By Justin Edwards
I had never heard of Metropolitan Community Church of Charlotte or its parent organization, The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. With a church sign that read, "God has forgiven you", and seeing the term "universal", my initial thoughts were that it was some kind of Christian Universalist organization. I did not, however, expect to learn what I did through research, but more on that later.
Obviously, what struck me the most was that a church had the audacity to suggest that God has forgiven every person who would read this church sign, which would logically extend to all of humanity. How do they know this is true? Certainly, they do not, as Scripture is clear that God has only forgiven those who are by grace covered by the blood of Jesus Christ through faith (Ephesians 2:1-10). While the leaders of this church are no doubt sincere in their desire to comfort people, they are deceived and they are deceiving (2 Timothy 3:13), and sadly for them, they are mere slaves to their father the devil (John 8:44).
It is true that God has a common love for mankind (John 3:16), just as He shows common mercy (Psalm 145:9) and common grace to the world (Titus 2:11). In fact, it is common love, mercy, and grace that people live by every day, lest they be judged immediately and receive the just penalty for their sin (Romans 2:5). Moreover, this common grace and mercy restrains men and women from being as evil as they could possibly be. Otherwise, we would all be much worse than Hitler. It is also by this common grace that people are able to act in righteous ways, thus performing good deeds and being kind and charitable to their neighbor (Romans 2:14). We as humans are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), so we are like Him mentally, socially, and morally, although sin has corrupted our created likeness of Him (Romans 5:12).
But this common love, grace, and mercy does not equal forgiveness for all people. It is only a specific love (1 John 4:9-10; Romans 5:8; John 10:11; 1 John 3:16), a specific grace (John 6:37, 39, 44, 65; 17:2), and a specific mercy (John 1:12-13; Romans 9:15-18; Ephesians 2:4-5) that leads individuals to repent from their sin and turn to God through faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:36). So while God's love is unconditional toward mankind, forgiveness from God is conditional upon faith and repentance (Acts 3:19; 17:30; 20:21; Mark 1:15).
Upon my research into Metropolitan Community Church, I immediately discovered this church is more than seemingly a Christian Universalist organization, but it is primarily a church for homosexuals and their allies. From the Charlotte church's page What Is MCC?, they state:
Refusing to accept that God did not love lesbian and gay people, Reverend Troy
Perry founded Metropolitan Community Church on October 6, 1968 when 12
brave lesbian and gay Christians met for worship in Rev. Perry's living room in Los Angeles, California. Today, there are thousands of worshippers in hundreds of Metropolitan Community Churches found all over the world.
MCC Charlotte, founded in 1980, continues to share the Good News of God's
transformational love and acceptance with everyone, including those of every
ability, race, creed, gender, age, national origin, lifestyle, sexual orientation or
tradition.
As one might expect, the rest of the Charlotte church's website is absent of anything resembling the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no mention of the holiness of God, nor mention of His righteousness, His justice, or His wrath. In respect to these aforementioned attributes of God, there is no mention of His grace, mercy, love, or kindness toward sinners. And as there is no mention of sin anywhere on the website, there is no mention of the wages of sin - eternal hell. Instead of proclaiming Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2) and the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16), Metropolitan Community Church of Charlotte preaches a social justice jesus who embraces all people into the family of God, especially unrepentant homosexuals. This false gospel preached by MCC is, unfortunately, only "loving" people to eternal hell, and these false teachers will experience severe judgment should they not repent from their destructive heresies (Galatians 1:6-9; 2 Peter 2; Jude 1).
The truth is, God has commanded all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30) from their lifestyle of sin. Just as He has commanded the repentance of drunkards, fornicators and adulterers, so to He commands the repentance of homosexuals:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality [or women], 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. - 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
If you are reading this article as a practicing homosexual and perhaps one who is a member of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, this message has not been written to espouse hate or bigotry or intolerance. I want you to know the Truth that is found in Christ Jesus, the biblical Jesus who is not preached in churches such as this Metropolitan organization. Because God is holy, He hates sin, and He demands perfection from any who would enter the kingdom of heaven. This righteousness that He demands of all men cannot be found within us, but only through the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. By grace through faith, God can pronounce the sinner not guilty and forgive their sins through the righteousness of Christ.
If you believe that God forgives people by just overlooking their sin, then you are deceiving yourself. I do not have to tell you that homosexuality is a destructive lifestyle. It is as destructive as any sinful lifestyle, and this sin has you enslaved to the god of this world (John 8:34; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:1-3). But in Jesus Christ, the biblical Jesus, there is Life! In Him there is true freedom (John 8:36; 2 Corinthians 3:17), and if you cry out to God to deliver you from this lifestyle, confessing your sin before Him out of a contrite heart (2 Corinthians 7:10; Psalm 51:17), seeking to be covered by His precious blood, He will save you from your sin, from spiritual death, and the torment of His just and holy wrath (Romans 10:9-10, 13; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Colossians 2:13).
It is no coincidence that you discovered this article. If God is drawing you into His grace and out from the clutches of sin, then don't wait another minute. Today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).
The following video excerpt shows that salvation is just as possible for homosexuals as any other sinner who recognizes himself as such (Mark 2:17). David has been set free from his sin and has become a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and God can do the same for you if you just cry out to Him. You can see the video in its entirety here: Jesus Christ Saved Me from 27 Years of Homosexuality.
So has God forgiven you? I pray that He has or will, but it will only be by the grace of God alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. It will only be because you have been born again (John 3:3-5). You can learn more about this here: Eternal Life
For additional resources for homosexuality rooted in the love and grace of Christ, please see:
Rodgers Christian Counseling
Exodus Global Alliance
Stephen Bennett Ministries
