Bill Gaither endorses lesbian singer

Well, this is sickening. From her own website:

"Today, Marsha and her spouse, Cindy, are working between tours to continue their music ministry training school for those in Christian outreach to the GLBT community. An outreach of Balm Ministries (Born Again Lesbian Music)..."

 

I've got to do dome more research before i will comment on this situation..

I have found many bias on the way of life website, so much so that I don't trust anything he says.

 

The source tells us to do more research.

 

I read about this elsewhere.

 

Good point, tt. Please share anything you might find. The very fact that the source is WOL leaves the claim in the OP suspect.

 

Would anyone really be surprised if this were true? I have long been uncomfortable with Gaither's commercialization and compromise of what is supposedly a God glorifying ministry.

 

Be careful. Very careful. Cloud and wayoflife are quick to spread gossip slow to speak the truth. Do not except anything on wayoflife to be truth without other credible sources.

 

I don't trust Cloud at all... but I don't trust the likes of Gaither either.

 

Notice also the op article is against any form of music written since 1900. So obviously they don't like Southern Gospel or any other of the CCM genre's so if they can get a speck of dirt they are going to turn it into a mudslide.

 

DH speaks wisely. Let us take heed as recommended.

 

I agree. And though I received the information from other sources, I still remain leery.

I think Steven's wrote "For Those Tears I Died" in the late 60's or early 70's. It's a fabulous song.

I vaguely remember something about her being at that Gaither Homecoming in 2002. I saw the picture of her with her "spouse," Mark Lowry and Bill Gaither.

 

Ok, so you have just discredited yourself.

 

I'd trust some one who knows where to stand than somebody who does not stand.

 

http://www.balmministries.com/ Balm means Born Again Lesbian Music From About Marsha Stevens section. GLBT used later is Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender

Maybe you know Marsha Stevens because she wrote a song you love, or because she came to your church to do a concert. Maybe you know her because she's written theme songs for every MCC General conference since 1985 or because she's paid for someone from your church to be on a recording with her. But since September of 2002, the right-wing Christians have been re-introduced to Marsha by "The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music", sold in Bible bookstores across the country. Here is an excerpt of what they had to say about her.

{If Larry Norman is to be called the father of Christian Rock, then Marsha Stevens certainly deserves to be known as the mother of contemporary Christian music, a title that Christian Century and others have bestowed upon her. She was the leader of what is considered to be the world's first contemporary Christian music group, Children of the Day, and she has continued as a solo artist to produce albums of worship-oriented and edifying adult contemporary pop. As such, she remains the progenitor of what, by 2002, would become the single most popular genre in the contemporary Christian music market. Such artists as Susan Ashton, Margaret Becker, Amy Grant, Kim Hill, Twila Paris, Sandi Patty and Jaci Velasquez all sing in her shadow. Whether they know it or not, Marsha Stevens went before them to prepare the way - against odds they can scarcely imagine. A pioneer of pioneers, Stevens would be one of the only artists from the early Jesus movement to be still recording and touring fulltime at the end of the millennium. And yet - she would remain virtually unknown to potential fans of her music, ostracized by an industry whose limits of ecumenicity had been tried and found wanting. The story of Marsha Stevens in may ways parallels the story of the Jesus movement itself. That revival began with spontaneous waves of spiritual renewal and impassioned piety; it ended with controlled legalism that replaced spiritual agendas with political ones. Whether the Jesus movement of the 1970's morphed into the Religious Right of the 80's or was killed by it is a matter of historical perspective. In any case, and whoever may be to blame, by the end of the 70's, the Spirit had been quenched and revival was over. Stevens, who had perhaps typified the revival better than anyone else, was caught in the transition and became one of the first victims of the new order. Whatever one may think of the issues involved, the Christian music community's rejection of Marsha Stevens remains an ugly smirch on its legacy, and a prime example of its often unacknowledged sectarian character.

Born Marsha Carter, the talented performer wrote what would become Children of the Day's classic hit, "For Those Tears I Died (Come to the Water)" when she was just sixteen. One of the most popular songs of the Jesus movement, "For Those Tears I Died" is a moving testimony to God's saving grace, replete with images of baptism and liberation…the song was featured on what was destined to become the most important Christian music album of all time, Maranatha's The Everlastin' Living Jesus Music Concert, the record that put the Jesus movement revival into high gear, spreading its influence from Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa throughout the country and beyond. "For Those Tears I Died" became one of the best known Christian folk songs of the decade. It would be translated into numerous languages, recorded by countless artists and, for a time, could be found in practically every evangelical songbook in the country. No one in 1969 could have predicted it would have such influence in the decade ahead - much less that, for two decades beyond, Christian congregations would be ripping the song out of their hymnals, systematically binding up the pages and mailing them off to Stevens as a symbol of the hostility they felt toward one who continued to love Jesus and sing His praises when they thought she was no longer entitled to do so…

Stevens became the first (and as of 2002, the only) major singer in the contemporary Christian music subculture to identify herself publicly as a lesbian…Christian Century Magazine has said that Stevens became "conservative Christianity's worst nightmare - a Jesus-loving, Bible-believing, God-fearing lesbian Christian."

Somewhat ironically, Stevens has continued to represent "the spirit of the Jesus movement" more faithfully than anyone else from that era. In the early '70s, Christian bands often traveled the country in vans or buses, playing wherever and whenever they could in exchange for a free-will offering and a chance to give their testimonies. Likewise, Stevens spent the (past 10 years) in an RV doing from 120-200 concerts a year…she eschews worldly possessions, fame, fortune and all the rest for the simple opportunity of telling the old, old story of Jesus and His love.

For her part, Marsha does not betray a shred of bitterness toward any of those who have opposed her and she does not seem to resent her exclusion from the contemporary music culture. She speaks tenderly of her former colleagues and respectfully of the leaders at…churches that have dismissed or denounced her…And she has found her calling, "Does the church really need another middle-aged female Christian singer? Check out the CD racks! I write and sing contemporary Christian music for the glbt community. It may be a narrow field, but hey, it's wide open!"}

Today, Marsha and her spouse, Cindy, are working between tours to continue their music ministry training school for those in Christian outreach to the GLBT community. An outreach of Balm Ministries (Born Again Lesbian Music), the program is called upBeat!. They have produced a Praise and Worship album with 14 singers and 10 songwriters and each year they accept 6 to 10 students into their training seminars. The next training will be held at King of Peace MCC in St. Petersburg, FL in June of 2006.

 

I'd trust some one who knows where to stand than somebody who does not stand. </font>[/QUOTE]Cloud doesn't qualify. He takes dogmatic stands that are not biblically based, ie KJVOnlyism.

Further, he plays loose with the facts.

 

Cloud stands on the Word of God and preaches the Word of God unswervingly.

 

A very sad testimony of our times...

That "Christianity" could be so divorced from the authority of scripture that someone who is openly, defiantly, and without repentance living a sinful lifestyle would be praised.

Romans 1 has a testimony against contemporary American Christianity... who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

 

Cloud is a reactionary loon, imo of course!

 

After probing the webpage---www.balmministries.com----I have decided where I need to stand

I stand on the word of Truth that says "Come out from among them and be ye seperate and clean saith the Lord of Hosts"

Its a pity that God must give this song writer up "to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie . . ."---Romans 1:24-25

I will mark this perversion as well as Gaither's ministry and have no thing to do with them nor their acts of unrighteousness!

Bro. David