Posted on 02/16/2006 5:15:29 PM PST by wagglebee
(AgapePress) - Christian ministry leader and former homosexual Stephen Bennett says he isn't surprised that Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the Anglican Communion's first openly homosexual priest to be consecrated as a bishop, has checked himself into an alcohol rehabilitation facility.
The 58-year-old Robinson was confirmed as the ninth Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003, a move that generated heated debate and ongoing schism both in the Episcopal Church USA and in the worldwide Anglican Communion. According to a Wikipedia article, the Kentucky-born bishop married a woman in 1972, but publicly acknowledged his homosexuality after having two daughters with his wife, whom he divorced in 1986.
In a recent e-mail message to his community, Robinson acknowledged that he has been struggling with an increasing dependence on alcohol for some time. The Episcopal leader, who once likened his personal struggles to those faced by Jesus Christ, reportedly entered an in-patient treatment center for alcoholism on February 1 at the urging of his daughters, colleagues, and his current homosexual partner, Mark Andrews.
Stephen Bennett, who left the homosexual lifestyle when he was 28 years old, is now at age 42 happily married to his wife of 12 years, Irene, and has a son and a daughter with her. Today, as founder and director of Stephen Bennett Ministries (SBM) and national host of Straight Talk Radio -- a half-hour weekday pro-family radio broadcast -- he provides outspoken, passionate insights and commentary on homosexuality in an effort to reveal the truth about the dangers of that lifestyle and combat the "gay" misinformation campaign.
In response to reports of Robinson's entry into the alcohol treatment facility, Bennett comments, "A man who divorced his wife, broke up his family, is an avowed open homosexual who's living with a partner, and now he is getting treatment for alcohol abuse -- it's heartbreaking. My heart goes out to this man. My prayers go out to this man."
However, the former homosexual says he was not surprised at the news of the Episcopal bishop's problems with alcoholism, as homosexual men often turn to alcohol and drugs to fight off a life of pain.
"Alcohol and drug abuse is part of a lot of individuals who are involved in the homosexual lifestyle," Bennett asserts, "and it's also part of individuals who are involved in heterosexual promiscuity and other things. Alcohol is a way to alleviate the pain that a person is going through. It's a way to cover up things."
A Prayer for Bishop Robinson
The pro-family ministry leader says his prayer for Gene Robinson is "that God will just pierce this man's heart." As a Christian evangelist to the 'gay' and lesbian community, Bennett says he feels a deep compassion and burden for homosexual men and women, and he understands better than many other people the trials and concerns that they face.
Through his advocacy, the SBM founder and spokesman tries to communicate both to homosexuals and to the general public that no one is born homosexual and that, through the power of Christ, freedom from that lifestyle is attainable. Having left that lifestyle himself 12 years ago, he attests that he is "completely free of homosexual thoughts, actions and desires and completely happy" as the heterosexual man God created him to be.
"Change is possible," Bennett says to those struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction, "and life on the 'other side' is more beautiful than you could have ever imagined." His sincere hope for Robinson and others like him is that they would come to know and experience that truth.
This is a wonderful message, unfortunately the left will never let it get out.
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DISCUSSION ABOUT:
'Ex-Gay' Ministry Leader Finds ECUSA Bishop's Alcohol Problem Unsurprising
Robinson's alcoholism is hardly surprising.
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The bishop must be a very devoted Bacchus worshiper, which would make him an extremely religious person...
Our prayers should be with all Christians who deal with addictions, but the coddling of Gene Robinson on this matter is nauseating. Had he been a straight man with orthodox theological views, alcoholism would have probably prevented his even being nominated for bishop, much less elected.
Are "bishop" and gay lover married in the eyes of the ECUSA?
I am just stpified at the depravity of his living circumstances and his elevation as bishop. What a sad thing to do to a man - to puff him up into a saintly hero when he likely realizes he is actually a selfish man controlled by his instinctual sexual urges - rather than a man of virtue and self-mastery.
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Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15
And this is precisely why the oh-so-accepting view of the Episcopal church is so evil and harmful. The "I'm OK, you're OK" view condemns people like Vicki Gene to a life of self-loathing and pain, which they then attempt to anesthetize with alcohol and drugs.
A church is supposed to save people from sin, not confirm them in it and abandon them to it.
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