Folks, this is a short, edited and condensed interview I did Oct. 21, 2017, with my friend and AFTAH’s 2017 banquet speaker Stephen Black, about his new book “Freedom Realized: Freedom From Homosexuality and Living A Life Free From Labels.’  Stephen is executive director of First Stone Ministries and Board Chair of Restored Hope Network–two wonderful Christian ministries. The book is available for a donation of $20 or more to Americans For Truth; give safely online or send your gift noting the book offer to: AFTAH, P.O. Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522.  — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; americansfortruth@gmail.com; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera

Changed Life: Stephen Black of First Stone Ministries and Restored Hope Network once lived his life as a “gay” man [see his powerful video testimony HERE]. Now he helps others leave the homosexual lifestyle. Stephen will give four presentations on understanding homosexuality and reaching out to those trapped in sexual sin and gender confusion—in the love and truth of Jesus Christ. Full banquet details HERE. Sign up for just $25 for both days HERE.

Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is holding its annual banquet this Friday, Oct. 20, followed by a “Teach-in” Saturday, Oct. 21.  There will be a total of four presentations by our keynote speaker, my friend Stephen Black, a godly Christian man who came out of homosexuality and now helps others do the same.  [See his powerful video testimony HERE.]  We also have an “all-star” Q-&A panel Saturday featuring: Denise Shick, whose father told her he wanted to be a “woman” when she was a young girl; stellar writer Laurie Higgins of Illinois Family Institute; and AFA-Pennsylvania pro-family warrior Diane Gramley.

This Teach-in is ideal for anyone with loved ones trapped in homosexual and/or transgender lifestyles.  Like all our events, it will be highly educational and spiritually uplifting—loaded with information that you can put to use in your life and relationships.  It is only $25 for both days and will be held at Grace for Life Bible Church in Naperville, Illinois, Oct. 20-21.  Full details are HERE.

KEY DETAILS:

WHO:  Stephen Black, author, Freedom Realized; director, First Stone Ministries, Oklahoma City; Board Chairman, Restored Hope Network.

WHAT:  AFTAH’s annual dinner-banquet and next-day teach-in on homosexuality. Stephen will  give a total of 4 presentations, and there will also be a Q&A panel featuring him, Denise Shick, Laurie Higgins and Diane Gramley.

WHEN: Banquet with casual dinner (catered by Portillo’s) is Friday, Oct. 20, 6:00-9:30 PM.  Doors open at 5:30 PM Friday, and 8:30 AM Saturday.  Teach-in seminars led by Stephen is Saturday, Oct 21, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.  A casual lunch will be served Sat., and the Q&A panel begins at 1:30 Sat.

WHERE:  Grace For Life Bible Church, Naperville, Illinois (west of Chicago), 7S201 S. River Rd., Naperville, IL. [at the corner of River Rd. and Aurora Ave.; entrance is on River Rd. across the street from “Safety Town” and the Naperville PD.] 

COST:  Just $25/person to attend either or both events. Table of 10 at banquet for $250. Separate gift offerings will be taken both Friday and Saturday. Mail check to: AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522 — or pay online HERE

RSVP and AFTAH contact info: americansfortruth@gmail.com, or call 312-324-3787.

AFTAH Reboot

This year’s banquet is a little different from past ones in that it launches what is essentially AFTAH’s “reboot” as an organization.  For the last year, I have been writing full-time for LifeSiteNews.com, an excellent pro-family news site for which I will continue to write blog articles.  But my Americans For Truth work in the last year has been limited mainly to doing dozens of interviews on conservative and Christian media relating to LGBTQ issues [see HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE].  Moral-minded conservatives are big fans of AFTAH because we are direct and honest in speaking the truth about homosexual-bisexual-transgender activism, in the love and grace of Christ.

Beginning at the Friday banquet [casual dinner catered by Portillo’s], I will again be devoting my full energies to AFTAH, which I formed more than two decades ago (an offshoot of my “Lambda Report”) and has always been my first love when it comes to opposing Big Gay and its cheerleading media enablers.  (We veterans of the fight against the LGBTQueer lobby could tell Donald Trump a few things about “fake news.”)

Our website will return to doing that for which AFTAH is known (and which drives LGBT militants and the Left crazy): telling the hard truths about homosexuality and “transgenderism” that so many others—even people on our side—are often unwilling to tell.  Yes, that includes publishing disturbing (albeit boxed-out) photos of unsavory “gay” events that remind us why, for centuries, homosexuality has been regarded as deeply immoral and an unnatural perversion.

Denise Shick’s father told her he wanted to become a “woman” when she was just nine years old. Now she runs the Help 4 Families Ministry, which reaches out to families dealing with “transgender” issues. Shick will be speaking on a panel at the AFTAH Teach-in Sat., Oct. 21, following our dinner-banquet with ex-“gay” Stephen Black Oct. 20. Black also will give three presentations on Saturday.

Folks, I’m excited to announce that Denise Shick, founder and executive director of Help 4 Families Ministry, will be speaking at the AFTAH Teach-in Oct. 21, which follows our banquet with former homosexual Stephen Black Oct. 20.  Help 4 Families describes itself as “a Christian ministry that compassionately reaches out to family members and brings understanding of the emotional and spiritual issues that families face when a loved one is gender confused.”

As you can read in the essay by Denise below, Shick’s father revealed to her when she was just nine years old that he wanted to become a “woman,” then asked her not to tell her own mother. Her ministry today was birthed by her many years of dealing with the pain and trauma of such emotional abuse at the hands of her own gender-confused dad; read more about her harrowing personal story HERE.

Denise is author of three books dealing with “transgender” issues (see below). She will be on our Q-and-A panel Saturday afternoon, following three  presentations on homosexuality by Stephen Black, who has lived 35 years free of the “gay” lifestyle that he once thought defined him. Black also speaks Friday evening, Oct. 20, with a casual dinner served. Tickets are just $25 for both days of outstanding teaching. My friend and pro-family leader Diane Gramley of American Family Association of Pennsylvania will also appear on the final Saturday panel.

Banquet & Teach-in sign up: More information HERE; sign up with your safe payment online HERE. — Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth

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The ‘Transgender’ Lobby Is Weaponizing Children as Pawns in the Culture War

By Denise Shick, Oct. 1, 2017

I’ll never forget the first time I heard of warlords such as Uganda’s Joseph Kony turning little boys into killer soldiers and little girls into sex slaves. My heart ached at the thought. It still does. It seemed like a horrible war movie—but it was real, with real children as casualties.

War is always horrible, but in some sad cases it is necessary. But children should be—to the greatest degree possible—shielded from violent conflicts. They should never be forced to kill or do violence. Innocent, impressionable children are malleable. They can be sculpted into persons of deep character, guided by transcendent principles. Or they can be turned into weapons, as Joseph Kony and many other evil men have done.