Compares Opposition to Homosexuality to Racism

Mel White and his homosexual lover, Gary Nixon, as shown on his group Soulforce’s website. Evangelical leftist Jim Wallis calls White a “gay Christian” in his new book. White smears Christians who adhere to Biblical teachings on homosexuality by accusing them of “spiritual violence” against homosexuals.

What is striking about the quotation below from Jim Wallis’ book, “The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in Post-Religious Right America” (which he promoted at his recent speech at Wheaton College) is that while he accuses the late Rev. Jerry Falwell of “inflammatory language,” he ignores the same from homosexual activist Mel White, whom he labels a “gay Christian.” White and his group Soulforce accuse churches and Christian leaders who defend Biblical teachings against homosexuality of “spiritual violence” against “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people” — a calculated verbal smear that deliberately conflates defenders of God’s revealed truth with spiritual bullying.

Why doesn’t Wallis call upon Mel White to heal the “wounds” he has caused faithful Christians by castigating them for upholding Biblical truth?

Can you be a faithful Christian and a homosexual activist? We say no — any more than you could be a faithful Christian and an adultery activist, or a pornography activist, or an abortion-on-demand activist. Sin is sin. Mel White, who left his wife and family to enter into a sexual relationship with another man and pursue homosexual activism, is a rebel against God, albeit an eloquent one. Unfortunately, his ally Jim Wallis sees the greater danger coming from defenders of Biblical morality, rather than those like White who are working diligently to undermine and redefine it. — Peter LaBarbera

The following is found on page 303 of Wallis’ book Great Awakening:

“It would have been nice to hear that Jerry Falwell, too, had moved to embrace a broader agenda than just abortion and homosexuality. Rev. Falwell, who was admittedly racist during the civil rights movement, in later years was honored by the Lynchburg NAACP for his turnabout on the issue of race, showing the famous founder of the Religious Right’s capacity to grow and change. But recently on television I saw the pain on the face of gay Christian Mel White, who lamented that despite the efforts of himself and others, Falwell never moderated his strong and often inflammatory language (even if maintaining his religious convictions) against gay and lesbian people. They still feel the most wounded by the fundamentalist minister’s statements; that healing had yet to be done.”

Click HERE to listen online to Concerned Women for America’s interview probing Wheaton College’s invitation to “Religious Left” icon Jim Wallis, who questions God’s description of homosexual behavior as an “abomination” and sympathetically describes homosexual activist Mel White as a “gay Christian.”  Liberal Evangelical leader Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners Magazine, spoke at Wheaton College this week. Wallis is controversial within evangelical circles because much of what he advocates runs counter to Biblical principles. Although not invited to speak on the issue, Wallis advocates civil unions and “blessing” ceremonies for homosexual couples. Matt Barber, CWA’s Policy Director for Cultural Issues, says Wallis’ biblical revisionism must be challenged. He speaks with Peter LaBarbera, President of Americans for Truth who attended the Wallis speech, and Dr. Mike Brown, Director of The Coalition of Conscience in Charlotte, North Carolina, who has debated Jim Wallis previously.

The broadcast also deals with a 2007 Wheaton panel on “HIV and Morality” that featured Harry Knox, a homosexual activist with the Human Rights Campaign who believes that his homosexuality is a “gift from God, one for which I am very grateful. And it would fly in the face of my respect for God to give that gift back.”

You can also download the broadcast by visiting CWA’s website and scrolling down to the title, “Wheaton College Hosts Controversial Speakers.”

By Laurie Higgins 

I, as a parent of two Wheaton students, was concerned about the recent invitation by Wheaton College’s Center for Applied Christian Ethics (CACE) to Jim Wallis to speak. I was concerned in that it followed close on the heels of the appearance at CACE of Harry Knox, director of the Religion and Faith Program of the [homosexual activist organization] Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and the campus visit of Soulforce [another homosexual activist group] whose members were permitted to distribute literature on campus. Some of us who deeply love Wheaton College were, with reason, concerned that Wallis might have attempted, like Harry Knox, to efface the violation of God’s design and moral order that homosexual conduct represents. We were not only concerned about the ostensible pedagogical purposes for which Wallis was invited, but also concerned that he might deviate from those purposes to discuss homosexuality, as did Harry Knox who had been invited to discuss HIV, but moved considerably beyond the topic of HIV to discuss his own homosexuality.

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

The following statement (emphasis added) was issued by Dr. Michael Brown, at the request of Americans For Truth, in response to evangelical leftist Jim Wallis’ writings in favor of homosexual “civil unions” laws:

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.

“Abomination is a pretty strong word.”

— Leftist evangelical writer Jim Wallis, as part of his reponse to a question by Peter LaBarbera (of Americans For Truth) on the Christian Moody Radio Network in Chicago, February 19, 2008. Wallis, who is on a book tour and is speaking tonight (Feb. 19) at Wheaton College, was asked how he reconciles his support for granting civil rights based on homosexuality —  including government-sanctioned “civil unions” — with the Bible, which calls homosexual behavior an “abomination.” Wallis says supporting “gay” rights — he opposes homosexual “marriage” — is a “justice issue.”  He said in the Moody interview that there is a debate and questions over the meaning of the word “abomination,” yet he said (correctly) that the Bible is very clear about the need to help the poor.

For clarity’s sake, here are a few major Bible translations of the Old Testament Levitical prohibition on homosexual sodomy (men having sex with men), Leviticus 18:22; click HERE for the Bible Gateway site and then you can choose whatever Bible translation you want. This is among the commandments given by God to Moses regarding unlawful sexual relations (emphasis added); as always, we remind our readers that this sin, like any sin, can be overcome and forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ (1 Cor 6:9-11):

• You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. (Lev. 18:22; New American Standard Bible; NASB)
• Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. (King Jame’s Version, KJV)
• Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. (New International Version, NIV)
• Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin. (New Living Translation)
• You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. (English Standard Version, ESV)
• It is disgusting for a man to have sex with another man. (Contemporary English Version)

  Wheaton College speaker Jim Wallis says affirming homosexual couples is a “justice issue.” See the Wheaton  announcement here: www.wheaton.edu/news/events/events_07_08/02.19.08_CaceWallis.html

By Peter LaBarbera 

With polls showing more evangelicals — especially younger evangelicals — warming to the idea of voting Democratic (despite the party’s rigid pro-abortion-on-demand and pro-homosexuality agendas), we found this item of interest: this coming Tuesday, Wheaton College will be hostng liberal evangelical advocate Jim Wallis as a featured speaker at the college’s Center for Applied Christian Ethics (CACE). See the CACE announcement here: www.wheaton.edu/news/events/events_07_08/02.19.08_CaceWallis.html

This follows on CACE last September inviting homosexual “gay christian” activist Harry Knox to speak at a panel discussion on “HIV and Morality,” as a representative of the (traditional-Christian-bashing) homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign. You may recall that it was Knox who, in a TV debate with CWA’s Matt Barber (watch it HERE), called his homosexuality an “unchangeable gift from God, one for which I am very grateful. And it would fly in the face of my respect for God to give that gift back.” (We insensitive Bible-thumpers at AFTAH called that “Satan’s Talking Points.”)

If I’m not mistaken, Harry talked about his relationship with his male partner at the Wheaton panel discussion, which was titled, “Thy Kingdom Come: Christian Moral Engagement in the World.” I don’t believe there was much if any critical “engagement” of Knox when he brought up his homosexual relationship. What a pity. (You can listen to the discussion by going HERE and clicking on the “HIV and Morality Panel” links; there is Part One and Part Two.)

I’m reading Wallis’ new book, “The Great Awakening” (introduction by pro-abortion-rights, pro-homosexuality Jimmy Carter), and I’m not quite sure how Wallis can square his own “applied Christian ethics” with the inspired and authoritative Word of God, which is hardly nuanced on the sin of homosexual behavior. Of course, Wallis, as a leading light of the Religious Left, has plenty of his own criticisms of us on the “Religious Right.”

It would seem appropriate that Wheaton College — as one of the most respected and Biblically faithful Christian colleges in the United States– would at the very least allow equal time for an orthodox evangelical spokesman who is more in line with Christian conservatives on moral issues– perhaps even a stellar representative like Rev. Al Mohler, who surely will not be voting for the Democrats this November.
 

AFTAH in the news

 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.

Click HERE to go to the One News Now website, where you can listen to the report by clicking the “HEAR REPORT” button at the top right.

 From the book, The Gay Gospel: How Pro-Gay Advocates Misread the Bible, by Joe Dallas (Harvest House Publishers, 2007). To order The Gay Gospel ($14) or other Biblically-oriented resources by Joe revolving around sexual purity, go to his website at www.joedallas.com.

Note that Joe’s life as a former homosexual gives the lie to the second tactical approach of the aggressive “gay Christian” movement, which he discusses below:

As the gay Christian movement continued finding allies in churches and secular circles, it also continued to follow the trends of the larger gay-rights movement. And the gay-rights movement’s most noticeable trend, from the mid-1980s into the 1990s, was aggression.

 

The AIDS epidemic, in full bloom by the mid ’80s, fueled a strident form of gay activism. Groups such as the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), Queer Nation, and the Lesbian Avengers caught the public’s eye as they staged boisterous demonstrations and invaded churches and corporations they considered to be “enemies.”

 

The gay Christian movement did not take long to develop its own style of aggression. Fundamental to its identity were two beliefs: Homosexuality is not unbiblical; and homosexuals can’t change, even if they want to. … 

  

   — The Gay Gospel, Joe Dallas p. 88; To order The Gay Gospel ($14), go to www.joedallas.com. Dallas is founder of Genesis Counseling, which seeks to “Reclaim Godly Sexuality through the Saving Work of Jesus Christ, The Sanctifying Work of the Holy Spirit and the Body Ministry of the Christian Church.” See their “Frequently Asked Questions About Sexual Addiction and Recovery from a Biblical Perspective.”