Steve and Irene Bennett

By Stephen Bennett of www.sbministries.org

_________________________

…so they say.

I want to wish my beautiful wife, Irene, a happy 14th Anniversary today, June 13th.

The last 14 years of my life have been the most precious and meaningful ones to me.

We are your average, traditional American family next door: a husband, a wife, two kids (a boy and a girl) and, well, a rabbit.

Life has never been better.

My 11 years involved in the homosexual lifestyle are a horrible nightmare. The immoral sex with numerous people, the bars, the drugs, the alcohol, the failed relationships, the pornography, playing “house” with my “gay” partners, friends and lovers dying from AIDS – a nightmare.

Today, I have peace. I have stability and responsibility. I’m a husband and a father, the provider, the one who pays the mortgage, the tuition, the bills and puts food on the table.

To read the whole article by Stephen Bennett, click HERE.

By Peter LaBarbera

Folks, one paragraph in the following alert from California pro-family hero Randy Thomasson of Campaign for California Families — about that State Senate’s passage of radical pro-homosexual/transsexual school indoctrination bill (SB 777) — sums up WHY we are seeing the “gay” agenda roll over America. Randy writes:

But you should also be frustrated with the [California State] Republican senators who seem to have lost their God-given VOICES and have forgotten their MORAL OBLIGATION to speak out in defense of children and family and morality. On Thursday, when given the opportunity to speak out against SB 777 in front of the several TV, radio and newspaper reporters who cover always attend the floor sessions, NOT ONE Republican state senator raised his microphone in defense of children.

So here’s the current political situation in so many areas (not so much in solid red states):

1. The Democrats as a party have largely sold their soul to the homosexual lobby;
2. The Republicans usually cast the “right” vote (there are key exceptions) but refuse to speak out against pro-homosexual bills;
3. The media are so biased in their coverage of homosexual-related issues that they intimidate politicians from speaking out against pro-“gay” legislation; thus, even many conservative lawmakers view this issue as the “third rail” they don’t want to touch.

Of course, on point 3, the media would have a much tougher time ignoring these issues if the GOP actively engaged the Democrats on the dangers of the homosexual agenda. Besides, conservatives should be used to dealing with left-wing media bias on a whole range of issues, so there’s something bigger going on here. Call it a “live-and-let-live” (“tolerance”) zeitgeist — driven by pro-“gay” groupthink in the media, Hollywood and academia — that is leading many to give up fighting.

Here’s Randy’s alert:

Robert Knight is a hero in the culture wars and is director of the Culture and Media Institute, a division of the Media Research Center. Here he briefly lays out the truth behind the infamous “Tinky Winky” smear against Rev. Jerry Falwell. The “Tinky Winky” story is a textbook study in how the media discredits and ridicules religious conservatives: 

Getting a Kick out of Falwell’s Death 

By Robert Knight
Culture and Media Institute
May 18, 2007

In many of his talks to Liberty University students, the Rev. Jerry Falwell emphasized the importance of “finishing well.”

Last Tuesday, he was at the top of his game when he unexpectedly died in the college office where he was planning more expansions of the fast-growing university that he founded in 1971.

The Rev. Falwell did a lot of things well, ticking off liberals right up to the end. How else would he have garnered the kind of tribute from a major newspaper’s religion writer that was headlined, “Sigh of relief over Falwell death.”

To make sure no one mistook her, Chicago Sun-Times Religion Writer Cathleen Falsani’s May 18 column explains her reaction to the news about Dr. Falwell on May 15:

“…My very first thought upon hearing of the Rev.  Falwell’s passing was: Good.  And I didn’t mean ‘good’ in a oh-good-he’s-gone-to-be-home-with-the-Lord kind of way. I mean ‘good’ as in ‘Ding-dong, the witch is dead.’”

Falsani, who claims to be a Christian, learned of this apparent good news in the airport departure lounge in Key West, a place where Jerry is not held in great esteem.

She went on to compare the good reverend to the foul-mouthed TV mobster Tony Soprano, and accused Falwell of saying “insensitive, mean-spirited, sometimes downright hateful things …in the name of Christ.”  She did do a bit of backing up, saying that maybe, in his own way, God used Jerry so that “lives were changed for the better by his ministry, his college, and the flip side of the endeavors he made in Jesus’ name.”

Meanwhile, she informed readers of her own apparent spiritual superiority, noting that “not all of us are that self-righteous, judgmental and holier than thou.”

I guess that openly enjoying the death of a fellow Christian and utterly distorting his Christian message into a caricature of hate is the mark of the nonjudgmental. I think it’s somewhere in the Sermon on the Mount.

Of course, Falsani is not the only journalist to use Rev. Falwell’s death as one more opportunity to cast fiery darts at him.

Virtually every major news outlet made sure that Falwell’s controversial comment following 9/11 and his notorious “outing” of the “gay Teletubby” Tinky Winky got ink and airtime.

The New York Times noted that it was an article in the National Liberty Journal, which Falwell published, that touched off the Teletubbies ruckus.  But the article failed to mention that the Liberty Journal piece quoted The Washington Post’s outing of Tinky Winky, and that the gay press and several other mainstream outlets had cheered openly for a year that the boy in the purple suit, carrying a purse and bearing the homosexual symbol, an upside down triangle, on his head, was clearly the first openly “gay” character in a children’s program.

I recall faxing The Washington Post article to the National Liberty Journal back in February 1999.  I had also faxed an article from a gay newspaper in which one of Teletubbies’ creators boasted openly that Tinky Winky’s character, which combines a deep daddy’s voice and mommy’s handbag, was a deliberate attempt to make children think differently about gender.  The Liberty Journal editors decided to stick with the Washington Post as the main source, which seems like a wise thing to do.  But in the end, it didn’t matter.

In the 10 years since, the press magnified and sustained the myth that Jerry Falwell “outed” Tinky Winky with no apparent evidence. He just did it for the heck of it, to be mean to gays.  As smears go, it made him easy to ridicule. Try as they might, that was the best they could do, since they unearthed no hint of scandal involving his integrity. In March 1999, Liberty Journal Senior Editor J. M. Smith pointed out the media’s distortions, but the myth continued to gain strength. Dr. Falwell himself took it in stride, even placing a stuffed Tinky Winky on top of his computer as a joke. Given his own generous spirit and lack of vitriol, he didn’t seem to understand the damage that was done to his reputation.

Click HERE to read the rest of Bob Knight’s column on the Culture & Media Institute website

Dear AFTAH Readers,

Please be a part of the wonderful story of former lesbian Charlene’s Cothran’s rebirth in Christ by subscribing to her magazine VENUS — which has been transformed from a publication that celebrated “gays and lesbians” to one that tells that stories of people like herself who have overcome homosexuality with God’s help. Subscriptions to VENUS are $19.95 per year for four issues. — Peter LaBarbera

THE RESURRECTION!, published in VENUS magazine 

by Charlene E. Cothran

Venus Magazine Publisher

When I asked God to come into my heart, I knew that EVERYTHING would change and I thank Him for the opportunity to bare my cross for Christ’s sake.  Oh, I’d been persecuted before, jeered at and rejected, but not for Christ’s sake.  It was for MY sake, for the right to hold on to MY own sinful pleasures and wave them, in the form a rainbow flag, in God’s face.  But the Lord is so loving, patient and merciful that He gave me one last chance to make things right. 

I shared my new convictions and VENUS’ new mission right away with our advertising agencies.  One executive was particularly kind and reassured me that our clients would probably stand by us. But eventually, letters and emails from gay organizations found their way to the advertising director’s office of several major corporations with whom we have done business for years. 

Think About it

I was counseled, ‘we’ll give you a week to carefully think about what you are doing.’  They were basically saying,  O.K. you’ve given your ‘testimony’ but now go on publishing the old VENUS, affirming gays and lesbians, and reassuring them to be proud of who and what they are.   There was no need for time to think.  God himself knew that I meant it when I gave complete control of VENUS Magazine to Him, to be used for His exclusive glory.  However, in my spirit, I also knew that it was just a matter of time before I would receive the news that the company’s income was gone. 

Reading page after page of negative email, letters, and blog entries began to wear at my joy.  My countenance began to fall.  Satan laughed right in my face; ‘Look at you now, ‘saved’ huh? Your old friends don’t want anything to do with you, your local church community wants to ‘wait and see’ how ‘saved’ you’ll be next year this time, and by next month you’ll have no more money coming in, after all the years you’ve worked to build this thing. You are such a fool.’    To counter these negative thoughts — rebuke Satan — I began to fast and pray, and to call on the name of the Lord.  I prayed, Lord I need you; Don’t let it be so, don’t let my enemies appear to have won.

I Trust God

During my fast, the Lord spoke to me in a passage of scripture, Jeremiah 17:7,8 and said ‘Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.  For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.’   I emerged with a revelation and understanding of what a commitment to God truly means: It means we must TRUST Him totally, completely, unconditionally. My strengthen renewed, my joy restored, I can face, with Godly confidence, whatever comes my way; all because I TRUST GOD!  What a wonderful gift!

Sure enough, on that Monday morning, we received several faxes cancelling all current and future advertising in VENUS.   All praises be to God, I couldn’t even get upset!  Then, NOTHING happened for three days.  The phones didn’t ring, no emails or no letters, not a word from anywhere.   It was as though the business had died that Monday. 

On The Third Day

On Thursday morning, I sat down at my computer and I could hardly believe my eyes.  Hundreds of new emails waiting to be read, with subjects like ‘Thank God for Your Testimony’; ‘This has Changed My Life’, ‘Redeemed! So Powerful!’.  I cannot begin to express the joy that flooded my soul.  I cried and typed responses for hours and hours, but they just kept coming! Sometimes I had to just get up and walk around and praise God out loud! God had sent His ARMY to encourage me!   Thank you Jesus!  God fearing people from all of the world wrote to say, ‘We are praying for you, God is preparing to use you in a mighty way.’  The Lord had opened a window and continues to pour out a blessing I hardly have room to receive!

I believe with all my heart, this Easter season, that the Lord burried the old VENUS Magazine, then in three days He resurrected it unto Himself, changed it, and placed His blessing on it.  We are  perusing nearly 1,000 new emails, and letters, and will post as many as the Lord approves.

Click HERE to read some of the wonderful letters Charlene has been receiving from people all over the world — including one from one of her former contributing writers! We will continue to bring you exciting news from Venus magazine and Charlene’s new life.

Former lesbian and VENUS Magazine publisher Charlene Cothran published this letter online, which she received from a former contributing writer to the then-pro-homosexual VENUS magazine:

I can say, too, I am changed.

 

I am very happy for you because you have found a relationship with God and he does what He always does; He changes people.  I have been where you are, my calling is to teach and He changed me in so many ways.  I did not know that God was going to fully change me when I stopped writing for you.  I just knew God wanted me to change and I could not teach and write for your magazine in its form and focus.   I can say, too, I am changed.  I am no longer in the life, it happened in a blink of an eye and it was not what I thought he would change but he did.   I had my alone time but that is what God does, he will take you away so you have to depend totally on him.  When I came out of wilderness I had a missionary from my church befriend me.  It was great.  Having said that, if you want me, and will allow me to write for you again I would love to.

 

I love you with the Love of Christ,

 

Lavonia-New York,
Olympic Silver Medalist
Former Contributing Writer for [the old] VENUS Magazine

____________________________

P.S. Please be a part of the wonderful story of former lesbian Charlene’s Cothran’s rebirth in Christ by subscribing to her magazine VENUS — which has been transformed from a publication that celebrated “gays and lesbians” to one that tells that stories of people like herself who have overcome homosexuality with God’s help. Subscriptions to VENUS are $19.95 per year for four issues. — Peter LaBarbera

I read this testimony with tears of joy streaming down my face — GOD IS SO GOOD! Let us thank Him for the amazing transformation in Charlene Cothran’s heart and life — and let us pray that He will endow her with courage and wisdom as she grows in the grace and knowledge of the LORD. She is the publisher of Venus Magazine — check out the updated mission statement! — Sonja Dalton

From Redeemed! 10 Ways to Get Out of the Gay Life, If You Want Out, by Charlene E. Cothran, published by Venus Magazine:

Over the past 29 years of my life I have been an aggressive, creative and strategic supporter of gay and lesbian issues. I’ve organized and participated in countless marches and various lobbying efforts in the fight for equal treatment of gay men and lesbians. I have kept current on the issues and made financial contributions to those organizations doing work about which I was most passionate.

As the publisher of a 13 year old periodical which targets Black gays and lesbians, I have had the opportunity to publicly address thousands, influencing closeted people to ‘come out’ and stand up for them selves, which is particularly difficult in the African-American community.

But now, I must come out of the closet again. I have recently experienced the power of change that came over me once I completely surrendered to the teachings of Jesus Christ. As a believer of the word of God, I fully accept and have always known that same-sex relationships are not what God intended for us.

I don’t expect that this message will be widely received, quite the contrary. But, I do know that there is someone, possibly reading this very article, who is tired and unhappy living this way. Someone, in your heart of hearts, is searching for a way out, but you just can’t seem to break free on your own. I am speaking to my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters who want real peace; the kind you’ve heard about, sung about, read about. It is simpler than you think to acquire it and there is no condemnation once you’ve entered it.

Although I have lived as a lesbian for my entire adult life, it is without a doubt my soul’s purpose to use my gifts to LOVINGLY share the truth about how we got here: how we came to be gay or lesbian, how we came to enjoy our ‘lifestyle’ and how we came to believe that this was OK with God. [Romans 1:21-28]

Many argue that each individual should determine for themselves what God intends for him or her. This would indicate that we each have a separate set of biblical rules to live by. This is untrue. If you are ready for change and willing to open yourself to the truth, God’s love can bring your current belief system in line with His Word. Jesus will cleanse and forgive all confessed sin from a willing heart. Homosexuality is only one of them. It is no greater sin than any of the others, but it is sin.

By now you’re asking, ‘Has she lost her mind? My answer is NO. I didn’t lose it, I gave it away! In fact, I traded it in for a new one! [Romans 12:1-2]

ONE TUESDAY MORNING

I was minding my own business one fine New Jersey morning when I received a call from a local pastor, the Rev. Vanessia M. Livingston. I had never spoken to her previously. She was calling to add a statement to an article about her gospel group in another paper we own called the Kitchen Table News.

I don’t remember how we got on the subject of salvation but she could not have known how much I had been struggling with trying to reckon my spiritual upbringing with my lesbian lifestyle.

My stiff-necked resistance to the truth arose in me as she ministered. I honestly figured that if I simply mentioned the ‘L’ word that she’d drop the phone, anoint it with oil and that would be the last I’d hear from her. But that’s not what happened. The pastor prophetically confirmed what I’ve known for years, ‘one day you will come out of the world and bring many gay and lesbian souls out with you.’ She asked if today was the day that I would choose but I said no. I felt the power of conviction upon me as she spoke but I resisted and hardened my heart against the truth as I had done many times before. I was not willing to hear her or give up my all to God, especially knowing that I had a confirmed speaking engagement scheduled the following week at the Schomberg Center during New York City Gay Pride.

A press release dated Jan 22, 2007, from Repent America:

On Friday, January 19, 2007, United States District Court Judge Lawrence F. Stengel granted summary judgment to both the City of Philadelphia and Philly Pride Presents, Inc. in the federal lawsuit brought by the Philadelphia Eleven.

PHILADELPHIA ELEVEN AFTER THEIR VINDICATION BY A PHILADELPHIA CRIMINAL COURT

On October 10, 2004, six men and five women with Repent America (RA), who became known as the Philadelphia Eleven, were arrested while ministering the Gospel on the public streets and sidewalks of Philadelphia at a $10,000 tax-payer funded celebration of homosexuality called “OutFest,” which was organized by Philly Pride Presents, Inc.

Prior to their arrest, the Christians were confronted by a militant mob of homosexuals known as the “Pink Angels” who blew loud whistles and carried large pink signs in front of them to block their message and access to the event, while others screamed obscenities. The Philadelphia police, under the direction of Chief Inspector James Tiano, the City’s “police liaison to the gay and lesbian community,” refused to take any action as the Christians were continuously followed, obstructed, and harassed, even though they respectfully cooperated with police, obeying orders to move, short of being directed out of the event.

After spending 21 hours in jail, Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham’s office charged them under Pennsylvania’s hate crimes law called “Ethnic Intimidation,” along with a host of other felony and misdemeanor charges. If convicted, the Philadelphia Eleven could have faced up to 47 years in prison and $90,000 in fines each. These charges were later dismissed by Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe as being without merit. Subsequently, on October 21, 2005, the Philadelphia Eleven filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Philadelphia and Philly Pride Presents, Inc. for violations of their civil rights.

In his decision, Judge Stengel sided with the defendants, explaining that police were permitted to discriminate against the plaintiffs because of safety concerns coupled by Philly Pride Presents’ securement of a permit from the City to hold the $10,000 tax-payer funded celebration of homosexuality on the public streets, covering fifteen city blocks. Although Stengel conceded “the activity in question took place in a public forum,” and that “there is no doubt that the venue for Outfest, a designated section of streets and sidewalks of Philadelphia, was a public place,” he concluded that “once the City issued a permit to Philly Pride for OutFest, it was empowered to enforce the permit by excluding persons expressing contrary messages.”

“Obviously, we are very disappointed. We believe that the law clearly supports the rights of the plaintiffs in this case, as well as all individuals, to be able to engage in free speech activities on the public streets and sidewalks,” stated Ted Hoppe, attorney for the Philadelphia Eleven. “We do not believe that the fact that there was an event also taking place, even with a permit, diminishes that right,” Hoppe concluded.

“I cannot even begin to comprehend what Judge Stengel’s thought process was in making this decision,” stated RA director Michael Marcavage upon hearing the decision. “This ruling was entirely unexpected considering that all the evidence has been overwhelmingly in our favor, complete with video documentation, not to mention the fact that all eleven of us were vindicated of any wrongdoing in criminal court,” he continued.

“It is without question that Judge Stengel’s decision has set a precedent to eliminate the First Amendment rights of others by citing that a ‘permitting scheme’ can be used by police and event organizers to ‘exclude persons expressing contrary messages’ in public areas and at public events. It is for this reason that his ruling is especially troubling and must be overturned,” Marcavage stated. “Christians must be free to speak the truths of God’s Word, warn the wicked, and to preach the Gospel in the public square without interference from government, and therefore, we will continue to battle for these God-given liberties by appealing this decision,” Marcavage concluded.

“When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.” — Ezekiel 33:8-9

Note: You may read the version on Philly Pride’s website to decide which you believe to be true. Remember to pray for our enemies and for those caught up in sin.

Excerpted from For Gays, a Loud New Foe, by Rone Tempest, published Oct 14, 2006, in Los Angeles Times:

Organizers of the annual Rainbow Festival [sponsor list]were prepared for trouble.

The Q Crew, a local “queer/straight alliance,” distributed cards telling people what to do if approached by hostile demonstrators. Sympathetic local church groups formed a protective buffer along the festival ground’s cyclone fence. Mounted police were on patrol.

Jerry Sloan manned a table for Stand Up for Sacramento, a recently formed gay self-defense organization.

“So far, so good,” he said. “No Russians.”

The festival, held last month amid the gay bars, restaurants and shops of midtown’s “Lavender Heights” neighborhood, went off without conflict. But the elaborate security preparations reflected growing tensions between Sacramento gays and the city’s large and vociferous community of fundamentalist Christians from the former Soviet Union.

Over the last 18 months, Sacramento Russian-language church members have picketed gay pride events, jammed into legislative committee meetings when gay issues were on the agenda and demonstrated at school board meetings.

Incited by firebrand Russian Pentacostal pastors and polemical Russian-language newspapers, the fundamentalists turn out en masse for state Capitol protest rallies.

Last June, urging readers to attend a massive rally, the Russian newspaper the Speaker told them:

Make a choice. It’s your decision.

Homosexuality is knocking on your doors and asking:

“Can I make your son gay and your daughter lesbian?”

…The Sacramento community…s overwhelmingly evangelical — Baptist and Pentecostalist. The charismatic Pentacostal church, introduced in the Ukraine in the 1920s by missionary and martyr Ivan Efimovich Vornaev, includes speaking in tongues and washing of feet. The churches’ social views are based on a literal interpretation of the Bible.”The main issues in the Russian community here,” said Vitaly Prokopchuk, a Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy, “are gay issues, abortion issues and family-definition issues. To these people, these issues are very cut-and-dry in the Bible.“…Leaders of the religious right…celebrate the Russian efforts as a revival.

“My hope and my prayer,” said Mark Matta, a former legislative aide who heads the Christian Public Awareness Ministries, “is that they will become a voice in the wilderness for the rest of the country.”

“It’s not only about homosexuality. It’s also about drinking, about premarital sex and about drugs,” Prokopchuk [Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy]said. “Some of these people even regret coming here because they have a feeling they are losing their kids.”

“Honestly, I’m scared for the kids,” Bugriyev [a mother] said. “We have a 5-year-old and a 1-year-old. I’m scared that when they go to school they will be in a class where they are taught it is OK for a man to sleep with another man. We are thinking that after another five years, we will move back to Moldova.”

“We feel the American church already lost the battle 20 years ago by remaining silent,” said Victor Chernyetsky, 47, a Soviet-trained engineer who serves as administrator for the Bethany Slavic Missionary Church. “We can’t remain silent. There are a lot of sins.”

Continue reading in Los Angeles Times …