While
I was writing this material, The American Psychological Association
issued a warning on August 14, 1997, against the "psychological
terrorism" of the Ex-Gay "reparative therapy" movement, which the APA
said reveals an "intense bias against gay people." The
warning stated that "In the past 10 years, Christian fundamentalists
have enlisted a coalition of old-style psychologists, psychiatrists and
social workers who have become very visible in this country and
internationally, and who have as a mission to 'help' homosexuals get
rid of their sexual orientation. Our aim is not to try to stop
them per se or interfere with anyone's right to practice, but we want
to expose the social context that creates this market." --from PLANETOUT New Web Sites of American Psychological Association added December 14, 2000:
APA ANSWERS
APA "JUST THE FACTS"
APA "GUIDELINES FOR PSYCHOTHERAPY" The following personal testimony was sent to me Nov. 22, 1998, by a high school friend of mine. It speaks for itself.
PERSONAL TESTIMONY BY THOM. 11/22/98 After
twenty years of marriage, I left home, at my wife's request, because of
my being "mentally homosexual." There had been few homosexual
experiences--only a couple of encounters during my younger years. I was
53 years old, very much a believer in the biblical teachings of my
Southern Baptist background which included the belief that
homosexuality was an abomination unto God. Therefore, having been
"kicked out" by a wife who knew my thoughts as a result of reading my
journal, I determined to get myself cured of this "leprosy" and located
a group under the auspices of Exodus International which met weekly in
Tampa at a church annex. My
first encounter with the group promised to be a frightening experience
for me. I had never been around gay people and drove to the meeting
with fear and trepidation, knowing, however, that what I was doing was
"good." To my surprise, the participants at the meeting, both male and
female, could have been members of my Sunday School class. I was
greeted warmly. As I sat among the predominantly male group, I wondered
why they didn't look "different." They looked like me. During
the nearly three years that I participated in this group, I was never
asked to have sex by any member of the group nor did I seek anyone
sexually. The purpose of the group was to deliver one from
homosexuality, and I took that commitment seriously. After all, I had
an ex-wife and three children who were counting on me. Week after week
I attended, saying nothing, but listening to stories of confession,
repentance, recommitment. Finally, I was confronted and asked to tell
my story, which I did. From then on, I felt accepted and looked forward
each week to rejoining this group of fellow seekers. One
week I met Joey, a young professional dancer, who was dying of AIDS.
The group prayed for Joey, and I realized I had had a superior attitude
toward AIDS victims as I could not have been infected. The realization
that these were not "bad" people turned my negativity and snobbery to
sincere caring, and I visited with guys infected with AIDS several
times with friends I had met in the group. I
did fall in love. My love affair was with a fellow younger than myself
who paid much attention to me and confronted me regarding attitudes
that he found were not Christ-like. I found myself drawn to this man
but unable and unwilling to call it love. Nevertheless, I learned so
much from him and discovered that he was trying to deal not only with
his own gayness but with a father who had been murdered by a gay man
whom he picked up. The experience left me breathless as I had never
truly been in love as I was with this man. It was a totally new
experience...and exasperating. During
my involvement with the group, I did everything I was instructed to do
in order to change what was in my head--fasting, prayer therapy,
confession, crying into my pillow, guilt, seeking to find the cause of
my gayness. Most of the group that assembled were totally sincere and
dedicated. Of that assemblage, I know now only two who are
celibate and believe that homosexuality is a sin. One who has married a
female has confessed to me his continued desires for companionship with
males. My
assessment of the Exodus group is both harsh and kind. I think it was
dangerous in that it refused to allow anyone to admit he/she is
homosexual, which caused negative self-images and continual anguish.
The fact is that only when I could utter the word "homosexual" about
myself did I began to experience healing. One young fellow in the
group, who was married and had children, eventually killed himself. He
had tried suicide many times. No one ws allowed to discuss
whether gay could possibly be acceptable. We were "sick" and had
to be cured. God can do all things; therefore, he could change
one's sexual orientation. When that didn't happen, we were told
to work harder, look for the sin in our lives preventing our change,
and to pray "without ceasing." On the positive side, the group
allowed me for the first time to meet in a church setting gay people
whom I had avoided all my life and to learn that they were not perverts
or abominations but people like me, seeking an understanding of
themselves. Frustrated
at my inability to control my mind, at some point I addressed God and
told Him that I was accepting myself just as He had created me--as a
gay man. I was not going to continue fighting His creativity as I had
come to believe I was acceptable in His eyes. At that point, I began a
new life by accepting myself as a gay man. That acceptance has
brought me great happiness and a new self-image that is positive,
despite rejection by my dad and stepmother and my only brother.
Most of the members of the group in which I was involved eventually
dropped out and either have been or are involved in gay relationships,
most very productively and healthily. When I advised the group of my decision, I was asked to leave. Although I have written
the leader telling him of my gratitude for his efforts on my behalf, I have never had a response. Thom Cooper 11/22/98 Click here to send e-mail to Thom
Personal Note by Rembert Truluck:
Thom and I were in high school together and lost touch with each other
about 1956. Neither of us knew that the other was gay. Thom
learned that I was gay and contacted me when I was Pastor of MCC
Nashville. We have corresponded by mail and then by e-mail ever
since. We have not seen each other since high school days. Thom
was the main influence on me to get on the Internet and begin to use
e-mail. Thom's
personal struggles with being gay and married with children have helped
me to see more clearly the need to address and deal with the spiritual
issues faced by homosexuals who are or have been married with children.
Thom's experience with "Ex-Gay" distortions of religion and reality are
also instructive. I would appreciate hearing and learning from
your story and will protect your identity. Thom's story is given
here with his permission and encouragement. "STORM WARNING"
Update for July 11, 2004
THE GATHERING STORM This
fall, GLBT people face a storm of homophobic religious/political war
that we have never seen before. We are rapidly approaching "The
Storm of the Century" for GLBT people. Earthquake rumblings
guarantee a tsunami of apocalyptic proportions this fall as the
presidential election approaches like a tidal wave of destruction and
annihilation for the homo race! Why
is this happening? I don't really know. All I know is that
the President of the United States and many of his supporters are
willing to use misinformation and lies about homosexuals and about
marriage to advance a political agenda that is desperate for ways to
justify an unjust war and to support a political agenda that is based
on religious bigotry and ignorance. Marriage
through the centuries and in the Bible has been the legal ownership of
a woman by a man as his personal piece of property. The Old
Testament clearly supports multiple wives for powerful men.
Adultery laws in the Old Testament are not about sex. They are
about property rights! The word "sex" never appears in the
Bible! There is no biblical Hebrew or Greek word for "sex"!
You will not find "sex" in any biblical concordance. Modern
translators and interpreters read sex into the biblical material like
we read sex into everything else in our culture! PRESIDENTIAL POWER Never
before has the power of the presidency of the United States been used
to abuse and ridicule a minority of the American population in the way
that the Bush administration is attacking GLBT people and our civil and
human rights! Even at the height of the anti-black prejudice and
oppression of the post Civil War days, presidents were reasonable and
progressive until the final emancipation of African American people was
completed in the Kennedy/Johnson administrations. Go to "Yahoo!" and enter and click on "gay and lesbian"
and see the current news reports about President Bush's Saturday
anti-gay radio address supporting an amendment to the U. S.
Constitution to make GLBT people below "second class" citizens to a
level of rejection and ridicule that is beyond civilized! See
there also the "Senate Debate" about changing the U. S. Constitution to
delete GLBT people from the civil and human rights guaranteed by the
basic document of the United States of America! This is the most
clearly "anti-gay" political season in history. Only the Nazi
attack on Jews under Adolph Hitler is more immoral and more filled with
horror. TERRORISM REDEFINED Terrorism
against GLBT people is being formulated in Presidential, Religious and
Political maneuvering and plotting that is beyond anything we have
faced before. Why? Is it because we have not made clear who
we really are and demonstrated that we are no threat at all to
traditional marriage or anything else? Or is it because
traditional religion has jumped the track and plowed into the swamp of
ignorance, lies and hypocrisy that completely deny the reality of God
and the revelation of love in Jesus Christ? What
kind of biblical distortions and misinformation have led to this
horrible situation? You decide. Use your brain. Think
for yourself. Wake up to the horror that we are facing! SOUTHERN BAPTISTS The
Southern Baptist Convention in its recent annual meeting in
Indianapolis took its most radical anti-gay stand so far. The
President of the United States was an invited main speaker (by
television) at the convention and promoted his anti-gay agenda with
great relish and enthusiasm to thunderous applause and multiple
"amen's"! This religious/political anti-gay spectacle is unique
in American history! Why now? Why
have Southern Baptists abandoned their historic position of separation
of Church and State that was first declared and put into practice by
Baptist Roger Williams in his plan for the Rhode Island Colony and
creation of the First Baptist Church of Providence, RI? Why has
the SBC denied its own noble tradition of soul freedom and religious
liberty that led to the first amendment to the U.S Constitution that
guaranteed separation of Church and State? Why? Is it
money, ignorance or some kind of combination of both?
(See my section on Southern Baptists.)
Presbyterians also
reversed their motion toward GLBT equality in ministry and decided not
to allow openly gay and lesbian clergy or other elected church
officials! This was a radical retreat from progress that has been
building towards acceptance of same-sex relationships and leadership in
the church. Why
now? Is the ignorance level of this country rising to such
stupendous levels that accurate information has no hearing and no place
in public policy or religious institutions? How stupid can you
get? Well, in current American culture it seems that you can get
pretty stupid in public anti-gay anti-truth rhetoric and in political
and religious manipulations of public opinion and news media. THE VAST "EX-GAY" INDUSTRY The
vast "Ex-Gay" Industry is thriving through well financed and strongly
pushed efforts by the Southern Baptist Convention along with such
religiously defective and psychologically discredited money raisers as
"Focus on the Family"(Dollar) and other related rabid hypocrisy based
religious empires. You can trace all of them on the Internet if
you want to take the time. Start with "Focus on the Family" and
go from there. The
Roman Catholic Church like the smiling Cheshire cat lurks in the
background and smirks over all of this with legalistic medieval
theology and nonsense psychology to support all of the worst anti-gay
and ultra religious prejudice against sexual minorities that can be
generated by warped misinformed religion. Challenge these
lies! Expose these distortions of the Bible and the Gospel!
Don't ever pretend any of it is true! Bristle at every religious
homophobic remark you hear and challenge it! Get into a lot of
trouble! Make other people mad as hell at you! You will be
glad you did. You might even make some people think and reexamine their religious bullshit that they have been taught is holy truth!
WE ARE VULNERABLE We
are an easy target. We are like little bunnies running around in
an open field. We are easy to spot and easy to kill for the
enjoyment of bunny killers! Don't' act like this OK! It is
not OK to be a target for homophobic gay bunny killers! Is
there a resurrection victory for us also? YES! We are what
we are because God made us this way! We are not a mistake.
We are GLBT people because God has a plan and a ministry for us to
change this world. So, where is the army of angels and chariots
of fire to deliver us and set us free? Watch what God is about to
do! Something is about to happen that will be a "wake up call" to
the human race. THE WRATH OF GOD The wrath of God is about to be unleashed upon all who falsely claim to speak for God. Brace
yourself. Prepare your heart to trust God during the apocalyptic storm to come. My
website and book contain all of the factual information that you need
to answer the flood of misinformation and distortions about GLBT people
that has been unleashed upon our culture. Use what is already
there for you! Take the time to study and learn the truth and
pass it on to others whenever you can. You
always have my permission to copy and use any of my material that will
help somebody else. Lives depend on it. Use anything that
you think will help! Rembert Truluck
I
hope that this is not my last update. For a lack of funds, I am
about to have my DSL disconnected and my website removed from the
Internet. I really do need your financial support! You can
make contributions through Chi Rho Press or to me directly at: Dr. Rembert Truluck
201 W. Washington St. #805
Greenville, SC 29601 Chi Rho Press contributions are tax free:
http://www.chirhopress.com/sponsor.html
Click here and simply state the amount and say for Dr. Truluck.
Or you can send a check by mail to Chi Rho Press at
PO Box 7864
Gaithersburg, MD 20898, USA
Telephone: 301/926-1208 phone/fax Order my book from Chi Rho Press:
http://www.chirhopress.com/products/product_details/steps_to
_recovery_details.html Use my book to start your own small group home study for dialogue and spiritual recovery from religious abuse. INVITE
ME to lead a conference, revival or workshop for your church or
association, group or community. Call me at 510-220-8743 or send
me e-mail so we can discuss a time and a plan. Thank you for
anything that you do to get the truth out to more of our people and to
the rest of the world. This Update added August 1, 2003:
"WALLOWING IN MEDIEVAL MYTHOLOGY" CHURCH AND STATE Both
the President of the United States and the Vatican are wallowing in
medieval mythology. The Vatican condemns same-sex marriage as
"deviant". The Roman Catholic Church for centuries has taught the
"deviant" abusive religious doctrine of celibacy as superior to
marriage and has created the mythology of marriage being inferior to
celibacy with no biblical basis at all.
The rejection of the
flesh as evil and claim that the act of sex is a sin is based
historically not on the Bible but on the philosophy of dualism that
views the material world in conflict with and alien to the
spiritual. Clement of Alexandria gave the clearest early
statement of sex versus spirituality in the early beginnings of
Christianity. Clement was a Buddhist before he became a Christian. Throughout
the world, the Catholic Church has opposed birth control and
contributed to population explosions and the suffering and death of
millions of people in poverty-driven third world countries where the
Church is dominant. Forbidding divorce, the Church has
contributed to domestic violence for centuries and now has demonstrated
that the Church cannot control the sexuality of its own "celibate"
priesthood. The contradictions created in the Church by medieval
mythology are mind-boggling. Money is power, and the wealth of
the Roman Catholic Church is so great that it can absorb the multiple
millions of dollars that child-molesting lawsuits have already
cost. For the Church to attempt to play the imperial role as the
source of all sexual morality is hypocritical and absurd. A MISINFORMED PRESIDENT The
President has taken the unprecedented position of favoring the extreme
abusive religious teachings of the homophobic fundamentalists as the
basis for public policy regarding same-sex marriage in the United
States. Medieval mythology is not the basis for any other facet
of our culture except for the attitudes and teachings of misinformed
legalistic abusive religion! Medicine, law, business, education,
science, technology, industry, government, the arts and entertainment
continue to evolve and develop as human experience and knowledge expand
and grow. Medieval
mythology has no legitimate place in the modern world. The
scientific revolution and the rapid march of knowledge and discovery
into a brand new world make the religious/political use of medieval
mythology ludicrous and dangerous. GOING WHERE THE MONEY IS The
Church and the President follow the power of money. As long as
the churches and misinformed legalistic abusive religion control vast
segments of public thinking, the financial factor will continue to
offset and contradict reason and justice. Politics is controlled
and directed by money. The reason that the President has enough
power to function as an "imperial president" and decide personal issues
for all individuals is because of the incredible amount of money that
has put him into the White House, controls him and keeps him there. The
Gospel of Jesus is basically the good news of the power of truth over
money, love over political control, and the facts over deceit and faith
over works. The
story of Jesus is "good news" only when it is accurately and honestly
based on the life and teachings of the real Jesus and not on medieval
mythologies and the historical financial necessities of the imperial
church and it's imitators. Religion based mythologies are very
difficult to overcome and to refute. They are formatted into
codes of law, just as the President suggested that the rejection of
same-sex marriage should be! Once
religious teachings become "law", no matter how absurd and unfounded
they might be, breaking the "law" becomes a religious crime and is
automatically branded as "sin" or worse. Children are
taught the religious "laws" from a very early age and are convinced
that they are valid through threats, punishment and rejection from
their parents and other parent figures.
THE SUPREME COURT The
US Supreme Court set a lot of this into an accelerating spiral of
reactions and debates with their recent decision that state anti-gay
"sodomy" laws are unconstitutional. All discrimination against
GLBT people because of their gender orientation is now declared
unconstitutional. This means that denying marriage to same-sex
partners, the military policy of "don't ask don't tell", denying
same-sex partners medical and retirement benefits, housing
discrimination, job discrimination, education discrimination and every
other form of discrimination against GLBT people is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. The
reaction of many homophobic religious abusers is: "So, let's change the
Constitution!" Satan never sleeps. Dedicated religious
ignorance never gives up. The battle is far from over.
THE UNRELENTING POWER OF BIBLE ABUSE The
abusive misinformed use of the Bible and religious traditions to
convince the public and many GLBT people that same-sex relationships
are nasty, evil, disgusting, unnatural, an abomination to God, a crime
against nature, etc., etc., is so pervasive that even getting a grip on
the massive amount of abuse that has been generated is very
difficult. Answering all of it is impossible. How
have you responded so far to the accelerated flood of misinformation
and political/religious deceit that are being thrown at all GLBT people
now? How do you feel about yourself as you read and follow the
television coverage of charges and debates related to who you
are? Where do you get your own basic information about
yourself? From within yourself or from outside sources? Far
too many people try to decide who you are and lay their opinions on you
as though you had no brain or ability to be logical and objective for
yourself. As GLBT people, we have the same right as everybody
else to think for ourselves and to discover our own realities and
values within, for God has created us in God's image also and has given
the Spirit of Jesus to each of us as an inner voice of self-acceptance
and affirmation.
KNOW THE TRUTH The first piece of spiritual body armor mentioned in
Ephesians 5:10-20 as
necessary in your personal victory over abusive misinformed religion is
"Having girded your loins about with truth." (5:14). This quote is from
the Isaiah 11:5 description of God. Note that all of the pieces
of spiritual armor in Ephesians 5 are based on Old Testament
descriptions of God. The "armor of God" really is God's own armor
that is given to us as we follow Jesus and confront and overcome the
negative forces against us that try to discredit and destroy us. There
is no substitute for truth. Lies, distortions, half-truths (which
are half-lies!), hypocrisies, and misinformation are mortal enemies of
the truth that is found in the real Jesus. Jesus said "I am the
truth" and "I came to bear witness to the truth." Jesus
proclaimed that "you will know the truth, and the truth will set you
free." Take the time to trace the use of "truth" in the Gospel of
John. When the Spirit of Jesus is guiding you, you are being
guided "into all truth." Politics and Religion that are based on
misinformation and ignorance cannot ever really liberate anybody! You
have won half of the battle when you reject the distorted views of
yourself that your homophobic misinformed abusive religious culture has
dumped on you and proceed to discover your own truth for
yourself. God made you just like you are and God will help you to
learn and live your own truth with confidence and self-esteem. The
best source that I know for accurate factual information about GLBT
issues is still to be found in my web site. Take a fresh look at
the material there on The Bible and Homosexuality and on the Ex-Gay Fraud. Having my web site and my book is valuable only if you are taking the time to read and
study the material and share in dialogue with others. JOIN WITH OTHERS Connect
yourself with other people who are dealing with the same issues and
challenges that you face. Make your own decisions about yourself,
and by doing this you can learn a lot from others who are doing the
same and you can be of help to them also just by sharing yourself in
dialogue and study. A
great deal of the use of my web site and book material is by
individuals alone and by small groups and one-to-one conversations and
e-mails. I have been concerned lately to find ways to make my
material available to more people. As I read over the material in
my book, I don't really want to change any of it. I do want to
get a second book of 52 lessons on Jesus completed as a sequel to Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse. I
am very excited by what Kim Hwang is doing in Chinese and by others who
have told me of similar small group home study in many parts of the
world. CHINESE SUPPORT GROUP My
friend Kim Hwang in Taipei, Taiwan, has sent to me the first 12 lessons
in my book and "My Story" in Chinese. She is printing these
materials and making them available to her home study group that is
using them every week. As soon as I am able to get set up to
print the Chinese characters in my web site, I plan to add this new
Chinese translation of my first three steps to a special new page on my
web site. Kim
sent me printed pages and also a CD disk. The printed material
covers 56 full size pages and is in easy to read clear large Chinese
characters. Kim plans to translate the entire book! She
leads a study of my book every Friday night. They are currently
studying Lesson 5. The
material is in "Traditional Chinese". Kim also has an online
Internet study group using the material. See her Internet web
link below. Kim's ministry in Taiwan of translating and using my
book in a Chinese GLBT support group is a great encouragement to me. VISIT WITH MY MOTHER Last
weekend, I enjoyed a wonderful visit with my 91-year-old mother at
Martha Franks Retirement Center in Laurens, SC. Mother is now
totally blind and hears very little. I am amazed at her strength
and cheerful lifestyle. She told me how glad she was that she
came to Martha Franks when she could still see and get to know the
people and they could get to know her. Now
she continues to greet and encourage new residents and to take part in
all of the activities that she is able to attend. She still lives
in her own room and walks unaided to the dining hall for her
meals. She gets practical help as she needs it from the staff and
other residents. All of her life, Mother has helped other people,
and now other people are helping her. That's the way it works,
isn't it! Mother will be 92 years old on August 11, 2003. You can send her a birthday card to: Mary Truluck, One Martha Franks Drive, Laurens, S. C. 29360.
Rembert Truluck Kim Hwang Church website
See also responses by Soulforce
See also Joseph Campbell: "THE POWER OF MYTH" books and PBS videos
The Joseph Campbell Foundation online:
Over a million web sites give information about Joseph Campbell. |
