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America the Decadent? Would previous generations have allowed homosexual propagandists to spread their ungodly message of male-to-male erotic love to young children — in schools — as this children’s picture book, ‘King & King,’ has been used to do?
QUESTION: How do we get back on the offensive in the Culture War battle against homosexual activism and gender confusion? Send your ideas to americansfortruth@comcast.net
Dear AFTAH Readers,
My friend Laurie Higgins below has hit on a microcosm of why our movement is on the brink of an astounding cultural defeat — the triumph of immoral same-sex behavior as a “civil right.” In the last decade, some of our leaders, and many conservatives, chose to “downplay” the very force — homosexualism — that was leading the assault on marriage, normalcy and children in our culture.
About three years ago, I sat in a roomful of evangelical leaders at a major ministry where it was taught that you should not criticize homosexual behavior in advocating against “same-sex marriage.” The “expert” speaker cited poll data and negative audience reaction to the issue being raised.
There has been ample speculation in the alternative press that Florida Governor Charlie Crist is homosexual or bisexual.
By Peter LaBarbera
Here we go again, everyone. Can both sides of the homosexuality debate agree that it is incumbent on political candidates to be completely open and honest about their involvement in homosexual behavior — or any sexual misconduct? We understand that homosexual activists and many social liberals do not view homo-sexual behavior as misconduct, but many voters do, and even those in the middle on this issue have a right to know what their representative is up to and what biases he holds. Too many politicians with a homosexual problem are hiding this “special interest” from the voters; they should run as openly homosexual Republicans (or Democrats) so we can avoid post-election surprises like the pathetic Gov. Jim (“I’m a gay American”) McGreevey scandal in New Jersey.
We will need another column to discuss the new, post-Mark Foley politics and media ethics surrounding “outing.” Suffice it to say that such “outings” are usually done (or forced) only when they suit pro-“gay” interests — putting pressure (unbeknownst to the voters) on pols who are publicly conservative yet privately homo/bi-sexual. The message is clear: if you don’t want to be “outed,” stop opposing the “gay” agenda. I was told as much by homosexual “outing” activist Mike Rogers, who said he is not interested in “outing” politicians whose politics are pro-homosexual.
Enter Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a popular Republican who is reportedly under serious consideration for the party’s vice-presidential nod. Based on what’s already out there, if Crist were to be chosen, it would only be a matter of days — make that hours — before there would be national political and media speculation about his “sexual orientation.” You won’t believe the amount that’s already been written and discussed in the media about Crist’s sexuality and related issues in the homosexual and liberal press (see links below).
The following was published by American Family Association founder and chairman Donald Wildmon. Congratulations to AFA for holding Ford accountable through determined grassroots action. Ford executives’ willingness to alienate millions upon millions of pro-family consumers to pander to a tiny, vocal homosexual minority was a marketing mishap from the beginning:
Don Wildmon writes:
I have some good news for you! AFA is suspending its two year boycott of Ford Motor Company. The conditions of the original agreement presented in fall 2005 have been met. We reached the conclusion that Ford had met the conditions of the agreement based on monitoring for several months. Individuals are free to purchase Ford vehicles again.
Your support of the boycott played a key role in convincing Ford to cease its significant support of the homosexual agenda. During the 24 months the boycott was in effect, Ford sales dropped an average of 8% per month. The boycott was not entirely responsible for the drop in sales, but it played a very significant role.
A total of 780,365 individuals signed AFA’s Boycott Ford petition.
The original agreement contained four items:
Ford would not renew current promotions or create future incentives that give cash donations to homosexual organizations based on the purchase of a vehicle.
Ford would not make corporate donations to homosexual organizations that, as part of their activities, engage in political or social campaigns to promote civil unions or same-sex “marriage.”
Ford would stop giving cash and vehicle donations or endorsements to homosexual social activities such as Gay Pride parades.
Ford would cease all advertising on homosexual Web sites and through homosexual media outlets (magazines, television, radio) in the U.S. with the exception of $100,000 to be used by Volvo. The Volvo ads would be the same ads used in the general media and not aimed at the homosexual community specifically.
A few minor issues remain, and we will continue to bring these to the attention of Ford. But basically Ford has met the terms of the agreement. We are therefore suspending the boycott.
Thank you for caring enough to get involved. If you feel our efforts are worthy of support, would you consider making a small tax-deductible contribution? Click here to make a donation [to AFA].
Sincerely,
Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman American Family Association
Dr. Michael Brown says that Jesus Christ did not simply accept outcasts, He changed them, and that evangelical leftist Jim Wallis has“lost sight of the fact that homosexual practice is always wrong.” (Wallis today, in parrying off a question about the Biblical view of homosexuality as sinful, said, “Abomination is a pretty strong word.”) Wheaton College has invited Wallis to speak tonight to its Center for Applied Christian Ethics. TAKE ACTION: to contact Wheaton College President Duane Litfin regarding Wallis’ speech, e-mail duane.litfin@wheaton.edu. Or call and ask for President Litfin’s office during office hours at 630-752-5000.
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TAKE ACTION: we urge all those who love and appreciate Wheaton College’s great contributions to the advancement of Gospel of Jesus Christ to contact Wheaton College President Duane Litfin (duane.litfin@wheaton.edu) regarding the college’s invitation of evangelical leftist Jim Wallis as a speaker. Wallis favors homosexuals “rights” legislation including “civil unions,” and takes issue with the Biblical text of homosexual behavior as a sinful “abomination.” At the very least, you can suggest that Wheaton now invite an orthodox Christian speaker like Dr. Brown who is faithful to the Bible, to counter Wallis’ more socialist, revisionist, pro-homosexual-activist worldview. E-mail Wheaton President Duane Litfin at duane.litfin@wheaton.edu. Or call and ask for President Litfin’s office during office hours at 630-752-5000.
DETAILS ON WALLIS SPEECH: tonight (Tuesday) at Wheaton College (Billy Graham’s alma mater in Wheaton, IL): Free and open to the public, the lecture will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Kresge Room, located in the east wing of the Edman Memorial Chapel at Washington and Franklin streets in Wheaton (campus map). http://www.wheaton.edu/news/events/events_07_08/02.19.08_CaceWallis.html
As Christians, it is only natural for us to side with the outcast, to be moved with compassion for those whom society rejects, to reach out to the marginalized and disenfranchised, just as Jesus, our Master did, setting an example for us to follow. In fact, in the words of Prof. Jeffrey Siker, many gay-affirming theologians argue that “Jesus’ merciful attitude of inclusion should be a guide to the contemporary church,” specifically with regard to the gay and lesbian community, the outcasts and marginalized of today. (See Homosexuality and Religion: An Encyclopedia.)
Left-leaning, Christian author Jim Wallis espouses a similar position, arguing in his newest book, The Great Awakening, that “justice” requires us to support (and even bless) same-sex unions. After all, many of these couples have been devoted to each other for years, yet they remain stigmatized by both the world and the church, bereft of the most basic benefits extended to married couples (from hospital visitation rights if their partner is on his or her death bed, to the ability to collect their partner’s social security payments after death). And, to add insult to injury, many of them are committed, churchgoing people. How can we harden our hearts to their plight? Surely, justice – let alone the example of Jesus – would require us to recognize their unions and fight for their “rights.” Or would it?
Having heard the stories of many such couples, it’s easy to sympathize with their pain, and certainly, they deserve our compassionate understanding, forcing us to explore issues such as hospital visitation rights and the like. But the questions remain: What would Jesus do and what would justice require?
To help jar us back to reality, consider this quote from the late John Hopkins professor, John Money:
“Pedophilia and ephebophilia [referring to sexual attraction felt by an adult toward an adolescent] are no more a matter of voluntary choice than are left-handedness or color blindness. There is no known method of treatment by which they may be effectively and permanently altered, suppressed, or replaced. Punishment is useless. . . . One must simply accept the fact that they do exist, and then, with optimum enlightenment, formulate a policy of what to do about it.”
To be sure, I am not comparing homosexuals with pedophiles, but it is striking that almost identical arguments are used by advocates of homosexual practice – just substitute the word “homosexuality” for “pedophilia” and “ephebophilia” in Dr. Money’s quote – yet we categorically reject pedophilia and ephebophilia as wrong, regardless of the claims that they are innate and immutable. On what basis, then, should we sanction same-sex unions, even monogamous, non-abusive, long-term unions? Are they not also wrong in God’s sight? Where does Scripture even hint that “abusive” same-sex relationships (such as pedophilia) are wrong but “non-abusive” ones are right?
Former American Psychological Association president and gay rights advocate Dr. Nicholas Cummings recently critiqued the APA’s endorsement of same-sex marriages, asking, “Does any serious scientist regard as evidence the following: loving relationships are mentally healthy, gay marriage is a type of loving relationship, therefore gay marriage is mentally healthy. Good grief! This statement is so elastic it could be stretched to justify polygamy, marriage to your own mother, or even your lovable pet dog.” Yet parallel arguments are now being advanced in the name of biblical justice. How can this be?
Wallis and others seem to have lost sight of the fact that homosexual practice is always wrong, representing a fundamental violation of God’s order, and they appear to have forgotten that God’s ways (which, from creation, have included male-female unions only) are always best. Yes, true justice requires us to recognize that He knows what is best for the family and for society and that His standards are ultimately in everyone’s best interest – be they heterosexual, homosexual, or other. In fact, agreeing with His standards is the path to liberation, even for those involved in same-sex relationships.
What about the fact that Jesus reached out to the disenfranchised and marginalized? To be sure, in doing so, He rebukes a lot of our stiff religiosity, a religiosity that is afraid to get its hands dirty. But let’s read the Gospels rightly: Jesus did not simply accept the outcasts, He changed them. Yes, He touched the leper, but that touch healed him. Yes, He ate with the prostitutes and tax-collectors (who were notoriously dishonest), but He didn’t encourage them to be better prostitutes and more proficient tax-collectors, He transformed their lives and brought them to repentance.
The inclusion Jesus practiced and that we must practice today is a transformational inclusion. Otherwise, we are hurting people more than we are healing them, and that is certainly not the path of justice.
Michael L. Brown holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University. He is the director of the Charlotte-based Coalition of Conscience and president of FIRE School of Ministry in Concord, North Carolina. He can be reached by phone at: 704-782-3760; and by email at: ministry@icnministries.org
Brown is involved in reaching out to the gay and lesbian community of Charlotte while at the same time working to resist the gay activist agenda, and he is a speaker for the Focus on the Family “Love Won Out” conferences, focusing on mobilizing communities for godly activism. He has produced two extensive DVD series, “Homosexuality, the Church, and Society,” and “Can You Be Gay and Christian?” and he recently debated Harry Knox, director of Religion and Faith for the (homosexual activist group) Human Rights Campaign. His book, A Queer Thing Happened to America, is scheduled for release in 2009.
Brown has preached around the world and appeared on numerous TV and radio programs, and is a published Old Testament scholar, a leading Jewish Christian apologist, and the author of twenty books. His website is: www.revolutionnow.org.
We knew it would be only a matter of time before pro-homosexuality, elitist liberals like Al Gore would take the next step along the incremental “gay agenda” path by embracing so-called “same-sex marriage.” You can watch the 1-minute Gore video above. The former vice-president asks the wrong question: it’s not just about the immediate impact on MY marriage (or your marriage), but rather associating the highest good — God’s institution of marriage — with something so deeply and morally wrong.
Gore is also mistaken that legalized “same-sex marriage’ would not have a cascading effect on the rest of society, leading to: even greater indoctrination of school children (as in Massachusetts); forcing businesses and private individuals (and all taxpayers) to subsidize immoral relationships based on destructive, aberrant sex; and creating a boon for harmful “gay” adoptions, which intentionally consign innocent children to lives without a father or mother and set up practicing homosexuals as their adult role-models–not a good idea.
Gore once backed DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act), but now he’s sold his soul to the homosexual activist lobby. I would have much more respect for him if he were to say on the same video that he is abandoning his (Christian) faith tradition to endorse this radical social experiment. Instead, he will try, like so many other compromised liberals, to make the case that homosexual “marriage” is somehow consistent with Jesus’ mission on earth. It’s not: Christ set a HIGHER moral standard than the Old Testament; He did not seek to accommodate sinful impulses like today’s worldly churches.
Folks, Jesus is in the business of trying to help men and women, like Charlene Cothran, overcome homosexuality (see her AFTAH banquet speech tape ordering info below); He’s far from the counterfeit “marriage” crusade. But what am I talking about? The Bible with its clear moral teachings is a mere “inconvenient truth” to the Al Gores of this world.
Watching the Democratic Party consolidate its position as the Party of Perversion and Abortion-on-Demand is troubling, as is witnessing so-called “moderate” (read: socially liberal) Republicans promote the absurd idea that the GOP, too, should distance itself from pro-life and pro-marriage values (to get votes, they say). All we can do is stand boldly for what’s right in whatever party we choose, or as independents.
HERE ARE TWO STORIES ON AL GORE’S “GAY MARRIAGE” STATEMENT (you can listen to the AFA “One News Now” report by going here: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=65715 and then clicking on the “Hear Report” button:
The AFTAH Banquet Videos are finally available and will be shipped ASAP! To order a complete DVD (or CD) set of both ex-lesbian Charlene Cothran’s and parental rights hero David Parker’s outstanding talks, make an online donation of at least $25 postpaid to Americans For Truth (http://americansfortruth.com/donate/). Please use the online form at https://americansfortruth.nozonenet.com/donate/cc.php to specify your order. You can substitute an audio CD but you must request this specifically. To order by regular mail, send your check or money order specifying “2007 Banquet DVD” (or CD) to: Americans For Truth, P.O. Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522.
Bulk Orders available: 2 for $40; 3 for $55; 4 for $70; add $10 for each additional DVD or contact us at americansfortruth@comcast.net (or 630-717-7631) for large bulk order pricing.
By Pete Winn, CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
January 30, 2008
(CNSNews.com) – Al Gore, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and self-proclaimed “inventor of the Internet,” has earned a new moniker: champion of homosexual marriage. And while some observers are excited about Gore’s endorsement of same-sex marriage, the laws at the state level show overall that traditional marriage is supported by a vast majority of Americans and legislatures.
“I think gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heterosexual men and women – to make contracts, to have hospital visiting rights, to join together in marriage,” Gore said in a video he posted recently on the Current TV Web site. “I don’t understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to heterosexual marriage ….”
Advocates for changing laws to create homosexual marriage welcomed the unequivocal support of the former vice president, who also won an Academy Award for his documentary on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth.”
“Gore is again pointing the way – and ending exclusion from marriage is one climate change the world will be better for,” said Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, a pro-homosexual marriage group, on its Web site.
“This is what we predicted two or three years ago – that it wouldn’t take long for the liberals who went for civil unions or domestic partnerships to move on to so-called gay marriage,” LaBarbera told Cybercast News Service.
As vice president, Gore publicly supported the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which passed Congress in 1996 and was signed into law by President Clinton. In 2000, when he ran for president, Gore announced his support for civil unions.
LaBarbera said it is easier for liberals to make the jump from support of civil unions to support for full-scale same-sex marriage than it is to go “from zero to marriage.”
“Anybody who is being realistic would see that the liberals are trending toward homosexual marriage,” he added.
Is the Bible an “inconvenient truth” to the former Vice President? Click HERE to listen to the One News Now report on Mr. Gore’s latest capitulation to homosexual activism.
Jim Brown of the American Family Association news service One News Now reports on the latest from Al Gore. Click HERE to listen to the report online on the ONN website (click the “HEAR REPORT” button at the top right).
One News Now, Jan. 28. To sign up for ONN updates, click HERE
Al Gore, the most recent Democratic vice president of the United States, has announced his support for same-sex “marriage,” saying the legalization of such unions does not threaten heterosexuals. Conservative activist Peter LaBarbera says it was only a matter of time before Gore openly offered up such an endorsement.
Gore has joined New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and other leading Democrats in calling for the legalization of homosexual marriage. Commenting in a video featured on his Current TV network, the former Democratic member of Congress and nominee for president says it is wrong for the government to “discriminate” against individuals because of their sexual orientation.
“Gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heterosexual men and women to make contracts, to have hospital visiting rights, to join together in marriage,” states Gore, “and I don’t understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to heterosexual marriage to allow it by gays and lesbians.”
According to the former VP, the “loyalty and love” that two men or two women feel for one another when they “fall in love ought to be celebrated and encouraged.”
“Shouldn’t we be promoting the kind of faithfulness and loyalty to one’s partner regardless of sexual orientation?” Gore asks. “Because if you don’t do that, then to that extent you’re promoting promiscuity — and you’re promoting all the problems that can result from promiscuity.”
Peter LaBarbera, executive director of the pro-family group Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, says Gore is asking the wrong question. “It’s not just how it affects my marriage,” LaBarbera responds. “First of all, it’s whether it’s right or wrong.”
The pro-family spokesman points out that Gore’s stance is inconsistent with biblical teaching. “I would have more respect for Al Gore if he announced, ‘I’m leaving my Christian faith and I’m embracing homosexual marriage’ — because then, at least, he would be consistent,” says LaBarbera. “But you don’t support marriage between men; that runs against all of human history up to these last few years …. It’s just a sad day.”
Still, LaBarbera is not surprised Gore wants to attach marriage to homosexual behavior. “We’ve been saying this for years, and we knew the day was coming when the liberals would make their move from domestic partnership and civil unions to outright homosexual so-called ‘marriage,'” he shares. “We knew the sellout was coming, because the distance between embracing homosexual relationships and not embracing them — as opposed to going from civil unions to gay marriage — is much bigger.”
The Americans for Truth leader explains his argument. “In other words … once you make the jump in saying that the state should endorse and sanction and bless homosexual relationships, that’s the big jump,” he says. “Once you’ve crossed that hurdle, these other things are not as big.”
LaBarbera says Al Gore is wrong to suggest homosexual marriage is not a threat to everyone else. He notes in Massachusetts, homosexual indoctrination has increased in that state’s schools since same-sex marriage was legalized. In addition, he believes Gore’s comments will likely increase the pressure on Democratic presidential candidates to follow suit. The top three contenders — Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards — currently support civil unions but not same-sex marriage.
Officials Report 30,000 Petitions Short in Unprecedented Recount
Immediate Action Needed to Collect More Petitions
(Tallahassee, FL) Monday January, 14, 2008 — Leaders of Florida4Marriage.org declared a state of “constitutional emergency” today when they learned from Division of Elections officials that due to an “audit” ordered by the Division, the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment fell short by some 30,000 petitions. The state constitutional amendment seeks to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman and would prohibit polygamy, group marriage, and same sex marriages in Florida.
According to state officials, only 589,020 petitions were officially certified after the unprecedented audit, leaving the petition effort just under 22,000 short of the needed 611,009 needed to be certified for the ballot in 2008. Florida4Marriage.org State Chairman John Stemberger said, “Right now, we are not interested in whose fault this is. We just want to finish the job — and finish it immediately.”
America the Decadent? Would previous generations have allowed homosexual propagandists to spread their ungodly message of male-to-male erotic love to young children — in schools — as this children’s picture book, ‘King & King,’ has been used to do?
Is the Bible an “inconvenient truth” to the former Vice President? Click 
