Good for you Somizi! Homophobia church walkout leads to social media furore
Dag Heward-Mills at the Grace Bible Church
The Idols judge posted a video on his social media platforms in which he expressed his anger at experiencing the religious bigotry on display at the popular church.
“I’ve just walked out… stopped out of church because some guest pastor from somewhere in Africa decided to take a turn and speak about homosexuality and how sinful and disgusting and how not even animals practice that… and blahh, blahh… And the church is cheering…” fumed Mhlongo.
“I’m not going to sit there and listen to somebody offending me. This is who I am! I am a gay man! Get it straight into your skull. My soul is alright with my god! Let me deal with my god and my soul… It’s like somebody offending black people in church…
“And I’m actually disappointed at all the gay men and women that sat there and listened to him offending us and didn’t do anything about it. I walked out – and visibly so! And I’m proud and I’m going to remain gay for the rest of my life!”
The subject of Mhlongo’s ire was Evangelist Dag Heward-Mills from Ghana, founder and Presiding Bishop of the Lighthouse Chapel International.
In his guest sermon at the church on Sunday, Heward-Mills spoke to the large crowd on the topic of “Why your soul is important”.
In the somewhat confused sermon he talked about natural urges and how without a “strong or developed” soul one “cannot control your flesh,” before condemning homosexuality as unnatural.
“Just like homosexuality; you don’t have male and male. If you use that reasoning to say homosexuality is not natural… You don’t find two male dogs, two male lions, two male impalas, two male lizards, two male elephants…” he said to cheers from the crowd.
“There’s nothing like that in nature. It’s unnatural,” he insisted, as the audience again clapped and cheered in support.
After Mhlongo shared his video, the hashtag “GraceBibleChurch” started trending on Twitter in South Africa, becoming the second most discussed topic in the country and leading to a heated debate on social media.
“LeboGugu wrote: “So disappointed. This is what drives people away from Christ.” All Things African tweeted: “This is why I don’t ever go 2 church, discrimination double standards, hypocrisy, everything…” while Oliver Meth added: “It is irresponsible to used the pulpit as a platform to spew hate & ostracize a subset of God’s children.”
The minister’s words were, however, strongly defended by those who argued that he was simply expressing religious truths. “Bible can’t be amended like our constitution, how long shall we compromise the word of God for our constitution,” said #SJBFest28Jan. 1 Million also asked: “y’all are saying a pastor or preacher must cut out Bible verses to accommodate people’s feelings??”
Some pointed out that while Heward-Mills might consider himself an expert on the subject of the Bible, he should stay away from making unfounded scientific claims. Homosexuality in nature has been widely observed and same-sex attraction has been documented in over 1,500 species.
Headed by Bishop Mosa Sono, the Grace Bible Church is said to have a considerable gay following, including a number of celebrities like Mhlongo and fashion designer David Tlale.
@somizi walking out of church while Pastor is insulting LGBTIQ people, has done it for all marginalized. #lgbt #lgbtrights #gracebiblechurch pic.twitter.com/Pb2LLpnTC6
— OSTUDIO POST (@OStudioPost) January 22, 2017
Watch Dag Heward-Mills’ sermon below. His anti-gay comments can be found at around 58.40 minutes into the sermon.
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We are living in a country where we have freedom of religion and we are compelled to preach the truth as per the Word of God. What makes Somizi so special that the preacher have to consider him when preaching. I watch the sermon and it is not homophobic, what he said was true, homosexuality is unnatural. I think the majority of homosexuals goes to church to pick a fight. They are seeking for acceptance and there are many church who will not agree with their lifestyle. Get a life get over it the man was preaching God’s Word. If you cannot handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
“By your fruits you will know them”. That is true. Your fruits and the fruits of your ilk and murder. Jesus is right about you hypocrites claiming to be righteous while murdering gay people. Reverend? Not likely.
I donot see why Mr Mhlongo was so angry on this.. l mean listening to the pastor he was making a Lord of examples even on women ..may be he should ask himself why does this really irritates him..
Somizi you are a hero !!!! To all those who condemn us for being who we are, God will judge you. Please understand that being Gay is not a choice its who we are !!! There is a wave of discrimination that is sweeping the world and we need to understand that all discrimation is wrong. To those who sat in the church and cheered and applauded,shame on you.
Yes and discrimination against Christians is also wrong you cannot call yourself Christian and deny our lords teachings on these matters and as a Christian I have no problem with people that battle same sex attraction however it’s what you do with those urges that is the problem. I take my hat off to Christians battling with same sex attraction but choose to abstain because they are Christian like the lord said pick up your cross and follow me some crosses are bigger than others and for those with big crosses I envy you. Your salvation is more assured than mine! And as for judgement the lord says we should call each other out but condemning is for him. In the lords words you are your brother’s keeper
I’m sorry but discrimination against Christians? Battle same sex attraction?
Get your head checked. Conservatives like you are the reason this world is so messed up.
Being gay is not an issue, it is not something anyone should have to feel ashamed of. It occurs in nature and if you’ve done any scientific research instead of relying on a 2000 year old book selectively compiled of information which was decided upon by a group of religious scholars, you may have found thousands of scientific studies which suggest that homosexuality is a part of our evolution as a species. But hey, who am I kidding, you probably prefer to believe that everything came into existence in 7 days instead?
The discrimination experienced by members of the LGBTQ+ community on a daily basis from the likes of so-called “christians” far outweighs the so-called “discrimination” you believe this religious sect is experiencing.
Religion in general has for thousands of years crippled the development and modernization of the world. Don’t claim that religious discrimination is an issue when religion has persecuted anyone who thinks differently and that deviates from the norm.
According to your own holy book, in the same context whereby it refers to homosexuality as an abomination, you will find it saying that eating shellfish is forbidden as well as wearing mixed fabrics. I bet you will find dozens of items in your own closet that breach the case as well as have had a few trips to Ocean Basket or any other seafood restaurant and had shellfish in one way or another.
The context of these religious scripts is no longer applicable to everyday life. The world has changed. Now don’t get me wrong, everyone has the right to their religion and to be religious but the second you use that right to infringe upon the rights of others or judge those whom you have no business judging, you are simply practicing hate and bigotry.
You cannot be selective when reading the Bible as everything in It IS The Absolute TRUTH as Discerned by the Leading of the SPIRIT of TRUTH and LIGHT The HOLY SPIRIT.
“You believe in a book that has talking animals, wizards, witches, demons, sticks turning into snakes, burning bushes, food falling from the sky, people walking on water, and all sorts of magical, absurd and primitive stories, and you say we are the ones that need help?”
– MARK TWAIN