Sex

February Radicalized

Live from Planet Earth, this is HOTM RADICALIZED and I’m your host, Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion.. Let’s pray if willing – YAHAVAH, In YESHUA’S HOLY NAME, AMEN.

Eschatology Conference Announcement

Evolution in everything! February 4th, 2025. Get ready! Get set! On May 2-3rd, 2025, we are hosting our first Great News Network EschatologyStudy of “last things”—TGNN teaches all biblical eschatology was fulfilled in 70 A.D. More Conference right here in SLC UTAH. All are invited to take in some amazing presentations on the right view of End Times as described and defended by the Bible. Lots of qualified speakers have signed up and when I say qualified I do not mean through MDIVS and PHD’s in theology – that is all regurgitated from the same man-made towers and troughs. No, we have people who have discovered the value and truth of fulfilled eschatology on their own! Speakers will include people like Grady Risely out of Sonora Mexico, Adam Marschaalk, Shade Stone, WillyT from Scotland, and plus a few more who are deliberating. But know this – all versions and views are welcome so if you know someone who disagrees with fulfillment invite them to reach out – no matter who – and they can present via ZOOM or live if they are in town. That’s May 2025. Tell all your friends who doubt fulfillment and keep preaching Jesus is coming back to destroy the world but to save the elect. It is JUST . . . NOT . . . SO.

Remember that every Thursday we do a live call-in show from 11 to 1pm MTN. We invite anyone to call in and talk – about anything worthwhile and relative to the faith. We NEED your voices to sharpen ours! So call in – let’s talk.

Christian Liberalism

I want to mention that in the annals of recent Christian history there has risen up from Christian culture something called, Christian Liberalism or Liberal Theology. Some consider a man named, Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (1768–1834) as the “father of liberal theology,” who claimed that religious experience was introspective. After his arrival on the scene others with their own flavor of Christian Liberalism rose up in men like, Henry Ward Beecher promoter of the Social Gospel (1813–1887), Charles Fillmore (1854–1948), a Christian mystic influenced by Emerson; and co-founder of the Unity Church, Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969), pastor of New York’s Riverside Church in 1922, Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976), an existential Christian, and Paul Tillich, part of what is known as neo-orthodoxy and lately, John Shelby Spong. Central to the thinking of all of these men was that experience is superior to the Bible therefore a strong leaning against taking the Bible literally or even principally, and social reform to end poverty and suffering was their active arm.

I want to clarify that those at the Greatnewsnetwork should never be seen as an expression of Modern Christian Liberalism for two MAIN reasons – first, everything we teach, unless admitted in advance, is backed or supported by the Bible and reject the notion that the faith ought to be collectively involved in saving the material world politically or otherwise because that is an individual decision all believers have to make for themselves. Wanted to make this clear and . . . THIS HAS BEEN A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!

February 5×5’s

And now for our February 5X5’s – wait, what, I thought it was four fives – it was, in January, but I’ve discovered another category worth adding so now it’s 5 5s!

Five Musical Alternatives to “Christian” Performers
5. Jethro Tull’s recent single, Curious Ruminant (just superb artistry)
4. Play Soft has a lot of edgy good stuff.
3. Edith Piaf’s (the Little Birds greatest hits is my rec.)
2. Almost anything by XTC – genius.

1. Andy Bey, formerly homeless man, and the song to consider, River Man.
   All bring me to worshiping God in spirit and truth.

Five Books of Great Significance to Consider (in addition to the greatest book of all time, the Bible)
5. Either/Or by Soren Kierkegaard (every line a work of art)
4. Narcissus and Goldman by Herman Hesse
3. Candide by Voltaire
2. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitz

1. Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky

Five Stirring Films to Consider
5. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour)
4. The Killing of the

February’s Five Fives

4. Hannah Arendt – a wise philosopher. 3. Sia – Australian vocal artist of amazing talent 2. Claire Peeters – Belgian still life oil painter. And last but not least, 1. Michael Voltaggio – who with his equally talented brother Bryan, own a number of great restaurants with Michael as a radical chef who challenges convention. And these are February’s 2025 FIVE FIVES! Look for our next install in March. And – go as you are led.

A Future Without Religion

I wonder about something that I describe as, the Fading. Imagine for a moment that the year is 3010. The world is a very very different place from where we are today as human advances and technology have swept the earth. Let suppose that Poverty is then at a minimum, human suffering (physically) has been mitigated to a great extent but not entirely, and what we call Christianity has been almost swallowed up in the wake of it all. But let’s also suppose the collective human heart has simultaneously been sort of hallowed out. And because so many advances have caused most people to turn from the Judeo/Christian view of God and their need for Him, there is not much of Him left abiding in many individuals. Imagine that all of the rigamarole of religion has settled down into the dust heap and joined other former human beliefs like animism, idol-worship and human sacrifice. Essentially, it is a world that mocks all of it – Christianity included – as the product of fearful, superstitious thinking.

A Search for Truth

Perhaps as a means to cope with the existential crisis all searching souls have, we might say that the world will operate under the spell of a mood-enhancing drug administered through the culinary water. And to fantasize even more, borrowing from themes written in Orwell’s 1984 or Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, suppose two teenagers refuse to consume the drug and go on a search to find the origin of life and its purpose. And suppose they have been taught about the ludicrousness of ancient scripture, religion and former myth, and that in the absence of real information about life they decide to go on a hunt for truth. Pretend they hear about a rebel underground leader with a library of 10,000 books and they search him out, gain his trust and get access to the whole collection. Then after months of trying to figure out the best origin story, and the best view of a supreme being, they stumble across a book they had only heard about but have never seen – the Bible. And they begin to read it. No interpreters. No religion. No influence over them but what the Bible describes and the Holy Spirit of God. So they decide to make a study of the book and the story it tells Genesis to Revelation. It takes them years.

The Enduring Message

Here is my point: What they ultimately discover, believe, and then give their lives to share with others, even though in that day it is illegal, IS what we are trying to share with people today. Ready? That the Bible is a sacred history of inspired writings that tell the story of how the Creator of human beings, having given us freewill, worked through a little Nation thousands of years ago to bring about human salvation from sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace., deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God., hell and demonic oppression through a Son that became human. They would realize that all of these efforts and accomplishments were done thousands of years in the past, and that the books teaches spiritual principles to any reader seeking to understand and live by them, and that there is a spiritual life and hope available by and through the spirit of this God’s Son who died and rose again. (beat) THIS is our very same message. All that the book describes as happening happened, and the material religionA fulfilled system of temples, rituals, and laws—replaced by direct spiritual relationship. they practiced anciently is, in fact, over. But these teenagers also realize that what is not over is the possession and power of the Messiah’s spirit which lives inside all souls, and the importance that it is calling them to believe and receive His finished work and for them to have spiritual hope, personal peace, and it moves them to do something they realize has been absent in their lives – the decision to live by faith and to operate by agape loveSelfless love marked by patience, mercy, and humility—central to living in spiritual liberty.. THIS is our same message at the GreatNewsNetwork. And we see this little fictional tale as being a reality even now. This is the message that will endure as it overwhelms the church playing that is fading from

Religion and Sexuality

The heart of people on earth today. (beat) And one more GRAPHIC to present another way to illustrate what we are stridently fighting for. And it looks like this:

PDF GRAPHIC PLEASE Of RELIGION VS RELATIONSHIP CHART

Alright, let’s talk about a subject that orbits heavily around the faith today and yesterday, a subject that is so controversial in people’s minds that mercy in the face of it is considered godless and deserving of His wrath later and even from those who claim to Him but attack others in the face of it. What am I talking about?

SEX

Throughout recorded human history, religion has significantly influenced and regulated sexual behaviors. Morays and practices across most cultures, with most religious expressions generally promoting sex within the confines of marriage while at the same time viewing any and all sexual expression outside marital relation as offensive to God and some acts within marriage as taboo. The most devout promoter’s of this view are found in most of the Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which in the past have had a patriarchal and hetero-normative approach to sexuality and for the most part continue to hold the line on this even today.

Sexual Norms in Abrahamic Religions

As a means to lead and govern those under their control, most of Christianity (and I am referring to Christ-affirming institutions here) sort of stand on the following, that sex is a sacred act meant for procreation within the institution of marriage, with the “one flesh” concept emphasizing the unity between partners. That specific sexual practices and behaviors can vary significantly in acceptance between different denominations and religious interpretations within the same faith. These views used to include the position God wants people who have sex to take (known as the missionary position because all others are “animalistic”), and that other sexual expressions like oral, anal and mutual or solo masturbation which typically frowned upon from most pulpits and are utterly prohibited in same sex unions and adultery.

Within the Abrahamic views (especially the Judaic and the Christian) the Bible emphasizes the sanctity of marriage and sexual intimacy within that union through books like the Song of Solomon and the Garden creation of men and women. However, interpretations of sexuality, particularly regarding homosexuality, cross dressing, immodesty, prostitution, adult entertainment, shacking-up, and other “deviant” practices tend to vary depending on denominational allegiances.

Interestingly, even oddly (but super telling) is that many religious perspectives on sex have evolved over time, with some modern interpretations becoming more accepting of certain sexual practices previously considered anathema. Today, our world faces a number of sexual identities never before categorized (though in some way or another present) including L—lesbian / G—gay / B—bisexual / T—transgender / Q—queer / Q—questioning / I—intersex / C—curious A—asexual / A—agender / A—ally P—pansexual / P—polysexual / F—friends and family / 2—two-spirit K—kink / and it is said that there are many more.

Historical Context of Sexual Identities

All one has to do is investigate Ancient civilizations, and even advanced culture like Roman and Greek to see there is truly nothing new under the sun with man and all one has to do is book back to post world war I Berlin to see a thriving LGBTQIA community. Yeshua, speaking of sexuality in His day, plainly said some remarkable things in Matthew 19:3-12,

Mathew 19:3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? 4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. 10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. 11 But he said

The Nature and Purpose of Sex

There are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. So, Yeshua clearly taught, in that day, to that audience then, that sex creates a “one-flesh” union between a man and a woman that is intended to be permanent and we can also extrapolate that the union of becoming one was for a male and female to procreate so as to multiply and replenish the earth. Therefore, very nature and purposes of sex were designed by God who then built it into his order of creation making this approach the ostensible norm that would exist (listen) specifically in the Garden. But we, the human world, participated and experienced something called the Fall.

The Fall and Its Impact on Sexuality

The FALL of humankind. And this Fall, brought on by the first couple eating fruit from the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, allowed humankind, in the arena of sex, to move in very different directions. The way some religionists explain it is God’s plan and His purposes in sex were ignored. Then sex became detached from its physical function of conceiving children. Then, sex was detached from the sexual distinctions between male and female. Then, sex was detached from a love relationship altogether and included acts and ideas surrounding pleasure for pleasure’s sake, self with oneself sake, sex with animals, sex with children, sex with multiple partners, sex with objects, sex in and through different orifices and with things that cannot produce children, and from the biblical intentions God installed in the first couple sex has reduced and detached from the dimensions God originally intended, which appear to have been to multiply and replenish the world, bring unity between the two genders through united pleasures where sexual expressions today are allowed to exist outside of these intended purposes and this reality really bothers people.

Biblical Perspective on Sexual Relations

As a student of the biblical text, I cannot help but agree with these views of sex and do believe that in the garden state, materially, sex would have been confined to heterosexual relationships for the purpose of multiplying and replenishing the earth and a couple like Adam and Eve becoming one for that purpose, but also for pleasure, relief and unity as the act of two becoming one seems to, or should include couple truly forgiving each other before engaging in it as to engage in sexual relations with an angry or unforgiving heart will ultimately bring negative results in the long-term. I get it and I do not believe that we can get around it. Similarly, when God appointed the posterity of Abraham to become His people, the importance of the Garden themes around sex again cannot be discounted. For them, sexual purity, materially, was essential for unity, peace and the avoidance of disease. It would also serve to keep the Nation from idolatry. Additionally, the Apostolic Bride was warned against what the Old Testament said about sex, and from the Bible we get the following sexual prohibitions:

Fornication Genesis 38:24; Leviticus 21:9; Deuteronomy 22:21; 1st Corinthians 6:18; 1st Corinthians 7:2; Hebrews 13:4
Adultery Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18; Proverbs 6:32; Matthew 5:27-32; 15:19; 1st Corinthians 6:9-11
Polygamy Genesis 2:1-8; Matthew 19:4-6; Genesis 4:19-24; 1st Kings 11:1-9; 1st Timothy 3:2,12.
Rape Genesis 34:1-31; Judges 19:1-30; 2nd Samuel 13:11-14.
Incest Leviticus 18, 20, 27
Homosexuality Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; 1st Corinthians 6:9
Bestiality Exodus 22:19; Leviticus 20:15-16; Deuteronomy 27:21
Prostitution Leviticus 19:29, 21:9; 1st Corinthians 6:16.
Sexual Immorality referred in the Greek as porneia Matthew 19:9; 1st Corinthians 6:13, 6:18; Ephesians 5:3; 1st Thessalonians 4:3
Pagan sexual activity Exodus 32; Isaiah 57:7-8; Hosea 4:12-14; Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:

The Human Ideal and Biblical Teachings

Chaos, disorder, and pain. So again, ideally, God’s ways described and employed in the scripture are the human ideal and I do not personally see any other ideal possible – all things considered. I mean, every human on earth today is the result of a male’s sperm and a female’s ovum – so to even argue against the validity and against the reality of heterosexual relations being exclusively between two souls, male and female is utterly ludicrous.

But listen – because of the Fall, the ideal every religious person wants to impose and demand (listen) was broken. From the Fall folks it was lost forever, and our world entered into realms of different, alternative, and even debased and predatory sexual expressions (in some cases). Forgetting sexuality for a moment, look at all the other ideals about human behavior in the Bible that are so far afield from where God started.

The Deadly Sins

I mean we have the deadly sins from the Old Testament, right?

1. Lust
2. Gluttony
3. Greed
4. Sloth
5. Wrath
6. Envy
7. Pride

Major Failures and Biblical References

And then we have a number of other major failures that are also far from the ideal, right? Including:

• Addiction – Eph 5:18
• Anxiety – Phil 14:6
• Apathy – Rev 3:15-16
• Being Argumentative – Rom 16:17
• Bigotry – 1Tim 5:21
• Backbiters – Rom 1:26-32
• Bitterness – Eph 4:31
• Blasphemy – Mark 7:21-22
• Boasters – Rom 1:26-32
• Calling people a fool – Matt 5:22
• Cheating – Prov 11:1, 12:22
• Chronic lateness – Gal 5:14, 1Cor 13:5
• Coarse joking – Eph 5:4
• Covenant breakers – Rom 1:26-32
• Covetousness – Rom 1:26-32
• Criticism – Heb 10:24
• Debate – Rom 1:26-32
• Deceit – Rom 1:26-32
• Depression – Gal 5:22
• Despiteful – Rom 1:26-32
• Defilers – 1Tim 1:9-10
• Disobedient – 1Tim 1:9-10
• Dis. to parents – Rom 1:26-32
• Dissension – Rom 16:17
• Divorce – Matt 5:32
• Drunkenness – Gal 5:19-21, Eph 5:18
• Ambition or endeavor to equal or excel others – Gal 5:19-21
• Envy – Gal 5:19-21, Prov 14:30
• Evil Thoughts – Mark 7:21-22
• Fearful – Rev 21:8
• Foolish Talk – Eph 5:4
• Greed – Eph 5:3, Luke 12:15
• Gluttony – 1Cor 10:31, 2Peter 1:2-7
• Haters of God – Rom 1:26-32
• Hatred – Gal 5:19-21
• Heresies – Gal 5:19-21
• Hypocrisy – Matt 7:5
• Idolatry – Gal 5:19-21, Col 3:5
• Immorality – Eph 5:5, 1Cor5:1
• Implacable (cannot be calmed)– Rom 1:26
• Inventors of evil things – Rom 1:26-32
• Jealousy – James 3:13
• Lasciviousness – Gal 5:19-21
• Lawless – 1Tim 1:9-10
• Lying – Bear False witness – Matt 19:18-19, Maliciousness – Rom 1:26-32
• Ungodliness – 1Tim 1:9-10
• Malignity – Rom 1:26-32
• Materialism – Col 3:5
• Murder – Gal 5:19-21, Matt 19:18-19
• Negativism – Col 3:10
• Neglect God’s Word – Ps 1:2, 119:11
• Neglect Prayer – 1Thes 5:17
• No Concern for the Lost – 2

Understanding Option B

If we are going to choose option A we must be perfect in our execution. We cannot fail in one thing the Bible demands that was created from the Fall. We cannot see the sin of gossip as any less of a crime against God than sleeping with a neighbor (male or female). It’s really this black and white, folks. Just because the ideal was illustrated in the Garden, reiterated with the Nation and emphasized by Paul in the Apostolic age, does not mean we get to pick and choose what to try and demand from people. We are either fallen and work to make ourselves holy by our flesh through obedience OR we choose Option B which plainly means we look to Christ to have paid for all of the failures we respectively possess (due to our fallen fleshly natures) and we see the world and everyone on it reconciled to God as a result and personally responsible for what they are, do and choose.

Plan B’s Righteousness

In plan B, He is our righteousness. In plan B we are qualified to enter into His Kingdom by trusting in HIS faith (and not our own) and in Plan B we realize that all of us – all – have had the sins of their flesh paid and propitiated by Him unconditionally and like it or not, this includes LGBTQIA (blah blah blah) thes heterosexual lust for others, gossip, pride and the love of money and materialism over the Spirit. Plan B causes people to look at others humbly withhold castigation because we know that we too are guilty from a fleshly point of view of things we have yet to overcome.

Plan A is literally impossible – as proven by the text. But those who think they are in a position to criticize others because they are sexually attracted to the same sex or like to engage in weird sex have completely LOST what the meaning and purpose of God sending His Son was all about. Do I think homosexuality is part of God’s plan? I think it is no more or no less part of his plan than ANY of the items we just listed on the board. Do I think the world will work if everyone is homosexual? No – even if we figure out a way to create children without females. But I don’t see the “variant choices and lifestyles” of a certain people group as a threat to civilization for the simple reason there are people who are heterosexuals that are attracted to each other and will bring forth children into this world.

The Scope of God’s Love

I think it’s high time that Christians, when they decide to make targets out of people who live alternative lifestyles to remember, John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That means me – as I am part of this world with all of my ongoing failures, weaknesses and attraction – and it means you who may not come near in failures as I do but who may also be merciless, or judgmental, or bear any of the other things on the list, AND it means every single homosexual, lesbian, bi-sexual, heterosexual masturbating porn watching womanizing whore-freak on earth – remember, John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Sexual deviations are simply part of being a human race. Look – we are all attracted to what we are attracted to. These things come upon us genetically, circumstantially, environmentally, naturally, unnaturally and for believers in Christ, who trust in His grace for their differences, to malign, exclude, mock or treat poorly anyone for their personal proclivities in the flesh is in direct opposition to the Great NewsThe message that prophecy is fulfilled and we are free to pursue God in love and liberty—without fear or religious control. and counter to what Christ taught and brought to the world.

The final vista on this subject, because religionists cannot let the damn thing go, is the expectation, even the demand that being gay is fine as an unbeliever but once an LGBTQ plus “believes,” they MUST renounce and turn from their LGBTQ-ness forevermore. Here is where the Good News, reported and described in the Bible objectively to the

Spiritual Victory and Personal Growth

Nation and some select Gentiles is very different from the subjective Great News that we promote. See, objective material demands in the scripture governed the Garden, and they governed the Nation and they governed the Bride. We cannot get away from this. But because of the complete Victory of Christ over all things in heaven, earth and under the earth, with the world having been returned to the Garden State SPIRITUALLY . . .

GRAPHIC – “SPIRITUALLY!!!!

The Role of the Spirit of Christ

And because the Spirit of Christ has by necessity been in all human beings, calling to all of us as individuals, subjectively, the changes, the growth, the maturity, and the sexual practices of everyone are all . . . Between YAHAVAH and the individual, Who through His Spirit brings us all along to where He wants us to be which is a VERY VERY personal decision, but, as the scripture says, no man can say to His neighbor, “know the Lord, know the Lord, for all will know me.”

Individuality and Divine Connection

This is victory. This is the Great News and this is why whatever a person chooses to be, think or however a person is born and equipped in life it is ENTIRELY between the individual and God. Not you. Not me. He is in charge of every person’s life. He alone, by His Spirit. And if you don’t like it, you can take your objective demands that you errantly use to judge, condemn, hurt and reject others and fuck off. It’s time for a change.

SHARP END.