World Pride Festival 2005

Jerusalem - upto Zion we will find peace

(Isa 35:10 NKJV) And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

World Pride 2005 , scheduled to be held between August 18 and 28, 2-005 is expected to draw more than 100,000 gays and lesbians from around the world to Jerusalem. Christian, Jewish and Moslem clerics in Israel denounced the WorldPride Festival, asking city officials to ban the observance. Jerusalem WorldPride 2005 will be a ten-day festival covering two weekends. The climax of WorldPride 2005 will be the WorldPride Parade, Street Fair and Rally in Jerusalem, where we will make our most public and visible statement of pride and unity as LGBT people. The first of Word Pride was held in Rome in July 2000 and the second is scheduled to be in Jerusalem in 2005. Although Pride 2005 is not a Christian event, it represents a picture of the end times, where Gays will return to God, in their thousands, to Zion where the Lamb of God dwells. (Rev 14:1).

The City of Jerusalem has major religious signifinance to the Jews, Christians, and Muslims. For the Jews, Jerusalem is the site of the first and second temple, and future temple. For Christians, it is the site of Christ resurrection and return. For Muslims, it is the site of the Dome of Rock Mosque. Historically, King David captured Jerusalem in 1000 BC. King Solomon built the first Temple to house the Ark of the Covenant. In 586 BC, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and exiled the Jews to Babylon. In 537 BC, Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon and permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem where the second Temple was rebuilt. Whilst suppressing a major Jewish revolt, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in AD 70. The Arabs built (688-91) the Dome of the Rock mosque. British troops conquered Jerusalem in 1917. Israel captured the city in June 1967.

The City of Jerusalem has been the stage for key events impacting history. By holding the Gay World Pride 2005 at Jerusalem, God perhaps is saying that the Holy Spirit will be move mightily to bring revival to Gays. Jerusalem has been and will be the place of happenings:-

a. At Jerusalem, in Gen 22:2-14, Abraham offered everything to God by sacrificing his only child Issac as a sacrifice to God. This resulted in God's blessing on Abraham, that through Abraham's seed or descendents, God's only son jesus would come and die for us. Just as Abraham was willing, so too would God be willing. Therefore through Abraham's seed i.e. Jesus, the whole world would be blessed.

b. After David was annointed King, in 2 Sam 5:6, King David, the descendent of Abraham, conquered Jerusalem. His son Solomon, constucted the temple of God where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. The temple was a picture of the presence of God. This is where God dwells. It is a picture of Jesus.

c. Jesus Christ died and rose again at Jerusalem. Therefore, out of Jerusalem, came forth the Gospel of Salvation through Jesus Christ. When Jesus died. the temple veil was torn in half. The wall between man and God was broken that thorugh Jesus Christ we have a direct access to God. Our bodies now represents living temples of God, where the Holy Spirit resides.

Matthew 1:17 summarises Jerusalem so concisely in blocks of 500 year periods or fourteen generations from Abraham to David, from David until the captivity in Babylon, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ.

The teachings of the Ultra Orthodox Jews, fundamentalist Christians, and Muslims differs so widely, yet on this issue of Gays, they are united in opposition despite their differences. What unites them? Is it Jerusalem and the thought that the Gays may desecrate their temple? or could the common factor be that all three religions have the same roots in worshiping one true God but their ways of reaching God are based on man's ways The three groups are known by their fervency for God, religious fervency that is so often carnal, self centered and legalistic.. This is the same Jerusalem having killed so many prophets of God declaring the good news, and finally even Jesus the son of God they crucified. Jerusalem will reject the Gays, there will be violence, and there will be widespread condemnation. It may even be cancelled.

Yet, the intention to march through Jerusalem is a fundamental move that signifies

a. The start of God's move amongst the Gays resulting in a revival that the world has not seen before.

b. The return of Gays to worship God and pay homage to the God that made them as Gays. No longer are they against God for creating them thus. They are proud to declare how God has created them. In every city, in every land, there is a small corner of the city that Gays congregate. They are outcasts, hidden in a small corner of society. In Singapore, it is the Tanjung Pagar area. This is the time where the outcasts return to God, just as God brought back the Jews to Jerusalem in 1967.

c. The Love of God for Gays. God accepts them. They can enter into God's presence, into the Holy of Holies, to Jerusalem, where the House of God resides. God welcomes the Gays so why not the world.

Pride 2005 is planned to take place in mid Aug 2005 after the feast of Tisha B'va and Tu b'va. The feast of Tisha B'va is a day of mourning to commemorate the many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, including the destruction of the first and second Temples, both of which were destroyed on this day. Coming less than a week after the sorrowful mourning of Tisha b'Av (on the 9th of Av), Tu b'Av is a Jewish holiday of love. Tu B'av allows us to rejoice after Tisha B'av - for the worst has passed and it can only get better. According to the Talmud, Tu B'av commemorates the marriage between different tribes of Israel and marks the end of the death of the desert generation.

Similarly, for Pride 2005 one should not forget that for the last 2000 years since Jesus resurrection, in the name of religion and morality, Gays have suffered significant persecution. There has been many tragedies including the deaths of many thousands of Gays killed by Hitler in WW2, the very high rates of suicides due to depression caused by a very homophorbic society, and the many thousands of Gays killed by AIDS, a disease that has spread with great ease in the Gay community due to the multiple partners due to lack of provision in society for a monogamous relationships provided by marriage. Just as the Jews celebrate Tisha B'av, we declare that the worst is over. God is for us, He will make a way that Gays can marry legally. He will make a way in the wilderness to reveal His love for the Gay people that although the world may reject them, Jesus loves them.

(Isa 51:3 NKJV) For the LORD will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be found in it, Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

A section of Jerusalem is referred to as Zion, which, is the City of David (2 Sam 5:7). The term Zion came to refer to the hill in Jerusalem which was the site of Solomon's temple (2 Chro 5:7). During the Babylonia captivity, Zion symbolizes a longing, by wandering Jews, for a safe homeland. Just like the Jews and Black Americans, Gays have been seeking for peace, safety from persecution, safe to be how God created them. In Zion, God provides and God protects. And the Gays shall come unto Zion with singing (Isa 35:10), and God will give them peace - gladness and Joy, their past sorrows and persecution they will remember no more. Out of Jerusalem, God will bring salvation for the Gays (Isa 46:13). Out of Zion, Gays will have peace with God through Jesus Christ, and they will have peace with themselves for God will specially comfort them. Isa 51:3, Just as God comforts Zion, God will comfort the Gays and will restore all they have lost through persecution and much more. No longer Gays will say I have no future for God will make their wilderness experience, into a land like Eden full of blessings. Pride 2005 gives a spiritual picture of what will be happening in heaven where thousands of Gays will return to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ (Rev 14:1).

You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace
The mountains and the hills will breath forth before you
There'll be shouts of joy, and all the trees of the field
Will clap, will clap their hands
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands
The tress of the field will clap their hands
The trees of the field will clap thier hands
While you go out with joy

You shall go out with Joy

Father God, we long for Zion, we long to come into rest - to come to a place of rejoicing where we are accepted as equals and not discriminated against. Accept us O Lord not because of what we have done, but because of your only son, Jesus Christ, who died for us. Out of Zion, will your Son Reign one day. Out of Zion has come salvation. O Lord, let your salvation come out of Zion to Gays this day. For every day, many Gays are dying without coming to their spiritual Jerusalem, without an encounter with you O Lord Lord, have mercy on us. Lord hear our prayers. Do not forsake us. Take away O Lord our sorrows and fill us with shouts of Joy that our hearts may be glad to see the salvation of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, "Today is the Day of my Salvation. Today, I will come out of Zion, Out of my Holy Hill, and bring great revival amongst the Gays that will show forth my Grace and Mercy. Be still and know that I am the God who healeth Gays. Be still and know that I am a good God. Be still and know that I will come and save the Gays, I love you very much. "