Prof. Rob Gagnon of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary addresses the AFTAH Truth Academy. Click to enlarge.

Click HERE to listen online. AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera interviews Prof. Robert Gagnon, who was an instructor at the AFTAH Truth Academy last month. This interview aired September 4, 2010, and is the first of three parts. Gagnon discusses how liberal Christians display Pharisee-like tendencies by conditioning their “love” for homosexuals on downplaying biblical admonitions against homosexual practice (thus wrongly decoupling biblical love from God’s law). He also discusses Chicago evangelical Andrew Marin’s distorted understanding of what the Bible teaches regarding the proper Christian outreach toward people struggling with homosexuality. [UPDATE: Click HERE to read Prof. Gagnon’s latest paper on Marin’s sophomoric response to the professor’s initial critique of his book, Love Is an Orientation.]

HOW TO LISTEN: This is an mp3 file.  Left click once on the link below to play.  (Please be patient, depending upon the speed of your internet connection it may take a moment or two to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.

9-4-10, Robert Gagnon, All

GOP official even pledges to assist homoseuxal activist group’s fundraising

The liberal media just eat it up when a sin movement (in this case, organized homosexuality) officially goes “bipartisan.” Check out this excerpt from (the giddy) The Atlantic. I suspect that The Atlantic’s (and CBS News’) Marc Ambinder — while sympathetic to the Stupid Republican Party’s current pro-homosexuality tack — wouldn’t agree with our description of homosexuality as sinful. Just a hunch, though. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

P.S. I just learned that a group of carefully-selected, right-leaning theologians are working on a version of the Bible (RSV – Republican Standard Version) that reinterprets all passages dealing with homosexuality so that only Democratic same-sex erotic behavior is proscribed. Whew. For a moment there, I thought these Republicans had decided that they were smarter than God.

Ambinder writes (emphasis added):

Top GOP Party Strategists Attending Log Cabin Event

Suddenly, it’s becoming less of a stigma for bigwigs to associate with gays in the Republican Party. Not only has former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman’s 9/22 fundraiser for gay marriage rights attracted numerous high-octane Republican donors and activists, but Sen. John Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Rep. Pete Sessions, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee will help the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay GOP group, raise money for its political action committee. (Part of this story was first reported last month.)

A glossy pamphlet advertising the Log Cabin Republicans’ national dinner at the Capitol Hill Club highlights an hour-long cocktail gathering with the two party committee chairs, both strong opponents of gay rights. But their attendance will add to the coffers of the LCR’s political action committee, which endorses Republicans who support gay rights.

The LCR national dinner, which follows the private fundraiser, will include Sessions, Rep. Judy Biggert, Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. The Daily Caller’s Tucker Carlson will serve as Master of Ceremonies.

The Log Cabin Republicans’ Mission Statement proclaims fidelity to conservative principles like a “strong national defense” and “limited government” before it discusses marriage rights and an “inclusive definition of the family.” But in practice, the group does not endorse candidates who oppose gay rights…. [continued HERE]

Read the rest of The Atlantic article HERE.

Glenn Beck needs to attend the next AFTAH Truth Academy, says Champion News editor John Biver.

Reprinted with permission from ChampionNews.net; first published August 27, 2010

By John Biver

From coast to coast, platform-supporting Republicans have reacted to Glenn Beck’s weak-kneed cave-in regarding the issue of homosexual “marriage.” He’s quoted as telling Fox News Network’s Bill O’Reilly,

“I believe that Thomas Jefferson said, ‘If it neither breaks my leg, nor picks my pocket, what difference is it to me.'”

Some people are even calling for a “moratorium” on the political discussion of the cultural issues. That idea is foolish, as we’ve addressed on links found HERE. Try as you might, you can’t separate economics from culture.

The cultural issues are numerous. They include the proper use of facts when it comes to history, honesty in intellectual debates, integrity in the free market system, standing with our friends and allies in foreign countries, the right of the unborn to not have their life taken through the barbaric procedure of abortion, and decorum that befits a civilization when it comes to matters that should be private such as individual sexual predilections.

The two that get the most attention are abortion and the sexual problems of at best 3 percent of the population: homosexual behavior. I call it a problem because it is. The physical health statistics, sociological data, and psychological evidence reached critical mass a long time ago about the dangers of that behavior choice.

Ryan Sorba speaking at the Truth Academy.

Part Two of our interview with Ryan Sorba, a young conservative who spoke at AFTAH’s Truth Academy outside Chicago Aug 5-7. This aired August 28, 2010. In this segment Sorba discusses how some leading lights on the American Right are pulling back from the fight against the organized homosexual agenda. LaBarbera reads from a column by blogger and commentator Matt Lewis about how young conservatives support sassy pundit Ann Coulter speaking before the homosexual Republican group GOProud. Lewis quotes pundit S.E. Cupp, who asserts that “Conservatism and gay rights are actually natural allies.” Sorba says Cupp, as a purported “conservative,” is involved in a self-contradiction and has a false conception of liberty.

“Homosexual acts are unjust,” says Sorba, and “sodomy is contrary to Scripture.” He says there is no more a “constitutional right” to sodomy than there is a “constitutional right” to drop acid in the privacy of your own home. He compares the twisted, contradictory idea of “homosexual marriage” to a “square circle,” and says it has nothing to do with true conservatism, which is designed to preserve what is good and noble. Sorba and LaBarbera also say pro-family advocates should stop using the word “gay,” which suggests intrinsic identity rather than changeable behavior.

HOW TO LISTEN: This is an mp3 file.  Left click once on the link below to play.  (Please be patient, depending upon the speed of your internet connection it may take a moment or two to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.

8-28-10, Ryan Sorba, All

Ex-RNC chief says he “beat back” Republican efforts against homosexual “marriage”

Ken Mehlman

TAKE ACTION: If you are a Republican, call or write the RNC (info@gop.com or call 202-863-8500) and tell them that you oppose the promotion of homosexuality and that you will not give to the party if it continues to do so. If you are a Democrat, urge your party here and encourage your representatives to stop supporting President Obama’s agenda of homosexualizing the U.S. miliary and overturning the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

By Peter LaBarbera

The Republican Party has a big and growing  “gay” problem. It is slowly going pro-homosexual even as GOP leaders continue to advertise theirs as the party of “family values.” Just one more reason why so many grassroots conservatives who regularly vote Republican call the GOP “The Stupid Party.”

The latest GOP hypocrisy: Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele’s congratulatory words for former RNC chief Ken Mehlman, who has confirmed longstanding rumors that he (Mehlman) is a practicing homosexual.

The Washington Post reports that Steele said this about Mehlman’s “coming out”:

‘I am happy for Ken,’ Steele said. ‘His announcement, often a very difficult decision which is only compounded when done on the public stage, reaffirms for me why we are friends and why I respect him personally and professionally.'”

RNC Chairman Michael Steele

Why couldn’t Mr. Steele just have kept quiet about this tragic revelation by which another sexually confused man seeks to rationalize his misbehavior (sin) by declaring homosexuality part of his inherent being? Nope, instead, like a three-year-old boy approaching a puddle, Steele just had to step in it. Pro-family writer Laurie Higgins of Illinois Family Institute observed:

So, Steele is “happy” that Mehlman is homosexual and/or happy that he is public about it? Why would he be happy for a friend embracing immoral and dangerous practices or for a friend being public about his embrace of immorality? And why does he respect him for his “difficult” decision to announce his immorality publicly? What fecklessness or cowardice Steele’s comment demonstrates. And this from the leader of the Republican Party…

Now let’s examine whether Mehlman deserves our respect, per Steele’s comments. In a piece highly sympathetic to the former RNC boss (the media largely view homosexual identification as a good thing detached from moral considerations), Atlantic Monthly reports:

Privately, in off-the-record conversations with this reporter over the years, Mehlman voiced support for civil unions and told of how, in private discussions with senior Republican officials, he beat back efforts to attack same-sex marriage. He insisted, too, that President Bush “was no homophobe.”

So, we learn that Mehlman used his tremendous influence within the Republican Party to undermine the GOP’s clear platform language in support of preserving traditional marriage. All the while rank-and-file Republican Joe’s and Jane’s were assuming that the RNC leader was standing up for marriage between a man and a woman. Mr. Mehlman has just proved: 1) why homosexual activism should be kept out of the Republican Party, since it undermines core conservative values supported overwhelmingly by the GOP grassroots; and 2) why secret homosexuals working within the GOP against the Republican platform should be exposed.

Atlantic Monthy — which calls Mehlman “the most powerful Republican in history to identify as gay” — tips its hat to homosexual “outing” activist Mike Rogers by pointing out that Rogers previously had sought to “out” Mehlman:

Mehlman, who has never married, long found his sexuality subject to rumor and innuendo. He was the subject of an outing campaign by gay rights activist Mike Rogers, starting when Mehlman was Bush’s campaign manager. Rogers’s crusades against closeted gay Republicans split the organized gay lobby in Washington but were undoubtedly effective: he drove several elected officials, including Virginia Rep. Ed Shrock, from office, pushed out a would-be presidential campaign manager for George Allen well before Allen was set to run, slung rumors about Sen. Larry Craig’s sexual orientation well before Craig’s incident in a Minneapolis airport bathroom, and even managed to make homosexuality a wedge issue within the party’s activist circles.

Indeed, the former Republican chief is just one of several political VIPs whose homosexuality Rogers correctly exposed — giving added credence to Rogers’ accusations against his latest target, Illinois Republican and U.S. Senate hopeful Rep. Mark Kirk. Here is a piece in Chicago’s HillBuzz blog — run by homosexuals — that claims that both Kirk and Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Peoria) are homosexuals. (Both Kirk and Schock have denied that they are homosexuals.)

Homosexuals have the complete freedom to compete in the battle for control of the Republican Party, but they shouldn’t do so in secret. Republicans deserved a party chairman who was really working to defend tradtional marriage, not a fake conservative like Mehlman who, as a covert “gay” activist, was actually working to undermine it. Too bad Steele couldn’t find words to address that aspect of the Mehlman story instead of acting like the embrace of homosexuality is a swell thing.

For his part, Mehlman plans to continue advocating for the acceptance of homosexuality in GOP circles — and even orchestrated his public “coming out” to advance the cause of homosexual “marriage”:

Once he realized that the news would probably leak, he assembled a team of former advisers to help him figure out the best way to harness the publicity generated by the disclosure for the cause of marriage rights.

“What I will try to do is to persuade people, when I have conversations with them, that it is consistent with our party’s philosophy, whether it’s the principle of individual freedom, or limited government, or encouraging adults who love each other and who want to make a lifelong committment to each other to get married,” Mehlman told Atlantic Monthly. “I hope that we, as a party, would welcome gay and lesbian supporters. I also think there needs to be, in the gay community, robust and bipartisan support [for] marriage rights.”

Sadly — just as Mehlman seems to ignore the loss of “individual freedom” that comes with State-enforced pro-homosexual laws — many libertarians within the Party will ally with Mehlman in attempting to redefine the Republican brand to accommodate a post-Christian sexual ethos and homosexual activism in the name of “liberty.”

Needless to say, Atlantic Monthly reporter Marc Ambinder does not dwell on how GOP conservatives will react to Mehlman’s behind-the-scenes treachery on same-sex “marriage,” but rather focuses on how Mehlman’s “outing” and past actions will be judged by homosexual advocates.

Pastor Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church. A former NFL football player, Hutch seeks to be "offensive" for Jesus Christ.

Folks, we are proud and excited to announce that  Pastor Ken Hutcherson will be our keynote speaker for the Americans For Truth fundraising banquet on Saturday, November 13th at the Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Hutcherson is a former NFL football player, but most importantly he is a man of God who has proven himself a faithful ambassador for his Savior, Jesus Christ. Hutcherson founded and pastors Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, Washington (home of Microsoft), and he is one pastor who does not shy away from the cultural battle for truth. (For that he has been maligned and demonized by the usual Christian-bashing suspects who spew lies and hate in the name of tolerance and equality.) 

  
WHO: Pastor Ken Hutcherson, Antioch Bible Church, Redmond Washington; former NFL football star
 
WHERE: Christian Liberty Academy, 502 W. Euclid Ave., Arlington Heights, IL 60004
 
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010; 6:00 PM; dinner served; doors open at 5:30.
  
COST/Early Registration Discount: $50 for early registration; $75 after Nov. 8 and at the door. Married couples discount (one man, one woman only!): $100 per couple including at the door. Send to: Americans For Truth, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522, or pay online at www.americansfortruth.com/donate

INQUIRIES/RSVPs: Send e-mail inquiries and RSVPs to americansfortruth@gmail.com

Those who have attended previous AFTAH banquets know that they are intensely educational and uplifting experiences that build you up and equip you to stand for righteousness in a dying culture.  Pastor Ken Hutcherson is a bold man of God whose talk promises to be another special time of celebrating God’s timeless Truth.  I look forward to hearing from – and learning from — ’Hutch.’  Info requests to: americansfortruth@gmail.com  — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

Note: we apologize for botching Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s name not once, but twice (first and last); it is fixed below. We also note that Hasselbeck’s views on same-sex “marriage” have been evolving for some time, as this 2007 YouTube video with a homosexual activist shows:

The following letter was sent to Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who recently announced her support for homosexual “marriage” — sent through ABC’s The View’s online contact page (web links added to original):

Elisabeth Hasselbeck of ABC's 'The View'

Elisabeth, you really abandoned your conservative and Christian principles by coming out for homosexual “marriage.” Homosexual practice is unnatural, often unhealthy, and a changeable sin opposed by God and the Bible. Deep down you must know that two men or two women were never meant to be involved sexually, much less get “married.” Please reconsider your position on this issue. If you are a Christian, you should believe the Bible and not twist your views to accommodate popular culture, or your liberal co-hosts. (Also, stand up boldly for the life of the unborn as a matter of human rights — rather than equivocating on this core issue!)

I know you take a lot of grief on the show for NOT being a liberal (on most issues) — and I respect you for that. But caving on “same-sex marriage” only hurts your credibility as The View’s repesentative, as it were, for millions upon millions of conservative and pro-family Americans who resent the liberal media’s and Hollywood’s secular Left bias. Elisabeth, there are many EX-gay men and FORMER lesbians who have overcome homosexuality in their lives (most by becoming born-again Christians). You should be championing them instead of counterfeit “gay marriage”! God bless you,

Peter LaBarbera
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality
www.aftah.org; americansfortruth@gmail.com

See our story: http://americansfortruth.com/news/the-views-elizabeth-hasselback-joins-pro-gay-marriage-sellouts.html

Hasselbeck joins growing list of conservatives who lack courage to defend truth on homosexuality

The View's token "conservative," Elizabeth Hasselbeck, abandons not just conservatism but timeless biblical truth by supporting homosexual "marriage."

Note: we apologize for botching Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s name not once, but twice (first and last); it is fixed below. We also note that Hasselbeck’s views on same-sex “marriage” have been evolving for some time, as this 2007 YouTube video with a homosexual activist shows:

________________________________________

TAKE ACTION: Contact Elisabeth Hasselbeck through ‘The View’ HERE.

What is this, ‘Conservatives Without Principles Month’?

The following Newsmax article is yet another pathetic account of a confused “conservative” who abandons God’s truth, natural moral law, and common sense for the latest worldly trend: domesticated homosexuality and counterfeit “marriage.” If poor Elisabeth Hasselbeck of ABC’s The View knows that life begins at conception yet can’t understand the urgency of government protecting that life (unborn babies) in the womb — then it’s hardly surprising that she is confused about homosexual “marriage.”

Memo to Hasselbeck: the unborn baby is a human being with his or her own separate DNA, not some mere appendage. Regarding marriage: America’s moral slide and several decades of homosexualist organizing — and perhaps the likelihood that you sympathize with your “gay” friends and acquaintances — do not erase the timeless truth of the Book of Genesis.

I can deal with the “queer” activists, whose fanatical dedication to rationalizing their own sin problem is what you’d expect from a movement that “proudly” rejects normalcy and shakes its collective fist at God and His natural, created order. What confounds me are the “conserv-a-libs” (Ryan Sorba calls them “liberal-tarians”) — who so readily ditch five millennia of biblically-informed truth for the latest sexual/social fad.