Misguided pastor

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  
This is the first and greatest commandment.  
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 
                                                                       Matthew 22:36-40.
Yesterday on the news I heard that Uganda had passed laws that put homosexuals in prison for fifteen years for a first offence. And life for a second offence. How awful.
What was more disturbing was the fact that they interviewed an American educated Ugandan pastor that was supposedly instrumental in helping get the law passed.
How totally detestable!
This man to me is not living up to the ideals Christ.
Jesus and his disciples never got involved in politics. Not once did they try to change Roman law or have laws enacted that favoured them.
Jesus, and his disciples had one goal in life to point people to heaven.
It was Jesus who said,   ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
You cannot do that an restrict the rights of any individual or group of people and say you love them.
This pastor may think homosexuality is a sin, that is his right in a free democracy BUT he has no right nor has any government the right to restrict the freedoms of any group of people.
I am what my brother describes as a card carrying charismatic evangelical Christian. And I am appalled at what this pastor did and what the Ugandan Government did.
How can we show homosexuals the way to heaven when we are sending them to prison. Prison will no more change a homosexual than that pastor standing in garage will turn into a car.
Sadly however I feel he is the extreme tip of a group saying they are Christians in the United States and Canada that want to restrict the rights of those they disagree with.
Such thinking is not Christian.
When did Jesus ever say restrict the rights of the Samaritans, or gentiles or other groups. He didn’t.
He reached out to a Samaritan woman, Roman Centurions, tax collectors and others that in his day were considered sinners.
The only way Christians are going to reach the world is by reaching out to those we disagree with and present in a spirit of peace the gospel of Peace.
Jesus said,
“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”
                  Matthew 10:16.
We cannot be innocent if we are helping pass laws that restrict the rights of others.
Our role on this earth is not to judge others of sin but to win the world for Christ and thus make it a better place for all mankind.
Martin Niemoller wrote,
“When they came for the Communists, I did not stand up, because I was not a Communist. When they came for the Jews, I did not stand up, because I was not Jewish. When they came for the Catholics, I did not stand up, because I was not a Catholic. When they came for me, there was no one left to stand up.”
Martin Niemoller was a German pastor during the time of Adolf Hilter. Originally he supported Hitler then turned away becoming a strong opponent of the Nazis.
Niemöller was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945. He narrowly escaped execution and survived imprisonment. After his imprisonment, he expressed his deep regret about not having done enough to help the victims of the Nazis.
I know that one day this pastor and those who enacted the anti gay laws in Uganda and anywhere else in the world will have to stand before God and be judged.
I pray that before they are they will have a change of heart and reach out in Love to the members of the gay and lesbian community.
To the members of the LBGT community I ask that you do not judge Christians on the actions of these misguided individuals.
There are many of us within the Christian community that wish to reach out in love with the one message we believe not only the gay and lesbian community need to hear but the whole world.
The message that Jesus does indeed love you and want very much to be a part of your life.
Jesus saying,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” 
            John 3:16,17.
Think about it.