John and Marshall’s Quaker Wedding

By Dwayna Litz

Warning: This is sickening! I got this little booklet from the Quaker meeting house in Philadelphia. I assure you that this was quoted verbatim, and these are not my words! John and Marshall are more than just Friends! These people were married IN THE SILENCE of the Quaker meeting house.

Please keep in mind in reading this excerpt that the Quakers don’t dress anomalously at all. They are not to be confused with the Amish or the Mennonites. They dress in normal attire and lead every day lives, often in urban places in every profession. Though they profess to be Christians, they could be compared with modern theosophists and New Age cults such as Unity in their beliefs; however, the Quakers don’t even have a “pastor” or facilitator in their meetings. Everyone sits in silence in the meetings. No wonder the feminists love this fellowship—there is no authority, except the “Divine Light within.” People speak as the “spirit” leads. They are also pacifists, not believing in war. Like the Unity Church, the Quakers don’t believe in Satan, and, as we were told by the Quaker feminist on the tour recently in Philadelphia, they dwell on the “good within everyone” and don’t mention “sin.”

By the way, Richard Foster is a Quaker! http://www.quakerinfo.com/foster.shtml

Source: Marriage-- A Spiritual Leading for Lesbian, Gay, and Straight Couples, by Leslie Hill; Published by Pendle Hill Publications; Wallingford, PA.

“Pendle Hill is a Quaker center for study and contemplation, which seeks, in the words of longtime director Howard Brinton, “To make possible within itself the kind of life which should prevail throughout the world.” Part of the Pendle Hill experiment is publishing. Quaker faith and practice, the inward journey, social concerns, religion and psychology, biblical exegesis, literature, art, and biography have all been subjects in a pamphlet series that began in 1934.”

This is reminding me of Christians for Biblical Equality at this point www.cbeinternational.org !

Let the silence begin:

Pages 23-26:

At two o’clock, we all stretched and leaned in our seats to see John and Marshall walk arm in arm through the meeting house. They wore white suits; their eyes smiled; they looked young and strong as they slowly walked by. John and Marshall reached their bench and sat together facing the gathered Friends.

John Meyer opened the meeting by speaking about the history of gays and Christianity, and William Kreidler spoke about Quaker weddings and same-sex marriage. The silence began. John and Marshall waited in silent worship for a short time, and then, after the manner of Friends, rose, took each other by the hand, and declared to each other what promises they could faithfully carry out using the traditional Quaker vows. As they spoke, and in the silence after they made promises to each other, the air became charged with the thrill of everyone in the room. I was filled with such a sense of overwhelming joy; I wanted to cheer and shout. A sense of radiance wove through the room encircling and lifting each person. John and Marshall sat down after they spoke their vows. We carried forward the table and witnessed as they signed their names to the marriage certificate, declaring this wedding and their vows to be recognized by God, these Friends, and Putney Monthly Meeting. After they signed the certificate, Ann Stokes read it in a loud and clear voice. Once again, as I listened to Ann, I felt a cheer rise not only in myself, but in the hearts of all the witnesses. We returned the certificate to the back of the meeting house and settled into silence. The vocal ministry began and continued for more than an hour. It was a meeting of little silence and large stillness.

[…]

Everything worked out on that day. It was such a good sign. It changed some of my ideas about marriage…I know that Marshall is a good man, and when I met John and heard about his work and looked at him, he also seemed like a good man. So, I think that it is right that if two good men love each other, they should be together and get married.

The Quaker process of spiritual discernment was established long ago to do what is needed today—to respond to ongoing revelation…John and Marshall openly attended to their responsibility to the Divine Spirit by seeking to carry out their spiritual leadings. The marriage of John and Marshall heralds the coming of a new age in which the leaves of the trees of life on either side of the river serve for the healing of the nations. The Lord God shall give them light. (Revelation 22:2)

[emphasis added]

As Ray Yungen points out in his excellent book, A Time of Departing, the demons love the silence and work often in this contemplative, intellectual "silence." It is common also in feminism thought, as if we could ever get our righteousness from silence. Walking in the Holy Spirit will draw us to spending time with God with a quiet heart, as we study His Word, read, pray--no one has to tell us to "spend time in silence" as Christians walking with the Lord! This is another type of silence. It is some sort of twisted, false humility at play with affinity for a work's righteousness. It's demonic, no doubt.

Dwayna Litz
December, 2006