If you don't want to miss anything posted on the Americans For Truth website, sign up for our "Feedblitz" service that gives you a daily email of every new article that we post. (This service DOES NOT replace the regular email list.) To sign up for the Feedblitz service, click here.
From a heartbreaking childhood marked by anger, abuse, and abandonment, author Janet Boynes followed a destructive path that led her into homosexuality and drug addiction. Her search for the acceptance, love, and safety she craved took her into increasingly desperate situations—ultimately culminating in a series of destructive homosexual relationships, cocaine addiction, and crippling brokenness. But, as Boynes says, “When God calls, He calls in love,” and in Called Out: A Former Lesbian’s Discovery of Freedom, Boynes shares her powerful, personal story of the redemptive, reconciling power of God’s love, offering insight for those who struggle with same-sex attraction and those with loved ones who do.
With courage, candor, and compassion, Boynes shares her powerful story of a life transformed by God’s grace and delivered to a freedom framed and powered by God’s purpose. Her message is one of hope: No matter where you’ve been, what you’ve done, or what kind of situations you’ve encountered, God is calling you to a life of grace. Spoken with the passion and wisdom of one who’s been there, Boynes says, “God knows that you have been through tough places, that life hasn’t always been easy, and that things don’t always go the way they should. He knows—and He cares.”
We celebrate racial reconciliation, which has nothing to do with the pro-homosexuality agenda
Who could not have been moved by FOX News commentator Juan Williams (left) tearing up as he described how he never thought he would see this day when a fellow African American would rise to the highest office in the land? President Obama is a testimony to America as a land of freedom and opportunity, but he is wrong to oppose pro-life laws restricting abortion and to equate his radical pro-homosexual agenda — already posted on the White House website — with genuine “civil rights.”
By Peter LaBarbera
Today we get back to dealing with policy but yesterday we celebrated America. Our differences with President Barack Obama are significant [read AFTAH Board Member Matt Barber’s statement on Obama’s newly published, radical “LGBT” agenda HERE]– and many of the claims being made about him are ridiculous, such as when one TV commentator said yesterday that Obama “transcends the culture wars” — but in this moment we cherish what is good and great about the United States.
It is astonishing to behold — in a nation that once allowed the shipment of slaves from Africa, bound in shackles and shipped across the Atlantic like cargo, then sold in auctions like cattle — the induction of the first man of African ancestry as President of the United States. Who can doubt that this is truly a land of freedom and opportunity, where anyone who works hard can succeed andwhere goodness (in this case, the triumph over centuries of racism) can prevail through struggle and democratic reform?
Imagine oppressive state pro-homosexual laws — enhanced by federal power
How Many More eHarmony “gay” sellouts under ENDA? Neil Clark Warren, founder of eHarmony.com, lost his courage and settled rather than fight a homosexual lawsuit filed under New Jersey’s “sexual orientation” law. So now Warren and eHarmony.com are facilitating immoral homosexual unions. If a federal ENDA bill becomes law, it will greatly enhance the power of homosexual activists to force businessmen and employers to accommodate and subsidize homosexual relationships against their will. The very freedom of Christians, Muslims and other moral-minded citizens to disagree with homosexuality hangs in the balance.
TAKE ACTION: Answer the pro-homosexual lobby campaign! Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and have them connect you to your Representative (based on your zip code). Tell them: “I am a constituent and I would like you to please tell Representative _______ that I strongly OPPOSE the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) — which threatens Americans’ basic freedom to live out their faith and disagree with homosexual behavior. I also oppose expanding federal “hate crimes” law to add “sexual orientation” and opening up our Armed Forces to open homosexuality — especially during a time of war. Then, call back and leave messages with your two Senators too! Contact their local offices, which you can find through www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.
__________________________________
By Peter LaBarbera
OK, everyone, vacation is over. Americans For Truth is back on the beat, fresh from being denounced and mocked by various pro-sodomy “queer” blogs at the end of 2008 (what an honor — more on that later). Below, please read an appeal for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) from a major homosexual activist group — and then DO THE OPPOSITE by calling your U.S. Congressman and Senators and urge them to vote AGAINST the ENDA bill.
We’re calling ENDA — a top priority for the Homosexual and Transsexual Lobbies — the “ENDA’ Our Freedom” Bill because it poses a severe threat to Americans’ First Amendment freedom to disagree with homosexuality. ENDA would be used to force small- and medium-sized businesses to subsidize immoral homosexual unions — and that’s un-American!
Remember the recent outrage over eHarmony.com’s sellout to homosexual activism — when evangelical Christian founder Neil Clark Warren agreed to create a “gay” dating website under the auspices of eHarmony? Well, that sellout, unnecessary and misguided as it was, came at the point of a gun. And the “gun” was New Jersey’s state version of ENDA: a pro-homosexual “nondiscrimination” law. That very same New Jersey “sexual orientation” law was used to launch the legal assault against the Boy Scouts of America’s fundamental right to live by its own creed and NOT allow homosexual (or atheist) Scoutmasters.
Yes, Wayne, there is a God, and he has helped many praying men and women overcome homosexuality
Yvette Cantu Schneider, husband Paul and their two children. Yvette was once a committed lesbian but recently she and Paul celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary. Homosexual activists like Wayne Besen ridicule Christian ex-homosexuals like Yvette with their slogan, “Pray away the gay” — which trivializes healthy change and God’s redemptive work in the lives of men and women.
By Peter LaBarbera
I don’t know if Sodomitic Spinmeister Wayne Besen of “Truth” Wins Out invented the silly slogan “pray away the gay” to slam the observable reality that homosexuals can leave the lifestyle (as countless thousands have), but he is busy promoting it. The following is taken from Besen’s new column criticizing President-elect Obama for picking evangelical pastor Rick Warren to say the invocation on Inaugural Day:
After all, Warren has a program to “help” homosexuals “pray away the gay” and played a prominent role in passing Proposition 8, which prohibits same-sex couples from marrying in California. He has even compared same-sex couples marrying to incest and child abuse.
Now what’s Besen’s goal here? Obviously, to ridicule the notion of healthy change for homosexuals, but with the added bonus of playing to secularist, anti-Christian cultural biases and caricatures — which Wayne himself stokes at every opportunity.
Some observations:
There are lots of men and women who once identified as “gay” or “lesbian” who left the lifestyle and are living contented and fulfilled lives in their post-homosexual identities. My friend Yvette Cantu Schneider just celebrated her ninth anniversary — Yvette was once a proud lesbian [see her testimony HERE] but now is happily married to husband Paul, and they are the parents of two beautiful children. (Yvette also testifies that she has no lingering sexual attraction toward females);
The following is an edited version of the informational background accompanying a YouTube video showing the aftermath of a homosexual mob attack — including an alleged sexual assault — on a group of Christians that come to San Francisco’s Castro district every Friday to witness the Gospel. As the original note says, “This video was not posted by any member of the group in the video. However, below is an account [by] one of the team members who was there.”
This mob assault occurred following the passage of Proposition 8 restoring traditional marriage in California. Homosexual activists are deriding the successful ballot measure as “Prop H8” (hate) — but look at the hatred on display below in what is supposedly America’s most “tolerant” city. This criminal assault is also significant in that “gay” activists routinely charge Christians and pro-family groups — and most recently Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family — with fomenting “hate violence.” Clearly, “hate violence” and threats committed by vengeful homosexual militants against religious people and churches is on the rise following California’s electoral repudiation of “gay marriage” on November 4th. — Peter LaBarbera. www.aftah.org
The Eye-witness account of the incident is posted beneath the YouTube video:
Posted November 14, 2008
Eye-witness account by posted with YouTube video by member of Christian group:
I went to the Castro (the homosexual district of San Francisco) like we usually do on Friday nights.
Normally, we sit on 18th and Castro, and someone plays the guitar, and we all worship God.
Sometimes a person will yell at us, or maybe a few. Sometimes people will ignore us. Sometimes people will let us pray with them.
This time was not a normal night. It was the first time we’d been back in the Castro to do our normal outreach since California Proposition 8, which defined marriage as “one man with one woman,” was passed. We played the guitar and sang together and worshiped the Lord. After just singing and worshiping God for a while, Roger decided that we should all hold hands in a circle and continue singing. So we did.
Someone (actually a person who came up and hugged and kissed some of us whom he knew from the past) convinced some people that we were there to protest against the “No on 8” campaign.
‘Gay’ agenda not raised in three presidential debates — but don’t just blame the media …
By Peter LaBarbera
OK, now it’s official. In three presidential debates to help us decide which man – John McCain or Barack Obama – will lead this nation, the critical issue of homosexual “marriage” didn’t even come up.
Add to that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the federal “hate crimes” bill and Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), homosexuality in the military, how “gay rights” laws threaten religious and other freedoms, and homosexual adoption of children.
On each of these issues, Obama and McCain strongly disagree, but we never (or barely) got to hear them explain their positions on the same stage – in contrast to Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church debate where at least “gay marriage” was discussed. The only time that homosexuality was raised in the four official debates, including the vice-presidential debate, was when moderator Gwen Ifill asked a poorly constructed question about same-sex benefits and then “gay marriage” to Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden.
The issue of judicial appointments did come up but certainly has received far less attention than it deserves since judges are setting now policy in this country.
Do you feel as gypped as I do by the combination of media bias, campaign jingoism and political correctness that resulted in one of the most important issues facing our nation — whether marriage should be radically redefined to accommodate “rights” based on homosexual behavior – not even being mentioned in the official debates?
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
____________________________
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.
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.
Janet Boynes’ book, “Called Out: A Former Lesbian’s Discovery of Freedom,” can be ordered through her ministry’s website.
