In a recent interview with Marc Lamont Hill on Huffpost Live, T.D. Jakes sat down to talk about his new book, Destiny. Step Into Your Purpose. Many people are questioning his inclusive statements. However, should his lack of orthodoxy on LGBT issues come as a surprise to us? What should surprise us is that many people who were unwilling to part fellowship with T.D. Jakes over his denial of the Trinity are now willing to question their relationship with him over this issue. Should the LGBT issue take a higher place of priority than the doctrine of the Trinity?
T.D. Jakes has a long running commitment to the unorthodox teachings of Oneness Pentecostalism that clearly denies the Trinity. This doctrinal position is known as Modalism, but looking back into church history, this position is known by the name Sabellianism. This teaching rejects the Trinitarian revelation of God and suggests that God exists as One being and manifests Himself in three distinct modes – Father, Son, and Spirit. Modalism rejects the Trinitarian revelation of God whereby He exists as One God in three distinct persons who are co-equal and co-eternal. This is a dividing line issue of unorthodox teachings that can’t be merely looked upon as a lower tier issue resulting in denominational differences. To deny the Trinity is to deny the faith of genuine Christianity.
Rejection of the Trinity Leads to a Rejection of God’s Word
If you miss the Trinitarian revelation of God in the Scriptures, you will likewise miss His inerrant and immutable truth that binds human hearts and governs all cultures on human sexuality. God has provided us with truth that transcends time, geographic locale, and public opinion. In their conversation, Marc Lamont Hill made a progression into the current cultural conversation on the LGBT movement. At one point, Marc Lamont Hill pushed T.D. Jakes by asking “Has your thinking evolved on this?” T.D. Jakes answered by saying: “Evolved and evolving… where I am is to better understand. We (the church) bought… into the myth that this is a Christian nation… We no longer look to public policy to reflect Biblical ethics.”
The authority of God’s Word supersedes the evolution of cultural opinion, law, and the personal opinion of T.D. Jakes. Matthew 24:35 and Isaiah 40:8 are two clear texts that demonstrate the reality that God is not planning on changing His mind on the LGBT issues. When the apostle Paul was writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, he didn’t charge Timothy to preach his evolving opinion. Instead, he instructed him to proclaim God’s Word. This statement by Paul demonstrates the reality that God’s Word transcends man’s opinions, thoughts, evolving ideas, and emotions on all issues of life.
If we embrace relativism and plunge headlong into the deep waters of postmodernism, we will be led to elevate ideas and opinions to a higher level than God’s Word. This leads a person to naturally reject the authority of the sacred Scriptures. That seems to be the direction that T.D. Jakes is progressing in his view of human sexuality. T.D. Jakes claims to be a preacher of the gospel, yet God’s ambassador would have said, “Thus says the Lord, and He’s not planning to offer an apology to the LGBT community regarding His ordained purpose for human sexuality.”
Rejection of the Trinity Leads to a Wrong View of God’s Church
The doctrine of the church begins with a simple definition the word translated “church” taken from the Greek word, ἐκκλησία, which means “a called out assembly.” The “called out” ones are assembling together under the banner of the gospel having been called out of darkness and into the marvelous light of Christ (1 Peter 2:9). To suggest that the church should accept LGBT people into their membership is to misunderstand what the church is. For T.D. Jakes to miss the mark regarding the church should not surprise us because T.D. Jakes has likewise misunderstood God.
At one point in the conversation, T.D. Jakes was asked, “Do you [think] that the LGBT community and the black church can coexist?” First of all, the question is framed incorrectly. There is no such thing as a “black church” or a “white church.” We must work from the definition of the church provided for us in the New Testament. As we read the New Testament, we find that Paul often labored to overthrow the idea of an exclusive Jewish church. He pointed out that God saves Jew and Gentile (Romans 1:16). Nevertheless, T.D. Jakes responded by saying, “Absolutely.” Jakes would go on to say, “LGBTs…have to find a household of worship that reflects what your views are and what you believe like anybody else.”
To suggest that it’s possible to align Jesus Christ and His church with the LGBT community is to make a grievous error. The apostle Paul made this point abundantly clear in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18:
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? [15] What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? [16] What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [17] Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, [18] and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
When a “household of worship” claiming to be a church of Jesus Christ seeks to condone the unfruitful deeds of darkness, which is not limited to homosexuality, it becomes something other than a church. No group that normalizes adultery, drunkenness, idolatry, or any other sin can be classified as a church. A building may have a steeple, stained glass windows, and a pulpit, but if the people who meet there muzzle God’s Word while opening the doors to evolving cultural opinion, make no mistake, it’s not a church. In Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth, he pointed out that their church was made up of people who had come out of those sinful ways of living by faith in Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 6:1-11).
The beautiful thing about the church is that it’s made up of redeemed sinners who have been saved from all types of sinful backgrounds – including the LGBT community. However, to admit unrepentant sinners of any type into the church and call them brothers and sisters in Christ is to miss categorize and misunderstand the church of Jesus Christ.
It should not take erroneous comments on LGBT issues to cause professing Christians to examine their relationship with T.D. Jakes. The lack of discernment among many professing Christians regarding T.D. Jakes and his Modalism is clearly a big concern. What’s abundantly clear in this interview is that when people incorrectly define God and mishandle His Word, it will lead to an open door for a multiplicity of grievous errors. T.D. Jakes needs to repent of his denial of the Trinity and his inclusive views regarding the church of Jesus Christ.
