Michigan Church
A church sanctuary is picture in Detroit, Michigan, on Dec. 18, 2011. Rev. Matthew Makela, an anti-gay leader of St. John's Luther Church in Midland, Michigan, has resigned from his job as associate pastor, after his profile on a mobile app for gay and bisexual men looking for sex was discovered by a pro-LGBT website. Reuters/Mark Blinch

Matthew Makela is down for same-sex massage, nude kissing, cuddling and more -- just don't tell his wife, their five children, or the congregation of his Lutheran church in Michigan. The reverend was outed by a tipster who told the pro-LGBT news outlet Queerty about Makela's profile and activities on Grindr, a mobile application for gay and bisexual men looking for sex. Makela then quit his associate pastor job at St. John’s Lutheran Church , according to a report by Metro.

Critics said Makela's apparent dallyings on the mobile app is hypocritical because of his very public, anti-gay sermons and writings, in which he likened homosexuality to alcoholism and slammed transgender advocates as "opportunistic sickos preying upon children." In a column for the Midlands Daily News, he once rejected the claims of some hardliner evangelical Christians leaders that God hates homosexuals.

"I love people who have same sex attraction, and so does God," Makela wrote. "The proof is in the sacrifice He made for all of us who sin… We don’t tell a person born with tendencies to abuse alcohol to keep on giving in to his innate desires because he can’t help it. We try to help him in his struggle."

St. John's lead Pastor Daniel Kempin has confirmed the story about Makela to the congregation, according to Metro. "[Makela] has acknowledged that there was sin and repentance, and I have testified that there is indeed forgiveness through the same Lord who forgives all our sins," Kempin wrote in a message to church members. "Nevertheless, it is an end of our time together in ministry, and we ask for your continued prayers and support for the Makela family."

Kempin also warned the congregation that they might find the details of Makela's "sin" disturbing. Queerty found the former St. Johns pastor's profile and posted several screenshots of his conversations with another Grindr user. "I would love to mess around with a bicurious guy," Makela wrote to a user. "I have a [girlfriend] so I don't usually do evenings or overnights."

The screenshot also reveal that Makela sent bare-chested and "selfie" photographs to a user. Queerty said it happily shared Makela's apparent hypocrisy with its readers because so many LGBT individuals have blamed their internal struggles over sexuality on anti-gay leaders in the Christian faith. "If Makela made even one LGBT kid at St. John’s... feel like being true to yourself is shameful... then we’re glad to share his hypocrisy with the world."

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