As KSAZ Fox 10 in Phoenix reports, a sermon and accompanying sign stating “gay is not okay” has lead to trouble for the Ft. Des Moines Church of Christ in Iowa.
Rev. Mike Demastus, who preached his homophobic homily over the weekend, says a marquee outside the church was vandalized and he was threatened.
While we don’t condone violence or property damage, we’re not exactly gonna bring Demastus a nice cup of Celestial Seasonings to soothe his nerves. Especially since he claims the anger was misdirected:
“This has opened up a pretty decent dialogue for those that are willing to have the dialogue. But for those that are just spewing anger and hate and all that kind of stuff, I just think that’s awful. But the reality is I can only speak where God’s word speaks.”
If railing against gays from the pulpit isn’t “spewing anger and hate and all that stuff,” Reveend, then what exactly is?
How about we take this to the next level?
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There was a silver lining to this unpleasant situation: Roughly 100 people protested outside the church when the sermon was delivered Sunday and Demastus changed the word “gay” to “adultery” on the marquee.
On a separate note, we get a funny “pinging” sensation when Demastus opens his mouth. Anyone else?
Abel
Yeah, gaydar going off big time here.
christopher di spirito
I hope someone burns the fucking church to the ground.
the crustybastard
Christianity is not okay.
Cam
It’s funny that these right wingers claim that not being able to control every move others make is an “Attack” and that there is a “War on Religion”
And yet they are always the ones that start attacking others.
Jim Hlavac
Got to love this “dialogue” nonsense — so long as we say we’re wrong, sick, evil even, so long as we’re willing to kowtow to hetero demands, so long as we’re willing to go for the girl of their dreams, (which they never offer,) they’re willing to dialogue, eh? Will they dialogue about accepting gay folks? Doubtful. So one can’t dialogue when there’s just two diametrically opposed ideas of humankind.
B
The news report indicated that what was vandalized was the “gay is not OK sign”. How it was vandalized is not clear. Was the structure damaged or did someone just remove the word “not” or paper it over?
The pastor didn’t exactly look straight in the video, but he could use some time in a gym to “pray away the weight” by going through a ritual involving a treadmill. Possibly he doesn’t think there should be any gay sex going on if he can’t get any.
dsp
GAY IS NOT OK!!!!! I beleive this with all my heart………..
it’s effin fabulous! ohhh did my gaydar go off on this Rev. Mike Demastus, walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it’s a effin duck!
Shannon1981
HE is accusing people of being haters? That’s rich. And a dialogue? Laughable. I hope people keep terrorizing him.
Steve
Jesus never condemned anyone. He also never criticized anyone, except the Priests, and that was for being hypocrites.
Clergy really should think more about how to minister to gay people, and less about how to condemn them.
Hephaestion
Ping ping ping!! Yep, that minister is another closet case pretending to hate the gays so that no one will think he is gay. Which he definitely is. Poor guy.
Life in the closet is so wretched and miserable. I pray he finds a way to come out.
B
Re No 10 … if that minister came out, he could be as happily neurotic as these guys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeT6hdHwD3g (rather than unhappily neurotic like he no doubt is). He’d probably be healthier too.
Kev C
Reverend Demastus said this to the Des Moines Register: “It’s not a sin to be tempted, by the way, with homosexuality; it is a sin to act out on that”
He should probably avoid Key West for his own good.
XUSMCVET
@christopher di spirito: I have been saying the very same thing for YEARS! BURN every last one of them!
Didaskalos
I don’t get a whole lot of gay off of him. But I have never in my life seen someone who looks SO MUCH like a SOUTH PARK cartoon.
—-Didaskalos
Chad
UGH!!! another one of those “I only hate you because god’s word tell me too.”
It’s sad how divorce is also a sin yet noone ever says anything about that. You never hear how divorce destroys marriage. Yet jesus has more to say against divorce than being gay.
Dan
Preacher only quote the parts they think apply to other people they dislike.
I can see why preachers only selectively quote the bible, because there are parts that are pretty downright creepy like the Law of Retaliation: Leviticus 24:19-21 “Anyone who maims another shall suffer the same injury in return: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the injury inflicted is the injury to be suffered. One who kills an animal shall make restitution for it; but one who kills a human being shall be put to death.”
Pretty certain that causing gay kids to kill themselves is a grave evil. I think that’s why it says “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”
jane wilson
Get your bibles out to see what “God” has to say about homosexuals ~ read 1 Corinthians 6:9-10!
Chad
@jane wilson: Get out a bible that was published before the NIV and some of these newer texts.
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves . . . shall inherit the kingdom of God.”
effeminate meant a weak person..men having sex with men or homosexual was not in the original texts, but later added by men….besides noone cares what your religion thinks.
MikeE
@jane wilson: Woman, know thine place. Speak not out of turn. Raise not your voice to a man.
Sure, I don’t mind getting my bible out.
Danny
@jane… you’re right.. the bible is pure and undeniable evil in its treatment of gays, women, slaves, disabled people, ethnic minorities, and religious minorities. No child should be subject to such an objectively evil religious book written by polygamist slaveowners.
Queer Supremacist
@jane wilson: Fuck your New Testament and fuck your heretic cult. You stole the Torah and the Old Testament from the Jews in order to twist it and distort it so you could use it against us. This gay Jew is fed up with tolerance of you goddamn breeder goyim and your 2,000 year Holocaust and Jihad against both my people along with your Muslim terrorist brethren. You’re two sides of the same coin and we’ll never win the War on Terrorism until we acknowledge that gentile heterosexuals are the root cause of terrorism. They ARE terrorism. The “War on Terror” should really be the “War on Religious Fundamentalism,” and not some pusillanimous “Strategic Overseas Operation” or whatever Barack Hetero Obama calls it.
Your beloved Jesus was no messiah, but he was one of my people. The Last Supper was a fucking Seder. And he would have hated you more than I do if he could have seen how you distorted his words.
We Jews have something to say about heretics like you:
And for slanderers let there be no hope, and let all wickedness perish as in a moment; let all thine enemies be speedily cut off, and the dominion of arrogance do you uproot and crush, cast down and humble speedily in our days. Blessed are you, Lord our God, who breakest the enemies and humbles the arrogant. – Birkat HaMinim.
See you at Guantanamo Bay.