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Gay and Christian

by Guy Hammond © Illumination Pub. (www.ipibooks.com),
$14.99 (paperback), 191 pages, ISBN 9781953623126

Guy Hammond is the Executive Director of “Strength in Weakness Ministries,” designed to help same-sex attracted Christians and their families deal with the gay agenda. The program is working in 70 countries and has involved over 200,000 people through workshops and classes. Guy Hammond is uniquely qualified to deal with this subject because he is a homosexually-attracted man, and from age 12 to 24, he was a practicing homosexual.

The first point to understand from this book is that being a person who has same-sex attraction does not mean you are a practicing homosexual. Just as a married person can have heterosexual attractions outside of marriage, so can a person have same-sex attractions. Hammond points out, “attraction is not sinful. It is what we do with our temptations and attractions that determines whether they will become sinful or not.”

The first two chapters deal with the challenges we all face in life. Next, Hammond gives a personal explanation of the unique challenges of homosexuality. The remainder of the book explains pro-gay arguments and responds to attempts to use the Bible to promote the gay agenda. This is a scholarly discussion with a study of the Hebrew and Greek. Hammond shows that a careful analysis of God's Word does not support religious attempts to accept the homosexual lifestyle.

This book gives an exhaustive and logical study with responses to leading promoters of pro-gay theology. Passages like Genesis 18–19 dealing with Sodom and Gomorrah and Romans 1:24–27 are given a verse by verse explanation. Chapters 9–10 deal with the transgender issue, and chapter 11 answers specific questions related to homosexuality and the church. Hammond relies on scholars for critical sections of the book. For example, he quotes Dr. Douglas Jacoby for biblical questions related to translations and the meaning of words in the original manuscripts. Ellen Radcliff, a licensed family therapist dealing with transgender issues, is the author of chapters 9 and 10.

We highly recommend this book for parents, preachers, and church leaders. It is a biblical, scholarly study, but it is compassionate, full of empathy for same-sex attraction while offering solid spiritual advice. The subtitle of the book is “How pro-gay theology is crashing into the church like a speeding train without a whistle.” Hopefully, this book will sound an alarm we can all hear.