This week, I'm continuing my response to the “exvangelical” repudiation of biblical faith. Thus far, I have responded to the belief that the Bible cannot be taken literally and to the claim that evangelicalism, in defining the biblical roles for the sexes, is oppressive and demeaning to women. Another claim of exvangelicals is that evangelicalism is homophobic, meaning harmful to those in the LGBTQ+ community.

Exvangelicals fully embrace the LGBTQ+ culture, believing that a person is religiously and morally autonomous. Evangelicals, on the other hand, believe that marriage was designed by God to be a covenant between one man and one woman for one lifetime and that sex outside the context of marriage is sinful. It is because marriage is so precious, so powerful, and because it portrays the relationship of Christ to his church, that the Lord set such boundaries to protect it.

Caving to the cultural pressure to accept the LGBTQ+ movement should come as no surprise once the Bible becomes subject to one’s own interpretation. This domino effect is being repeated across America and around the world. Exvangelicals, rejecting the grammatical, historical, literal approach to the scriptures, automatically set themselves up as the authority to determine what it means.

Further, the exvangelical movement is very transparent regarding their desire to spread its version of Christianity and convert the younger generation to buy in to the lies. Their presence on social media is ubiquitous and often portrayed in terms of a new movement from God, driven by compassion and support for those victimized by evangelicalism. Kurtis Vanderpool, writing for Relevant Magazine, wrote: “I believe deconstructionism [synonym for exvangelicalism] is from God. I believe it’s the revival evangelicals have been praying for for centuries.”

A church in Nashville was led by their pastor to fully embrace and support all LGBTQ+ relationships. He had been systematically conditioning his congregation in this direction for years. To him it was a process of conversion. In a Facebook video he explained the process this way:

“I knew they didn’t know who I was. And I knew that group didn’t know what I was doing. But I was okay with that, and I justified that because I thought it was in their best interest for them to stay in the blind space as long as they were in the pipeline of being converted by me to a more progressive way of thinking.”

What we’re seeing today is exactly what the apostle Paul predicted in his letters to Timothy. These people have “a form of godliness but deny its power”… They have been “led astray by various passions”… “devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons”…they have “wandered away,” “made shipwreck of their faith,” and have “strayed after Satan.”

Christians need to understand that it isn’t that we merely disagree with exvangelicals on non-essential issues, it’s that they have erred from the faith “once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 1:3) They are deserting Jesus for another gospel, which is not the true gospel but a distortion of it (see Galatians 1:6-8).

They are deserting Jesus for another gospel

Make no mistake, those who have departed from the faith were never truly converted to begin with. The Apostle John explains: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:19)

Believers must respond with love, compassion and the truth. They are not the enemy, Satan is, and they have been captured by him to do his will. We must pray that God will grant them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth in order to recover themselves from the snare of the devil (see 2 Timothy 2:24-26)--and in humility recognize that but for the grace of God we could fall into the same trap.