LEARN REALITY FROM ALMIGHTY GOD’S BOOK OF GUIDANCE AND STICK WITH IT AND RESIST TEMPTATION AS JESUS (YESHUA) DID AS SHOWN AT  Matthew 4:10, 11, “Then Jesus said to him: “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’” 11 Then the Devil left him, and look! angels came and began to minister to him.”

This is the end of the matter; all hath been heard: fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.  Ecclesiastes 12:13.

Yes, it is imperative to keep the commandments of Almighty God (YHWH) as this is the  whole duty of man, but today many are seeking to override this duty on the basis of so called life style.   However, this is no justification for doing wrong in violation of the specific commandments of Almighty God (YHWH) given at Romans 1:19-28 and many other places in the Bible.

To wit, In the beginning, Almighty God (YHWH), said at Genesis 2:23-24, “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.  24  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”  And so it has been for many thousands of years, but now in the time of the culmination of the end times as prophesized at 2 Timothy 4:1-6, many are straying from Almighty God’s (YHWH’s) and supporting activities directly in contradiction to Almighty God’s (YHWH’s) commandments; to wit, they are now even supporting same sex marriages, living together without being married, and other wrong practices.  They justify these wrongs by saying it is just a different life style, but of course they fail to mention it is a wrong life style, and that their arguments could also be used to justify pedophilism, bestiality, and other acts against the The Inspired Word of Almighty God (YHWH), the Bible.

Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.  3  Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.  4  The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.  5  Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.  1 Corinthians 7:2 – 5  [authorized King James Bible; AV]

Let Almighty God (YHWH)written word for our guidance in this difficult time of moral breakdown, in the conclusion of the end times, be your Moral Compas.  As is written at James 4:8 [AV], “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”   

Moral cleanliness is not a popular virtue at this time.  But the Bible should be our Moral Compass, and it is clear on moral cleanliness as shown by 1 Thessalonians 4:3 – 5 [AV], “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:  4  That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;  5  Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God”;  This is particularly true in our trying time.   In many lands, homosexuality and sex outside of marriage are viewed as normal, but Almighty God (YHWH), however, does NOT share these views as highlighted by what He had the Apostle Paul write at Romans 1:19 – 28 [AV], “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.  20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.  21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,  23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.  24  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:  25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.  26  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:  27  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.  28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;” [AV]; and Ephesians 5:5 further conforms this fact, “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” [AV]; and Jude 7 says, “Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. [AV].  These in-moral lifestyles are even promoted in advertising and entertainment. (Ps. 12:8) Immorality has become so pervasive that you may wonder, ‘Is it really possible to live a chaste life?’ Our confident reply is, Yes, with Jehovah’s help, true Christians can remain chaste.

Genuine true followers of Jesus (Yeshua) know that even deeply rooted wrong desires, including those that may have a genetic basis or that involve physical causes or environmental factors, are not insurmountable for persons who truly want to please Almighty God (YHWH). Some people are by nature highly emotional. Perhaps in the past they gave free rein to fits of anger; but knowledge of God’s will, the desire to please him, and the help of his spirit enable them to develop self-control.  A person may be an alcoholic, but, with proper motivation, he can refrain from drinking and thus avoid becoming a drunkard.   Likewise, a person may feel strongly attracted to others of the same sex, but by heeding the counsel of God’s Word he can remain clean from homosexual practices.  AS  Ephesians 4:17 – 24, “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,  18  Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:  19  Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20  But ye have not so learned Christ;  21  If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:  22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;  23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;  24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” [AV]. Almighty God (YHWH) does not allow us to go on thinking that wrong conduct really makes no difference; he kindly but firmly warns us of the consequences and provides abundant help for those who want to “strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe [themselves] with the new personality.”—Col.

NOW LET’S LOOK AT REALITY WITH RESPECT THE GRAND COUNCIL MEETING OF THE METHODIST CHURCH WHICH CLEARLY SHOWS A GREAT DIVIDE IN THE CHURCH WITH RESPECT THOSE WISHING TO FOLLOW ALMIGHTY GOD’S COMMANDMENTS WITH RESPECT SEXUAL RELATIONS AND THOSE WISHING TO MAKE IT SEEM OKAY TO FOLLOW THE DEVIL’S TEMPTATIONS INSTEAD OF RESISTING THEM.    LOOK AT THEIR CORRUPTED MORAL COMPUS:

3:9, 10.Conservative Christians Just Retook the United Methodist Church
The mainline denomination voted on Tuesday to toughen its teachings against homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and LGBTQ clergy. It must now decide whether it will stay together.
FEB 26, 2019
Delegates at the United Methodist Church General Conference react to the defeat of a proposal that would have allowed pastors to perform same-sex weddings and LGBTQ people to serve in ministry in some areas.SID HASTINGS / AP [showing complete disrespect for the word of god, the bible]
The United Methodist Church has fractured over the role of LGBTQ people in the denomination. At a special conference in St. Louis this week, convened specifically to address divisions over LGBTQ issues, members voted to toughen prohibitions on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. This was a surprise: The denomination’s bishops, its top clergy, pushed hard for a resolution that would have allowed local congregations, conferences, and clergy to make their own choices about conducting same-sex marriages and ordaining LGBTQ pastors. This proposal, called the “One Church Plan,” was designed to keep the denomination together. Methodist delegates rejected its recommendations, instead choosing the so-called Traditional Plan, which affirmed the denomination’s teachings against homosexuality.
This is a consequential vote for the future of the United Methodist Church: Many progressive churches will now almost certainly consider leaving the denomination. It’s also a reminder that many Christian denominations, including mainline groups such as the UMC, are still deeply divided over questions of sexuality and gender identity. While the UMC in the United States is roughly evenly divided between those who identify as traditionalists and those who identify as moderates and liberals, it is also a global organization. Many of the growing communities in the Philippines or countries in Africa are committed to theological teachings against same-sex relationships and marriages.
Self-described traditionalists in the United Methodist Church got the outcome they’ve been fighting for. Still, “I think there’s a lot of grief on all sides,” said Keith Boyette, the head of the Wesleyan Covenant Association and a main proponent of the Traditional Plan, in an interview on Tuesday. Methodists are in mourning for a United Methodist Church that might be on the brink of a mass exodus.
[Read: The divided Methodist church]
For years, LGBTQ Methodists, clergy, and their supporters have argued that people of all sexual orientations and gender identities should be fully included in the denomination as leaders, and that their families should be recognized. “As someone who has grown up in our Church, as someone who is gay and goes to one of the least religious colleges in the U.S., my evangelism on campus has grown,” said J. J. Warren, a senior at Sarah Lawrence College who hopes to become a Methodist pastor, during the conference on Tuesday. “We have brought people to Jesus … [this is prima facia lie since they are showing complete disrespect for the word of god, the bible]They did not know God could love them, because their churches said God didn’t … If we could be a Church that brings Jesus to people who are told can’t be loved, that’s what I want our Church to be.”
Others in the denomination, however, see LGBTQ issues as a proxy for bigger divisions over biblical teachings. “This is not a political or social kind of difference. It is primarily, for us, a theological difference, and the truth that the Church has been raised up to share,” Boyette said. “When a Church begins to fracture around its compliance with its doctrine and ethics and discipline, it becomes a house divided. It becomes dysfunctional.”
According to its Book of Discipline, the denomination’s collection of laws and doctrines, [I.E, METHODIST CHURCH LAW] Methodist pastors are not allowed to conduct same-sex weddings, and “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” cannot be ordained. In practice, however, a number of Methodist clergy and churches have made clear that they disagree with this teaching, at times openly defying it. A lesbian pastor, Karen Oliveto, was even elected a bishop in the Church, a position she still holds even though the denomination’s judicial council later ruled that her marriage to a woman violated Church doctrine. At the same time, other churches remain deeply committed to UMC teachings against same-sex marriage and relationships.
The United Methodist Church, which was formed in a 1968 merger between two denominations, has known for a long time that it would eventually have to address these deeply felt disagreements over LGBTQ issues. At the denomination’s 2016 General Conference, delegates asked UMC bishops to produce recommendations for how the Church should resolve divisions over LGBTQ issues. Over the next three years, Methodist leaders developed the One Church Plan, which would have allowed local pastors and regional conferences to make their own decisions, keeping the denomination together but allowing for diversity in its ranks. [showing complete disrespect for the word of god, the bible]

In order to put that plan into place, however, the bishops needed the support from a body of Methodist delegates from around the country and the world, so they convened this special General Conference. Denominational leaders worked hard to win support: “There’s been a full-court press to adopt the One Church Plan,” said Tom Lambrecht, an elder at a United Methodist church in Wisconsin who served on the Commission on the Way Forward, a body convened to advise the UMC bishops on what to do, in an interview on Tuesday.
[Read: Hating queerness without hating the queer]
The bishops clearly did not have the support for which they had hoped. During a vote early in the conference, delegates did not put the One Church Plan at the top of their collective agenda. On Tuesday, they definitively voted against any further consideration of the plan. “The fact that that’s been rejected shows that our leadership has lost its ability to influence and lead our Church in a way that people are willing to follow,” Lambrecht said.
Although the United Methodist Church is often described as a liberal, mainline Protestant denomination, in reality, the body is much more split, even in the United States. In a poll of its American members, the denomination found that 44 percent of respondents described their religious beliefs as traditional or conservative, 28 percent said they are moderate or centrist, and 20 percent identified as progressive or liberal. While the survey didn’t ask directly about LGBTQ issues, this is one of the clear theological dividing lines in the denomination. “There are thousands of us in churches … fiercely committed to a traditional definition of marriage: one man and one woman,” said Aislinn Deviney, a delegate from Rio, Texas. “I am a young, evangelical delegate. We young evangelicals want you to know that we are here. And we are striving to leave a legacy of scriptural holiness for generations to come.”
Worldwide, those numbers would likely shift even more toward a so-called traditional perspective. The United States accounts for roughly 60 percent of the UMC. At the General Conference in St. Louis, pastors from global communities were resolutely opposed to same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. “The Church in Africa is growing in leaps and bounds because we are committed to biblical Christianity,” said Jerry Kulah, a reverend from Liberia. “The United Methodist Church is not a United States Church.”
[Read: Gay and Mennonite]
While LGBTQ issues drove the debate at the UMC’s gathering, delegates seemed to disagree about something deeper: what Jesus actually teaches about sexuality and how LGBTQ people should be treated in the Church. Conservative delegates argued that their position is a matter of biblical fidelity. “Traditional believers regard scripture as being the ultimate authority,” Boyette said. “When it comes to something like our teachings on human sexuality and what the Bible spells out as the boundaries there, those are essentials.” Other delegates, however, argued that conservatives focus on this issue to the exclusion of others, such as divorce, and that conservative Methodists are perfectly willing to interpret the Bible’s teachings on other issues, such as women in ministry. “I’ve listened to a lot of people talk about the Bible as though the rest of us don’t love the Bible, read the Bible, interpret the Bible, understand the Bible,” said Adam Hamilton, the pastor of a prominent Methodist congregation in Kansas who supports LGBTQ inclusion in the UMC.

Now that the UMC has voted to reaffirm its stance against homosexuality and toughen punishments for churches and clergy that violate its teachings, a number of progressive churches might consider leaving the denomination. Before the meeting had even begun, churches from across the theological spectrum had begun looking into this possibility—Daniel Dalton, a lawyer in Michigan who specializes in religious-property issues, says he has talked with more than 700 churches that are thinking about making an exit. In the past, that hasn’t always been so simple: While local churches build and run their own congregation, bishops largely have control over what happens to their assets when they want to leave the denomination. “Everybody wants out,” Dalton says. “The only thing that’s holding them back is that their property could be taken away from them.” For some churches, this is about theology and unity. For others, “it’s a battle over money,” Dalton says.

Even some of the conservative churches that support the Traditional Plan might leave, Boyette said. His group, the Wesleyan Covenant Association, was founded as a potential alternative denomination for churches that describe themselves as orthodox and that oppose same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy. Conservatives got what they wanted out of this General Conference, but “the patience of people is wearing thin,” he told me. His group will meet to assess next steps later this week.

In the final hours of the conference on Tuesday, the debate turned acrimonious: One delegate alleged, without clear evidence, that people at the conference were bribing others for votes. Another speaker’s mic was silenced when he threatened to filibuster any vote before the end of the day. And the debate came to an abrupt halt: Delegates had to clear out of the conference hall so that it could be turned over for a monster-truck rally.

Some Methodists, however, seem determined to keep fighting this battle within their denomination. “I am a 32-year-old, and I am one of the youngest delegates here. For a denomination who claims so desperately to want young people in our churches, maybe we need to reevaluate,” said Alyson Shahan, a delegate from Oklahoma who seemed to support LGBTQ inclusion in the denomination. “This body is not where the disciple making happens. Thank the good Lord, am I right?”

Another General Conference will take place in 2020, where any of these issues or proposals could be taken up again. “With the Traditional Plan that adds teeth [to Methodist standards and discipline around LGBTQ issues], you’ve not only alienated progressives, but also centrists,” Hamilton said. “Do you think these churches will quietly accept this regressive Traditional Plan with teeth? Will these churches protest less, or more, for LGBTQ persons in the future?”
“You’ve inspired an awful lot of people who were not really engaged in this struggle before,” Hamilton said. “And for that, I thank you.”  [SOURCE - retrieved from   https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/02/united-methodists-fracture-lgbt-plan-rejected/583693/  on  03/01/2018]

Also today, law enforcement officials confirmed that the Massachusetts attorney general has convened a grand jury to examine whether criminal charges could be brought against Cardinal Law and other archdiocese officials for allowing sexually abusive priests to continue to work in parishes where they had access to children. Defendants in the cases include Cardinal Law and former Boston church officials who are now bishops of dioceses in Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Brooklyn. Source = http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/20/national/20BOST.html?todaysheadlines  CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 20 — The Rev. Paul R. Shanley, a central figure in the sexual abuse scandal of the Boston Archdiocese, was indicted today on charges of raping four children from 1979 to 1989, when he was the pastor at a church in suburban Newton.The indictment charges Father Shanley with 10 counts of child rape and 6 counts of indecent assault and battery, in the abuse of four children who were taking Christian education classes at the church, said Martha Coakley, district attorney for Middlesex County, which includes Newton.  Source = http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/21/national/21BOST.html?todaysheadlines  OKLAHOMA CITY, June 22 — At their national meeting this month, America's Roman Catholic bishops adopted procedures for stripping sexually abusive priests of their collars while leaving in doubt how bishops who have covered up those crimes might ever be punished.But Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma, who has been named to oversee a national, church-sponsored inquiry into the origins of the crisis, said in an interview here that he and a panel of prominent Catholics will seek "corrective action" for any clergyman found to be abusive or negligent, "from the most junior priest to the most powerful bishop."  Mr. Keating's appointment to head the review board was the final touch to the package of overhaul measures announced at the close of the Dallas meeting, which included enactment of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The charter outlines mandatory rules permanently barring any priest who has abused a minor from performing ministerial duties, and orders each of the country's 194 dioceses to establish committees made up mostly of lay Catholics independent of the bishop to review priests' fitness for ministry and the diocese's handling of sex abuse issues. The charter, however, made no mention of how bishops who have protected abusive priests might be sanctioned, which Mr. Keating lamented.  Source = http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/23/national/23KEAT.html?todaysheadlines  NEW YORK (June 19, 2002 6:15 p.m. EDT) - A grand jury has accused the Roman Catholic Church of protecting priests from sex abuse claims and called for new laws making it a felony for church officials to fail to report such allegations. The church's treatment of sex abuse claims amounted to "an orchestrated effort to protect abusing clergy members from investigation, arrest and prosecution," the Westchester County grand jury said in its report Tuesday.  Source = By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/22/national/22CHUR.html?todaysheadlines Long order on Cat. Orders. He also said the term "zero tolerance" was a "war slogan" that was inappropriate for the church.Father Keating said the conference had no statistics on how many priests in religious orders had been accused of abuse. Victims' groups estimate that priests from religious orders have abused thousands of Catholics. The largest victims' group, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, has documented more than 8,000 cases of clerical sexual abuse, about a quarter of them committed by priests in religious orders.Barbara Blaine, a Chicago lawyer who is the network's president, said she had been abused as a teenager in Ohio by a priest from the Oblate order, and Peter Isely, a therapist who represents the network in Wisconsin, said he was abused by a priest of the Capuchin order.http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/10/national/10PRIE.html?todaysheadlines (LA Times) - Faced with allegations that parish priests had sexually abused minors, the Los Angeles Archdiocese under Cardinal Roger M. Mahony for many years withheld information from police and allowed clerics facing prosecution to flee to foreign countries, internal records and interviews show. At the same time, Mahony has been more aggressive than many U.S. bishops in dismissing members of the http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=us&cat=catholic_church_abuse_scandal  Nor was Father Salazar-Jimenez alone. If Boston is the fault line of the child sexual-abuse scandal that has convulsed the Roman Catholic Church, then few places have felt the aftershocks more deeply than the Diocese of Amarillo. Eight priests in the diocese have retired or resigned in recent months because of past incidents that diocesan officials say violated the new "zero tolerance" policy for priests who have sexually abused minors. A ninth is leaving the priesthood for personal reasons. The bishop and his predecessor, meanwhile, are trying to justify why the diocese had recruited and maintained so many priests with troubled histories, including at least five who were hired directly from a treatment center for sexual abusers.http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/24/national/24DIOC.html?todaysheadlines  But in the Oklahoma City Archdiocese, where the Rev. James Mickus recently filed a defamation suit against a 40-year-old accuser, and in Cleveland, the priests appear to have their accusers on the defense. They have discovered that among them are men with criminal records who lodged their sex abuse charges as they were preparing lawsuits seeking money from the church. In Cleveland, for instance, Bishop Pilla suspended Father Seminatore, 60, in April, after learning of an abuse allegation against him. But the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services investigated the claim and declared it "unsubstantiated."http://dailynews.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nyt/20020824/ts_nyt/fighting_back__accused_priests_charge_slander&e=5  LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BIBLE AND RELIGION – BOTH TRUE AND FALSE – AT WWW.JW.ORG