"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?"
(1 Peter 4:17)
Please read and digest the following account by Ryan Schiavo of his experiences of and his thoughts concerning the LGBT movement and the great lack of strong (and true!) prophetic voices in the Church today. I am most grateful to Ryan for granting me permission to re-produce his newsletter here.
Truth is Fallen in the Street
“Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey." (Isaiah 59:14, NKJV)
Dear friends,
Greetings from south London in England. I hope this finds you well in the Lord. I have many reports to share from international travels the last few months, but felt an urgent need to instead update you this month on what I and others have experienced ministering on the streets of London recently.
When I pray for and observe current events play out in the church and secular world in both England and America, it appears to me that these once beacons of light to the nations are in a race to see who can run away from God and provoke His anger faster. One week a 10-year-old Christian girl in London is suspended for five days from her school for not participating in a mandatory LGBT lesson, then just weeks later two mass shootings take place on back-to-back days in the States while well-known Christians in ministry publicly renounce their faith. It is an utter tragedy to see the direction these two countries are headed in, with so few strong, prophetic voices speaking frankly about God's judgments and the needed brokenness of the church to match the onslaught of Satan. Where is Leonard Ravenhill, Art Katz and David Wilkerson today? I don't see or hear them.
Christianity in America has become largely identified with watching Fox News, vehemently defending the president, supporting the Second Amendment and hating abortion and the Democratic party. Let me remind you that you can fit in to each of these categories and be further away from God than the most devout atheist. It would be interesting to see the results of a poll calculating the amount of time Christians in America spend watching Fox News versus the time they spend reading their Bibles. Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity may occasionally make a quasi-Christian reference on their nightly TV shows, but they are first and foremost staunch, dye-in-the-wool conservatives with booming careers and reputations to further, both in a fight for ratings every weeknight with two major liberal networks. Why their words seem to have more power than the words of Jesus today in the American church is both saddening and hard to understand.
Meanwhile, in England, the state church has publicly identified transgender people as part of the body of Christ, much to the joy of Britain's version of CNN - the BBC. For the first time in history, The "Church" of England's position on LGBT issues was recently used against a true Christian doctor in a court case following his firing from his job of 26 years because he said that he could not identify a six-foot tall, bearded man as a woman. Shortly thereafter, the aforementioned 10-year-old girl was suspended from her primary school for putting her faith first in regards to LGBT issues in the classroom. The girl's church was reported by the school's headteacher (principal) to the police for committing a hate-crime, while the school's leader also contacted the government's anti-terrorism body. Below is the link to an article chronicling her story in detail.
The homosexual and transgender issue has become the main dividing one here in the UK. Other than Canada, there is probably not a country in the world waving the rainbow flag higher and promoting the movement more openly than England, with the USA not far behind. Rainbow flags don major businesses everywhere in London, including the popular chain store Superdrug as well as Lloyds Bank.
My writing on this topic again is not just to bring awareness to the chaos in England, but because it has affected me directly in the last six weeks here. Last month, I was stopped six times in fourteen days while preaching on the street by authority figures - four times by the police, once by a mall security guard and once by a train station attendant. The security guard and station attendant had no legal jurisdiction to stop me, but did anyway because of people's complaints. On all six occasions, I was stopped for preaching about homosexuality and/or transgenderism. Below are brief accounts of each incident involving the police, all in different locations.
Richmond
In this upscale area of southwest London, two officers approached me and said they were told that I publicly said that gay people should be stoned to death. I told the police that I never said any such thing, but did admit that I had spoken about the sin of homosexuality. They told me they had numerous complaints, and that if they received more, they could legally arrest me. I asked them, "Do I not have freedom of speech to preach from the Bible?" They said yes, but that if someone was offended, I could be arrested. I told them that I was offended by the various gay pride parades and rainbow flags all over the city, so what about that? Their answer? "Well, that's the law." Translated, they admitted to me that the LGBT community has more rights and freedom of speech in England today than Christians do.
Soho
In the homosexual capital of Europe, my former stomping grounds every Friday night, I was stopped by an officer who had received a complaint. This policeman was friendly and did not threaten me, but reminded me how violent it can sometimes be in Soho and told me to be careful. I told him that I was well aware of my surroundings, to which he graciously moved on and let me continue. Following my preaching, one man pushed me, another shouldered me, while a third hit me in the face with an object I could not identify.
The week before, just hours after the Richmond incident, two girls approached my ministry partner Raymond and I while we spoke to a middle-aged man on the outskirts of Soho. The girls asked us where Soho was. I replied, "Why would you want to go there?" They told us that they were lesbians and that they heard about it. I told them that homosexuality was a sin and that if they continued in it, they would go to hell when they die. Once of the girls got upset, but I told her that I was sharing this with her out of love. Obviously she did not agree, because she responded by spitting directly in my face. This was the first time ever that someone did this to me in the streets.
Bromley
On the main street of this southeast London town one scorching hot Thursday afternoon, I spoke openly about the sin of homosexuality and transgenderism, which drew the attention of ten teenagers. They stopped to listen and a lengthy dialogue ensued about the Bible, faith and this particular issue. One girl in the group was celebrating her birthday on this very day. She claimed to be an atheist, but God softened her heart as we spoke. During this encounter, the Lord brought a random Christian woman who had been shopping onto the scene to assist me, and this lady was gracious enough to sing "Happy Birthday" to the teenage girl, which touched her heart deeply. The girl then allowed me to pray for her after I had shared the gospel. She told us before leaving how touched she was and that she was now thinking about what we shared with her. Truly, the Lord did a deep work with those teens, as two others hung around for nearly an hour asking me questions.
Later on, I preached again in the open air and at one point strongly addressed the LGBT issue. This ended up drawing a small crowd which included a few hecklers yelling at me. A mall security guard came all the way out into the street, angrily trying to get me to stop. He told me that if I did not, he would call the police. I knew that he had no authority to stop me because I was on public property, so I continued preaching, and sure enough, he made the call. A few minutes later, a male officer approached and took me aside. He told me he had received complaints and that if people continued to say that they were offended, he could legally arrest me. I went the same route with him as I did with the officers in Richmond, to which he replied similarly that the law protects the LGBT demonstrations.
Brixton
The birthplace and childhood home of the late bisexual rocker David Bowie looks as creepy today as he did in his heyday. On a late Friday afternoon in July, I could tangibly feel the presence of darkness before opening up my mouth on a busy street corner near the train station in Brixton. (Brixton is known for witchcraft, drugs and sexual sin.) As I spoke about homosexuality and transgenderism, two teenage girls stopped to listen before approaching for a conversation. One of the girls was raised Jewish but now claimed no faith, yet she had many questions about the Bible and this issue. While we chatted, two officers came aggressively toward me, a man and a woman, the lady in particular with a full head of steam and an angry look on her face. She interrupted and busted up my conversation with the girls without even attempting to have a dialogue. She said, "Okay, you're done. We've gotten a complaint about you making homophobic remarks." One of the teenage girls figuratively stabbed me in the back as she walked away by telling the officer that I was homophobic, to which the policewoman said, "There's complaint number two." I could not even get a word in edgewise before this officer told me that I was barred for 48 hours completely from Brixton, and that if seen there, I would be arrested. I responded, "But don't I have freedom of speech to preach from the Bible?" The male officer said, "Yes, but not if it offends people."
I cannot say for sure, but the anger this lady officer showed was so personal that she had to be a lesbian. No one could be so upset about something otherwise. She applied a 2014 law in the UK called Article 34 which allows the police to remove a person from a particular area for 48 hours if he/she has caused "alarm or offense."
I felt almost in a trance after leaving this encounter, absolutely stunned by what had taken place. I believe if I had shown even the slightest resistance, the policewoman would have handcuffed me and taken me to the station, which was within walking distance, meaning I would have had to walk past a huge crowd of people in handcuffs. Instead, I obeyed what she said and calmly crossed the street, physically brushed the dust off my feet and walked to the nearest bus stop to head home.
What do these four incidents have in common? In none of them did the police themselves ever hear a single word about homosexuality or transgenderism come out of my mouth. They responded on each occasion to second-hand complaints, some which were fabricated and/or highly exaggerated. I'm sharing these stories primarily because I really need your prayers so much to continue on with this ministry for the next two months or so. It is not easy, but I feel strongly the Lord wants me here again for a season to speak the truth in love but unapologetically - particularly on this LGBT topic - in the streets. I could very easily be arrested, but your prayers could also help prevent that from happening. The young generation here is so confused and in tremendous darkness. Almost every millennial I speak to sees nothing wrong with a person being gay or switching their gender. Imagine how far one must be from God to think this way. How far one is from the gospel and from truth to believe that homosexuality or transgenderism could be acceptable lifestyles to God. Truly, we are living in the days of Noah, the days of Lot, the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and the days of Elijah all wrapped up into one. Just like in those days, God needs voices and, as in the days of John the Baptist, he needs voices "crying in the wilderness" to "make straight the way of the Lord" and to declare, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
In the last nine years, a local medical clinic in the UK has reported a 2,500% increase in children being referred for hormone treatment for gender dysphoria - from 97 children in 2009 to 2,519 children in 2018. If the church does not speak the truth to these young people, who will?
On the outskirts of my dear college town of Reading, Pennsylvania, I preached a prophetic message two and a half years ago in my former home church warning about the LGBT movement sweeping America and making its way into the school system. The following week, the message was rejected from the pulpit by the pastor of the church, categorically referred to as "unloving" and "unclear." Just months after that sermon, the school district where I live - only a 25-minute drive from the church - won a court case to allow transgender bathrooms in its high school. Last month, an LGBT flag was erected for the first time ever over the mayor's office in Reading, a reversal of his initial decision after he received heavy backlash from the LGBT community. This is God's judgment when the church fails to speak the truth.
While very lonely, painful and at times discouraging, the Lord has made clear to me time and time again that I am to be one of these voices crying out in the streets of America and England in this hour. Many other very fruitful conversations and ministry opportunities have taken place in the last few weeks here in London, even in this atmosphere of judgment here in London. I do have the prayer support of a few churches and home groups here, but would you please pray that more laborers would join me in this difficult ministry and harvest field, while there is still some spiritual daylight left?
Looking for His appearing,
Ryan
Ryan's report here has resonated deeply with me. It ties in so much with what I feel so heavily in my spirit about the state of the Church, and its utter failure to stand on Truth and be salt and light in a world plunging headlong into an unprecedented depth of darkness.
Here in Wales we are seeing, like everywhere else, a militant LGBT agenda - Cardiff, Swansea, and now Newport Pride. The Pride Cymru umbrella charity takes a lead role in all this. There's even an LGBT "church" in Cardiff led by a female Methodist minister, who conducts same-sex "marriages." What would Wesley make of this if he was around today!?
After having only just been sent Ryan's newsletter by a mutual friend, and while awaiting his reply to my request for permission to publish it on the blog, I was in Cardiff last Saturday afternoon, and - completely unbeknownst to me beforehand - there found Cardiff Pride to be in full swing! God's timing is always perfect; He obviously took me there to witness the event first-hand, and show me the sheer in-your-face massiveness of it. As in the capital city of England, so in the capital city of Wales. Rainbows without number, and not least on shops and business premises; signs of the times indeed.
I saw one female (is it permissible to use that word now?) on-duty Police Officer sporting an LGBT Police Network flag, after which I saw more such flags carried by the public. Turns out that the National Network, hosted by the Welsh forces, had been holding their annual conference in Cardiff just the previous day, with delegates taking part in the Saturday parade! Can you imagine an Officer policing football crowds wearing a scarf with the colours of one of the teams? Just a thought, for what it's worth...
FRIENDS, JUDGMENT IS COMING, AND IT'S COMING FAST. AND IT WILL BEGIN AT THE HOUSE OF GOD, FOR ITS VERY COMFORTABLE CO-EXISTENCE WITH SIN IN ALL ITS FORMS, AND ITS REFUSAL TO STAND UPRIGHT UPON AND TO PREACH AND TEACH UNADULTERATED BIBLICAL TRUTH. AS IT IS INDELIBLY WRITTEN:
"YE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH: BUT IF THE SALT HAVE LOST HIS SAVOUR, WHEREWITH SHALL IT BE SALTED? IT IS THENCEFORTH GOOD FOR NOTHING, BUT TO BE CAST OUT, AND TO BE TRODDEN UNDER FOOT OF MEN."
(Matthew 5:13)
"TAKE HEED THEREFORE THAT THE LIGHT
WHICH IS IN THEE BE NOT DARKNESS."
(Luke 11:35)
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IMPORTANT NOTE. If anyone coming across this article should construe it to be an exercise in "homophobic" hatred, it's precisely the opposite. If a man with cataracts on his eyes is walking determinedly ever closer towards the edge of a cliff, and we shout out a warning, it is done out of concern for him. We are assuredly not demonstrating love for that fellow human being who is in great peril, if we passively just stand and watch, merely shrugging our shoulders. And as for actually cheering him along on his way to the lip of the void...!
We would all do well to remember the old adage, PRIDE comes before a FALL.
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Ryan's YouTube channel:
Info on LGBT movement in Wales:
https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2019-08-26/50-000-people-attend-record-breaking-pride-cymru-weekend-in-cardiff/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-49453686
