By Peter LaBarbera

At right is a facsimile of the “Day of Silence Card,” which Waubonsie Valley High School in Naperville, IL is urging students to pass out in school tomorrow (Wed., April 18th); to view a clear version in PDF, click HERE.

The following is excerpted from a letter I sent to school authorities at Waubonsie Valley High School (WVHS) in Naperville, Illinois, concerning their promotion and endorsement of the “Day of Silence,” an in-school pro-homosexual protest in which students go silent all day [to protest alleged anti-homosexual oppression]. My children attend public schools in Naperville.

To read Waubonsie’s online announcement about the Day of Silence (DOS), click HERE. To view a PDF of the “Day of Silence Card” that WVHS is promoting to students (to present to their teachers and fellow students), click HERE.  For more information on the parental/student boycott of schools promoting the Day of Silence, go to the NotOurKids.com website. And for information on Alliance Defense Fund’s “Day of Truth” designed to counter the DOS, click HERE.

___________________________

April 7, 2007

Re: Waubonsie Valley HS web announcement: “Second Annual Day of Silence”: http://www.ipsd.org/newsevents/news_item_detail.asp?id=14568

Dear District 204 Faculty & Waubonsie School Administrators and Teachers,

I was deeply distressed to read the web posting concerning Waubonsie High School’s outright promotion of GLSEN’s national Day of Silence (tomorrow). Because you have chosen to embrace and officially endorse this event — which clearly advances one side of the controversial moral issue of homosexuality and will disrupt the learning environment at WVHS — my wife and I will be pulling our son … from school tomorrow (Wed, April 18th), and will encourage other parents to do the same.

We will also work to advance a policy of strict neutrality [at WVHS] on the issue of homosexuality and other moral conscience issues at Waubonsie and District 204 in the months and years ahead….

We respectfully ask: how does it promote an environment that is conducive to learning to encourage students to present a card to their teachers informing them that they will “remain silent for the entire day, including class….” (emphasis added) on the Day of Silence, Wed., April 18th? What about the students who do not agree with homosexual behavior, for religious, moral or other reasons? Or what about students who come to school to learn, and are not interested in crusading for social causes during school hours? Doesn’t it concern you that these students will be unfairly subjected to this propaganda exercise — and that their right to be educated in a non-politicized atmosphere will be violated?

We are concerned because the “gay” student club at WVHS, Identity — alone among all the extra-curricular student clubs — deals with a highly controversial moral and social issue that has severe implications for students’ health and spiritual well-being. Nobody doubts the merit of the other student clubs. It is as dubious to portray Day of Silence as an innocuous event about tolerance as it is to say that Identity is like any other student club.

We do not view homosexuality as an issue of innate identity but changeable behavior which is immoral in the eyes of the Creator. Some common “gay” sexual behaviors are also very high risk (unsafe), as evidenced by this quotation — not by Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson — but by homosexual writer Jack Hart (pardon the graphic content):

Many sexual transmitted diseases (STDs) occur more often among gay men than in the general population. Several factors contribute to this difference: Gay men have the opportunity to engage in sex with more people than do most heterosexual men, and some practices common among gays — especially rimming [anal-oral intercourse] and anal intercourse — are highly efficient at transmitting disease. (Gay Sex: A Manual for Men Who Love Men, Allyson Books, 1998, pp. 212-213)

There are countless other credible resources I could cite documenting the health risks of homosexual behaviors. (See Dr. John Diggs’ paper, “The Health Risks of Gay Sex.”)  Are the GLBT and “questioning” students at WVHS made aware of these risks? Do parents know about them? (I was told by [a Waubonsie Valley HS official] that a student can attend Identity meetings without his or her parents’ knowledge or approval.) Moreover, because I have personally met or interviewed dozens of former homosexuals, I do not view this as an issue of “civil rights.” (There are no ex-African Americans or ex-Latinos.) In fact, I am concerned that homosexual activist groups like GLSEN — the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, an acronym which you failed to define in your web posting about the Day of Silence — are strongly prejudiced against tradition-minded students and their parents.

Consider this highly “intolerant” and bigoted quote disparaging religious conservatives from GLSEN founder Kevin Jennings made in a church in 2000:

“Twenty percent of people are hard-core fair-minded [pro-homosexual] people. Twenty percent are hard-core [anti-homosexual] bigots. We need to ignore the hard-core bigots, get more of the hard-core fair-minded people to speak up, and we’ll pull that 60 percent [of people in the middle] … over to our side. That’s really what I think our strategy has to be. We have to quit being afraid of the religious right. We also have to quit — … I’m trying to find a way to say this. I’m trying not to say, ‘[F–k] ’em!’ which is what I want to say, because I don’t care what they think! [audience laughter] Drop dead!” (Source: audiotape from event, cited in a paper I wrote for Concerned Women for America, “When Silence Would Have Been Golden”)

When schools delve into the promotion of one side of a controversial moral issue like homosexuality, or join with controversial groups like GLSEN, it naturally discriminates against students on the other side.  Several weeks ago, I attended a District 204 Diversity meeting dealing with gay issues. I voiced concern about the biased nature of the presentation — which was reliant on information provided by GLSEN — hardly an objective source and in fact one that has a record of radical activism. Here are just two more black marks on GLSEN’s record (please forgive the graphic content, but this is what pre-teen children were exposed to):

1) GLSEN-backed 2000 “Fistgate” scandal in Massachusetts: (see http://massresistance.org/docs/issues/fistgate/massnews.html) At a GLSEN-sponsored conference at Tufts U., on March 25, 2000, three homosexual activists employed by the Massachusetts Departments of Health and Education led a youth workshop titled “What They Didn’t Tell You about Queer Sex & Sexuality in Health Class” — part of the annual Boston-GLSEN “Teach Out” conference held at Tufts University. The “Queer Sex” session, advertised to “youth only ages 14 to 21,” was attended by Massachusetts family advocate Scott Whitemen, who taped it while standing in the back of the room.

In the workshop, instructor Michael Gaucher, prompted by a teen’s question, verbally guided the students on the mechanics of “fisting” — a homosexual slang term for a sadistic sex act in which a man inserts his hand and arm into another person’s anal cavity. Another instructor, Margot Abels, said fisting “often gets a really bad rap,” and described it innocuously as “an experience of letting somebody into your body that you want to be that close and intimate with.” Abels and Gaucher also guided the students on techniques of oral sodomy and lesbian sex.

[NOTE: I think I am correct that GLSEN never issued an apology to the public for sponsoring this heinous event that corrupted innocent children.]

2) At GLSEN’s conference in Arlington Heights, IL [a suburb of Chicago], in 2000, all participants, including dozens of high school-aged kids, could pick up a homosexual “Visitor’s Companion” — which advertised Chicago’s gay “leather” bars, a gay sex club and a homosexual bathhouse (where men go for anonymous sexual liaisons with other men) called “Steamworks,” which was advertised as a “24-hour men’s gym/sauna.”

If GLSEN were a conservative or Christian group and committed such reckless acts endangering youth, do you think they would still be promoted as a credible source by public schools? Were you aware of GLSEN’s scandals? Do you think Naperville and Aurora parents would countenance any WVHS involvement with GLSEN if they know of this organization’s reckless and radical track record? (For more information on GLSEN’s 2000 conference, click on this link: http://www.geocities.com/sirokai/shininglight/gradeschoolkids.htm.)

Frankly, I am stunned that after another concerned 204 parent and I voiced our objections to District 204’s bias on homosexual issues at the 204 Diversity meeting, you have chosen to so blatantly promote an activist pro-homosexual event like the DOS that has angered parents across the nation.

We regard your promotion of GLSEN’s Day of Silence event as educational malpractice and the misuse of your authority granted to you by tax-paying and voting parents (most of whom probably have no idea that Waubonsie VHS is being used for this pro-gay social protest tomorrow). By promoting this massive, in-school distraction, despite claims that this is merely about “tolerance,” you are harming the educational process and directly undermining parents’ rights to guide their own children’s understanding on this important moral question.

Please also consider this document by the Citizens for Community Values on the “Legal Liability Associated with Homosexuality Education in Public Schools.”

I would like to request a meeting to discuss this matter … Also, I would request any data you have on GLBT students being harassed at WVHS in this and the past few years. If there is truly a problem of WVHS administrators and teachers being unable to protect gay-identified kids, the public deserves to know about it.  For the record, our position is that no child should be abused or harassed, but that schools can safeguard all kids without reference to any special criteria such as “sexual orientation.”

Thank you for your urgent consideration of this matter. Needless to say, it is no small thing for us to intentionally pull our child from school, but we feel that you have given us no choice by endorsing this activist, pro-gay protest.

Sincerely,

Peter LaBarbera

Naperville, Illinois parent

By Peter LaBarbera 

Bob Schwartz of the leftist Chicago homosexual group Gay Liberation Network responded to my e-note asking if he favored laws censoring pro-family group’s speech critical of homosexuality. The following is Schwartz’s response (we’ve put his response at the top rather than following my note, as it was in the original).

I certainly doubt the accuracy of Schwartz’s claim about the Nigerian bishop, as he and his group typically lop all Christians who stand for traditional morality in with those who committed indefensible acts (e.g., violence or death threats) against homosexuals. Schwartz also engages in hyperbole typical of many leftists when he claims that Christian groups are a threat to democracy. Schwartz’s flagrant name-calling of committed Christians as “fascists” is a callous and hurtful shibboleth that has no basis in reality and is deeply offensive to all people and groups, like Americans For Truth, that abhor the Nazis’ genocidal record.

As to Schwartz’s claim about “hate speech,” many on our side of the debate regard GLN’s standard rhetoric — e.g., calling the historic Moody Bible Church in Chicago a “house of hate” — as hateful in the extreme.

Finally, regarding his note about socieities in decline, we commend the work of  the (anti-Christian) Edward Gibbons (The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire), historian Will Durant, Pitirim Sorokin, and others who have documented the role of sexual immorality in the demise of great civilizations.

All this said, we are pleasantly surprised that the GLN leader is not an outright advocate of censorship. Here is Schwartz’s reply to my question:

Is The Big House Peter LaBarbera’s future home?
 

_______________________________________________
 
Sure, its tempting to want to enact laws like those in Canada and across parts of Europe that restrict the very kind of hate speech you and others dole out to gays, all under cover of “religious freedom.” But, I do not favor governmental restrictions on hate speech.
 
I reach this conclusion, not because I care one iota about speech rights for people who would like to push me back into the closet, restrict my rights or see me dead, but because governmental regulation of speech–particularly in the United States–would likely be turned against people of the left, not of the right.  I’m not about to cut my own throat.
 
What I will do is keep portraying right-wing outfits like IFI and Americans for Truth, along with more effective hate groups like Focus on the Family, the John Hagee “ministries,” and the Coral Ridge fascist James Kennedy as dangerous to democracy. Dangerous because they include extremists who want to substitute the bible for the US Constitution. Dangerous because they are hate mongers who go after vulnerable gays today, but have an agenda that includes rolling back gains won thru struggle by workers, immigrants, women, and African Americans, as well as support to American/Israeli wars for empire.*
 
This summer, Gay Liberation Network will host a Nigerian gay man who has had to flee his native land following death threats from thugs spurred on by Christian leaders such as the Anglican archbishop, Peter Akinola, a man held to be a hero by some American gay haters.
 
Finally, as you will recall, we are prepared to take our ideas into the street.
 
You and others of your ilk deserve to be isolated, and ousted from respectable society.  The fate of Don Imus hopefully awaits antigay bigots as well.
 
BOB SCHWARTZ
Gay Liberation Network
 
[* See the book by Kevin Phillips entitled “American Theocracy.” Phillips points out that elites of societies in decline often appropriate religious fervor as they attempt to stabilize the sinking ship, branding policy opponents as enemies, demonizing religious and sexual minorities, scapegoating “foreigners,” calling upon the deity to bless military adventures, etc.]

….
 
I got the following response from Peter LaBarbera after I copied him on the message I posted regarding the IFI campaign to defeat federal hate crime legislation.  My response to LaBarbera follows his message. 
LaBarbera posted my original message and his response on his website: http://americansfortruth.org/
He can be reached at americansfortruth@comcast.net
 
 
…. You’d love to censor groups like IFI and Americans for Truth, wouldn’t you? If you had the power, you’d want to shut us down or ban certain aspects of our speech and conduct? For example, would you favor a federal “anti-hate” law that would have made our last email (“Satan’s Talking Points”) illegal? Or am I wrong and you actually support freedom of speech in the USA on the homosexual issue (which does not include direct harassing threats or advocating violence)? Would you favor using anti-discrimination hate speech laws to curb anti-gay speech? Which speech if any would you censor? Do you support anti-“hate speech” laws in Canada and England that are rapidly criminalizing (“discriminatory”) speech critical of homosexuality and are resulting in Christians being sued for discrimination or being jailed because they publicly oppose homosexual behavior? Did you support the jailing of the pastor in Sweden, Ake Green (www.akegreen.org), or do you think he should not have been prosecuted and what the government did to him was an injustice?  Since you’re charging us with being fascists, don’t we have a right to know? Would you use state power to restrict anti-gay speech, or not, and if so, under what circumstances?
 
Peter LaBarbera
Americans For Truth

By Peter LaBarbera

After being “cc’d” on the latest hateful e-mail sent by Bob Schwartz of the Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network — calling Illinois Family Institute (my former employer) the “Illinois Fascist Institute” for opposing a pro-homosexual federal “Hate Crimes” law — I sent the following e-note to Schwartz. We ask the same question of Human Rights Campaign’s Joe Solomonese, NGLTF’s Matt Foreman and all homosexual activists: would they support laws — and government actions — to censor speech opposed to homosexuality?

My note to Schwartz: 

From: Americans for Truth [mailto:americansfortruth@comcast.net]
Sent:  Saturday, April 14, 2007 11:37 AM
To:  Bob Schwartz, Gay Liberation Network
Cc:  David Smith, Exec. Dir., Illinois Family Institute
Subject:  Hey Bob, admit it…

…. You’d love to censor groups like IFI and Americans for Truth, wouldn’t you? If you had the power, you’d want to shut us down or ban certain aspects of our speech and conduct? For example, would you favor a federal “anti-hate” law that would have made our last email (“Satan’s Talking Points” [ Human Rights Campaign’s Harry Knox Promotes Ultimate ‘Big Lie’ in MSNBC Debate with CWA’s Matt Barber]) illegal? Or am I wrong and you actually support freedom of speech in the USA on the homosexual issue (which does not include direct harassing threats or advocating violence)? Would you favor using anti-discrimination hate speech laws to curb anti-gay speech? Which speech if any would you censor? Do you support anti-“hate speech” laws in Canada and England that are rapidly criminalizing (“discriminatory”) speech critical of homosexuality and are resulting in Christians being sued for discrimination or being jailed because they publicly oppose homosexual behavior? Did you support the jailing of the pastor in Sweden, Ake Green (www.akegreen.org) [Green was arrested in 2003 and later sentenced to jail for preaching a sermon in his church against homosexual behavior as sin], or do you think he should not have been prosecuted and what the government did to him was an injustice?  Since you’re charging us with being fascists, don’t we have a right to know? Would you use state power to restrict anti-gay speech, or not, and if so, under what circumstances?

Schwartz’s note to IFI: 

Fwd: IFI Makes it Easy to Contact Congress Members to Back Hate Crimes Legislation 

 

The kooks at the Illinois Fascist Institute want their followers to tell Members of Congress to oppose the recently re-introduced  Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007.  Charging that this bill would provide the dreaded “special protection” to gays, in fact IFI wants to retain the right to discriminate based upon some presumed divinely sanctioned hatred of gays. 
 
Sorry, IFI, the Constitution and not a collection of ancient writings called the bible is the fundamental law of the United States.
 
While hate crimes legislation is by no means a panacea to counter antigay bigotry and violence, it does help isolate the haters, a fact at least indirectly acknowledged by IFI opposition to the bill which frames its hatred of gays as the “beliefs, thoughts and attitudes” of “religion.”
 
Thanks to IFI, there is easy access to Congressional contact information.  Is that Christian generosity, or what!!
 
Bob [Schwartz, Gay Liberation Network, Chicago, IL]
_______________________________________________

Original E-Alert by Illinois Family Institute:

IFI E-Alert: New Hate Crimes (Thought Crimes) Legislation in Washington D.C.
(Federal Issue)

4/13/2007 3:00:00 PM
By David E. Smith, Executive Director -Illinois Family Institute 
 
Bill would create special protection for homosexuals.

The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (H.R. 1592) will be called for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives next week. This bill would extend existing federal hate-crimes laws that already cover crimes motivated by race, color, national origin and religion to include crimes based on “actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, disability and gender identity (including gender-related characteristics).”

ACTION: Contact your Congressman today and urge him/her to oppose this anti-religious piece of legislation and vote ‘NO’ on H.R. 1592. Hate crimes legislation is really “thought crime” legislation because it penalizes politically-incorrect beliefs, attitudes, and thoughts, rather than actual crimes. (Phone calls are the most effective means to communicate with elected officials.)

Bobby Rush (D-1st District)
202-225-4372

Jesse Jackson (D-2nd District)
202-225-0773

Daniel Lipinski (D-3rd District)
202/225-5701

Luis Gutierrez (D-4th District)
202-225-8203

Rahm Emanuel (D-5th District)
202-225-4061

Peter Roskam (R-6th District)
202-555-1212

Danny K. Davis (D-7th District)
202-225-5006

Melissa Bean (D-8th District)
202-225-3711

Janice D. Schakowsky (D-9th District)
202-225-2111

Mark Kirk (R-10th District)
202-225-4835

Jerry Costello (D-12th District)
202-225-5661

Judy Biggert (R-13th District)
202-225-3515

Dennis Hastert (R-14th District)
202-225-2976

Timothy Johnson (R-15th District)
202-225-2371

Don Manzullo (R-16th District)
202-225-5676

Phil Hare (D-17th District)
202-225-5905

Ray LaHood (R-18th District)
202-225-6201

John Shimkus (R-19th District)
202-225-5271

Legislate Thought Crimes Act?
The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (H.R. 1592), which we’re calling the Legislate Thought Crimes Act, would add the words “sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability” to the existing federal code.

The proposed Legislate Thought Crimes Act is different from current hate crimes law which permits federal prosecution of hates crime if the crimes were motivated by bias based on race, religion, national origin, or color, or because the victim was exercising a “federally protected right” (e.g. voting, attending school, etc.). This is because it would extend government protection and therefore official government recognition to sexual behavior as a legitmate protected class — a very dangerous precedent for U.S. law.

This bill removes the federally-protected activity requirement and adds “actual or perceived sexual orientation/gender identity,” gender and disability to the list of covered categories–bringing additional confusion to federal law. The proposed law would give unprecedented power to overzealous federal officials and liberal judicial activists who view opposition to homosexuality as “hate.”

Law would be homosexual tool
In short, this bill, if passed into law, could be used as a tool to advance the homosexual agenda through the enactment of federal laws that recognize homosexual behavior as civil right that needs special government protection. IFI will continually strive to educate people of the fact that unlike race, sexual orientation is a behavior that is changeable — as evidenced by the thousands of ex-“gays” living happy lives today.

By Peter LaBarbera

“What’s clear from our experience and from science is that being gay or lesbian is an immutable, 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. It would simply be unethical and hurtful to our relationship with the Creator to give back gifts that God has given us….” — Homosexual activist Harry Knox of the “gay” lobby group Human Rights Campaign, on MSNBC debate 3-23-07

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness.– Old Testament prophet Isaiah (Is. 5:20)

 Harry Knox promotes Big Lie for HRC

Please take five minutes to watch the fascinating online YouTube video above (click the “play” button on the screen) of a March 23, 2007 MSNBC debate between homosexual activist Harry Knox and pro-family warrior Matt Barber. The first time I watched this, I was flabbergasted at the gall of Knox, Director of the Religion and Faith Program for Human Rights Campaign (HRC, the world’s most powerful homosexual pressure group).

What better example of Hitler’s “Big Lie” technique than to transform homosexuality from an abominable sin and perversion … to a sickness … to a condition … to an inborn “orientation” that is actually a gift from God!

Yeah, that’s it — a wonderful gift that you’d never want to give back! (Strange how so many homosexual men are getting sick and dying in the prime of their life from practicing their supposed heavenly “gift.”)

I think we’ve discovered Satan’s Talking Points on homosexuality in the swank D.C. offices of Human Rights Campaign. HRC strategists understand that to neutralize America’s religious opposition to their destructive agenda, they must co-opt Christianity and the Bible itself.

The notion that homosexual “orientation” is a “gift from God” is the biggest lie in a “gay” arsenal filled with falsehoods — so start looking for that liberal echo chamber we call “the media” to begin giving it wide play.

The MSNBC debate was instigated by Al Mohler’s column (naively ill-timed, in my view) speculating on the possibility of hormone treatments to “fix” homosexuality in the womb if a genetic component to homosexuality were to be discovered.

By the way, Knox’s able opponent on the MSNBC debate, my good friend Matt Barber, is Policy Director for Cultural Issues at Concerned Women for America. Matt is a former professional heavyweight boxer (you can watch one his knockouts online on YouTube HERE) who was fired by the insurance giant Allstate after writing an online article — on his own time — critical of homosexual “marriage.” (Ironically, it was an HRC staffer who spotted Matt’s article and reported him to the Diversity Police at Allstate, leading to his firing. Oh, but I almost forgot: it is those poor, aggrieved homosexuals who are getting fired by the thousands “just for being gay” ….)

Matt is also former Corporate Outreach Director for Americans For Truth. We’re delighted that thanks to Allstate’s intolerance and pro-homosexual corporate agenda, he’s now “in the ring” in Washington, D.C., throwing rhetorical jabs on the side of God and truth.

Our next e-mail will discuss how adult homosexual activists like Knox and Soulforce’s Mel White are corrupting impressionable youth — a spiritual “crime” for which they will one day pay dearly if they don’t repent and turn away from their evil promotion of sexual sin.

Again, here is that YouTube link for the MSNBC debate featuring Harry Knox’s Big Lie about God. And please pray that God will lead the confused and lost Mr. Knox out of homosexuality.

By Peter LaBarbera

Can a holy God “bless” a homosexual relationship? I don’t think so, but that’s what the wife of a self-styled “theologically conservative” Christian professor asked God to do for homosexual activist (and Wayne State philosophy professor) John Corvino and his male partner, below. Here’s the comment I posted today to Corvino’s article, “Amazing Grace,” on the website Independent Gay Forum, which is geared toward less radical homosexual advocates (their motto is “Forging a Gay Mainstream”).

Please note that I mistakenly ascribed the Christian professor’s wife’s prayer to him, which I corrected in a subsequent comment:

John, this professor friend may call himself a “theological conservative,” but apparently he is not. (Maybe he is only by today’s liberal academic standards.) Embracing “civil” same-sex “marriage,” gay adoption, and asking God to bless your homosexual relationship [which the professor’s wife actually did] puts him outside the “theologically conservative” (i.e., orthodox Biblical) camp. He was kind to you, yes, but erred in asking a holy God to bless a relationship based on sexual misbehavior clearly condemned by the same “God-breathed” Scripture that he surely regards as inerrant. He may and probably did have some secret prayer regarding your relationship — say, that it become non-sexual — but by asking God, before you, to “bless” it wrongly implied God’s acceptance, and thereby misled you about the Christian faith. It might have been more difficult, but the professor could have extended the same kindness to you without compromising the Biblical position.

The essence of evangelical, Bible-believing outreach to people (“non-believers”) is to warn them about the grave consequences of their sin, especially eternal separation from God — and then offer them the substitutionary redemption of Christ, who took the penalty for all sin on the Cross before conquering sin and death by rising again (Easter!). That’s true compassion. I’d be happy to discuss it with you if you’re ever in my part of the world (Chicago) and want to talk over a cup of coffee. I wouldn’t expect such an upbeat recounting of our conversation as this, but I believe you’d get a more accurate representation of the “theologically conservative” [Christian] position.

Sincerely

Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth, www.americansfortruth.org

CORRECTION POST:

I’m sorry: I have ascribed the Christian professor’s wife’s prayer to him. Nevertheless, the same concern applies: can God bless a homosexual union? Not unless He is prepared to bless other sins that are condemned in the Bible. Best–pl

The following is the original post by homosexual activist John Corvino on Independent Gay Forum’s website:

Amazing Grace

by John Corvino

First published in Between the Lines [a Detroit homosexual newspaper] on March 22, 2007

The gentleman stood up during a lull in the Q&A session, and I was grateful for anyone to break the silence. In recent years I’d become used to this routine: I’d go to a small liberal-arts college to speak on homosexuality. The students, who were increasingly pro-gay, would respond with “friendly fire” or genial shrugs. I’d wait for the opposition to speak up, often to no avail.

Then John spoke. “Since there seems to be a lull,” he began, “I suppose that this might be as good a time as any for me to come out…as a religious conservative.”

There were no audible gasps, but there was palpable silence. John identified himself as a faculty member in the music department. He spoke for several long minutes, describing himself as theologically conservative but socially and politically liberal, opposed to same-sex marriage within his church but supportive of civil marriage (and adoption) for gays, skeptical of reconciling biblical faith with homosexual relationships but open to arguments for doing so. He also lamented what he perceived as my hostility toward religious believers (some of it deserved, he admitted) and my too-easy dismissal of opponents.

By Sonja Dalton

According to a Reuters article published Apr 5, 2007, the Walt Disney Co. has changed its policy and will allow same-sex couples to “marry” using Disney’s popular and lavish “Fairy Tale Wedding” program.

“We are updating our Fairy Tale Wedding guidelines to include commitment ceremonies,” Disney Parks and Resorts spokesman Donn Walker said. “This is consistent with our policy of creating a welcoming, respectful and inclusive environment for all of our guests.”

Disney will be marketing a fantasy wedding indeed — after all, homosexual pairs cannot obtain a marriage license in Florida or California.

So deluded homosexuals may shell out over $8,000 for a wedding planner, feast, flowers and decorations, and a ride in a giant pumpkin, but, at the stroke of midnight, when the mist clears and the last fleck of glitter floats to the ground, the perverted pair will discover ’twas all merely an illusion. Two men or two women may play dress-up in tiaras and tulle and tuxes (respectively), but afterward they will remain immoral in the eyes of God and unmarried in the eyes of man; same-sex pairs can never experience the mystery of becoming “one flesh” nor the miracle of procreation.

But never mind that — Disney will profit handsomely from such facades, and so they have rationalized:

“We are not in the business of making judgments about the lifestyle of our guests. We are in the hospitality business and our parks and resorts are open to everyone,” Walker said.

One can’t help but wonder: Will Disney now accept “Fairy Tale Wedding” reservations from parties of three or four — now that they’re not making judgments (or upholding state law)?

TAKE ACTION — Walt Disney executives may lack discernment, but we encourage readers to exercise their own. Why not skip “It’s a Small World” and instead plan a family vacation or Bible school field trip to the “Creation Museum,” scheduled to open June 2007 just outside Cincinnati, Ohio — where, among the other “Answers in Genesis,” your kids will learn the Truth about God’s design for human sexuality and marriage:

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” …So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man He made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. –Genesis 2:18-25

Look who’s “coming out the closet” now? Liberals who despise the essential doctrines of Christianity? No surprise that homosexual clergy (an oxymoron in a true Bible-believing church) are leading the war against the Christian Gospel. –PL

BUDAPEST, Hungary, Apr. 2 /Christian Newswire/ — According to a recent World Net Daily article, Pastor: Idea Christ Died for Sins Insane, homosexual priest, the Rev. Jeffrey John is planning to speak on BBC radio regarding his disdain for the view that Christ died for the sins of the world. Reverend John, who was denied a position of Bishop in 2003 because of his long term homosexual relationship is planning to state his views during Easter week in which that “leading gay cleric will tell listeners to BBC Radio 4 that Christianity’s traditional teaching on Christ’s crucifixion for the sins of mankind is ‘repulsive,’ ‘insane’ and makes ‘God sound like a psychopath.'”

Phil Magnan of Biblical Family Advocates responds to Reverend John’s statements saying, “The words of the Reverend remind me of the warnings of 2 Peter 2:1-2, which says, ‘But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them,… Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;’ Sad to say, the Reverend is following the usual pattern of those who refuse to accept God’s Word for its clear teachings regarding homosexuality and end up even denying the saving work of Christ.”

“These false and ungodly teachers twist the scriptures to their own destruction and according to the book of Jude “turn the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ into licentiousness” even ending up denying Christ Himself. You cannot have Christ without His atoning work. Without that atoning work we cannot presume to be in right standing before God. Without question, Jesus Christ condemned all unlawful sexual relationships in Matthew 15:19, which according to the Law of God that He wrote, included homosexuality.”

Biblical Family Advocates is very concerned about Rev. Jeffery John’s statements that will lead many into sin and false teachings. The website of Biblical Family Advocates offers teachings as to “Why Same Sex Relationships Are Wrong and Hurt Society.” It addresses many of the false arguments that the pro homosexual religious community attempts to use to lead many astray and shows how the Bible is clear on the matter of homosexuality.
 

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.