Higgins says ‘bridge-building’ must not come at the expense of Biblical Truth

This is a wonderful essay by my friend Laurie Higgins, who recently joined the staff of Illinois Family Institute. Laurie is right: in today’s evangelical church we are witnessing “obfuscation” in the name of Gospel outreach, timidity and compromise in the name of “bridge-building,” and outright treachery (e.g., Peggy Campolo’s embrace of sodomy-based “marriage”) in the name of being “Christ-like.” Young Christians, especially, do not treat homosexuality like God does in the Bible; they are far too cavalier toward this sin because they grew up in a pro-“gay” popular and media culture.

Laurie’s piece below is an antidote to those Christians who may feel tempted to water down God’s Word — or to stop proclaiming it — in the name of extending love to those caught up in homosexual practice. True love — or what the world often calls “tough love” — does not run from God’s Truth but rather embraces it. Read this article, then read it again, and then pass it on to your network of family and friends. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

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Do Christian Spin Doctors Heal the “LGBTQ” Community?

9/19/2008 8:17:00 AM
By Laurie Higgins, Division of School Advocacy Director –Illinois Family Institute

Despite the fact that I am neither a theologian nor a pastor, I’m going to make what I hope are not presumptuous observations about the way some individuals, church leaders, and non-profit organizations attempt to build bridges with the homosexual community. Many Christian “bridge-builders” are pursuing this noble effort by either concealing from their GLBTQ friends the true nature of their orthodox theological positions, or conversely by concealing from their orthodox Christian friends their non-traditional theological positions.

The goals of building bridges, cultivating community, and fostering relationships between the orthodox Christian community and the GLBTQ community, and spreading the Good News of Christ’s work of redemption within that community are not only noble but critical goals. And certainly different people are called to approach these goals in different ways. But the methods or strategies employed must never sacrifice, obscure, or compromise truth.

Some of these bridge builders justify their obfuscation by claiming that it is not the role of the Christian community to “convict or judge.” They argue, rightly in my view, that it is the Holy Spirit that convicts the heart of man, and God who judges. But the way they are using this correct theology muddies the waters by implying that if we state clearly that God defines homosexual behavior as sin, we are guilty of convicting and judging others. That is false. To answer direct questions with direct, clear answers on God’s view of homosexuality does not constitute either convicting or judging. And it can lead to the very redemption bridge-builders profess to desire for the GLBTQ community.

…But ‘Fair Use’ law is on the side of Americans For Truth

Now why would Folsom Street Fair organizers not want the world to know about (Democratic) Mayor Gavin Newsom’s effusive support for their (unbelievably depraved) event? Folsom’s attorney wrote AFTAH to demand that we take down this Folsom welcoming letter and a gross ad (see below) from the Sept. 28 event’s raunchy “Official 2008 Program Guide.” Are Mayor Newsom and the Democrats embarrassed about supporting Folsom?

By Peter LaBarbera

Well, I guess that despite those black-and-blue “Leather Pride” flags, the homosexual sadomasochists aren’t exactly “proud” of their perversions after all.  At least they don’t want the world to know about what they do in places like San Francisco — just like the homosexual activists hate and mock AFTAH for exposing their very popular excesses (bathhouses, MSM promiscuity, etc.) and the consequences thereof.

On August 28, Americans For Truth received an intimidating letter from San Francisco attorney Jeffry Gibson of Goldstein, Gellman, Melbostad, Gibson & Harris, LLP, representing the Folsom Street Fair. Gibson wrote:

“[D]emand is made that you forthwith (within 48 hours of the date of this letter) remove from your website (and any other publications in which you have reproduced them) those two unpermitted properties which were illegally copied without permission. Failure to do so will result in no further warnings or demands, but legal action against you which will seek both the statutory penalties allowed by law as well as recovery of Folsom Street Fair’s attorney’s fees and costs.”

The two “unpermitted properties” in question are a grotesque ad in the Folsom Street “Official 2008 Program Guide,” and, curiously, an official letter from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (D) — a public servant — that appeared in the same guide — extolling the Folsom fair to attendees. (Both are reproduced again here, with the ad’s nudity covered up.)

MillerCoors’ ad in the official program guide of the vile and anti-Christian Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco. Would Miller advertise at an Incest Rights gathering, or proudly sell beer at a Neo-Nazi rally?

AFTAH letter sent today to MillerCoors spokesman Julian Green [contact Green at green.julian@mbco.com or phone: 1-800-MILLER-6 or 414-931-2000.]:

Dear Mr. Green,

We are highlighting MillerCoor’s support of and advertising at the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco [to be held Sunday, September 28]. I am president of a conservative pro-family group, Americans For Truth (www.aftah.org). The Folsom Street Fair is probably the most extreme and debauched public event in the United States. As you can see from below and through the links on our site, it features men walking around fully nude and engaging in public homosexual orgies on the streets of San Francisco (as the police stand idly by).

Moreover, Folsom directly promotes anti-religious bigotry through its association with the anti-Catholic “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” and sale of (“religious”) “sex toys” that mock the Christian faith.

Harvey to join AFTAH in exposing Folsom Fair’s public filth in Nancy Pelosi’s district

PROFITING OFF OF PERVERSION: Miller Brewing Company took out a full-page ad (left) in the 2008 Folsom Street Fair Official Program Guide, on page 40. Five pages before that is this “StraightHell” ad that glories in the depraved and sadistic behaviors celebrated by this annual San Francisco “fair.” At least the gross Folsom ad has got one thing right: these boys are going STRAIGHT TO HELL if they don’t repent of this wickedness and accept Christ’s forgiveness. You can contact Miller though their spokesman Julian Green at green.julian@mbco.com or phone: 1-800-MILLER 6 or 414-931-2000.

Folks, AFTAH is organizing this event in America’s “queer” Mecca later this month to remind the rest of the country (and Californians voting on the marriage protection) about the downward spiraling trajectory of liberal “tolerance” and the homosexual activist agenda. My good friend Linda Harvey will be joining us in exposing this sure-to-be unbelievably evil spectacle occurring on Sept. 28 in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s city. Democrats with any sense of decency and “family values,” as they say, should be ashamed at what their party has become: enablers for the worst public perversions known to mankind (see Mayor Gavin Newsom’s welcoming letter to the Folsom Street Fair HERE). — Peter LaBarbera

PS. The organizers for Folsom tried to intimidate Americans For Truth from publishing graphics from their website and Program Guide — including the welcoming letter from Mayor Newsom, a public servant! It did not work: we have “fair use” rights to expose their filth. More on that in another post.

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Mission America writes:

California ‘Corruption Footprint’ Not Wanted in Middle America

September 8, 2008

Contact: Linda Harvey, (614) 442-7998, lpharvey@missionamerica.com

(Columbus, OH) Traditional families, especially children, will be harmed if California forces its sexual deviance on the rest of America, says Linda Harvey of Mission America.

Harvey joins other pro-family groups later this month in San Francisco to protest and expose the Folsom Street Fair, a public street orgy which includes sado-masochism, full nudity and homosexuality. They will also discuss the urgent need to pass Proposition 8, the ballot initiative upholding traditional marriage.

The event falls on Sunday, September 28, following “Leather Pride Week.” The alleged crowd estimate of 400,000 has no age restrictions, merely warnings about the “adult oriented nature” of activities. Last year, children were observed in the crowd where they could witness, for example, bare-bottomed men being whipped.

“There ‘s one big question: why?” said Harvey. ”How can Mayor Newsom, city officials and even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who represents San Francisco) tolerate disturbed people publicly displaying this deviance as police stand by and do nothing to stop it?

Two men in a sexual relationship is just “one more kind of love.” That’s the message that the homosexual picture book Daddy’s Roommate tells little children. While the Left loves accusing conservatives of “book banning,” America’s public libraries are far more likely to carry pro-homosexual books than those critical of homosexuality — including books written by ex-“gays.”

Americans For Truth News Release, Sept. 18, 2006

NAPERVILLE, Illinois – Americans For Truth President Peter LaBarbera today charged liberal activists with rank hypocrisy in accusing GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin of “book banning” because she or her constituents once expressed concerns about controversial books such as Daddy’s Roommate in the Wasilla Public Library.

“All the charges of book-banning and censorship of books like ‘Daddy’s Roommate’ obscure the Left’s role as the nation’s leading Institutional Censor in keeping traditional and faith-based books on homosexuality and other issues OUT of public libraries,” LaBarbera said.

Americans For Truth is readying the launch of its “Library Fairness Project” to correct the severe pro-homosexual book bias in local library collections nationwide. AFTAH will work with other organizations like PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays) to help citizens make requests to their local libraries to have balanced collections on homosexuality – i.e., parity between pro-homosexuality books and those opposed to the “gay” movement. The latter will include books by former homosexuals (“ex-gays”) – a subject despised by liberal, pro-gay activists intent on hiding the truth that many men and women have left that sinful lifestyle.

Meanwhile, others credit God with helping them overcome homosexuality

Ray Boltz back when he was not publicly defying God’s Word. The Christian artist and father of four now says being homosexual “is the way God made me.” 

By Peter LaBarbera

Last week, I was at the Family Research Council’s “Values Voter Summit” in Washington, D.C., where I was struck by how many former homosexuals I encountered in the space of a three day visit. I had breakfast with my good friend Jim, who is happily married and has left homosexuality so far behind that he told me he can barely believe that was how he once lived.

Then there was Anthony Falzarano, a veteran former homosexual who is out with a new book about his life, And Such Were Some of You. (Anthony — who has attended the funerals of many homosexual friends from his old life — was accompanied by his beautiful daughter Mary Victoria, who is alive today because he stopped living the “gay” lie.)

And I met Anthony Glover, an African American man whose road to overcoming homosexuality was solidified by a scary experience of almost committing sodomy with a homosexual man who was HIV-positive. (Yes, some homosexual men intentionally try to infect others with HIV.)

Also stopping at our Americans For Truth booth at the FRC summit was Grace Harley, a former (female-to-male) “transgender” who is now a Christian advocating for healthy change in Maryland.

Amidst all this, I picked up a copy of The Washington Blade, D.C.’s main homosexual newspaper, only to find a long story on former Christian Gospel singer Ray Boltz, who has sold out Jesus by embracing a false “gay” identity after living a life as a married family man. (Self-styled “queer” activists will say that Boltz was living a lie, but his four children do not owe their existence to a “gay” lifestyle.) I read the entire Blade story, but all you really need to know is in the final paragraph:

“This is what it really comes down to,” [Boltz] says. “If this is the way God made me , then this is the way I’m going to live. It’s not like God made me this way and he’ll send me to hell if I am who he created me to be … I really feel closer to God because I no longer hate myself.”

Wow, talk about presumption! This talented man is lost and he needs our prayers. Boltz may “feel” closer to God, but if you believe the Scriptures, he’s farther than ever from Him. We understand that the radical “gay” movement exalts its collective “feelings” over the Bible’s clear teaching — and certainly they are not alone in that regard — but each of us must choose between the truth and lies every day, and homosexual behavior is egregiously sinful, according to God’s Word. (See www.robgagnon.net if you are tempted to rationalize away the Bible’s clear condemnation of homosexual practice.) You just can’t sugarcoat that verdict, although these days even many Christians try.

‘Pray away the gay’ and hope Wayne Besen gets a one-way ticket to Alaska

Homosexual gadfly Wayne Besen is begging for money to fly to Alaska to embarrass Gov. Sarah Palin and promote the lie that homosexuals cannot change. And Associated Press is happy to parrot Besen’s line ridiculing healthy change for homosexuals.

‘News’ Release
Americans For Truth
www.americansfortruth.org

September 9, 2008

Contact: Peter LaBarbera, americansfortruth@comcast.net; 630-717-7631

Secular City, USA — The alternative new media and old establishment media alike are swarming around startling revelations concerning Alaska Governor and GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s church in Alaska.

Huff-And-Puff Post has learned that Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin worships, actually believes the Bible that Christ came to earth as a man, professed to be God Himself and forgave peoples’ sins, and performed miracles that only God could do, like raising Lazarus from the dead. Wasilla doctrine teaches that this same Jesus now sits at the right hand of His Heavenly Father and lovingly intervenes in the lives of human beings.

“We have discovered that these brainwashed Christianists who cling to their religion and their guns also cling to fairy tales about Jesus as some prayer-answering ‘savior,’” said Arianna Huff-and-Puff, publisher of the online H&P Post. “It’s one thing to believe that this unseen God-man Jesus helped create the world and performs miracles in the lives of his followers — like healing drug addicts and transforming the hearts of hardened criminals. But believing that He can help also people leave homosexuality – what are they, nuts?!”

Associated Press reports ominously that Wasilla Bible Church supports programs to help men and women overcome homosexual desires. AP, consistent with its well-earned reputation as Always Politically-correct, chose to use the homosexual pejorative “Pray Away the Gay” to describe Wasilla’s ex-“gay” ministry.

 Left targets Gov. Palin’s Christian worldview.

Evangelical Christians and religious conservatives who want to abandon the “Culture Wars” ought to consider how that directly matches the goal of homosexual activists, who seek to minimize conservative religious influence in the public square. Read this piece by my good friend Brian Fitzpatrick of the Culture & Media Institute, and click on the story’s links about the recent homosexual journalists’ convention in Washington, D.C. — Peter LaBarbera

Fitzpatrick writes:

Pro-Gay Journalist: Palin’s Religious Worldview ‘Controversial’

Huffington Post suggests that applying Christian values to public policy is inappropriate

Culture & Media Institute, Sept. 4, 2008 

In an obvious attempt to creat a Jeremiah Wright-style scandal for the Republican presidential ticket — and to marginalize conservative Christian values — Huffington Post National Editor Nico Pitnew is questioning the religious beliefs of GOP Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin and her former pastor.

A Sept. 2 Huffington Post article by Pitney and Political Reporter Sam Stein begins with an ominous headline: “Palin’s Church May Have Shaped Controversial Worldvie.” They write, “And if the political storm over Barack Obama’s former pastor Jeremiah Wright is any indication, Palin may face some political fallout over the more controversial teachings of Wasilla Assembly of God.” …

In an effort to marginalize Palin’s religious values, Pitney appears to be advancing a political agenda. Just two weeks ago, the self-described “advocacy journalist” was scheduled to participate in a panel on opinion writing at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association convention in Washington, D.C. Pitney told CMI [Culture & Media Institute] that he is neither homosexual nor a member of the NLGJA, but he is clearly an ideological fellow traveler. …