How can everyone in ministry suddenly all be gay?

Some of the emails I started to get (everyone in the office got) were to point me in the right direction and prove that the church was not a cult.

This is a touchy post as it mentions the gay-lifestyle. Please remember these are not my views but the views of those in House of Prayer as taught to them based on their interpretation of the Bible or by their leader Rony Denis.

In no way am I condoning their interpretation and this post is not an open invitation to share your personal views of that lifestyle. I love everyone regardless of race, religion and sexual orientation. 

There is plenty of hatred already in the world. It is also not for me to judge.

In fact I’ll start and give credit where credit is due. As I’ve said before not everyone in House of Prayer is a bad person or manipulator or a greed mongering leader.

Many are just folks who truly believe they are in a place of worship that is serving God.

I got one email from CJ Vargas that was dated 7/3/2017 and it starts out talking about the good things he and the church have done:

“I have been a part of the food bank/homeless ministry, nursing home ministry, and are beginning our jail ministry soon. I would love to invite you to one of our next community outreach events so that you can see firsthand the good things that God is doing right here in our community. We go into lower income areas Hinesville and surrounding areas to bring spiritual relief because many of these people seem to be neglected and forgotten. From time to time in some of the worst areas of town you see us talking to those who are hurting and forgotten. In the worst trailer parks in Hinesville and the surrounding area you will find us ministering. We are a church made up of people who were bound by the power of Satan, but have now been set free. We are free to serve God, not a man.”

Then he lost me a bit when he worded his next sentence in the following manner (And I think he was GUIDED by Denis on what to write):

“We love people from all walks of life. In our church you see whites, Negroes, Latinos and Asian. There are even some that were formally gay, truly we are a church of all nations.” 

Again this was written in 2017 and I just thought it harsh to see that he used the “N” word instead of the more commonly used African American. Maybe since they practice Old-Time Pentecostal he used that word which was used a lot in older times. I also think he meant to say formerly gay not formally.

CJ went on to write:

“This is another point of confusion about our church. We are not “anti-gay”. We believe the Bible’s teachings about traditional marriage, just like we believe its teachings regarding murder.

The Bible says:

“Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Genesis 2:24

 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers themselves with of mankind, ……I Corinthians 6:9

That is what this is all about Ms. Patty. There were some ministers who were living very ungodly and did not want to be exposed for their immoral closet lifestyle. They were here for over 12 years, and could not accept the Biblical standards for the ministry. We do not condemn Gays or gay people, but we love them enough to want to help see them delivered by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The only time we would even expose someone’s sexuality is if they are in the ministry. We will not tolerate Gays and lesbians behind the pulpit. Again, this is not because we hate them, but because we want them to be delivered. Many people in our church have been delivered from drugs and all manner of immoral lifestyles, including homosexuality.

 Again, we serve Jesus Christ, he is our leader. Denis is not the leader, it is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. It is God that does not want Homosexuals or bi-sexuals in his pulpit, just as much as he doesn’t want liars or adulterers.

 In an email from Jeff Derby dated 7/4/2017, Derby said the church is not homophobic, but the church believes it can deliver these folks out of the sin of being homosexual and that HOPCC “will never accept gay minister.”

But this is what I’ve learned:

There are at least 5 former HOPCC Pastors that were kicked out or left after challenging the church.

Denis accused all five of being homosexual or child molesters only AFTER they left or were ousted. Denis then proceeded to announce this in front of the entire congregation, including the children. He spread this lie across all the affiliates’ churches as well.

It truly believe it is a lie.

I know of or know personally at least three of the five men and they were all STRAIGHT MARRIED MEN.

One of the former pastors lives in North Carolina, still with his wife and kids. They are lucky and got out. The whole family together.

The other two men are also still with their wives who left when they did.

One man is Arlen Bradeen who I’ve mentioned before and will soon be posting his devastating story. Denis ruined his marriage of 30 years. Bradeen is now kept away from his former wife and his daughter. I’ve talked to many folks in the community, and they all say the same thing about Arlen Bradeen. He is a great guy and didn’t and doesn’t deserve what happened.

When you hear the awful Denis said about him in front of hundreds of church members and kids it will have you in tears as it did Bradeen and I when he told me his story.

And within a week of the divorce his ex is already paired off and about to marry a man Denis chose for her.

Go back for a second a look again at what CJ Vargas said:

There were some ministers who were living very ungodly and did not want to be exposed for their immoral closet lifestyle. They were here for over 12 years, and could not accept the Biblical standards for the ministry.

The only time we would even expose someone’s sexuality is if they are in the ministry. We will not tolerate Gays and lesbians behind the pulpit.

The truth is the only time church members were told or learned that these “ministers were gay,” was after they were kicked out.

I know the pastor of 12 years that CJ was talking about. CJ and this former pastor had an exchange of words during a town hall event that I was there to cover. And it is well-known that Denis dislikes the man and the others who are trying to show people what is really transpiring behind those hidden walls.

And how is it that each and every person they throw out of that church is gay?

Come on!

“Gay” is something Denis has taught everyone to fear. So once Denis removes someone from the church he labels them gay KNOWING the church members will not want to associate or even with that person even if they were best friends…even if they were siblings…..even if they were husband and wife.

Just another form of control, manipulation, deceit and fear-mongering.

Definition of a master manipulator from Psychology Today: Most manipulative individuals have four common characteristics:

1.      They know how to detect your weaknesses.

2.      Once found, they use your weaknesses against you.

3.      Through their shrewd machinations, they convince you to give up something of yourself in order to serve their self-centered interests.

4.      In work, social, and family situations, once a manipulator succeeds in taking advantage of you, he or she will likely repeat the violation until you put a stop to the exploitation.

Here is a nice picture of Rony Denis mocking former members.