Great Message!

Thank you for allowing God to work through you. I watched your interview on TV and tears rolled down my eyes, I sobbed. I didn't accept who God made me since the time I was taught that who I am wasn't right. Yes, I got to a point I felt suicidal. But then you coming up an speaking out saved my life. I started to study the bible in context I learnt again that God told Moses that He is who he is, and then I began to accept myself that I am that I am. I came to conclude that Moses was homophobic when he wrote that law and some of his scholars like Paul echoed it... Paul used some of Moses laws to persecute the Christians. Moses was raised and educated by Egyptians, took up some of their habits too, how they wrote their laws and build their temples. Yes He met God and wrote the first five books from the creation story and he was used by God in an amazing way but.. We all are imperfect with a perfect God. We can't put God in our box. We can try to define God using human language and understanding and give Him names as we have always done over thousands of years and even write books but He is who He is as he told Moses. If u literally translated it from the Hebrew bible it is "I will be what I will be" or shall be. But despite what I have come to learn, there is still more and God still speaks. I want to Thank you for the step you took You brought down the images that governed my mind And I came to understand God better.

God Bless you

You and Ken are a beautiful couple and I love you

Thank you for accepting my friend request

Yours in Christ,

Nic

In Today's Mail

"Bishop Jim I just finished reading your new book about Good News. Wow thank you for your openness and transparency...It was so refreshing to read your thoughts and inspirations. Thank you, thank you for being real! When I got to the story of your first love at age 11 before Wed. Night church I just wept driving my car with my mother-in-law and my drummer just looking at me. I turned the kindle off and drove the rest of the way in silence to church. You brought me back to Love! It has opened a place in my soul to love like when I was 11. I have spent so many years as an out gay affirming minister helping our community reconcile their love for God and the Bible that I truly had lost the tender innocence of love. I have been singing a song all year in my private worship time by Amy Grant called "innocence lost"...Thank you for being obedient to The Lord and writing that painful chapter. I am amazed and thankful at the gentle work of Christ in our lives."

JW
 

Thanks so much...your message really did make my day! As I said in the book, that chapter was really hard to write, but I included it for the sake of all the straight people who think that orientation is a choice, or that being gay is just a sexual aberration or some kind of fetish or perversion...I get so much mail from people who tell me they have similar stories of non-sexual, first-love...some people call it puppy love, but that kind of love is very real to the puppy...many of the gay teen suicides aren't about being victims of bullying, they're about relationships, and kids trying to understand their innate, emotional feelings...

 

Thanks again for your kind words...I took the liberty of including them on the blog...may God continue to bless you in all you do!

 

JES

This Just In

Dear Mr. Swilley,

I want to thank you and commend you you for being brave and coming out. You have already saved some young child from harm by letting them know there is nothing wrong with being gay. I wish in my day I had more role models like yourself so my self loathing would have never appeared. I tried numerous times to kill myself and thankfully I did not succeed. I am not a Christian nor a church goer but, I do know the higher spirits are thankful for you and the world is a better place with you in it.

   

Happier days for everyone,  - T.B.

Grace and peace to you Bishop. I met you at the vision church during our convocation. I want to first say your a blessings to the body of Christ and it was an honor serving you during the service. I am launching my church next year and I have been in prayer for a great mentor and The Lord gave me your name. I pray that God would revel the same to you. Don't have much to say but I really thank God for you Bishop. Blessings upon you and your family.

- ESM

Bishop Swilley,

I guess I am coming late to the party because somehow I just now found your coming out video online. I do not know how I have missed your story all this time, up until yesterday in fact, but I just finished watching it for the third time and in the words of Elton John, "Someone saved my life tonight".  
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
- JTK

My Favorite Kind of Letter

Hello, Bishop Swilley.

I just happened upon your CNN interview from two or three years ago, on youtube. You had just come out to your congregation and you were making quite a splash.

I am and have been an out gay man for over two decades, in all spheres of my life - home, at work, etc. - and will remain so for the rest of my life. The truth in the statement, "You never stop coming out", runs deep.

The farthest thing from a church-goer and an ever wayward Catholic, I only attend mass these days to placate my mother. It's okay, it's a small price to pay and hardly an imposition on my part.

Listening to your youtube videos and reading your blogs reminds me that there's another way to connect to God and to Jesus Christ, that has nothing to do with going to Church or becoming part of the majority Christian community. I take no interest in joining any church any time soon. Nevertheless, you have inspired me, not just in what you say but also in how you look and behave.

Your vulnerability and honesty during the CNN interview touched me deeply, and it seemed to me that from the moment you had made the decision to come out, you had literally given everything over to God, come what may. God wants us to do this of course, but many humans find doing so very, very difficult, if not humanly impossible.

Your spoken statements now are full of humanity and compassion and somehow, they ring true, closer to what Jesus intended, closer to God. May I also say that the picture you posted of you and your son in Central America is a very handsome one indeed. It flatters you both. I dare say, your eyes say everything; less conflicted, more at peace, and much, much happier.

I wish you every success in your ministry.

A.N.

 

Wow, A....thanks so much...your beautiful words made my day!

 May I use your message on my blog?

I will only use your initials if you prefer...

 

again, thanks...I really appreciate it!

 

Hello again, Father.

Wow! I wasn't expecting such a quick response from you, or any response at all. Thank you!

By all means, please use whatever I've written to you. I'm both dumbfounded and deeply, deeply flattered.

I remain,

A. N.

PS. I was so impressed by you that I just ordered your book on amazon.com. Can't wait to start reading it!

 

Excellent....thanks!

A BEAUTIFUL REVIEW

I've been waiting to write you about the autographed book you gave me while visiting my husband, Edward Blake in the hospital after he had a heart attack last October.

Ironically, I finished the read on February 21, 2013 -- which is Cortne's birthday. Don't know what significance that is right now, but I know it was. I wrote in the margins, trying to outline various things that just stood out at me. First, let me apologize to you and all the gay and lesbian, beautiful, people! Ten years ago, I'm embarrassed to say that because of my own ignorance in understanding, I, too, had some reservations about my brothers and sisters who are in same-sex relationships. God dealt with me, severely, on it and caused my heart to line up with His word -- unconditional love just came flowing through me like a river! I was quite ashamed once the "truth" of it became clear. Your book helped further that truth. The Good News sealed it.

We tend to fear what we don't understand. I can't say that I understand everything that you write about, but I don't have to. I just love you in spite of me and in spite of you. ( I, definitely, love hanging out with God! Your book reveals Him, totally.) Isn't that how unconditional love works?

Secondly, thank you for writing "The Good News!" As I read through it...it was hard to put it down. I didn't just read it, I listened to you speak as though we were having a conversation. I heard your words; I heard your heart. It took much courage for you to reveal yourself like that. Coming from one who is so "guarded" like me, I am overwhelmed with you right now! After serving under your ministry for 18 years, I consider myself, my ministry--your offspring. Keep writing and I'll keep reading. Maybe you will experience reading one of my books in the future. I have about 3 in me.

I sign this note,

Respectfully yours,

Maxine S. Blake... and I add my AMEN!!

 

Write a reply...

Today's Mailbox

I got a lot of nice messages and letters yesterday and today acknowledging my year anniversary of telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth about myself (see www.bloginthenow.blogspot.com - 'One Year Later Part I')

Thanks so much for your letters, everyone, but I think this one is my favorite...

Bish, with this whole year anniversary business going on I found myself wanting to take a longer time to listen to you today. I'm off work, fighting a tiny autumn cold, and decided to just stay in, cuddle my dogs, and listen to you while drinking tea and eating apples. Sounds picturesque, doesn't it?

I find myself truly wanting to communicate what you already know... lol. You speak in this sermon about how immature people can be in their walk debating God in one, or three, or a thousand. And you mention that you are getting affirmation that you're just aware of it and in the flow of some of the oldest news in the world. It seems to me, as a person who has wandered from mainline Lutheranism through AOG and onwards through eastern religions and back through honest and sincere prayer and pursuit, that indeed you have a key that so many have lost. If people realized how ultimately simple the Truth actually is.... but, it's more expedient for powers and principalities to separate and encourage ego over agape.

At any rate, I wish I had met you when I was wandering through Carrollton at West Georgia a decade ago. People love to insult Christianity, not always without reason.. but you really do get it, and you distill truths for people to find and pursue God in easy, loving ways. If more people had access to teaching such as yours, they wouldn't need to wander to Buddhism and other traditions to find that Christianity holds the same intelligence and teachings on curbing ego and seeking transcendence through the Holy Spirit.

I've often said that Christians now have the hardest path of all. The original message of Christ has been so perverted that believers need to focus their work even harder than followers of other faiths. The eye of a needle is the best metaphor! I still believe this is true because of the pressure to place dogma and theology over mystic experience, actual experience of God in the Now moment. However, your teachings show me it's still possible.

Don't ever stop what you are doing. Like you have written, God always provides. People want to make it about your orientation. But you know it's so much more than that.

And yes, next time I get back to Charlotte to visit family, I'll have to take the 85 hop south and wander through.

Love to you and everyone involved in your ministry.

S.D.

Good Stuff

I saw you speak at Oasis yesterday and it was truly life changing. I think this is the first time that I felt directly engaged with the scripture as if it was relevant to me as a gay man.

So many people have made me feel like this couldn't be my faith if I lived my life honestly...but you asked as God asked, "who told you that?" and why?

I could be angry at those Christians who cast me aside with fundamental interpretations but I am mostly just simply grateful for the sermon you ministered today, it is like my heart is truly beating again for the first time as a Christian.

God spoke through you directly to me instead of at me or over me or around me...for once my faith and my sexual identity could be at peace and engaged together in thoughtful and joyful praise.

When you asked us to open the bible to Genesis, I rolled my eyes...because for the longest time reading the bible especially the Old Testament has been to me like like making the victim of a crime return to the crime scene.

Yet God worked through you to make Genesis one of my favorite books now. Now that the beginning of the book doesn't seem so bad after all, maybe I will read the whole thing through.

Thank you also for speaking to the fact that religion has historically acted as a boys only club. I completely agree, the outright disregard for feminism and women leadership in so many Christian circles has profoundly bothered me.

I am now living my life with extra thought about striving for the tree of life versus the tree of good and evil.

Thank you and god bless.

David Thomas Moran

Today's e-mail

Just saw the CNN report tonight with Pastor Swilley. I don't normally email, blog, etc, however, I must share that I found his interview VERY refreshing. Never have I seen a pastor, especially of a megachurch, be so honest. I am a wife and a mother and a heterosexual. I do not attend church, mainly because of too many churchgoers wanting to cast the first stone and be so judgmental of others. I would absolutely go to church if this man was at the pulpit. He is obviously very intelligent, and I am so pleased to see him have the courage to step forth and handle his "coming out" so professionally and with confidence. Pastor Swilley, you will hear many harsh words in the coming days, weeks and months. You know what you did was right, and hopefully this will give the strength to others to stop trying to live their lives according to how others think they should. Perhaps you will even spare a suicide. Stay strong!!!



Dear Reverend Swilley,

First, let me tell you that I am with you and on your side. I know the pain in making the recent decision you embarked on, but I want you to know your decision was definitely led of God. Know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free. God made us who we are, He loves us the way He made us, and there is no greater joy than that which is found by living in the Truth of His design for us.

The Bible does NOT condemn homosexuality, not anywhere, not anytime. Now, before you think that this is some cavalier statement, I want you to know that I am a scholar in the field of what the Bible actually does and does not say about homosexuality. For more than thirty years, I have devoted countless hours to researching the answers to this very divisive question. Thank God for my Hebrew and Greek studies back at Lee College, but God also led me to research arcane documents from the world's most prestigious collections, to spend much effort reviewing ancient history, culture, linguistics, politics, philosophy, even geology, anthropology, geophysics and the writings of many men down through the ages. After more than thirty years of research, I began putting all of that into book form, which took six years, and the past year was spent putting in eight to twelve hours a day writing my latest book, Homosexuality, The Bible, The Truth.

There are many books out there that seem to answer the question, but I found them to be intellectually lazy. The fact that the answers are available means that anyone attempting to answer the question and putting it into book form had better make the case, make it irrefutable and air-tight, and not use words like "let's suppose." Unfortunately, there are no books available that do this. All of them attempt, but never fully prove without doubt. This is why I think God led me to do the years of research that led to this final book. I say final, because I released the chapter on Leviticus 18:22 as a precursor book, titled Leviticus Revealed, and this book, or chapter, shows that Leviticus 18:22 is not even discussing homosexuality. You can find this book on Amazon. You may want to read it first to see that I am serious in all I have written thus far.

I say all of this for a reason. God led me to write this latest book, it is complete, I can assure you, and it makes the case with irrefutable and verifiable fact. I do not deal in suppositions. Everything from Sodom and Gomorrah to Paul's writings are thoroughly analyzed and explained in the light of every known fact on the subjects. You will be heartened and strengthened by reading these eye-opening discoveries, even if you thought you knew what these verse said. No offense to anyone who thinks he knows, because, in most cases, we were taught our Theology by spiritually lazy people. It is easier preaching to the choir than it is to preach to the mobs. This is not a thin book. It is a complete study, and I want people to read it and help spread the word. Anti-homosexual bigotry was a man-made invention (I show when in my book), and it has brought sorrow and division for far too long. Time to end the ignorance and bring the true message of salvation to all.

My latest book will be published sometime this Fall, but while we wait, if you would like a copy of the manuscript, I would be happy to send one to you. Keep the faith, live in the light, and may God give you the strength in the coming days to open eyes and hearts. You are a lighthouse on a hill.

Sincerely,

B.G.




HOW CAN YOU DARE TO CALL YOURSELF A PASTER?????????? YOU NEED TO READ THE BIBLE AND RECEIVE JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR PERSONAL SAVOR AND LORD!!!!!!!!!!! SOMEBODY NEEDS TO CAST THE DEVIL OUT OF YOU SO YOU CAN GET SAVED!!!!!! YOU ARE GOING TO HELL!!!!!!! GET RIGHT WITH GOD AND READ LEVITICUS AND ROMANS 1 YOU GODDAM FAGGOT!!!!!!!!!! REPINT!!!!!!!!!
FROM, A "REAL CHRISTIAN"