Folks, here’s a clip from my appearance June 20, 2013, on American Family Radio’s “Focus Point with Bryan Fischer,” discussing the implosion of Exodus International under Alan Chambers and the rise of Restored Hope Network in its place. Click HERE to watch it on YouTube. Beneath the video (after the jump) is Restored Hope’s response to the closure of Exodus. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

Statement from Restored Hope Network:

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The institutional failure of Exodus International — under the tragically unbiblical leadership of Alan Chambers (above) — has nothing to do with God not being able to help homosexuals (like all sinners) change. A new Christian umbrella group for people overcoming homosexuality, sexual sin and gender confusion — Restored Hope Network — has risen up to take Exodus’ place. Several former Exodus ministry leaders have already joined Restored Hope.

“The point is that the language of ‘sexual orientation’ is an imposition today on much of what the Bible says about sexuality.” — Rev. Mark Creech

OKLAHOMA CITY — The following is a long excerpt from an outstanding column by Rev. Mark Creech, published June 22 by Renew America. Some of my comments on Exodus International’s stunning collapse are quoted in the piece. Exodus imploded because its Executive Director, Alan Chambers, and his staff succumbed — in a very cult-like way — to bad theology (see Prof. Rob Gagnon’s report critiquing Chambers’ “cheap grace” errors HERE). Chambers was talking and acting more and more like a pro-homosexuality activist — odd behavior for a supposed Christian leader. But what Creech’s article alludes to is that the modern semantics surrounding the “homosexuality debate” — sexual orientation, gay, homophobia, gender identity, marriage equality, etc. — are built on worldly concepts that run contrary to Scripture.

In future posts I will describe my wonderful and moving experience here in the great state of Oklahoma attending the annual conference of Restored Hope Network (RHN) — which God raised up to do the noble, life changing ministry work that Exodus once did. (Several Exodus-affiliated “ex-gay” ministries already have joined Restored Hope, and others soon will follow.) Know this: Exodus’ and Chambers’ downfall — though a momentary propaganda boon for deceitful, often vicious, homosexual militants like Wayne Besen [he “applauds” Alan HERE]– is only an institutional failure, driven by foolish pride. The timely rise in its stead of Restored Hope shows that Jesus Christ is still very much in the business of redeeming and radically transforming sinners — and of course that includes men, women and young people caught up in the sin of homosexual behavior.

May we all pray that the Lord will bless Restored Hope Network abundantly. You can find out more about them HERE and financially support RHN HERE. Rev. Creech’s full column can be found HERE. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

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Exodus International Flees the Promised Land

By Rev. Mark H. Creech

It is considered a landmark announcement, proof that the cultural winds are shifting in favor of the acceptance of homosexuality by the evangelical community. Exodus International, a ministry devoted to helping people overcome same-sex attractions is shutting down. Alan Chambers, the ministry’s president, is apologizing for much of the hurt he believes the ministry has caused the LGBT community.

Chambers, who now rejects the view that sexual orientation can be changed through the Gospel, wrote that he believes there is a sense in which his apology is for the whole church. “[I]f the church is a body, with many members being connected to the whole, then I believe that when one of us does right we all do right, and when one of us does wrong we all do wrong,” he said. “We have done wrong, and I stand with many others who now recognize the need to offer apologies and make things right.” [1]

But Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention takes umbrage with Chambers’ apology, arguing: “I think there is a tendency to see Exodus folding as a parable of Christian capitulation and ethic. That is not what is happening. Instead what you have is an organization that has some confusion about its mission and purpose…What is not happening here, is an evangelical revision of a biblical sexual ethic.” [2]

Peter LaBarbera, who leads Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, would agree with Moore. When OneNewsNow recently asked LaBarbera about Exodus shutting down, he said, “I think Alan Chambers, who basically ruined the organization, had no choice because the affiliates were leaving. All the people who support the truth that homosexuals can change and overcome this perversion through Jesus Christ were leaving Exodus.” [3]

LaBarbera, who called Exodus’ closing one of the greatest tragedies he had witnessed in the pro-family movement, also shared where he believes the ministry made its fatal mistake. He said, “Homosexuality is about behavior, and behaviors can be changed with the help of God and through Christ…That’s what Exodus used to be about. But once they started talking about so called ‘gay sexual orientation,’ as if this is the inherent state of somebody’s being, they got in trouble.” [4]

LaBarbera makes a critical point that raises a fundamental question: Is the concept of “sexual orientation” biblical? It is my contention that this expression, which finds its source in modern psychology and is so easily bandied about, doesn’t have a biblical leg to stand on.

In this video Michael Voris of the Catholic online video program ChurchMilitant.TV discusses Pope Francis’ statement, made in a private meeting, that there is a homosexual activist “gay lobby” inside the Vatican. To watch this video on Voris’ YouTube channel, go HERE:

86 percent of Russians support bill prohibiting “gay” propaganda aimed at youth; the negative lesson of American decadence

WHAT RUSSIANS DON’T WANT: A male drag queen activist with the San Franciscio-based group “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” prepares for a local Easter Egg hunt sponsored by the anti-Christian homosexual activist outfit. (The same “Sisters” group sponsors the annual sadomasochism-celebrating “Folsom Street Fear” in San Francisco.) Russians do not want to follow America’s reckless and decadent promotion of gender confusion, sexual perversion, and anti-biblical ideologies to youth. Note: we blocked out the innocent boy’s face for his protection. Click on photos to enlarge.

Folks, I’m afraid that the lessons that the United States of America has to teach the world on homosexuality these days are mostly negative: Avoid our mistakes. Don’t become like us. Don’t foster the promotion of radical sexual and gender agendas to your young people. Don’t allow your government schools to become ‘pro-homosexuality zones’ for impressionable students. Don’t treat unhealthly sexual perversions and gender confusion as a “civil right” or “human right,” etc. [see adjoining photos]

Who can blame Russians for looking at the U.S. Homosexual Lobby’s “Overhauling of Straight America” (to quote the article and book by homosexual marketing strategists Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen) and saying, “No thanks!” — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

The following is a release by the World Congress of Families. [Read Brian Camenker’s account of the  Russian bill HERE.]

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June 11, 2013

For Immediate Release

For More Information, Contact: Don Feder at 508-405-1337, don@worldcongress.org  or

The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society at 815-964-5819, media@worldcongress.org

World Congress of Families Provides a Pro-Family Perspective on Russian Bill Prohibiting on Homosexual Propaganda to Minors

Today [June 11], the Russian Duma gave final approval to a bill prohibiting propaganda on “non-traditional sexual relationships” aimed at the young. The bill awaits action by the upper Chamber of the Russian Parliament (the Council of Federation) and signature by the President, but these are considered formalities.

The European Union pressured the Russian government not to approve the bill, which would prohibit homosexual propaganda that encourages promiscuous sexual behavior among minors.

In January, the Duma, initially approved the bill by a vote of 388-to-1 with one abstention. A survey by The Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion showed 86% of the Russian people support the measure.

Here we begin the occasional reprinting of Tweets by Americans For Truth About Homosexuality President Peter LaBarbera. To follow him on Twitter, go to twitter.com/PeterLaBarbera or click HERE. Be forewarned that LaBarbera’s selected Twitter “favorites” include hateful and vicious (as well as obnoxious, infantile and vulgar) messages from pro-homosexuality activists on Twitter:

Former lesbian Anne Paulk is among the speakers at the Restored Hope Network conference in Oklahoma City June 21-22.

The following release was issued May 7, 2013 by Restored Hope Network, on Christian Newswire. RHN was formed as a biblically faithful alternative to the wayward Exodus International, which — under Alan Chambers’ failed leadership — increasingly has adopted a pro-“gay” (activist) mindset. That includes Exodus’ bizarre and gratuitious refusal to take a public position against homosexual “marriage” — as a supposed Christian organization.

Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) urges Christians and all who believe that people can overcome destructive lifestyles to support RHN with their prayers, efforts and finances.  Furthermore, we applaud all Christian ministries that have severed their relationship with Exodus: Christianity and homosexualist ideology do not mix, which is to say: faithful Christianity and sin do not mix. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

Courageous Christian Leaders Stand with Restored Hope Network

Linda Harvey of Mission America speaks out against pro-homosexual youth programs, outside the homosexual lobby group Human Rights Campaign’s D.C. headquarters. Harvey was the target of vulgar hate-emails after she was mentioned days before in an AFTAH press release announcing the event. Click on photos to enlarge.

This is a good account of our Tuesday press conference against “Gay Pride Month” in front of Human Rights Campaign’s D.C. headquarters — by Cliff Kincaid of America’s Future, which also provided full video coverage of the event [see YouTube videos Part One, Part Two and Part Three]. This article is reprinted from the Renew America website (which we highly recommend), and published June 5, 2013. All photos are from Americans For Truth and can be reprinted provided credit is given to AFTAH.org.

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Backlash to Obama’s Gay Rights Agenda

By Cliff Kincaid

An Obama-allied group that is at the center of the scandal over IRS harassment of conservative organizations was the target of a protest outside its own headquarters.

“The escalation of homosexual activist power is bad for America, and American liberty,” declared Peter LaBarbera of the group Americans for Truth outside the headquarters of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in Washington, D.C. He said Christians and conservatives in favor of traditional values are being subjected to “intimidation, bullying, violence, [and] dirty tricks,” such as the HRC’s acquisition of the National Organization for Marriage’s IRS donor filings, for the purpose of harassing opponents of the gay agenda.

The Huffington Post had also received and publicized the confidential information, a violation of federal law.

A banner, “Homosexuality Is Nothing to Be Proud of, but overcoming it is,” was displayed in reference to President Obama’s proclamation of June as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.”

Obama previously celebrated the 1969 homosexual riots at a seedy Mafia-run bar known as the Stonewall Inn.

HRC sign “welcomes” AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera. A few hours later, an HRC spokesman was maligning him and the other pro-family advocates as the “fringe.”

Aware of the planned press conference, the HRC put a “Welcome Peter” sign on its headquarters.

But LaBarbera didn’t return the welcome, saying that “The deviant sexual revolution represented by the Human Rights Campaign headquarters behind us is built on a foundation of lies.”

He called the homosexual revolution “one of the most amazing marketing stories of all time: a sexual sin once defined by Noah Webster as the ‘Crime Against Nature,’ condemned by God for millennia, was repackaged as the supposed basis for ‘civil rights.'”

Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel Action, one of several participants in the news conference, denounced the Human Rights Campaign for its role in receiving and u  sing confidential financial records from the IRS to attack donors to the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).

The following is Part Three of America’s Survival’s coverage of our press conference Tuesday, June 4, 2013, in front of the D.C. headquarters of Human Rights Campaign, the world’s largest and most powerful homosexual activist lobby organization. Speaking first is Patrick Mangan, president of Citizens for Community Values of Indiana, who discusses whether homosexualism is a “civil right” or a “special right.” He is followed by Eric Holmberg of The Apologetics Group, a Christian filmmaker who discusses his soon-to-be-released documentary, “Is Gay the New Black: Homosexuality and the Civil Rights Movement.” Holmberg distributed a clip from the documentary titled, “From Selma to Stonewall.”

AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera briefly explains the stalling of a homosexual “marriage” bill in Illinois despite super-majority Democratic control of both the Illinois House and Senate. (There is also a revealing question by homosexual journalist Chris Geidner of Buzzfeed, who mentions [at 10:00 in the video] his conversation with a top advisor to Mitt Romney who told him, based on polling and electoral data, “that there is no reversing the trend of support for LGBT rights, and he woud challenge anybody to make the case that there is a way to reverse that trend.”)

The last half of the video is made up of Q & A, and includes discusses by Matt Barber and Magnan on their response as Christians to homosexuals — one not of “hate” but reaching out to people in the love of Christ. Mangan explains why “Love the sinner, hate the sin” still encapsulates the proper Christian response to homosexuals: