Last week social media websites were buzzing with a video of a man being delivered from homosexuality during the COGIC Convocation in St. Louis, Missouri. The viral video has been titled by the social media universe “I’m Not Gay No More.”

You can watch the video below

In the video you’ll see Andrew Caldwell scream, I’M NOT GAY NO MORE, I HAVE BEEN DELIVERED! Some may argue whether or not the man was actually delivered. Others will praise Jesus’ name for bringing this man out of his former life style. Now I’m not going to argue whether or not this name delivered. Because of the release of this video, I wonder if we are making a mockery of ourselves in the black church.

All “deliverance” isn’t to be shared with the public. In Mark 1:43-45 and Mark 7:34 – 37 we see Jesus heal those who are sick and then give a stern order not to tell anyone. We don’t have many clues as to why Jesus would hush those who have been healed but if we examine the text, we do find one. Mark 1:45 states that Jesus would no longer go into a town and move openly.

Two things happen when we become overzealous, people expect to be healed immediately and the church will be heavily ridiculed for miracles that appear to be false. Because of the man with leprosy’s over zealousness, in Mark 1, everyone came seeking Jesus for their own personal blessing. It is apparent in the text that Jesus had a need to be able to move about freely without drawing much attention to himself. Now that the word was out, Jesus had to change his mission moving out “in the country (Mk 1:45).” When we act against how we are instructed we have a potential to throw off the mission of our churches. We cannot determine the impact of Caldwell’s proclamation but let’s imagine that those who wished for deliverance or a healing were to flock to COGIC churches across America. It may seem good at first, but what happens when these churches are unable to serve the needs of those flocking their sanctuaries? What happens to the faith of those who are never healed or delivered in the manner in which they expect to be? Testimonies of deliverance and healing have to handled with care.

Also when we are overzealous about deliverance or healing we set ourselves up to be mocked. After this video went viral, people began to mock the video by “remixing” it. The video below has been the most popular remix, appearing on TMZ and being played on Sirius XM Radio.

I can’t even lie to you, I laughed at the “I’m Not Gay No More Remix.” I laughed hard and a lot but is this really a laughing matter? For those who have no connection to church, will videos like this deter them from coming or have them doubting the existence of God totally? The church is in rapid decline so we really need to be cautious of our messaging to the next generation of Christians. We must also take into account that negative news, spoofs and comedy will go viral at tremendous rates. If we are not prayerful and cautious with information we put out as the church, we will just be adding fuel to the fire of negative church publicity.

So what affect do you think this video has on the church? Do you videos like this are good publicity to draw people in or a deterrent that will keep people away? Do you think it is appropriate to publicly share all testimonies or do you think some should be kept private? Comment below!