Less than a week after "Fixer Upper" stars Chip and Joanna Gaines came under fire for attending an evangelical church opposed to same-sex marriage, Bill Johnson, Senior Pastor of Bethel Church, explained why, according to the Word of God, homosexuality is a blatant "violation of design" that ultimately disturbs the purpose that God created for His people.
In a brief video shared on his Facebook page, Johnson prefaced his message with one of his most oft-quoted phrases: "When we lose the knowledge of the existence of a creator, we lose the concept of design," he said. "When we lose the concept of design, we undermine the discovery of purpose. When we undermine the discovery of purpose, we remove the conviction of accountability. When we remove the conviction of accountability, we undermine the fear of God. The Bible says, 'The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.'"
The "Dreaming With God" author went on to explain that one of the byproducts of losing the concept of the Creator has been to remove all boundaries on how conduct our lives, thus allowing sin to creep in.
"Everything about sin disturbs and disrupts the purpose that God created for us," Johnson explained. "He's a loving God who delights in people, and made us without sin so we could enjoy life in its fullest sense."
Homosexuality is one clear violation of God's design for the world He created, the pastor said.
"God didn't make those human bodies to fit together in that way," he said. "You look all through the issue - sex outside of marriage - all of these things are violation of design. God designed things to release blessing, pleasure, favor, delight, joy, peace - all those wonderful things - into the life of an individual. Those things come to us by responding to design."
He continued: "God made us a certain way; doing stuff His way was never meant to be punishment or a restriction - it was supposed to be, 'here's a focus on how you were designed.' Following His design always brings about the greatest amount of honor for God, and pleasure and delight for you and me. Let's do it His way."
Johnson's bold condemnation of same-sex marriage comes just after the Gaines's pastor, Jimmy Seibert, came under fire from the radical left after he referred to homosexuality as a "sin" that violates God's laws.
Like Seibert, Johnson has been criticized for his views on homosexuality, and has in the past been labeled an "anti-gay activist" by the liberal outlet Right Wing Watch.
After the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states in June 2015, Johnson referred to the gay rights movement is a Satanic attack on the U.S., and suggested we are living in "the last days of a truly free America."
Predicting that "pastors and non-profit Christian organizations...will be targeted for merely preaching and teaching the counsel of God" if the Supreme Court makes such a ruling, Johnson warned that "truth, righteousness, the free expression of belief, Christian conscience, will be removed from our schools, our government - even many churches that fear man more than God."
"Those against God's word will be helping to destroy America from within - ushering in an increasingly godless culture (where right will be wrong and wrong will be right) as intolerance against God and His Holy Word will mark our culture at all levels of society," he wrote. "The land of the free? It will be no longer."
