Michael Youssef

Televangelist and former Gingrich faith coalition co-chair Michael Youssef is continuing his virulent attacks on the Episcopal Church, writing today that the church’s newly adopted LGBT-inclusive policies will lead the church to ultimately embrace pedophilia and proves that the church is not Christian but Satanic:

Episcopalian leaders continue to guide their denomination into the abyss -- and no doubt, the Presbyterians (PCUSA) will soon follow.

The Episcopal denomination's General Convention voted this week to make it illegal to "discriminate against anyone." Specifically, that means it is now illegal to "... bar from the priesthood people who were born into one gender and live as another or who do not identify themselves as male or female."

Readers of my columns and other pieces may remember my prediction that this fast train into the pit would not stop just with practicing homosexuals. It will inevitably lead all the way to pedophilia.

I cannot help but think of Jesus' words: "Wide is the gate that leads to destruction." Those words became poignant when I read the jubilant quotefrom one of the Episcopal leaders:

It is not just a good day for transgender Episcopalians and their friends, families and allies. It is a good day for all of us who are part of a church willing to take the risk to continue to draw the circle wider as we work to live out our call to make God's inclusive love known to the whole human family," the Rev. Susan Russell, a deputy from the Diocese of Los Angeles and an activist who supported the legislation, said in a statement.

That wide "circle" is certainly the wide gate that Jesus talked about. It is the place where people can enter with all their baggage, but then they proceed to go over the cliff of eternal destruction. If this decision doesn't cause Bible-believing Anglicans (who represent 90 percent of Anglicans worldwide) to sever ties with the Episcopal Church, I don't know what will.

For years, some of us have said that the Episcopal Church has ceased to be the Church of Jesus Christ. But if you're no longer the Church of Jesus Christ, then whose church are you?

There are only two ways -- God's and Satan's. There are only two kingdom's -- God's and Satan's. And there are only two churches -- God's and Satan's. For any faithful worshipper of Jesus Christ, there can be no doubt as to which camp the Episcopal Church now belongs.

Leading The Way ministries pastor Michael Youssef is endorsing Newt Gingrich, whom he once compared to King David. He claims that only Gingrich “truly understands” the “threat to Western civilization, threat to our way of life, threat to the American Constitution.”

A fierce critic of gay rights, he said that America is going to have “the same fate as that of Sodom and Gomorrah” because of “homosexual lobbyists,” whom he claims “know deep down that homosexuality is contrary to God’s creator order.” He contends that America is removing “the land of God’s blessing and protection” by legalizing same-sex marriage, telling Charisma News that “it is very disturbing to see the greatest nation leading the world in abomination”:

Charisma News: What are some of your thoughts on this gay marriage law passing in New York?

Youssef: Here is another one that goes down the tubes. The stats say one in nine Americans are living in states where gay marriage is legal and it’s not going to stop there.

Let’s go to the beginning. When we begin to be immoral people we will cease to be blessed people. God blessed us as a nation through the years because of the faithfulness of the Founding Fathers to God’s Word. It might not be explicit but implicit in every action of their deliberation. Now we come to a time where we are removing the boundaries of our forefathers and as we remove these boundaries we are removing ourselves from the hand of God’s blessing and protection.

It is very disturbing to see the greatest nation leading the world in this abomination. It is very, very sad. This is a group of Republicans that made this happen. This is not a Republican-Democrat issue anymore. It is a moral issue. Those who love the Scripture and God’s ideal for our society must be very repulsed and speak against it. We need to examine every candidate for office from now on—to check not how he is going to help the economy, but how he is going to uphold God’s moral standard.

Youssef also has had strong words for mainline Protestants, arguing that Episcopalians are not Christians and urging people to leave the Episcopal and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and “deliver these institutions to Satan” over their support of gay rights. Moreover, Youssef called for America to be “at war with Islam” and has written about the “peculiar similarities between the Mormon faith and Islam.”

He joins Religious Right leaders Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Don Wildmon, Mat Staver, George Barna, David Lane and Jim Garlow in endorsing Gingrich.

UPDATE: The Gingrich campaign has named Youssef National Co-Chair of his Faith Leaders Coalition:

Newt 2012 today announced that Dr. Michael Youssef has endorsed Newt Gingrich, and Dr. Youssef will be joining the Gingrich Faith Leaders Coalition as a National Co-Chair.

...

“I’m couldn’t be happier in having Dr. Youssef on board,” said Newt Gingrich. “Our Faith Leaders Coalition will benefit tremendously from his leadership as a Pastor, a communicator, and an immigrant to the U.S.”

Writing for the American Family Association’s One News Now, Michael Youssef of Leading The Way ministries is urging Christians to quit the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) after the denomination voted to allow the ordination of gay and lesbian ministers. Youssef, who previously declared that the Episcopal Church couldn’t be Christian because of its support of gay rights, is now insisting that Presbyterians and Episcopalians leave their churches because “these denominations have chosen darkness” and are committed to “the spread of apostasy.” Youssef lamented that the churches submitted to “this Chinese water torture method of homosexual lobbying,” they have sealed their own demise:

All true Christian believers, whether they are Presbyterians or not, must be weeping right now over the spread of apostasy. Dr. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, accurately refers to it as "following Jesus while rejecting the Bible."

Many of us have seen this Chinese water torture method of homosexual lobbying in both denominations coming for many years. We have known that it's only a matter of time. And yet, when it becomes reality, it is so hard to comprehend.

Today, I'm appealing to all faithful Presbyterians in the PC(USA) and Episcopalians to vote with your feet and get out of these churches as fast as you can. As I mention in my latest book The Greatest Lie, this type of preaching is now invading many mainline and evangelical churches.

There can be no excuse.

No, you cannot stay and be a witness.

No, you cannot stay and try to change things.

No, you cannot stay and hope that you will be a light.

These denominations have chosen darkness, and they need to experience what true darkness is all about by not having any believers inside their walls.

To modify slightly the words of the apostle Paul, the faithful believers ought to deliver these institutions to Satan by walking out as fast as they can. (1 Corinthians 5:4-5)

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Michael Youssef, the head of Leading the Way Ministries and a vocal critic of Islam, today argued that the Episcopal Church is no longer Christian and “not Jesus’ church” as a result of the church's policies regarding gay-rights. Youssef is a signatory of the Manhattan Declaration, a largely anti-gay and anti-choice screed, which also laments the “decline in respect for religious values” in American society. However, Youssef’s diatribe against the Episcopal Church shows the Manhattan Declaration’s call for “religious liberty” and greater respect for religious values remains secondary to its unbridled anti-gay attacks. Youssef’s attack on the Episcopal Church keeps him in the company of other Religious Right leaders and groups who continuously smear mainline Protestant churches that back civil rights. In a column for the American Family Associations news service, Youssef declared that the Episcopal Church’s support for LGBT equality means that the Church has “defied God” and lost its status as Christian:

Episcopal Church: Christian?

Based on everything I am currently reading and what I experienced firsthand in that Church in the past, my answer to this question is a forceful, "No!"

Perhaps the last nail in the coffin of that once-vibrant Christian church came as no surprise to many of us when M. Thomas Shaw, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, kicked off the new year of 2011 by performing a lesbian marriage ceremony at St. Paul's cathedral in Boston. Two "priestesses" of the church -- Katherine Hancock Ragsdale (dean and president of Episcopal Divinity School, no less) and Mally Lloyd (canon to the Ordinary at St. Paul's) -- were united in homosexual bliss in the presence of 400 guests. The whole debate of homosexuality has deteriorated into an emotional argument on equality with total disregard to God's created order that marriage should be between one man and one woman.

But how can one be surprised at this defiance of church cannons when the Episcopal leadership has defied God? Once the fear of God and obedience to His Word are trampled underfoot, then any sort of church resolution is not worth the paper it's written on.

Back in 2004, the Episcopal Church, in an act of slight-of-hand (more likely a cunning maneuver), agreed to hold a moratorium in the practicing of all the sordid affairs of "ordaining, marrying, and uniting, and blessing" acts of sodomy. But that was merely a surface declaration. In reality, the blessing of same-sex marriage had been widely accepted in the American Episcopal Church before the time of moratorium.

Can anybody in his/her right mind believe that the Episcopal Church is the Church of Jesus -- the Jesus who left the glories of heaven, came to our broken and dark world, died on the cross to redeem us and give us power over sin, and then rose again to assure us of eternal life with Him? The answer has to be a resounding, "No!"

The Episcopal Church is not Jesus' church. The few...very few faithful ones left within this Church need to run for their lives lest they be held accountable for complacency on the Day of Judgment.