SHOTS FROM THE INTERFAITH SERVICE AT CITY OF LIGHT

With Pastor Paul Graetz

With Bishop O.C. Allen

With Bishop-Elect Dennis Meredith

With Pastors Sonya Williams and Troy Sanders

Pastor Graetz

INTERFAITH SERVICE, SEPTEMBER 1

'In The Now with Jim Swilley, Episode #28' - GOT TO BE REAL (Part II)

It's quite clear that I was extremely passionate about this subject matter because I had so much to say on this episode, and hardly let any of my auspicious guests get a word in...for that I sincerely apologize to them, and appreciate them being so gracious and patient with me...but in spite of my excessive verbosity on In The Now with Jim Swilley #28, I am very happy with the outcome here, because there were things that needed to be said in this format, and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to say them... what my guests were able to contribute in the short amount of time that they were given was still excellent, and we may revisit this subject at a later date, at which time I will make sure that they all have more time to speak if they'll come back for that...we easily could have made this into a 10-parter, but I do believe that less is more, so we'll leave it at this for now and not second-guess any of it...I can promise you that this one will get a lot of attention and will do a word of good, and I am very proud of it for that reason...ENJOY!

'In The Now with Jim Swilley, Episode #27' - GOT TO BE REAL (Part I)

Here's Episode #27 (Part I), and this one is very special and may be one of the most important things I've done in recent years...as always I want to thank Avery Price Rogers, Charles McFall and especially BJ Bueford for your excellent work behind the cameras...but I REALLY want to thank Tony Howard, Wayne Freeman, Robert Rutherford, Eddie William Sellers and Ken Marshall for your courage, honesty, transparency and integrity, all of which is very evident here in front of the cameras...you didn't have to do this, but I'm so grateful that you did...it really is a new day...can't wait for Part II!

For other videos in the series, please visit youtube.com/bishinthenow

“And even those who claim to read the Bible literally and to lead their lives according to its precepts are, in actual practice, highly selective about which parts of the Bible they live by and which they don't. Jesus' condemnations of wealth and war are generally ignored; so are Levitical prohibitions on eating pork, wearing mixed fabrics and so forth. Though legalistic Christians accuse nonlegalistic Christians of selective interpretation and relativistic morality (of adjusting the Bible, in short, to suit their own lifestyles and prejudices), what is usually happening is that nonlegalists are, as the Baptist tradition puts it, reading the Bible with Jesus as their criterion, while the legalists are, without any philosophical consistency whatsoever, embracing those laws and doctrines that affirm their own predilections and prejudices and ignoring the rest.” 
― Bruce Bawer

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

We hold these truths to be self-evident, 

that all men are created equal, 

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, 

that among these are Life, 

Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

THANK YOU, SUPREME COURT!

RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH

This little video is in response to those of you who have asked me to expound on this particular passage even more than I did in my book, FIRST THE GOOD NEWS: The Positive Truth About God, the Gospel, and What it Really Means to be Gay*...I hope it brings some clarity, especially to those of you who are young and intimidated by religious authority figures who manipulate the Scriptures for their own prejudiced purposes...the Bible is a wonderful collection of inspired books that can really help you in your life if you know how to "rightly divide" it, as Paul instructed, and my prayer is that some of the things I share here will draw you closer to it in a positive way, and will remove any fear of it that you may have...John said that "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear"...you don't have to be afraid...YOU ARE LOVED!

For further exploration of the Scriptures on this subject, check out other posts on this blog...

 THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!

(*available at http://www.jimswilleybooks.com and at http://www.amazon.com/jimswilley)