Conversations That Matter Podcast: Responding to Christian Homosexuality Part 1

wow. this is really powerful and heavy insight into the pain of this snare! I am so appreciative of Daren sharing this… I kind of gasp considering that if his experience was what the children of the 90s were already going through, what on earth must these poor children today be trying to contend with? I mean we know what to tell our children NOT to do, but that body image insight of going to the gym and confronting the TRUTH that he is a man, may be very helpful practical direction for a youth pastor to help combat the active agenda in society to feminize young men!

 

In Truth By Grace

Sir, thank you for telling your story. I think you’re gonna help a lot of people. You made me realize that I was one of those “mean girls” in school that picked on guys who weren’t really macho. I am so sorry I did that!!! I repent of my cruelty and I ask God to forgive me. If you see this message, I hope you will let me apologize to you on behalf of the people who picked on you. 

I see so clearly now how I bent to peer pressure and went along with the crowd, probably because of my insecurities, definitely because of my sinful nature. I was so about trying to please people who really didn’t care about me that I missed the opportunity to get to know people like you that would have probably been a better friend! Keep fighting the good fight, Brother! God is using you greatly!

 

CS

I don’t usually comment but I have to on this video. I want to thank John for having Daren on. The Church needs to learn how to deal with this in Love. But we must deal with it. This has been on my heart recently and look forward to being educated to help. Daren you had me crying, to see your wife stand by you just moved me. Spiritual warfare is real and Christian’s need to wake up to this fact. Thanks again Daren for your openness.

 

Moe and Jym

I actually weeping with joy for this testimony – we have such a problem with unnamed sin and shame in the church, this should not be. And we know truly there but for the grace of God go I – if one part of the Body is suffering, we all suffer. I’ve been given youth pastor duties alongside worship leading I was already doing and I know I have some youth struggling with this temptation/confusion. This will help many. Thank you Jon and Daren.

 

WG

More content like this on this topic is necessary today. Today’s youth AND adults need as much content available as possible, that correctly addresses this issue, as they can get. We’ll done Daren and and thank you for being a brave man. God bless.

 

S

Thank you to Daren for being willing to share his story. It’s so helpful when brave people tell of God’s powerful love and redemption in this struggle. We certainly hear more than enough from those who swear they cannot change, that God’s grace is not sufficient, that the church has failed them so they are not responsible. I’ll be following Daren’s blog and ministry to hopefully learn. I have a fair number of friends in the gay community who I want to share the gospel with.

 

D Trip

I’m looking forward to hearing more about specific ways we can walk with someone struggling versus having an expectation to “just not sin.” While this guest has identified and experienced the awkward silence and often abject refusal to discuss the topic of sexuality, I think we have a lot to learn about how to be brothers and sisters coming alongside each other in many areas of pain caused by sin. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s conclusion. I’m grateful that God is giving boldness to men and women to bring these issues into the light. Darren is talking like a godly man.

Stacy Dixon

Bro got saved when he cheated on his wife. Legit saved. Not, I “received Christ” (i.e. I kinda like this Jesus thing). Regeneration. Born of the Spirit. New life.

God does good things to call people to Himself before conversion. Romans 2:4, John 9, Ac. 10. The Church will flourish when She regains a Biblical theology of Regeneration. This man articulated what that looks like. Thanks for sharing, Brother!

Jon, when you say, “When you cheated on your wife, God broke your pride.” Yep. THAT is regeneration. How do we know? “God opposes the proud, and gives grace to the humble.” He couldn’t put-off and put-on until he was regenerated. He said himself that everything previous was self-righteousness. And he was right.

____

Wow, I have never known how to help a homosexual to overcome. Also just advised them not to act on it, be celibate rather. This video has provided vital information to us all. Thank you to you both. I hope that we will find more restored people sharing their testimony of overcoming with us because this is greatly needed more than ever now.

 

Lea Williams

Such an important post and a clear message from God through this brother. His testimony cut deep in my heart as there is always something we can relate to about our sin and God’s mercy 🙏

 

Nelida Scott

Thank you to Jon Harris at Conversations That Matter podcast, from www.WorldViewConversation.com, for the interview.

There’s a lot of talk in Christian circles today about whether or not same-sex attraction is sinful. Daren Mehl answers some questions about whether homosexuality is an orientation, if Christians are delivered from it, and what Churches should do in responding to the LGBTQI+ agenda.

Links:

https://www.portlandfellowship.com/resources/differingviews.pdf << “4 Columns” doctrines intersection of LGBTQ and Christianity

https://www.agapefirstministries.org/darenmehl  << Ministry to Churches, Families, Individuals

https://www.voiceofthevoiceless.info << Education & Advocacy for former LGBTQ, Families, and churches around this issue

https://darenmehlblog.com << Some tidbits I’ve written from my journey out of homosexuality, my daily prayers, covenant with my eyes, books I’ve read, testimonies, etc

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/conversations-that-matter8971/donations 

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Daren Mehl Testimony

Daren Mehl shares his testimony of being transformed by Jesus. Having lived as a “Gay Christian”, yet being convicted by the Holy Spirit but no way out, God provided the help in the form of a Christian Brother who helped Daren gain faith in his heterosexual potential as God created him. Even after marrying a woman he met through a guy he used to date, Daren was addicted to porn and for years tried to pray the gay away but couldn’t stop acting out with porn. At the end of his rope, Daren discovered he was operating in self righteousness rather than in the righteousness and grace of God through Jesus Christ. After a radical experience of repentance and then guidance to truth by the Holy Spirit, Daren experienced freedom from sinful desires toward the same sex. Today Daren has been married 16 years and has two children. His message of the power of Jesus to transform a person’s heart and mind will encourage you that change is possible from any sinful addiction or false identity.

Introducing Daren & Rhoda Mehl

Reverend Daren Mehl came to Christ at the age of 17 and began to minister on the streets of Minneapolis the following year feeding the poor and sharing The Gospel. Rev. Mehl spent three years traveling in the Midwest as a member of an evangelism ministry team which included missionary work in Trinidad where he had his first opportunity to preach from a pulpit. While attending college in Minneapolis Daren met Rhoda.

Daren and Rhoda got married in 2005 and they began serving in a local church where they participated in many community outreach events leading many people to Jesus Christ. Over 14 years they grew in their faith and became servant leaders in their congregation.

Having accepted the calling in their life to ministry, they are now dedicated to service work of the Gospel.

Their vision is to make disciples of Jesus, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to call home the prodigals, and to reconcile people to their creator, calling people out of the darkeness and into His marvelous light.

Daren is a licensed minister with International Ministerial Fellowship.

 

Daren Mehl on Changed Movement

“I pursued spiritual counseling. Through the help of powerful books and resources I found my true identity… and then my behavior and sexual attractions changed. ”
— DAREN MEHL

Daren Mehl

In my early twenties, I attempted to live as a celibate gay, but that all changed the night I was raped at a party. The trauma threw me into a spiral of same-sex encounters. To avoid HIV, I moved in with my boyfriend and settled into a monogamous relationship. For nearly a decade, although I looked happy on the outside, I lived in constant inner turmoil and stress because I knew my homosexual behavior wasn’t who I was. I did my best to ignore my inner voice, but doing so came at a high cost to my personal peace and conscience.

All that began to change the night I was invited to a prayer service and told a friend about my inner battle. Deep down I knew I hadn’t been created gay but couldn’t reconcile why I had same-sex attraction. My friend prayed for me, and for the first time in my life, I saw clearly that my issue was sexual addiction, not sexual orientation. That night, my hope was restored in my long-lost dream to marry a woman and have a family. Right then and there, I asked God to end my same-sex relationship because I knew I couldn’t do it myself, and I asked Him to arrange it so I could marry a particular woman. When I got home that night, my boyfriend abruptly ended our relationship, and soon I was dating and eventually married the exact woman I had prayed for.

While this set me on a course towards personal peace and fulfillment, even as a happily married man, I could not break my secret addiction to gay porn. Despite my best efforts, I cheated on my wife with another man. In an instant, instead of feeling fulfilled and satisfied, I felt dead. I thought I’d lost it all—my wife, my unborn son, my best friends—but by a miracle of mercy and love, my wife took me back.

Desperate for help to get free from gay porn, I pursued spiritual counseling. Over the next year, through the help of many powerful books and resources, weekly prayer and support from a faithful friend, and my wife’s unconditional love, I found my true identity. For the first time in my life, I began to see the false beliefs I had about myself, men, women and my sexuality, and my sexual orientation changed. God healed my mind and my heart, and then my behavior and sexual attractions changed. I now see other men as potential friends, not sexual partners.

The journey wasn’t easy, but it was worth it. Today I am a whole person living authentically to who I am. My sexuality and behaviors are in line with my original design. For the last 12 years, I’ve been married to my beautiful wife, my gay porn addiction is gone, and now my sexual energy is directed toward her. I’m the happy, fulfilled father of a beautiful four-year-old son and three-year-old daughter.

Originally Appearing on ChangedMovement.com

 

Reverend Daren Speaks at School Board Meeting Upholding The Biblical Dignity of Children

Originally appearing in Tennessee Star

Associate Director Reverend Daren Mehl spoke at his local school district upholding the dignity of the children in light of the ‘transgender’ policy the school would pass. Daren spoke of the fact God has made them male and female, and it is harmful to tell kids they might be the other sex. Daren mentioned that the children are not spirits separate of their bodies such that they might have the wrong body and need to be treated differently. They were created by God intentionally as male or female and manipulating children with the transgender religious beliefs is confusing and harmful to them.

Daren Mehl, a father of two Osseo students and a former member of the LGBTQ community, explained in an interview with The Sun why he spoke out against the policy at the school board meeting.

“My motivation was to share my heart for children, which as a Christian, I believe is God’s heart for children, which is that God created us male and female,” Mehl said. “And to know that you were created with value. Instead of valuing the children for who they are, the policy will be teaching children that boys can be girls and girls can be boys.”

Mehl is the president of Voice of the Voiceless, an organization that works to help those who struggle with same-sex attraction. According to the Voice of the Voiceless website, they exist to “defend the rights of former homosexuals, individuals with unwanted same-sex attraction, and their families.”

Mehl said that, as someone who formerly belonged to the LBGTQ community, the mentality behind the policy can actually create depression and suicidal thoughts.

He said, “How horrible is it to think that your body is your enemy.” He also took issue with a specific statement within the policy, requiring the school to designate a “safe staff member.” Mehl said that the statement implies that all of the staff are not safe. While some board and audience members took issue with Mehl’s public comments regarding religion, he responded, “The definitions of the policy are, in a way, religious doctrines, just godless ones.”