Throughout all periods of Christian Church history there have been controversies over sexuality and celibacy. Throughout the whole of Israelite history, heterosexual marriage was held to be healthy and normal. Those who refused to marry were considered semi-apostate, one of man's and woman's callings being to raise a family and so preserve the nation of Israel. Celibacy as a natural state is not a biblical teaching. However, celibacy within marriage was accepted, by the mutual consent of the spouses, as an occasional necessity so allow Christians to devote time to prayer and fasting. Those called to live lives of celibacy are the exception rather than the rule. Christian homosexuals are expected to live celibate lives until they have been healed and are able to marry heterosexually. It is wrongly supposed that the apostle Paul advocated celibacy as a superior state and this has led to many abberations in Christianity, including the ban on priesthood marriage in certain traditions. The Gnostics, who were pseudo-Christian occultists, taught an anti-biblical doctrine that sex and marriage were evil and were to be avoided, which influenced some "orthodox" denominations. Paul recommended celibacy in times of persecution when the raising of families was undesirable. He himself, as a former Pharisee, was certainly married, as also were the apostles. The following revelation, given in response to the claim by some early New Covenant members that celibacy was purer than the married state, sustains the biblical teaching of marriage and even teaches the radical doctrine that the Saviour Himself was married [Rosenborg, Oslo, Norway].

1. Q. Wilt Thou speak, O Lord, on celibacy?

2. A. Behold, there is a time to work and a time to rest, a time to eat and drink and a time to fast;

3. There is a time to praise and a time to be still, a time to be close and a time to be distant.

4. All things have their times and seasons, saith the Lord, and all are expedient in the time in which they are ordained.

5. Each soul born into the world is endowed with strength and weakness, and maturity and immaturity according to the measure of their development in the first estates.

6. At any one time the sons and daughters of men must work out their own salvation (Phil.2:12) according to their degree of individual sanctification; and no two souls are the same.

7. There is a time to be celibate and a time to be sexually active according to the needs of each soul. And behold, not all desires are needs.

8. Those who bridle their sexuality by transmuting it into other forms of spiritual and physical activity have begun to overcome, saith the Lord;

9. And those who overcome shall inherit mansions of light commensurate with their overcoming.

10. These are keys of the Firstborn which ye shall receive in My House indays to come by the power of the Holy Spirit.

11. See that ye balance all things, transforming one degree of light into another, seeking not to suppress nor destroy, containing them within vessels of holiness and not according to the notions of the world.

12. Act in your marriages and in your single states according to the laws that I have revealed, for all law is given as a blessing and a protection.

13. Do not suppose that ye know better than the Father, for ye have not overcome but are yet in bondage to forces and powers that ye understand not.

14. I am the Lord Jesus and I have overcome all things that I might purchase your salvation.

15. I am the master of all forces and desires, for all things are subject unto Me.

16. And I have set an example for you in all things. I am the celibate and the bridegroom, else could no atonement have been made.

17. For how can I be at one in your broken marriages and heal them were I not the master of marriage?

18. Verily, the churches of the world say that I was unmarried1, inventing a gospel after the fears and superstitions of their own hearts, supposing that marriage is ungodly or that sexuality is evil.

19. But I say unto you that celibacy is evil if it destroyeth that which is holy and pure;

20. And sexuality is evil if it destroyeth that which is holy and pure.

21. Ye judge too much after the fallen notions of your traditions, saith the Lord, and have not discerned the harmony of the creation of My Father.

22. For verily I say unto you that celibacy and sexuality in marriage are virtuous when they are in Me and in the proper season; ye shall not forbid anyone from marrying, neither shall ye forbid them from being celibate:

23. Neither shall ye command them in these things for they shall know, by the working of the Spirit, when they shall enter into these things.

24. And they shall do so according to the laws that I have revealed and established.

25. It is expedient that married couples should also be celibate from time to time, by mutual agreement and not in any spirit of compulsion, but in love, that they may devote their strength to other things.

26. Let them discern the Spirit and do this for righteousness' sake and not to rob their partners of affection because of selfishness.

27. These things ye must discover for yourselves for it is not expedient that a man should command another in the affairs of his marriage.

28. Seek the pure love of Christ2 and ye shall know all things. So no more for now. Amen.