The Real Program

by Jerry Armelli, M.Ed. of Prodigal Ministries

As I look into II Kings, chapter four, I learn of a Shunamite woman who fed Elisha every time he stopped at her home. The woman went as far as to make a small room in which Elisha could eat and rest. Elisha, recognizing all the work she had done to see that he was comfortable, asked the women what could be done for her. She mentioned that she didn't have a son and that her husband was old. Elisha prophesied that she would bear a son. The women objected, thinking Elisha was misleading her - getting her hopes up. She did have that son within a year's time. The son grew up, took ill and died suddenly. The women was greatly distressed at Elisha for raising her hopes in giving her a son and then the son dying.  None-the-less, she committed herself to serving Elisha.  Elisha then instructed Gehazi, his servant, to lay a staff on the face of the boy and the boy would awaken from the dead. The boy did not awaken. ELISHA THEN WENT TO THE BOY'S ROOM, SHUT THE DOOR AND PRAYED. ELISHA GOT ON THE BED, LAID ON THE BOY'S BODY MOUTH TO MOUTH, EYES TO EYES, AND HANDS TO HANDS. AS HE STRETCHED HIMSELF UPON THE BOY'S BODY, IT GREW WARM AND WAS RESURRECTED.

I would like to share with you what I glean from this passage as a man who has overcome a homosexual identity and now is a director of Prodigal Ministries. Like the boy in this passage, I needed, in the resolving my gender identity conflict, more than just a ritual, a formula, or a wave of a wand. I needed a person, a man, to invest in a relationship with me. I needed his eyes to look beyond my broken image and awaken the undeveloped man inside of me. I needed him to tell me what he saw in me that was good and adequate to make good with, but that I was unable to see myself -  HIS EYES TO MY EYES. I needed a man's mouth to speak words of life to my  darkened soul, to speak affirmation, encouragement, and hope to the undernourished man inside of me - HIS MOUTH TO MY MOUTH. I needed a man's hands to touch me and bring to life my self worth, strength, and identification as a male - HIS HANDS TO MY HANDS. Only a man can bring out these attributes in another man for a secure gender identity. Homosexuals suffer in struggle to fulfill these deficits.

Men of the church, I need your eyes, mouths and hands to affirm me still.  We all need people of our own gender throughout our lives to be a source of affirmation communicated by eyes, mouths, and hands.  These days people need more than just a line about Jesus. They need to see, hear, and feel him. I know from my experience that gays are not looking for sex (for the most part). They are seeking identity, security, companionship, communication, and affection. We all need these life sources. We all can give these life sources.


The men and women of Prodigal Ministries with a same sex attraction are praying for appropriate same sex relationships to fulfill these deficits.  All their hope is in the Lord and trusting He will provide.  Men and women of the church secure in your gender identity, we need you to get into the real program.  It's not enough for us to have people just walk by, give sympathy, pat answers, or a little prayer.  I picture this is what the Priest and the Levite did in the parable of the Good Samaritan.  But Jesus tells us at the end of the parable, "Go and do likewise" (like the Good Samaritan). 

We need you to share your strength, security, confidence, affirmation, compassion, and genuine affections.  Again, it's more than just a wave of a wand, sending money in an envelope, or praying for someone to reach and save the "gays".  Men and women of God, your whole person: eyes, mouths, and hands are needed in a Godly relationship with the person having a same-gender attraction who is seeking sexual wholeness.

Please, don't be afraid of us and we won't be afraid of you.  Michael Saia writes in his book, Counseling The Homosexual, "Their  hearts cry for someone to love them without criticism or condemnation, but their cries go unheard because so few people are free enough in themselves to bear the burdens of others."  Let us both trust God to supply all we need to help our brothers.

Galatians 6:2 says, "Carry one another's burdens, in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."  A Pastor once said Christians ought to be completers, that is, we should create conditions in which people can grow into their potential in Christ.  Will you carry with us some of our burdens of inadequacy, frustration, confusion, and fear?  You can help us.  The men and women of Prodigal Ministries have great emotional deficits and you are God's chosen vessels to orchestrate His healing.

Romans 15:7 says, "Accept one another as Christ accepted you."  Will you accept the person who wants change but may be very effeminate or even dress like a woman?  How did Jesus accept you?  Was He embarrassed to have you come to Him with residual brokenness and sin? 

The person with a same-gender attraction is healed through relationships:  one; a relationship with Jesus Christ and two;  relationships with people of the same gender.  I challenge you, the sexually broken, to get involved in a relationship with Jesus and His chosen vessels of healing - people.  Strugglers, allow room for people of the church to make mistakes - we are all growing.

When we stand before Jesus we will celebrate with Him all the lives that were lived for Him (I Thes. 2:19).  The reason you are saved is to have a relationship with God and the first fruit of that relationship is to co-operate with the Holy Spirit to get people into a relationship, too.  Nothing matters more to God than people.  Shouldn't people be our first priority, too?