This is the second in our new weekly series, appearing each Wednesday, detailing the transgressions of those who have preached so virulently against the LGBTQ community.
The Facts:
- He was an American Pentecostal Evangelist
- He described himself as a “seeing profit†or a “mysticâ€
- He interviews he said that homosexuality was a sin against God
- He admitted his desire for men before and after being “born again”
- He died of AIDS at the age of 43
The Culprit:
- The Evangelical Hypocrite of the week is: Lonnie Frisbee
The Story:
In 1964, Lonnie Frisbee entered the “gay underground” scene in Laguna Beach, California, at the age of 15. So, maybe the way he got into ‘religion’ was suiting. It was during a “turn on, tune in, drop out” session of dropping acid that he felt the call on his life.
Soon he converted to Christianity and quit the school which he attended for art. He then re-connected with his former girlfriend and married her.
His life, from this moment on, would be about converting people to Christianity. He and his wife became two of the most important ministers in Calvary Chapel when they were put in charge. Within a week they had 35 new converts. This was all taking place in a rehab center in Costa Mesa, California, called “The House of Miracles.”
“The House of Miracles” later grew into nineteen communal houses that migrated to Oregon.
It was also at Calvary Chapel that his homosexuality first became known, but Frisbee, at that point, told people that he had overcome his temptations of being gay. After this people still treated him like a leper in the church and so he eventually took it out of his testimony. (Which is good because it was a lie.)
All this was early in his career. Then, however, in 1973 he got a divorce from his wife, Connie. This was NOT because he was gay at all. In fact, this divorce had everything to do with the fact that his wife was not faithful to him and had been carrying on a relationship with their pastor.
After this time Frisbee got involved with what became the Vineyard Movement and began traveling the world on his tour for Christianity.
It is interesting, for someone who had become known as the most important minister in his church to be holding on to something for so long. His homosexuality later became “a bit of an open secret in the church.” Frisbee was expelled from the church, but over time, after his death, there was little talk about his homosexuality.
Frisbee contracted AIDS and in 1993, died from complications, at the age of 43.