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‘Defend Marriage Lobby Day’ today in Springfield aims at stopping bill in House
This will never be a “marriage,” no matter what laws are changed.
Dear AFTAH Readers,
Today (Wed., Feb. 20th) is Defend Marriage Lobby Day in Springfield, Illinois, as pro-family citizens rally in the state capital against a homosexual “marriage” bill proposed by the Democrats for our state. Our friends at Illinois Family Institute organized this special day to help citizens express their unyielding support for real, natural marriage (one man, one woman) in the Land of Lincoln — which is already reeling from previous pro-homosexual laws. The “gay marriage” bill, SB 10, passed the state Senate on Feb. 14 with the votes of 33 Democrats and one lone Republican, Sen. Jason Barickman (Bloomington), so it is critical to stop the bill in the House. The Democrats who run Illinois — from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel to Gov. Pat Quinn — have made passing a “gay marriage” bill a TOP PRIORITY, so please get involved on the side of “Nature and Nature’s God” to thwart their efforts!
TAKE ACTION — Illinois Citizens: Please attend the Lobby Day today if you are able: there is a 10:30 AM rally outside the Capitol Building in Springfield (401 S. 2nd Street, Springfield, IL), followed by lobbying. IFI will help you lobby your representative if you’ve never done it before! See their site for more details: http://illinoisfamily.org/politics/lobby-day-instructions-what-to-expect-on-feb-20th/. For those in Chicagoland, Kathy Barnette of Truth Exchange still has room on her bus for the trip to Springfield; see the Truth Exchange site.
If you cannot make the trip, make sure to call or write your State Representative and voice your opposition to the “gay marriage” bill. Call the Springfield Capitol Switchboard at 217-782-2000. Find you elected officials HERE.
We already know the ramifications of legalized homosexual “marriage” from other states like Massachusetts:
Religious liberty and freedom of conscience (i.e., the freedom to oppose homosexuality) will be repressed by the state in the name of “gay rights”; Illinois has already experienced this under our “Civil Unions” law [see the case of the Walders’ bed-and-breakfast in Paxton, IL]. Despite the current bill being amended to protect churches and religious institutions, business owners — even devout Christians — who cater to weddings (such as banquet hall owners and photographers) could be forced to use their facilities or expertise to celebrate homosexual “marriages”;
Liberal teachers, especially in public schools, will be emboldened to promote homosexual relationships to students in the classroom; homosexual teachers will be given a platform to discuss their “marriages” and to model homosexuality as normal, natural and good to students. Parents will have a harder time stopping the promotion of homosexuality in schools;
Homosexual “sex ed” will gain ground in Illinois schools. Under the radical egalitarian idea that all relationships are morally “equal” and worthy of marriage, “safer gay sex” will be taught non-judgmentally alongside (normal) heterosexual sex. “Abstinence until marriage” (which regrettably is not the norm but only the ideal for most Illinois health classrooms) would apply to homosexual- and bisexual- as well as “straight” students — despite the reality that all homosexual sex is inherently immoral. High-risk and unnatural practices like anal sex will be mainstreamed in our schools. (Could teaching the truth that sex between men is linked disproportionately to HIV and various sexually-transmitted diseases lead to charges of “anti-gay discrimination”?) And deviant lesbian sex will be taught for girls who in the future might “marry” a woman.
Businessmen will be forced to recognize and subsidize their employees’ immoral same-sex “marriages”; a form of this is already happening under Illinois’ “Civil Unions” law;
Society will be corrupted as unequal things are treated as equal; children will be further confused as the law (which is a teacher, as the saying goes) creates a Brave New Morality that officially “weds” sinful, unnatural and changeable behavior to the noble and life-sustaining institution of marriage;
Homosexual activists will be energized to use the homosexual “marriage” law to pressure citizens to approve of their lifestyle and step up their crusade to stigmatize, demonize and discredit pro-family Christians and moral opponents of homosexuality. Groups like AFTAH that embrace wholesome, godly morality will be vilified as “hateful and bigoted.” And, as we have witnessed in Massachusetts, the push for ever more extreme “LGBT rights” would be propelled by enactment of “same-sex marriage” — including “transgender” activism in schools.
Legalized homosexual “marriage” will help “normalize” homosexual adoption, thus consigning greater numbers of innocent children to be raised in households that are motherless or fatherless by design.
See also this excellent report, “What Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ Has Done to Massachusetts,” by my friends at MassResistance to learn what’s headed our way if Illinois politicians continue to pander to the state’s powerful Homosexual Lobby. Thank you for standing up for natural marriage! God bless you. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org
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AFTAH Interviews Lobbyist Ralph Rivera on Threat of Homosexual ‘Marriage’ Bill in Illinois
[NOTE: this interview occurred BEFORE the Illinois homosexual “marriage” bill, SB10, was amended prior to passage Feb. 14. The amended bill precludes churches and religious institutions from being forced to host homosexual “marriage” celebrations in their building. However, this amendment applies only to explicitly religious institutions; Christian- and other moral-minded business-owners could still be forced to host homosexual “marriage” ceremonies and related celebrations under the bill despite their deeply-felt opposition to “gay marriage.” — Peter LaBarbera]
This interview [click HERE to listen] with Illinois pro-family lobbyist Ralph Rivera was conducted on February 4, 2013. Rivera is a lobbyist for the Illinois Family Institute – which is sponsoring a Defend Marriage Lobby Day against the homosexual “marriage” bill in Springfield on Wednesday, Feb. 20th. Along with AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera and co-host John Kirkwood (of Grace Gospel Fellowship church), Rivera discusses the pro-homosexual-”marriage” bill looming in the state’s General Assembly. (The Illinois Senate is reportedly slated for a floor vote on the bill on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.)
Rivera explains the bill’s threat to religious liberty — e.g., how in its original draft (likely to be amended) it would force churches and religious institutions that rent their facilities to the public to host homosexual “weddings.” There is also a discussion of how legalized “gay marriage” effectively forces pro-homosexual ”lessons” into public schools. In addition, the three discuss the Boy Scouts of America’s proposed change allowing openly homosexual Scoutmasters and Scouts. Rivera is also a longtime pro-life lobbyist for Illinois Citizens for Life.
HOW TO LISTEN: This is an mp3 file, supported in most operating systems by Windows Media Player, Quick Time and/or I-Tunes. Real Player is not supported and there may be difficulty when attempting to listen with it. 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 to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.
Help AFTAH Stand for TRUTH: Make a Tax-Exempt Gift Today!
AFTAH will never back down or be intimidated by the intolerant and hateful (and anti-Christian”) “Gay” Lobby. Your gifts help us carry out our critical mission.
All gifts to Americans For Truth are fully tax-deductible according to the IRS. To give online, go to: www.americansfortruth.com/donate/. Or send your regular-mail donation to:
AFTAH
PO Box 5522
Naperville, IL 60567-5522
Join the Monthly “Truth Team”: Please consider becoming a monthly “Truth Team” donor to AFTAH by pledging a monthly gift to AFTAH of $25, $50, $100, $250 or whatever you can. Sign up online at: www.americansfortruth.com/donate/or e-mail us and we’ll help you set up a monthly giving plan that suits your needs: americansfortruth@gmail.com.
This photo showing the massive scope of the Paris rally is from the Facebook page of organizing group “La Manif Pour Tous” (“The Demonstration for All”). Click on photo to enlarge, and see additional photos and video below.
Who would have thought that an anti-“gay marriage” rally in France would draw at least 340,000 people and possibly much more — and that support for homosexual “marriage” would drop precipitously in the polls? (French support for same-sex “marriage” reportedly fell from 65 percent to 52 percent — though I don’t trust polls and suspect that most surveys overstate support for the pro-homosexual agenda.) Check out these photos and a video of this amazing and historic rally — held in Paris on Sunday, January 13. Beneath the YouTube video (after the jump) there is an excerpt from an AP report on the rally, which includes a police estimate of 340,000 people attending the massive rally (organizers claimed 800,000 marchers).
Note too that the organizers of the rally folded a message of opposing “homophobia” into their pro-natural-message campaign (e.g, see the marcher holding the “Friend of Marriage Not Homophobia” sign at 1:09 of this 3-minute video). This viewpoint is far from one that AFTAH would put forward, but nevertheless the rally shows how unpopular the dominant LGBT goal of homosexual “marriage” is even in highly secularized countries like France. — Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth
PS. The huge rally in socialist-run France and the plummeting “gay marriage” poll numbers speak volumes about the “gay” activist propaganda line that LGBT victories are “inevitable.” They are not.
MIDNIGHT DEADLINE for Tax-Exempt, Year-End Gifts to AFTAH: All gifts to Americans For Truth are fully tax-deductible according to the IRS. To count your gift as deductible for your 2012 taxes, give online at www.americansfortruth.com/donate/ by midnight Central Time today (Dec. 31st). Or postmark your regular-mail donation by today (Dec. 31st) and mail to: AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. Please consider becoming a monthly “Truth Team” donor to AFTAH.
** AFTAH is looking forward to aggressively and non-defensively confronting the Homosexual, Bisexual and Transgender Lobbies in 2013. Thank you for making our work possible with your donations and prayers! **
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Scott Lively
Folks, being called a “pro-family hero” by Scott Lively is humbling, and a great honor. See below where Scott lists AFTAH as among his “Top 10 Pro-Family Heroes” for 2012.”
In recent years nobody has been on the receiving end of more lies, slanders and all-around wickedness at the hands of homosexual activists than Scott Lively. I don’t think the average Joe American could even comprehend what Scott has gone through — merely because he stands against the lies and myths of the Homosexual Movement. And yet he fights on undeterred because he knows that as a follower of Christ devoted to the Truth of God’s Word, he will be persecuted. I know Scott and he is nothing at all like the evil, hateful caricature that “gay” activists have made him out to be.
AFTAH presented Scott with its “American Truth Teller”award for 2011 because he exemplifies the sacrificial spirit of truthful, Christ-like resistance to the LGBT Sin Movement — which is based on one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated against mankind: that homosexuality is natural (for some people), innocuous, “who you are,” and the basis for “civil rights.” Scott Lively is a true cultural hero, and a decent, great Christian man who loves homosexuals enough to tell them the Truth.
Tax-funded transgenderism:This is Celeste Flemming, and “she” is a man. At an “LGBTQ” conference in Norman, OK, Flemming compared “transitioning,” “male-to-female” transsexuals who are prevented from using women’s restrooms (e.g., at work) to racist Jim Crow laws that banned Black Americans from using the same public restrooms as whites. The Oklahoma conference was sponsored by the State of Oklahoma with federal grant dollars. Flemming is a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employee who evidently now is used by the agency to help accommodate other gender-“transitioning” FAA employees.
OKLAHOMA CITY — I’m writing you from Oklahoma, having just attended a pro-homosexual conference funded with YOUR tax dollars and sponsored by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a branch of HHS. We will have a full report on this one-day conference, which not only was devoid of pro-family advocates but featured speakers who were explicitly anti-biblical in their ideology, e.g., claiming that Romans 1 does NOT proscribe homosexual acts as sinful.
Here’s an excerpt from a conference flier titled, “What does the bible say about homosexuality?” passed out by presenter Kathy McCallie, in a session called “Spiritual Wellness in BGLT (sic) Communities, a Primer”:
“[The Apostle] Paul had no inkling that for some persons, a same-sex orientation might be natural, that is, part of who they are created to be. If he had known this, he would have had to argue that, for such persons, heterosexual acts would be unnatural.”
Whatever happened to liberal demands for “Separation of Church and State” (which is actually a twisting of the First Amendment)?! Here we have Americans’ tax dollars being used to assault historic biblical teaching against homosexuality as sinful.
As you can see from the photo above, the Oklahoma conference, although supposedly focusing on substance abuse, devoted much energy to promoting gender confusion and homosexuality. Can you imagine comparing gender-confused men who believe they are “women” but are denied use of the ladies’ restroom to Blacks suffering under official Jim Crow racism — as male-to-female trans “woman” Celeste Flemming did?
The very first speaker at the conference, Randy Roberts Potts — the openly homosexual grandson of the late Oral Roberts — maligned my friend and Oklahoma St. Rep. Sally Kern, accusing her of being “hateful” toward homosexuals and going on a “witch-hunt” against them. Stay tuned to this story, which also sheds like on the Obama administration’s radical use of the federal bureaucracy to promote the homosexualist agenda across America. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
Americans For Truth is featured in this follow-up by Christian News Network to their original piece on Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren’s comments about homosexuality. The following are excerpts from the article:
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Rick Warren Expresses Regret Over Making Video Supporting Biblical Marriage; Family Group Concerned
December 4, 2012 | Christian News Network
By Heather Clark
A pro-family group is calling into question recent statements made by Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life and pastor of Saddleback Church in California, surrounding his regret over creating a video in 2008 that expressed his support for Biblical marriage.
During a recent interview with Marc Lamont Hill of the Huffington Post, Warren sought to clarify matters pertaining to his creation of a video years ago in which he stated that those who follow the Bible should support California’s Proposition 8 ballot initiative. He had been accused of lying months after releasing the video for stating during an interview on Larry King Live that “[d]uring the whole Proposition 8 thing, I … never once issued a statement, never once even gave an endorsement in the two years Prop. 8 was going.”
“People say that I campaigned for Proposition 8. The meaning of the word ‘campaign’ means two different things,” Warren told Hill. “To me, that means that you go out and you speak at rallies, you do advertisements for it and stuff like that.”
“I never made a single statement on Prop. 8 until the week before, and in my own church, some members said, ‘Where do we stand on this?’” he explained. “[So], I released a video to my members. It was posted all over like it was an advertisement.”
…
Following Warren’s explanation, some are expressing concern, including Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality. LaBarbera told Christian News Network that Warren’s comments made him appear as if he was ashamed to publicly stand for the Biblical definition of marriage.
“[Warren] regrets that the statement got out wider than his church. To me, that’s incredible because he should be happy that he had influence outside of his church to the whole body of Christ in California — indeed, to people all over the state voting on the issue who look to him for guidance,” he said. “And so, that troubles me that he even says now that he wouldn’t make that video. … That’s saying that he does not want to be a leader on the homosexual ‘marriage’ issue.”
The following is excerpted from from an article in Christian News Network, in which AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera is quoted. The original article contains video footage of the controversial Rick Warren interview with Huffington Post [or click HERE]:
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Rick Warren Uncertain if Homosexual Behavior is Sinful, Says ‘Gays’ Go to Heaven
Controversy is stirring over recent comments made by Rick Warren, author of the best-selling book The Purpose-Driven Life and megachurch leader of Saddleback Church in California, who stated that homosexual behavior “might be” sinful, and that he believes homosexuals go to Heaven.
During an interview this week with the Huffington Post, Warren was asked by Marc Lamont Hill if having romantic feelings for a member of the same sex is a sin. Leading up to the question, Warren was explaining that he does not hate homosexuals, and that people should disagree politely on the subject of homosexuality.
“I have many, many gay friends, and have worked around the world with them in gay organizations to try to stop AIDS,” he said. “We’re doing ‘World AIDS Day’ this weekend at Saddleback Church. My wife and I have given millions of dollars to help people with HIV/AIDS and have worked with gay organizations on that.”
“What about the love part, though? I hear about the AIDS part,” asked Hill. “It’s not illegal to love somebody,” Warren replied.
“But you think it’s a sin,” Hill asserted. “No, it’s not a sin to love somebody,” Warren said.
“It might be a sin to have sex with them,” he added. “It might be.”
Courtesy of our good friends at PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays):
My Testimony
by Debora Barr
Radical transformation is possible! I lived 18 years of my life as a lesbian with absolutely no desire to change. Now that I have been set free from my invisible shackles, I am experiencing the most wholesome and unconditional love of my Savior, Jesus Christ and will never turn back!
I was born in 1963, to a 19-year-old mother and a twenty-one year old father who lost their first child (my older brother) to complications during child birth less than a year earlier. My parents both came from homes where their same sex parent died when they were very young. I am the oldest of three biological children of my parents and one adopted sibling. I was brought up in the Catholic Church, and early in my life, I developed a love for God and even dreamed of becoming a nun.
I was extremely insecure as a child and did not make friends easily. I never really connected with kids my own age, and my best friends were always older than me. I matured quickly, and beginning at the age of nine, I took on the role of babysitter for my younger siblings as well as the 50 foster children (infants) that my family took in over a period of seven years. I felt like an adult, even as a child.
In high school I began dating a boy who was a couple of years older than me. He lived quite a distance away, so he would come and spend the weekends at my house whenever possible. During this time, my mother started to go with us to the movies or bowling alley nearly every time we went out. She never really dated as a teen because she was raising her two younger brothers. She married my father at the age of 16 to get away from her alcoholic father and her dysfunctional family situation.
When I was 15, my boyfriend and I were away at a church camp and there he tried to have sex with me. When I returned home, I experienced deep betrayal by someone very close to me which sent me spiraling into a deep depression. I rejected God and completely turned my back on him, denying that he even existed. I struggled for the next couple of years with deep depression and attempts at suicide. I graduated from high school, my parents divorced, and I went to college in another part of the state. There, I experienced sexual abuse from three different older men and further rejected any notion that God could exist. I thought what I knew as a child was just a lie and a fairytale – there was no God! I actively rejected the existence of God, telling people who believed that they were weak and deceived.
Andrew Marin “was either trying to conceal his orthodox positions from his friends who identify as homosexual or that he was trying to conceal his unorthodox theological views from those who hold orthodox biblical views,” writes Laurie Higgins.
The following article by our friend Laurie Higgins is reprinted from fhe Illinois Family Institute website. AFTAH commends the excellent yet often unheralded work of IFI in maintaining a truth standard for the state:
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By Laurie Higgins, Nov. 9, 2012
Andrew Marin, the controversial founder and president of the Marin Foundation, is speaking next week at Park Community Church in Chicago. This is surprising in that from its website Park Community appears to be a theologically orthodox church.
Marin promotes himself as a bridge-builder between the Christian community and the homosexual community and has written a book on the subject titled Love is an Orientation. It is not Marin’s desire to reach the unsaved that is troubling. We should all seek to bring the good news of Christ’s redemptive work to those who identify as homosexual. Rather, it is his approach and his theology that generate controversy and trouble many Christians.
One of the serious problems with Marin is that when asked directly about his biblical beliefs regarding homosexuality, he is troublingly evasive. In addition, his book has received a devastating critique from Dr. Robert A. Gagnon, Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and author of The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics.
[NOTE: this interview occurred BEFORE the Illinois homosexual “marriage” bill, SB10, was amended prior to passage Feb. 14. The amended bill precludes churches and religious institutions from being forced to host homosexual “marriage” celebrations in their building. However, this amendment applies only to explicitly religious institutions; Christian- and other moral-minded business-owners could still be forced to host homosexual “marriage” ceremonies and related celebrations under the bill despite their deeply-felt opposition to “gay marriage.” — Peter LaBarbera]
