Published 06/01/2011 – 3:29 a.m. CST

Gay Pride or Homosexual Pride is a term we think was coined in modern times, but Scripture points to it as being much older, over 4000 years older as we shall see in this study. The modern homosexual movement began in New York City in June of 1969, and as we enter June of 2011, we will see the observance of the 42^nd anniversary of the Stonewall Inn Riots. Those riots, in the minds of many, marked the beginning of the homosexual rights movement. For a brief history lesson: on the early morning hours of June 28^th 1969, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn with a search warrant investigating reports liquor was sold illegally at the bar. The Stonewall Inn was also frequented by homosexuals many of them underage. As a result of the raid, three days of rioting by homosexuals and those who sympathized with them erupted and hence, we have the beginning of the gay rights movement.

During the last 42 years, this movement has captured much cultural, political and legal territory. Proof of this fact is in the following: Beginning in 1961(8 years before Stonewall), Illinois became the first state to decriminalize homosexuality, and for the next 40 plus years until 2003, 37 more states had decriminalized homosexual behavior also. In 2003 when the Supreme Court overturned all state laws forbidding homosexual behavior, only 13 states had sodomy laws still on the books. In 1999 President Bill Clinton became the first ever president to declare that the month of June 1999 was Gay and Lesbian Pride Month; he also went on to place the Stonewall Inn, where the riots occurred, on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, because of course, that is where they say the Gay rights movement began. In 2009 President Barack Obama added ‘transgender’ to his Proclamation of the month of June being, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgendered Pride Month. Five states and the District of Columbia now recognize homosexual marriage, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire. As of May 20^th 2011 a Gallup found 53 % of Americans now favor same sex marriage. The fact that our culture has been corrupted that much in 40 plus years is incredible but true, and an indication of how little effect the Body of Christ has on our culture.

During these last 42 years, this movement has also, sad to say, captured much ecclesiastical territory. The Episcopal, United Methodist, Presbyterian and Lutheran denominations are in turmoil over this issue. In 2008 the Episcopal church split over homosexuality, and in May of 2011the Presbyterian Church USA began allowing practicing male and female homosexuals in their ministry. How could this happen in the church? I use to ask that same question until I began doing research into it in the early 1980’s. I found that a corruptive and perverted form of theology that centers on homosexuality has gained a foothold in these denominations. Homosexual theology is a system of belief that rejects the clear meaning of what Scripture teaches about homosexuality and replaces it with a twisted, distorted interpretation.

One of the arguments used in this twisted interpretation is the false teaching that homosexuality was not at all a factor in God’s decision to destroy “the cities of the plain”, but other sins were the cause for such a violent reaction from heaven. To prove this, the advocates of homosexuality say that of all the references to Sodom in the Bible, only the passages in Genesis chapter 19 specifically mentions any form of homosexuality, all the other passages, they say, point to other sins. As I began to study the Scriptures that point out these ‘other sins’, I found out that although these Scriptures do mention‘other’ sins that Sodom was guilty of; these ‘other’ sins are also characteristics or behaviors of the contemporary homosexual movement. These revelations totally blew me away. I saw clearly for the first time that homosexuality in 20^th century B.C. Sodom was no different than homosexuality in 21^st century America, or of 7^th century B.C. Israel or of 1^st century A.D. Corinth. In their perverted effort to shift the sin of Sodom away from homosexuality, these devil’s advocates (and I mean that literally), have ignorantly pointed us toward a Scripturally revealed glimpse of the homosexual movement in ancient Sodom that gives us a bigger picture of what life was like in Sodom and shows us that Gay or Homosexual Pride is not a recent phenomena.

Ezekiel 16:49 is one of the passages homosexual advocates point to that they say does not mention homosexuality and although they are correct, they conveniently fail to mention the ‘abomination’ that is attributed to Sodom in Ezekiel 16:50.

In Ezekiel 16:49 (KJV) the prophet writes the following, “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride…” The first sin listed in this scripture is “pride”. Now pride itself is sin, but Sodom’s pride was in its sin; Sodom was proud of its sin. In Isaiah 3:8, 9, the prophet says, “For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongues and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of His glory. The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul!  For they have rewarded evil unto themselves.” The NIV reads, “The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it.” The use of the word “parade” in the NIV is extremely interesting because he is describing the citizens of Jerusalem and how they are exactly like the citizens of ancient Sodom, they parade their sin! The Hebrew word for “declare” in the KJV and “parade’ in the NIV is ‘nagad’, and it means “to stand boldly out against, to manifest, to announce (by word of mouth), to proclaim, to celebrate with praise.” Remember that the context is sin, particularly homosexuality, so the various definitions back up the NIV’s translation; “To announce (their sin) by word of mouth,” “to proclaim (their sin),” “to celebrate (their sin) with praise”, and finally, “to boldly stand out (in their sin).”

Anyone who has witnessed a Gay Pride Parade has seen these definitions literally come alive before their eyes. In these parades the homosexual is celebrating the “pride”he or she has in their homosexuality. In their blind ignorance, the homosexual movement’s use of the word “pride,” indicts them as a prophetic link to ancient Sodom in Ezekiel 16:49 and Isaiah 3:8, 9. According to these verses, the homosexuals in 20^th century B.C. Sodom and 7^th century B.C. Jerusalem exhibited the same behavior, they boldly stood out to proclaim and announce and celebrate their homosexuality. Truly the Scripture declares in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “there is no new thing under the sun.”

The first homosexual “pride” parade was held in 1970 in New York City, celebrating the first anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots that occurred in June of 1969. Thirty years later, in 1999, Interpride: The International Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgendered Pride Coordinators listed 108 homosexual celebrations in 108 U. S. cities and 15 others in Canada, Australia and South Africa, while a group across the Atlantic, the European Pride Organizers Association listed 53 homosexual celebrations in 19 different European countries. In the total of 176 worldwide celebrations listed, 146 have the English word “pride” in the official title. Five years later in 2004, I searched 5 different websites and found 310 homosexual “pride” celebrations. Here in 2011 the websites featuring homosexual pride events are too numerous to mention and it would be worthless to put forth the effort to count them, though not doubt there numbers would see an increase. In 21^st century America, just as they were in 20^th century B.C. Sodom, homosexuals are proud of their sin.

In the first ever Presidential proclamation concerning homosexuality in 1999, then President Clinton wrote, “Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do thereby proclaim June 1999 as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. I encourage all Americans to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that celebrate our diversity…”It is not a coincidence President Clinton used the word “celebrate” in reference to homosexuality; the President was encouraging us to celebrate homosexuality with a sense of pride in homosexuality as they did in Sodom also.

All these developments are just part of the fulfillment of a prophetic word spoken by Jesus in Luke 17:28, 30: “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot…even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” The profound revelation in this is only grasped as I said earlier, when we look at these other Scriptures that mention Sodom’s other sins, where a much bigger and clearer picture of life in Sodom immerges. An ugly picture I am fully persuaded, that has been seen in isolated places, but will appear more common in 21^stcentury America.