Truth Wins Out Reports on Exodus International's Attempt at Rebranding
Rachel Tabachnick printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Mon Feb 06, 2012 at 08:52:32 PM EST
An extensive report has been posted at Truth Wins Out (TWO) on the rebranding of Exodus International, the discredited and financially strapped pray-away-the-gay organization. The report is titled "The Exodus SmokeScreen" and subtitled, "Exodus wants you to believe it has changed its ways and gone mainstream.  The problem is, it's not true."
From the report,
Damning evidence uncovered by Truth Wins Out incontrovertibly proves that Exodus has not altered its message and may be involved in a strategic campaign of subterfuge to trick news reporters and gullible LGBT activists into believing it has moderated its message.
I have a short footnote to add about a reference in the report that will be of interest to regular Talk2action.org readers. Andrew Comiskey, mentioned in the report, is the former president of Exodus International and heads Desert Streams Ministries. In 2005, Comiskey moved his ministry to Kansas City to join forces with Mike Bickle's International House of Prayer.

In a ministry newsletter Comiskey wrote,

Desert Stream is in the midst of its own adventure. We are journeying into unknown territories. In June of 2005, we shall relocate to Kansas City, Missouri. There we shall partner with Mike Bickle and his Forerunner and International House of Prayer (IHOP) Communities.

This move means change on a variety of fronts.

The time for change is right. I believe that God is repositioning us for the crucial role we are to play in the greater church. We are approaching our 25th year as a ministry. Perhaps I have another 25 years to lead this vital work of cleansing and preparing the bride for her Groom. I want to accomplish ALL He wills for Desert Stream under my leadership.

I need to be broken in order to be raised up for the second half. We as a ministry need this. And these changes are humbling us, disorienting us, causing us to cling to Him. Such dependency is having its perfect work. We as a team are more alive than ever to the cross. And to its fiery wind, the Holy Spirit.

Comiskey explains the problems that he was confronting included leaving the Vineyard network and encountering objections for partnering with Bickle, the controversial IHOP founder. But the most pressing issue Comiskey revealed was about cases against Desert Streams.
Another painful chapter involves the alleged abuses of a former staff person that occurred in the mid nineties. (For legal reasons, I must be vague but I want you to know some of what we have been facing this year.) Several years ago, we settled a civil lawsuit related to these allegations. At the end of 2003, another victim filed a lawsuit against Desert Stream, citing the same perpetrator. Throughout 2004 we have been engaging in a costly and sorrowful legal process. It has been costly because we used up the limited funds available to us through our insurance on the previous allegation; all the monies we have needed for legal counsel and the costs of litigation come from our account, not from insurance proceeds.

Box Turtle Bulletin also reported on Desert Streams and its Living Waters Program in November 2011, in an article about protests against a Living Waters seminar in Toulouse, France.

Comiskey is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary and wrote Pursuing Sexual Wholeness and The Kingdom of God and the Homosexual.  Another TWO article references Comiskey's claims in his writing that homosexuality is demonic.  TWO  has featured a number of reports on the sexual abuse charges against Desert Streams Ministries.

Exodus International continues to show Desert Streams as an affiliate ministry on its website.

Andrew Comiskey is the brother of Jay Comiskey, also a Fuller Theological Seminary graduate and a vice president of Christian Broadcast Network, and of Joel Comiskey, another Fuller graduate and expert on cell churches. The Joel Comiskey groups coaches pastors from "various denominations and apostolic networks."




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It's amazing that this particularly offensive meme still hasn't died its well deserved death. The ex-gay movement may have been exposed as a fraud in the US but there are offshoots going on in Europe that have the support of mainstream churches, and politicians, and some therapists In the UK there was a recent storm in a tea cup about a Christian therapist who attempted to "cure" an undercover gay client. Certain politicians came to her defense, insisting that if gays wanted counseling to become straight they should be allowed to do so. The orthodox Jewish community in the UK and the Netherlands have been promoting ex-gay organizations to school children; other christian faith schools in the UK have been hosting ex-gay presentations. Hopefully we will catch up with US in exposing the hocus pocus of the ex-gay movement.

by PastorJennifer on Sun Mar 18, 2012 at 05:59:57 AM EST


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