Author: art rogers
Ray Boltz confesses he is gay
Saturday, September 13th, 2008 @ 4:59 pm
This one may shock a few people. Former Contemporary Christian Music vocalist Ray Boltz has been interviewed by the Washington Blade, a periodical focusing on homosexual issues. In that interview, Boltz tells of his journey through life, CCM and the revelation of his internal struggle to his family on the day after Christmas in 2006.
Boltz is now divorced amicably and living an openly gay lifestyle in Florida.
Also in the article is the story of Christians who are reaching out to him AFTER his revelation. It is interesting to note that one church even had him sing in their services.
Boltz has had some of his songs become somewhat iconic among church culture in America with songs like, “I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb,” that mixes patriotic symbolism in with devotion to Christ. No song has been more touching, used and possibly over used, than the song, “Thank You,” where the singer tells of going to Heaven to find all the people who have been touched by his life lining up to thank him for serving the Lord.
You can read the full article here:
Key Changes - Washington Blade
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September 13th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
After over thirty years of being a Christian, surely he has to know this is a sin. He is openly living in sin. There are so many in the Christian community deep in sin, it makes me wonder why?
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September 13th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I am praying for Ray. This is so sad.
September 13th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
I’m with Les, I will pray for Ray. Sins have powerful holds on all of us.
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September 15th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Ray says in the interview: “That he was living a lie” well that’s more than likely true because since I found out what the meaning of “Born Again” means! I thought I knew what it meant to be saved but for 15 years I was a Christian in name only!
Gods Grace saved me even before I was born.
September 15th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
I’ve met Ray several times in the past & have talked to him briefly. The last time was at the 2003 Cornerstone Festival where Ray was promoting his independent record company. The problem here is much more than just “a Christian sinning”. Paul called himself the “chief of sinners” & claimed that he “sinned daily”. However Paul was repentant of those sins. Ray has decided to end his Godly “hetro-sexual” marriage & knowingly enter into a very wrong alternate lifestyle. Add to that the fact that he is a MINISTER who’s music has touched lives all over the world & now his accountability level is even higher. Love him? yes! Forgive him? Of course? Treat him as a minister of the gospel & enable his sinful lifestyle that has to have had very severe reprecussions on his family as well as the Christian Community? NO! I, too, am sad & will keep Ray in prayer; but we have to realize that those in ministry are held to a higher level of accountability than the average Christian. (James 3: 1.)
September 15th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Ray probably loved the truth more than he feared damnation from God. When I lived in Nashville I was surrounded by artists and musicians and Christians with same sex attraction who lived painful lives “dying to self” yet unable to “transform” into the butterfly as the Word promised. There comes a place where a person has face the big ‘ol Wall of Truth despite everything you’ve ever believed to be true. The disgrace is that people who have never experienced the twistedness of living what your soul knows is a lie with themselves catapult the Word of God from a safe distance. Above all, if God is God, there should never be a life lived in opposition to the truth. Ray did that for years with his wife and family and, contrary to what even HE believed, truth prevailed. You can narrowly quote scripture left and right and claim its authenticity, but truth resonates in the heart like the ring of pure crystal and Ray finally came to a place where he couldn’t deny the truth. He abandoned his untruthful “lifestyle” of Christian denial and opened himself to be the man he believes he was created to be. God is not mocked: a lie is a lie no matter how much scripture we think we understand.
September 15th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
I am really surprised by this. I haven’t followed Ray’s life or career for quite some time, but I would not have expected this. I will be praying for him and for his family. It’s hurtful to know that Ray, like so many other Christian leaders before him, is giving up his ministry for his sinful lifestyle. I pray that I will hold more closely to my relationship with Christ and never fall into some sinful lifestyle of my own.
We must all take heed, that we do not fall (1 Cor 10:12-13). God’s word is truth. We must remember that His word judges us, we do not judge it. Our feelings are tricky because we are sinful, and still unperfected here on earth. I don’t believe that Ray found some new revelation from God or that God is pleased with how he is living now. But I do pray that God will use this time and those around Ray to love him and bring him back into a fruitful relationship with God and that He will be able to finish the race well, despite these missteps.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Greg Davis,
I would agree with you that there is some “truth” to the fact that Ray has struggled with this for his entire life and there was some elements of a “lie” in his life.
Beyond that, I disagree with just about everything you say. You clearly claim that the standard of ultimate truth is the heart of the person while denying that Scripture has anything to do with it.
I understand that belief in Scripture is a faith presupposition. Nothing I can ever say or do can convince you of its truth.
Nevertheless, I can clearly state to you that I do believe that God is fully capable of delivering to us His revelation of Himself and that He has done that in His Word.
Again, you don’t buy my perspective. I get that.
What I can point out to you is that the perspective you espouse leads to some endorsements that you may not be comfortable endorsing.
I the heart is the guide then truly following their heart is being faithful to God, if I understand you. That would mean that racist members of the KKK, who truly believe, are exactly what is right and God endorses their behavior. Just as an example.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 says:
September 16th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Art-
A friend and I were having a similar conversation on Sunday morning when I was reminded of a famed Christian writer, Henri Nouwen, who lived his entire adult life as a celibate homosexual. To state it another way, he struggled with homosexual temptations through adulthood but chose to stay celibate. He never revealed this while he was alive and it was only after his private notebooks and papers were released after his death that the world know of his intense struggle.
I believe that this issue is only going to intensify in the west since it is going to become the “new civil rights” struggle for many. If churches do their normally incoherent job of formulating a way to understand and minister to those caught in this sin or overwhelmed by this temptation even if they choose not to sin, then we will wind up losing even more credibility than we already have.
The reality is that virtually everyone struggles with some form of sexual temptation. It’s just that our tendency is condemn the one that isn’t our particular struggle.
Regarding Ray Boltz: I have great pity for him and great sympathy for his wife. The simple fact is that he promised to remain faithful to her, forsaking all others until God parted them by death. I don’t think that “death of affections” were what God was referencing. There is a difference, I feel, between Nouwen’s struggle against that sin and Boltz’ proclamation of being gay. Our current cultural climate makes the second easier than the first and our Christian sub-culture makes the first difficult enough.
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