Stone the Preacher

A reporter from the OC Weekly  asked me what I thought about the coalition of Vietnamese gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups that marched for the very first time in the Vietnamese New Year (Tet) Parade. My answer may have  surprised her: “They have a right to march in this parade like any other group; it makes no difference to me, really. We’re not here to protest; we didn’t come to this neighborhood to make a political statement. We came to share the good news with all lost people, and that includes the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups in this parade.”

The reporter was taken aback.

“You see,” I continued, “we love gay people. We’re not out here to yell and angrily point our fingers. We want them to know that they have broken God’s Law, His 10 Commandments, and that they need to repent and trust in Jesus to be saved. They’re no different than the rest of the people out here who don’t know the Lord.”

The reporter had another question. “What do think about the area’s church’s decision to withdraw their participation in the parade?”

It was now my turn to be surprised. I thought about her question and realized that indeed, there were no churches marching in the parade. “That’s ridiculous,” I answered. “The Christian churches should be out here. We’re called to be salt and light in the community and it’s absolutely astounding to me that they would withdraw because of the gay groups.”

So the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups won the day. All they had to do was make their presence known and the Christians go running. As an alternative to retreating, the church could have devised a strategy, like doubling or tripling their presence. That way, people would remember this parade as the day that so many Christian churches participated. Instead, it will forever be known as the day the gays marched for the first time in Westminster.

Sin wins.

Yet God did not leave Himself without a witness. From eternity past, He knew the Organized Church would wimp out and run from this opportunity to be a witness for the Risen Lord with their tails between their legs.

In His infinite wisdom, He also ordained that a ragtag little evangelism team of seventeen adults to be there—for the very first time— smiling and friendly, holding an old rugged cross and ready to tell of the fact that Christ died for homosexuals, too.

(Note: 12,000 Gospel tracts were handed out
to an estimated 10,000 parade-goers.)

Tune in Friday to see some big time dignitaries get the Gospel hand delivered to them. I’m talking Congressmen and the like.