Ray Boltz comes out of the closet!!!

Quote :

Ray Boltz, a Christian pop singer best known for the heartfelt '80s hit "Thank You," came out of the closet September 12 via an in-depth feature article published in The Washington Blade, a gay and lesbian publication. According to the story, Boltz, 55, admitted his homosexuality to his wife and family in 2004, quietly retiring from music in the process and beginning to live "a normal gay life." As to why he choose to go public at this time, Bolz told The Blade: "I'd denied it ever since I was a kid. I became a Christian, I thought that was the way to deal with this and I prayed hard and tried for 30-some years and then at the end, I was just going, 'I'm still gay. I know I am.' And I just got to the place where I couldn't take it anymore … when I was going through all this darkness, I thought, 'Just end this.'" Care to comment? CT has posted a blog about the news.

The song of Ray Boltz that really thouched my heart is "Shepherdboy"

Now what to say about this?

"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good..." 2 Timothy 3:1-3

All of us have something abhorrent within that we struggle with... we can continue to fight it with the Spirit's help, or cop out and say "it's just who I am"....
This is extremely dangerous and something God wants us to battle.
ie. a believer who has tendencies to steal... he can fight that sinful aspect of his fallen nature (even if it never goes away), or he can just say, "oh gee, it's just the way I am, I can't help it" - then go give in to it. God's not going to allow anyone saying, "It wasn't my fault".
I am not the judge of man, but God has told us clearly that we are to deny ourselves (cuz our hearts are desperately wicked), following Him and not the ways of our flesh.
I could give up fighting and abstaining from my own personal inherant "vices", and just say "that's just my DNA, can't triumph over it, so I'll embrace it".
You know what would happen to me ? I would get fired from my job for telling jerky customers off and punching holes in the walls of the pharmacy... for 20 YEARS I've been fighting those temptations that are very much in my "DNA" from my Dad.
My point is, again, we all have something (or thingS) that we have to fight on a daily basis, sometimes to the point of tears. The worse part about copping out is, think of how it stumbles. If I gave up the fight, it would stumble several people.
Ray Boltz is stumbling hundreds of people.

Guilty/Forgiven wrote:

I would get fired from my job for telling jerky customers off and punching holes in the walls of the pharmacy... for 20 YEARS I've been fighting those temptations ....

I know that probably wasn't meant to be funny but it did make me chuckle.
Mostly because I know exactly what you mean. So many times I would like to tell my clients; "If you just would have done it the way I told you the first time, we wouldn't be in this mess...." I would probably be fired too.

Very sad to hear about Ray Boltz, but it is not surprising. It is definately the way our society is turning.

You are right guilty/forgiven, but when we fight with God to our fights, problems we will win.
Why?
Because in God are [/b]all [b] things possible.
Philippians 4:13 tells us: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"

Funny... I didn't read this thread before, but I just "happened" upon it now, after Jon and I just finished a conversation about this kind of thing... not homosexuality, but about inherant traits that we struggle with.

I have my flaws that I struggle with... ocassionally not even being aware that it is coming out in me. Jon has his flaws that he struggles with. We ALL do - we're ALL human. God knows our weaknesses, and it is in those weaknesses that He displays His strength in our lives... IF we let Him.

It's really sad to see news like this about a Christian performer... but believe me, it's not the first time I have seen this - I could tell about another Christian performer who also revealed several years ago that he was gay, as well as countless Christian performers whose marriages have ended in disaster because of infidelity. We're SURROUNDED by it! I can name about a dozen Christian couples that I KNOW PERSONALLY that have seperated or divorced for various reasons.

Satan is attacking God's people... it seems like more so than ever. But is it REALLY more so than ever, or are we just getting more complacent and giving in easier? We seem to be allowing more and more of the world into the Church and into our lives, and it is ending in disaster for many people.

This is a subject that has been very heavy on my heart for quite some time now as I see more and more Christians leaving the church and more and more marriages falling apart. And I keep saying, "but Christians should KNOW BETTER!" And it's true... we SHOULD know better.

We need to stop accepting the world's values and just stay true to what God teaches us, no matter how different we end up being from the world. If there are personal flaws or "issues" in our lives that seperate us from God's plan for our lives, then we need to take them to Him, not just resign ourselves to living with it, or covering it over in the hopes that it will go away.

I have been through some crap in my life that had messed me up... but I'm living proof that surrendering it to God and allowing Him to help you with it is the ONLY way to be free from your chains, WHATEVER they may be. No, I'm not perfect... I still struggle with some issues. But He has set me free from the worst ones, and that gives me the strength to carry on in my efforts to be a better person instead of just giving in to the tendencies that I know are still lurking inside of me. I may be a sinner, but I am NO LONGER A SLAVE to sin!

News like this is so un-necessary. If you struggle with issues that you feel are overwhelming, PLEASE, don't give up! Take it to God, and He can help you through it, just like He has done, and continues to do, with me. And find someone you can trust, a pastor, an older person you know well in the church, whatever, that you can share your burden with so they can pray with you and help you through. But just don't give in to the world... Satan has had far too many victories... don't give him any more.

Really sad. I admit I'm one of those that have always looked at homosexuality as being worse then a lot of other sins, though I know I'm wrong. I guess part of it might be because God even tried to make it very easy and obvious for us by giving us either a penis or a vagina and the fact that they need each other to work (produce children). Just another reason I have a harder time listening to Christian singers/bands now days. Saw an episode of some reality show on MTV not long ago and they had a guy who used to be in The Newsboys. He was showing off his plaque on the wall and talking about how it was all just a gimmick. He was drunk of course and all he could talk about was scoring with the women. I now prefer secular bands with o.k. lyrics. At least they are who they are. By the way I don't mean to offend those of you who listen only to Christian music. I still listen to many of those bands myself, and even know that some are indeed genuine, I just try and not take them all to seriously anymore. Helps keep me from being disappointed when this type stuff happens.

About Christian bands and artists:

You need to remember that we are ALL sinners - NONE of us are perfect. Yeah, some of them have made an apparent mockery of God's work through music, and that's really sad, and quite frankly, it ****es me off. But just remember that there are far more Christian artists who really do practice what they "preach" than there are of those who live the lie. I choose to accept them at face value until I am given a reason not to do so anymore. And even then, I try to look at it this way - are they really blatantly living against God and therefore making a mockery of His work, or is it that they are just like me, flawed but forgiven. Let's face it, a lot of artists have gotten a bad rep because they are in the "spotlight" - someone may have seen something that they didn't expect to see in a Christian artist and blown it all out of proportion, whereas if they saw the same thing in you or me, they would have just shrugged it off. I mean hey, I saw an article once that told all about how John Schlitt of Petra is a Satanist! Come on... I don't believe that for a second!

Now, when someone admits a sinful lifestyle themselves, such as Ray Boltz, Brian Free (Gold City Quartet), or the guy from Newsboys, and I could keep the list going, but there's no point... then yeah, it's obvious that they have made a bad choice. But in many cases, such as the things that were said about Jimmy Brown of Deliverance in another thread, or even some accusations that I have had made against me at one point, then that is just the devil at work to destroy God's people and God's work, and needs to be dismissed as such, accepting that these people are just like us, flawed and imperfect, and should not be treated any differently than we ourselves wish to be treated when our own flaws and imperfections are revealed. Being "famous" doesn't make you perfect, even if you are "famous" for God.

Bingo. Great thoughts, Thomas.