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Freedom From Bondange
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Freedom From Bondage
I was so excited. I was in Boston, Massachusetts and sleeping in a hotel room for the first time in weeks. I was disappointed that Bob’s plane was going to be late but I shook it off. As Belle and I walked in the lobby, I noticed a man with red and black spiked hair, black horn rimmed glasses, and an earring. “What a cute dog,” he said.
“Thank you,” I responded. “You can pet her if you wish. I’m trying to get her used to strangers.”
He sighed happily and knelt down to rub Belle’s head. “Thank you for inviting me to pet your dog.”
Since Bob was going to be late, I decided to wash clothes in the free laundry. While I was standing there, this man walked in to retrieve his laundry from the dryer. “Hi again,” he said. “This dryer takes a long time to get dry."
“So I noticed,” I laughed.
Holding an arm full of clothes, he asked, “Where are you from?”
I laughed again. “I think I’ve forgotten.” I explained about Pocket Full of Quarters and told him I was a writing the spiritual stories of America.
“What a coincidence,” he said. “I’m trying to write. I can’t type well so I’m doing it long hand. I keep getting mad and tearing up my work. So far I hate everything I’ve written. I write about spiritual stuff too but it’s probably much darker than yours.”
“What do you write about?” I asked.
He held up his hand and showed me the VAMP tattooed on his hand. Apparently, it had something to do with vampires and a singer. I didn’t ask for clarification and he assumed I knew what he was referring to. “I’ve spent a lot of time studying demonology, Satan, the occult. You can’t get a degree in that type of thing but I’ve come as close to it as anyone can.”
“Are you a believer or follower of the occult?” I asked.
I only study demons but I never get involved with Satan. I’ve come to believe that demons rule this world and are everywhere.”
“Well, actually, you and I probably agree on that,” I said. “I’m a Christian and I believe what the Bible says about Satan and demons. The Bible is full of stories about evil and warns us to expect it.”
“I see evil everywhere. It seems like it has taken over,” he said dejectedly.
“That’s in the Bible too, but eventually, good and God will win. Do you try to communicate with the dead?” I asked.
“My Grandmother and mother had that gift. Now I have it.”
“Tell me about your writing. Do you write fiction or true stories?” I asked.
“I write a little of both. Much of what I write about is from experiences in my life. I’ve had a lot of strange things happen to me,” was his answer.
“It sounds like it,” I nodded.
“Hi by the way,” he smiled as he stuck out his hand. “I’m Joe.” A sock escaped the clothes in his hands. As he bent to pick it up, more escaped.
I introduced myself. “What about God? Do you believe in Him?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” he said.
“You must believe in God at some level if you believe in demons. It’s reasonable to believe in a counter force to evil.”
“I guess you’re right,” he said. “I grew up Catholic but it’s hard being a gay Italian Catholic. You’re not very welcome.”
I wasn’t surprised he was gay. “My oldest son was gay and adopted. His was born into and lived for six years in an Italian Catholic family. Poor David—at six, he was adopted into a Southern Baptist family. Unfortunately, I lost David to AIDS in 1996. I hope you’re being careful,” I warned.
“I’m careful. There’s a lot of bad stuff out there. Mostly, lately, I’ve used abstinence. I’m sorry you lost your son. I can’t think of anything worse for a mother. I hear you never get over it.”
“No, you don’t. I will say that while the grief is always just as strong, the periods where I feel it get longer and longer in between. Sometimes I go months and then it will hit me. In the last year of his life, David turned to God. I recently realized that while I occasionally worry about my other two children, I never worry about David anymore. I know he’s with God. My church is next to a gay bathhouse. Young boys go inside for what I know are decadent evenings. I sit outside, watching them go in, and pray for them. I want to grab them and remind them they have mothers who love them and don’t want to lose them,” I said.
“Most gay men go through that phase of decadence,” he admitted.
“Yes, and it makes it hard to feel worthy inside a church. I remember my son calling me one night about a year before he died. ‘Mama,’ he cried. ‘I went up on top of a mountain and turned my life over to God. God showed me where I’m going when I die. I feel so clean.’ For most of David’s life, he was a tortured soul who felt dirty and yet compelled to continue doing the same things.”
“Most of us feel like that,” Joe commented. “I didn’t want to be gay. I tried so hard to date women. Mostly, I just ended up hurting them because they wondered why I wasn’t attracted to them.”
“What about Jesus,” I asked. “Do you believe in Him?”
“I’m not sure. I guess I do at some level. I don’t feel too welcome in Christian churches.”
“I’m sorry about that. Many Christians have a hard time with homosexuality and seem to think it’s worse than other sins. The Bible does say it’s wrong and is not God’s plan for our lives. I watched my son suffer too much to disagree with that. David was a sexual addict and felt trapped into that world. But, just because the Bible says it’s wrong, doesn’t mean it’s worse than any other sin. The Bible says we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There would be no point to grace if we could live perfectly on our own. Sin is sin. Our only job as Christians is to love God and love others. As a Christian, I love you just as much as I love myself. Jesus came for the sinners like you and me. We both need God.”
Rom 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. NASU
“I sometimes think I’m addicted to sex,” Joe said quietly.
I nodded. “I’m a musician and spent much of my career working for a music company. Many of my male friends and co-workers were gay. They were all involved with each other and when one of them got AIDS, they all got it. They’re all dead now. Every gay man I’ve personally loved or been friends with struggled with sexual addiction and unfortunately, they are all dead.”
I stopped to breath. Another sock escaped and as he bent to pick it up, I continued. “Joe, there’s only one answer to true freedom from bondage. Jesus came to set us free. Have you ever asked Jesus into your life?”
“You mean like being born again?” he said. “I’ve heard of that. How do you do that?”
“Being born again is a term from the New Testament where Jesus explains that you must be born from above to see God’s kingdom.”
John 3:3
Jesus said, "You're absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to — to God's kingdom." (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
“Christianity is the only religion that you don’t have to first be worthy to be accepted. Jesus takes us right where we are and then makes us into the person He wants us to be. All you have to do is believe He is the son of God, confess your sins, and ask Him into your life. It’s really that simple. He’ll do the rest and show you what you have to do next. The cool thing is that while you may remember your past, the Bible says God doesn’t. That’s what I write about, by the way. I write stories of people who have done what I’m talking about. I write about the good I see in the world. You might enjoy my book.”
“I knew you were a nice lady when you let me pet your dog,” Joe said. “Give me your website address and I’ll get your book.”
“Joe, my prayer for you is that you will begin seeing good in the world instead of demons. I hope you ask Jesus into your life.” The next night, I went to a prayer service and asked for prayer for Joe. A group of several people prayed intently for him. If you are a Christian reading this, I would urge you to pray for him too.
Rom 3:21-26
But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ. God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public — to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it's now — this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness. (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
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