church would get to know us and connect with us, perhaps even love us, if we looked and acted just like them.
It was unbelievable, some of the things we witnessed and experienced as a man and woman inside the inner circle of a powerful Evangelical church. It's all recorded in the documentary. The most heart-breaking truth we discovered is the fact that many religious leaders in both communities, gay and straight, have lost sight of the most noble purpose of humanity - to build up one another through love.
April 23, 2007
Finally, Out of the Closet...Again!
For the last three years, there have been many questions and much speculation about what happened to us and our ministry. The last that most people knew was that we left our home community church, MCC Austin, to begin our ministry of reconcilliation with a mainstream, Pentecostal church, Christian Life Church (CLC), and then we disappeared. Many from our community deserted us; rumor even has it that there were some who feared that we had "back-slid" and left our faith. The truth is, we undertook an experimental project that required us to willingly go back into the closet.
The project was actually developed over a three-year period, involving two different Evangelical churches, one labelled Pentecostal and the other Non-denominational. An independent documentary film title Faith of the Abomination will help tell our story and show our documented experiences in the Evangelical Organization, and from both the perspectives of a lesbian couple, Ceil and Han, and of a heterosexual couple, CL and Cammy. The results of this experiment will astound you.
For further details about the documentary film, please visit www.FaithoftheAbomination.com.
The project was actually developed over a three-year period, involving two different Evangelical churches, one labelled Pentecostal and the other Non-denominational. An independent documentary film title Faith of the Abomination will help tell our story and show our documented experiences in the Evangelical Organization, and from both the perspectives of a lesbian couple, Ceil and Han, and of a heterosexual couple, CL and Cammy. The results of this experiment will astound you.
For further details about the documentary film, please visit www.FaithoftheAbomination.com.
March 29, 2007
September 13, 2005
Hope through Katrina
In the last couple of weeks, so many of us have seen the devastation and despair caused by hurricane Katrina. No doubt the people most affected were those living in poverty or below the standards of poverty. The sad truth is, there are millions of Americans who are in the same predicament everyday. What Katrina did was magnify the ugly truths of poverty that exist in many times, right next door to us. Why are there seniors in this country who are forced to choose between food to eat or medication to keep them alive, while pharmaceutical companies are making record profits? In the most powerful nation in the world, with a predominant population that claims to be Christian, why has poverty become so irrelevant to the ones who can actually help ease the burden?My highest hope through this Katrina experience is that we all have an awakening to the Truth of Loving one another.
In the last couple of weeks, so many of us have seen the devastation and despair caused by hurricane Katrina. No doubt the people most affected were those living in poverty or below the standards of poverty. The sad truth is, there are millions of Americans who are in the same predicament everyday. What Katrina did was magnify the ugly truths of poverty that exist in many times, right next door to us. Why are there seniors in this country who are forced to choose between food to eat or medication to keep them alive, while pharmaceutical companies are making record profits? In the most powerful nation in the world, with a predominant population that claims to be Christian, why has poverty become so irrelevant to the ones who can actually help ease the burden?My highest hope through this Katrina experience is that we all have an awakening to the Truth of Loving one another.
December 19, 2003
It seems lately that God has been dealing with me about the topic of love. Now I’m not talking about the warm, fuzzy kind of feelings that flutter on your heart when you’re around people that you’re fond of. No, I’m talking about the deep, mysterious, unconditional love that existed since the creation of the world, the love that alone can fill every void in our being, the kind of love that gives purpose to our existence.
I used to think that love was a one-dimensional concept, but as I get further along into my walk with God, I’m beginning to understand that there are so many layers to uncover about love. In my early days as a Christian, I learned to love people the way I thought God loved me, but my understanding of God’s love for me was limited; therefore, the love that I was able to show was limited. First, I had to learn to love myself and be alright with the way I was created. After reconciling myself to my own self worth, I then had to learn to love others with an unselfish kind of love. God was calling and teaching me to extend myself to loving people who were different than me, to love them even when I didn’t feel very lovable or when things weren’t going right in my life. I had to practice being more aware of others’ needs no matter what I was personally going through.
Anyway, I was getting pretty good at loving people, but I also discovered very quickly that it is much easier to love those who are good to us than those who are not so kind to us or downright unloving to us. Thus the more intimate time that I was spending with God, the more I felt challenged to dive into this deeper layer of perfect love. I struggled with walking into this arena because deep down I knew that this meant giving up my pride and dignity to the hands of those hurting me. It didn’t make sense to me, but God assured me this challenge was for my good. After much kicking and screaming to God about this matter, I finally surrendered to accepting the challenge. On my willingness to learn this lesson, God began to teach me how to love my enemies by the examples of Jesus’ life.
You know, just like it was in school… the only way to prove that we’ve learned something is to be tested on that subject. Needless to say, I was severely tested on my newly found revelation. It was only through the practical experience of doing what I had learned did I discover that only walking in this deepness of love will make way for God to work in my life and other people’s lives. The point is, we cannot have perfect love for one another unless we experience God’s perfect love for us. Oh yea, and about my reluctance to the notion of having to give up my pride and dignity to the hands of my enemies, that’s not what happened at all. See, part of the agreement that God made with me was that if I humble myself (set my feelings and agenda aside) and practice only this kind of love, then God would take care of the rest. In doing so, God prepared a feast for me in the presence of my enemies, and He also allowed me to witness the miracle of His kind of love melting away hearts of stone; to God be all the praise and glory!
Han
I used to think that love was a one-dimensional concept, but as I get further along into my walk with God, I’m beginning to understand that there are so many layers to uncover about love. In my early days as a Christian, I learned to love people the way I thought God loved me, but my understanding of God’s love for me was limited; therefore, the love that I was able to show was limited. First, I had to learn to love myself and be alright with the way I was created. After reconciling myself to my own self worth, I then had to learn to love others with an unselfish kind of love. God was calling and teaching me to extend myself to loving people who were different than me, to love them even when I didn’t feel very lovable or when things weren’t going right in my life. I had to practice being more aware of others’ needs no matter what I was personally going through.
Anyway, I was getting pretty good at loving people, but I also discovered very quickly that it is much easier to love those who are good to us than those who are not so kind to us or downright unloving to us. Thus the more intimate time that I was spending with God, the more I felt challenged to dive into this deeper layer of perfect love. I struggled with walking into this arena because deep down I knew that this meant giving up my pride and dignity to the hands of those hurting me. It didn’t make sense to me, but God assured me this challenge was for my good. After much kicking and screaming to God about this matter, I finally surrendered to accepting the challenge. On my willingness to learn this lesson, God began to teach me how to love my enemies by the examples of Jesus’ life.
You know, just like it was in school… the only way to prove that we’ve learned something is to be tested on that subject. Needless to say, I was severely tested on my newly found revelation. It was only through the practical experience of doing what I had learned did I discover that only walking in this deepness of love will make way for God to work in my life and other people’s lives. The point is, we cannot have perfect love for one another unless we experience God’s perfect love for us. Oh yea, and about my reluctance to the notion of having to give up my pride and dignity to the hands of my enemies, that’s not what happened at all. See, part of the agreement that God made with me was that if I humble myself (set my feelings and agenda aside) and practice only this kind of love, then God would take care of the rest. In doing so, God prepared a feast for me in the presence of my enemies, and He also allowed me to witness the miracle of His kind of love melting away hearts of stone; to God be all the praise and glory!
Han
July 28, 2003
I was rummaging through some old paperwork while I was organizing the files the other day, and I ran across our incorporation paperwork for H.A.N. Ministries. I noticed that we were only a month away from celebrating the 2nd anniversary of this ministry. Ceil and I were reminiscing earlier this evening about where we were exactly two years ago today and we realized how drastically our lives have changed since.Through the desperation of our utter emptiness and finally realizing that we needed God's help in our lives, we were both in a place of allowing God to restore our relationship back to Him. In this restoration process, God reminded us of the calling that the Holy Spirit had revealed to us several years back; the calling to ministry. God also showed us that God had allowed some of the not-so-pretty events to happen in our lives because of our disobedience to the Call of God on our lives. We didn't realize then that this calling was the whole purpose in which we were created. The awesome news is that rather than God making us feel shameful for our past mistakes, failures and regrets, God instead chose to fill us with Divine grace, love and mercy. God also reminded us that we can receive forgiveness through Jesus and be restored to the person who was created in the image of Christ.This time, we began to listen more carefully to the small, still voice of God in our hearts, and sure enough, God always followed through with some sort of confirmation for us to know His voice without a doubt. This time, we stepped out in faith because we had nothing to lose. This time, we had to make a move, but where do we go? What do we do? How do we even begin?Two years ago at this exact time, H.A.N. Ministries was only a vision, a promise that God had shared with us. We actually didn't even have the name H.A.N. Ministries. How things have changed in two years! It's amazing the miracles that happen in our lives when we finally stop the struggle within ourselves and allow God to take us into the flow of the Holy Spirit. Buckle up, friends, because it's a magnificent ride full of suspense, mystery, excitement, and the miraculous!Han and Ceil
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