Exodus International, the thirty-seven-year-old ministry for those with same-sex attraction, is shutting down. Alan Chambers made his public apology on the Lisa Ling show of the Oprah Winfrey Network. The Exodus International website declares:
Irvine, Calif. (June 19, 2013) — Exodus International, the oldest and largest Christian ministry dealing with faith and homosexuality announced tonight that it’s closing its doors after three-plus decades of ministry. The Board of Directors reached a decision after a year of dialogue and prayer about the organization’s place in a changing culture.
“We’re not negating the ways God used Exodus to positively affect thousands of people, but a new generation of Christians is looking for change – and they want to be heard,” Tony Moore, Board member of Exodus. The message came less than a day after Exodus released a statement apologizing(www.exodusinternational.org/apology) to the gay community for years of undue judgment by the organization and the Christian Church as a whole.
Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, continued: “From a Judeo-Christian perspective, gay, straight or otherwise, we’re all prodigal sons and daughters. Exodus International is the prodigal’s older brother, trying to impose its will on God’s promises, and make judgments on who’s worthy of His Kingdom. God is calling us to be the Father – to welcome everyone, to love unhindered.” (Source)
But the Scriptures instruct us specifically to make judgments on who’s worthy of God’s Kingdom. For example, Paul the Apostle, judged the matter of an unrepentant man in sexual sin within the Church at Corinth saying: “For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (1 Corinthians 5:3-5) Those who repent and receive the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ are worthy of the Kingdom. We are not to judge the world, but we are to judge those within the church. Paul continues, “I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.” (1 Corinthians 5:9-13).
Robert Gagnon has in past written articles on Exodus including Exodus International On A Collision Course With Jesus. He also expounds on Chambers poor usage of the prodigal son parable. He says:
The Father calls his prodigal son “found” and “alive” because the latter comes back truly penitent. He’s not coming back asking for the other half of the inheritance so that he can continue to squander it on such things as prostitutes. He rather acknowledges that because of his bad behavior he is not worthy to be called a son and should be treated only as a hired hand. Had he continued in gross sexual immorality (and homosexual practice, like sex with prostitutes, incest, and adultery, is viewed as such in Scripture) he would have remained lost and dead. Because Chambers considers all sin as equal in all respects (immoral sexual intercourse is no worse than eating an overly big meal) Chambers wants to assure those who continue in gross immorality that they are found and alive. The older brother’s failing is not that he refused to welcome his brother back while he was unrepentantly continuing in a dissolute life but rather for refusing to give him a full welcome after he had repented and left such a life. Apparently Chambers believes (since he thinks all sin is alike) that the younger brother could have returned to kill his older brother, get his half of the inheritance, and still be welcomed back by the Father as sufficiently penitent. (Source)
The lawless implications of Chambers’ Hyper-grace theology are clear. In the 38th Annual Exodus Freedom Conference, he declared, “When we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we have an irrevocable relationship with Jesus Christ. . . He won’t turn His back on me even if I turn my back on Him.” Most Once Saved Always Saved advocates quote: “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” (1 Timothy 2:13) to support this idea but they neglect the previous verse 12 which says: “If we deny him, he also will deny us.” Part of God’s faithfulness and not denying Himself is denying those who deny him. God is faithful to deny those who deny Him, He cannot deny Himself. Christians are in danger of denying God in disbelief or by their works. “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16)
In recent months, I posted my review of Clark Whitten’s book Pure Grace entitled Pure Grace or Hyper-Grace and made the undeniable connection between Whitten’s hyper-grace theology and Exodus International available here. Exodus International claimed to be “the leading global outreach to churches, individuals and families offering a biblical message about same-sex attraction.” (Source) While Exodus says that “any sexual expression outside of a monogamous marriage between one man and one woman falls outside of God’s creative intent for human sexual expression and is sinful,” they failed to classify homosexual lust as sin. They state:
We do not believe that same-sex attractions are sinful in and of themselves but rather one type of struggle and temptation among the millions that impact each and every human being. (Source)
Ex-gay leader Andrew Comiskey, founder and current leader of Desert Stream Ministries (Living Waters), posted a public criticism of Exodus President Alan Chambers, also demonstrating the hyper-grace connection:
That brings us to the suspicion cast upon a book Pure Grace, written by Clark Whitten, who is the chairperson of the Exodus Board and pastor to Alan Chambers (Exodus president.) Some Exodus members are concerned that such ‘pure grace’ will actually contaminate the offering of Exodus by making the narrow way broad and inclusive of practicing gay Christians. (Alan recently addressed such a group and referenced their common destination of heaven.)
Whitten insists that grace alone, simply received, covers and overcomes one’s sin and renders any human effort worldly, a work of the flesh. Like many Christian authors, he overstates his case, using Scripture selectively. He is convinced that the biggest problem facing Christians is legalism, heavy-handed religion that would be overcome simply by resting in what God has done for us. He also appears to believe that this is the Truth which will usher in a new reformation. Like many in his neo-Baptist, evangelical tradition, he believes in ‘once saved, always saved’, thus Alan’s belief in the possibility of heaven for practicing gays who are ‘saved’.
Whitten should be free to have his emphasis, minus the grandiosity. (A new reformation? Really?) His book could be helpful for those bound by legalism. What surprised me is how familiar I (Andrew) found the message. Over my 36 years of faith, I have read this same book, slightly modified, in the tracts and testimonies of dozens of Christians who appear to have found an easy way to live the Christian life. ‘Do nothing. Receive. Don’t strive. Rest in the finished work.’ (Source)
Frank Worthen, one of the founders of Exodus (1976) and of the Restored Hope Network (2012), tells his story below of being groomed into homosexuality by his pastor in San Francisco but after many years in the lifestyle, turning his life over to Jesus Christ. It was 1973, and ministry to homosexuals had just begun, with Frank in the forefront. Worthen refutes the idea that homosexuals were born to be lost. He quotes 1 Corinthians 6:11 saying that Paul knew homosexuals that had changed and could change. “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, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
Furthermore, Worthen said, “I am so thankful that Restored Hope Network exists at this time to continue the message of transformation and new life in Christ.” Founded in July 2012, Restored Hope is a membership governed network dedicated to restoring hope to those broken by sexual and relational sin, especially those impacted by homosexuality. We proclaim that Jesus Christ has life-changing power for all who submit to Christ as Lord; we also seek to equip His church to impart that transformation. In their response to the closure of Exodus, they also make the hyper-grace connection saying:
We, the Board of Restored Hope Network, grieve the decision of Alan Chambers and the board of Exodus to close down this venerable organization. It feels like the unnecessary death of a dear friend. It would have been better for them to have stepped aside and allowed others to carry on the message of hope for transformed lives. Although the timing of the news was a surprise to many, the shutting down of Exodus is the not-unexpected outcome of a cheap grace theology that severs the confession of Christ as Savior from the confession of Christ as Lord.
While some falsely proclaim that a transformed life is optional for Christians, the united witness of Jesus and the writers of Scripture are clear: In God’s grace true saving faith results in a life of holiness and sexual purity. Thankfully God does not leave his people without a witness to the transforming power of Jesus Christ. The Restored Hope Network was formed in 2012 to provide just such a witness. We welcome all those cast adrift by recent events to know that God is still faithful. (Source)
Once again, biblical grace is unmerited but not unconditional. God does have requirements for us to be His children and to continue being His children. These conditions could be summed up in love, faith and obedience. Granted, God is a gracious, merciful, forgiving, longsuffering Father. But His grace and forgiveness are not unconditional as hyper-grace teachers preach. Forgiveness is conditional based upon our forgiveness of others (Matthew 6:12,14,15; 18:15; Mark 11:25,26) and confession of our sins (1 John 1:9). Likewise, grace is conditional as Paul exhorted Christians “to continue in the grace of God” (Acts 13:43), not to “receive the grace of God in vain.” (2 Corinthians 6:1), not to “insult the Spirit of Grace” (Hebrews 10:29) so that no one “falls short of the grace of God” (Hebrews 12:5). Biblical grace is available as enabling power, even for gays and ex-gays, to overcome sin, even homosexual lust (See Romans 5:17; 6:14) and be changed into the glorious image of Jesus Christ.