Under fire because he canceled the funeral of Navy Gulf War veteran after learning that the vet was gay, Gary Simons, the megachurch preacher whose brother-in-law is Joel Osteen, head of the powerful, uber-wealthy evangelical family that operates the 30,000-member Lakeview Church in Houston, is receiving support from the American Family Association (AF), a multimillion dollar non-profit Mississippi-based hate group operated by the professional homophobe, Donald Wildmon.
On Simons’ behalf, the AFA published a statement on its website in which he continues to deny what is self-evidently true: that he was motivated by decidedly un-Christian hatred and bigotry toward Cecil Howard Sinclair, the deceased Navy veteran, when he canceled the funeral:
The decision had nothing to do with the fact that Mr. Sinclair was a veteran. High Point does now, and has always, supported our men and women in the military. This decision was not based on hate, or discrimination, but upon principle and policy.
No one has suggested the funeral was canceled because Sinclair was a veteran. And more falsehoods follow:
The decision was made to retract the offer to host the memorial service based on the fact that the service requested would be an openly homosexual service celebrating the homosexual lifestyle. It is important to emphasize that this was not a funeral service with a body to be buried, but a memorial service. The family was informed of the decision.
There is no such thing as a “homosexual service,” open or otherwise. The relationship between the deceased veteran and his longtime life partner was going to be acknowledged, which is verboten to groups like AFA and High Point Church because if their followers were to learn that millions of gay couples live happy, regular lives it would dampen fundraising.
Joel Osteen was not involved in the decision to cancel the Navy veteran’s funeral. But even though his Tony Robbins-esque “prosperity ministry” message is generally positive, he has not condemned the hate-filled actions by his brother-in-law at the High Point Church.
Simons, who is married to Osteen’s sister, is rumored to have become estranged from his powerful in-laws in the wake of the death in 1999 of John Osteen, the patriarch and founder of the Lakeview enterprise. Simons had been serving as his father-in-law’s youth minister and felt he was being groomed to assume the pulpit — and control of the millions of dollars in annual revenues — at the megachurch.
However, within months of the patriarch’s death Simons was shunted aside by John Osteen’s widow in favor of her son, Joel. Further rumors allege that as a consolation prize the Osteens gave Simons upwards of a purported $13 million to start his own church business, which was to become the High Point Church near Dallas.
Osteen In-Law Preacher Who Canceled Gay Vet’s Funeral Aligns with Notorious AFA Hate Group…
Under fire because he canceled the funeral of Navy Gulf War veteran after learning that the vet was gay, Gary Simons, the megachurch preacher whose brother-in-law is Joel Osteen, head of the powerful, uber-wealthy evangelical family that operates the 3…
These people are all charlatans and snake-oil salesmen. I daresay that neither Joel Osteen nor his brother in law know the first thing more about religious or moral values than any of the rest of us. But they are very good at what they do, which is to to relieve people of their money. God love then, you have to admire a good con man. The decision to deny a funeral service to decorated Navy veteran who just happened to be gay is nothing less than immoral. If there is a God, I believe he will judge these people harshly for abuses committed in His name.
Ignorance is running rampant these days. The funeral didnt get cancelled because the church found out he was gay, but on the way the service was to be ran. I’m pretty confident by looking at your website that most of your readers would not find it a problem if the greeter that met you at the door of the memorial was kissing men on the mouth as they walked in. How about the open mic where ex lovers could come up and relish about the good ole days! Maybe the photo of one man with his hands on another mans crotch that was to be on the video screen in the church!….need I go on??? There was no discrimination, it was church policy. This type of material wouldnt be allowed in our publicly funded schools, and there should be no issue with the decision that HPC made.
Eddie: Have you seen the photos and video? NO, because NONE of *your* fantasies you describe were to be part of the ceremony.
Actually, I HAVE seen the photos. The NEWS posted them. I go to this church. And actually yes, they were planning on putting those photos in the service, also with a openly gay minister and choir. We at HighPoint were unaware he was gay until a few days before the funeral.
If it had been a simple burial, and they hadn’t felt the need to bring their homosexuality into it, we wouldn’t have had a problem.
There you have it. The church that is proud to hate.
And it’s not hatred of the sinner. I’ll bet the church has a funeral for an adulterer every other day. But adultery — which is forbidden in the 10 Commandments — is okay with the church leaders.
They only reserve their hatred for gay people — and the prohibitions against gay sex are in the parts of the Old Testament that Jesus rescinded with his New Covenant.
Sorry, I know. For Christians, “facts” simply do not matter.
Every living person is a child of God’s and deserve a proper homegoing and burial, but funeral services should be done with some level of Christian reserve and tact. I don’t think a stripper’s funeral should have video of her act or a child molester’s service have inappropriate photo’s of his victims, nor should a gay funeral have visual displays of his sinful sexual preference or personal life. I believe a paster has an obligation to uphold Christian values, even regarding funeral services. To allow all kinds of inappropriate displays would raise questions of is value system. I don’t know the details, I only read this blog, but I’m sure there is more information than we know about this situation, but based on this, perhaps a compromise or pastorial consultation would have been a better option than cancelling the funeral and causing the family more grief. The road is straight and narrow, but clearly lit, and taking the popularity low road will not get you to your destination.