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.

From Legal Fictions, by Chuck Colson, published Feb 27, 2007, by Breakpoint:

Isabella Miller-Jenkins is only four years old, but she is at the center of one of the most important legal battles of our time. A judge will soon decide whether a woman with no biological or adoptive ties to Isabella can legally be declared her mother.

It sounds incredible, but it is the logical result of where our anything-goes society has been leading us all these years.

As the Washington Post reports, Isabella was conceived via artificial insemination while her mother, Lisa Miller, was in a same-sex civil union with Janet Jenkins. But later the civil union fell apart. Lisa took Isabella and left Vermont for Virginia. She also returned to the Christian faith of her childhood and became “determined to ‘leave the [lesbian] lifestyle’.” That meant that she no longer considered Janet to be Isabella’s parent.

But in our reckless pursuit of getting whatever we want at all costs, our nation has begun interpreting the law in a way that reinforces all the fictions that Lisa Miller no longer believes.

The subhead in the Post article says it all: “Janet Jenkins and Lisa Miller got hitched and had a baby together.” Together? Anybody who knows anything about biology knows that’s impossible. But that’s just how the courts are looking at it. As a judge in the case told Janet Jenkins’s lawyer, Janet (the lesbian partner) “without question is presumed to be the natural parent . . . by the basis of the civil union.” So in the court’s eyes, Isabella is the child of two women, something biologically impossible.

How is it possible that laws and court procedures could have become so dangerously fantasy-based? Actually, we should not be surprised. Many modern parents have unwittingly been collaborating with the process for years. The Washington Post tells us how Judge Cohen explained it: “Consider the situation of a heterosexual couple in which an infertile husband agrees for his wife to be artificially inseminated with donor sperm.” In such a case, the judge stated, the husband would be presumed to have parental rights even though someone else had actually fathered the child.

It all ties together. Heterosexual couples have tacitly approved this practice of including a silent third partner in a marriage to produce a child. And then it makes it very difficult to cry foul when homosexuals do the same thing.

Isabella’s plight shows us the tragic consequences of rejecting the biblical view of marriage, which provides for one man and one woman in the union to raise the child. Sure, there are extraordinary circumstances, and adoption is possible. But the norm is the norm, and the law has always recognized the natural moral order.

If Janet Jenkins wins her case—which may go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court — Isabella may be taken from her biological mother to live with a woman she barely remembers. And not only Isabella; many other children would also be threatened by this waving of the judicial magic wand to produce legal parents out of nowhere.

…We need to see how our attitude of “I can do anything I want, and it won’t hurt anybody” has led to a situation that could hurt families everywhere.

For additional resources, go to Breakpoint…

Excerpted from Homosexual Activists Consider Targeting Private Christian Schools for “Homophobia”, by Gudrun Schultz published Feb 27, 2007, by LifeSite News:

Want provincial ministry of education to exert “more control” over curriculum and staff hiring

Ontario private schools are coming increasingly under the lens of homosexual activist groups for “homophobic” teaching stemming from the schools’ primarily religious foundations, a report in Ottawa’s homosexual news media indicated earlier this week.

[WARNING: The following link to the original story in a pro-homosexuality
publication is accompanied by extremely offensive advertising.]

In an article warning about the increasing trend toward private and religious schools in the province, Ottawa’s Capital Xtra objected to religious schools that teach children “only their own values.”

The article quotes Tony Lovink, a homosexual Christian teacher in the Ottawa public school system, as saying,

“All private schools tend to be at least implicitly homophobic. And I would say all religiously formed independent schools are definitely homophobic.”

[Note from AFTAH: Based on Scripture, we contend that it is not possible
to simultaneously engage in homosexual behavior and be a faithful Christian…
but change is possible in Jesus Christ.]

The Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario said they were concerned the provincial ministry of education wasn’t “exerting more control” over the curriculum used by private religious schools. Unless a school wants to grant students government-recognized Secondary School Diplomas, Ontario private schools are free to use their preferred curriculum. Even schools that do grant the government diplomas may teach any additional material they choose, so long as the required curriculum is covered.

As well, the CLGRO objected to provincial standards that permit private schools to hire teachers based on the school administration’s own qualification requirements.

Continue reading at LifeSite News…

Words have meaning. To be a virgin is not just to abstain from sexual intercourse with a man, but to remain completely chaste and pure. It’s no more accurate to say that a sexually active lesbian is a virgin that it was for Bill Clinton to say “I did not have sex with that woman” — and furthermore, it’s terribly dangerous to mislead young people like this. When young people heard Bill Clinton equivocate and deny that oral sex was indeed sex, they felt liberty to try it themselves — and now society is reaping the consequences. Similarly, if Suze Orman identifies herself as a lesbian while calling herself a virgin, she sends a confusing and mixed message — and a deceitful one — to young women.

Homosexual sex may not carry the “risk” (or as we Christians like to think if it, the great blessing) of pregnancy, but homosexual sex practices (lesbian, “gay,” or “trans”) substantially increase the risk of physical, emotional, and spiritual damage to the human body and soul. If Suze Orman has been in a lesbian relationship for seven years, she is no virgin. If you “experiment with” or engage openly in homosexual sex (or are heterosexually intimate, even without intercourse), you cannot please God unless you repent (ie, change). — Sonja Dalton

——————————

The following is excerpted from She’s So Money (an interview with financial guru Suze Orman), by Deborah Solomon, published Feb 25, 2007, by New York Times Magazine:

Q: Are you married?

A: I’m in a relationship with life. My life is just out there. I’m on the road every day. I love my life.

Q: Meaning what? Do you live with anyone?

A: K.T. is my life partner. K.T. stands for Kathy Travis. We’re going on seven years. I have never been with a man in my whole life. I’m still a 55-year-old virgin.

Q: Would you like to get married to K.T.?

A: Yes. Absolutely. Both of us have millions of dollars in our name. It’s killing me that upon my death, K.T. is going to lose 50 percent of everything I have to estate taxes. Or vice versa.

Continue reading at New York Times Magazine…

By Sonja Dalton

Parents and church leaders, to understand what is at stake with the “gay” political/cultural agenda, you really must watch this pro-homosexuality program online — it’s most enlightening:

February 2007 — The Principles of Youth

This Febuary, In the Life, America’s gay and lesbian newsmagazine, presents “THE PRINCIPLES OF YOUTH,” an episode dedicated entirely to stories about LGBT youth. Hosted by Grammy® Award-winning songwriter and performer Ani DiFranco, this month’s In the Life, gives voice to an often unheard and overlooked population.

Program segments include:

I’m Still Emily — In the Life asserts that an Iowa teenager that considers herself lesbian is also a devout Christian. Of course, God clearly says otherwise. Jesus did indeed die for Emily’s sins, as well as those of all mankind, but He demands repentance — change.

Hebrews 11:26-27 teaches “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”

Emily’s pastor at New Hope Evangelical Church provided excellent counsel to her: God made Eve for Adam and He blessed that heterosexual union. The Bible addresses homosexual behavior and calls it sin. There are two good options for a Christian struggling with same-sex attraction: either honor God’s word and live in celibacy or develop greater faith to battle and overcome homosexuality to achieve greater joy. Let us pray that she will listen to him.

Good As You — Profiles the blog of Jeremy Hooper, 26, who, at least according to the narrator, “attacks ‘bigotry’ with humor and wit.” Jeremy claims in this program: “I don’t throw bombs; I take the bombs that are thrown at us and I just sort of casually toss them aside, I don’t really throw them back” in his effort to create a “new sort” of homosexual activism.

(Check out Hooper’s blog and judge for yourself whether he throws bombs or not…or simply listen to his ITL segment where he shares his view of the “professionally anti-gay” as “almost like cartoon characters in their nuttiness” and sees them as “little men with pitchforks and torches who are like “ARRR, I’m going to get you, you faggot.” You might note that AFTAH has never and will never call anyone a “faggot.”)

Jeremy’s Tennessee family opposes his behavior, but his “partner” Andrew’s parents approve.

Miss Elizabeth Latex — (Remember that this segment is purportedly for/about YOUTH…) Madonna introduced “vogueing,” a form of dancing that originated in the underground homosexual club scene. “Elizabeth Latex” is a Puerto Rican male that dresses as a woman, survived as a prostitute and now lives as a vogue-dancing “female” and works for House of Latex — his brother also cross-dresses. Sadly, both spent much of their childhood in foster care.

Coming Out Stories — Heartbreaking.

TAKE ACTION — Pray for all these young people.

Dr. Albert Mohler addresses the recent ruling by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America regarding their reluctant expulsion of openly homosexual “pastor” Bradley Schmeling from St. John’s Lutheran Church in Atlanta. The congregation’s “Trial Update” page declares Schmeling’s homosexual relationship with Darin Easler, a former ELCU “pastor” now seeking ordination in the apostate United Church of Christ. Unfortunately, while recognizing that Schmeling is in violation of church policy, the committee also suggests that the policy should be changed to accommodate openly and practicing homosexual clergy.

Listen online as Dr. Mohler encourages “pitchfork rebellion” — the laity standing firmly for Truth:

Feb 9, 2007

Homosexuality in the Church: Is It Time for a New Reformation?

Also, Dr. Mohler recommends a book called Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor:

The following letter appeared in the Centre Daily Times, State College, PA Feb 22, 2007:

Evidence contradicts conclusion

In his past two columns, Leonard Pitts has written at length about why he believes that gay and lesbian couples should not have children.

He couched the issue in terms of his perceived need for the biological father to be present at home.

Last Sunday, he cited research that supposedly shows that children in a home without a biological father were at greater risk for all sorts of problems.

In citing that research, however, he inappropriately conflated two issues: risks to children in single-parent homes and risks to children in two-parent gay and lesbian families. The research on the gay and lesbian families provides a different picture than he provided.

Children who are raised in two-parent gay and lesbian homes do just as well as children who are raised in two-parent heterosexual homes.

The American Psychological Association reports: “Not a single study has found children of lesbian or gay parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents. Indeed, the evidence to date suggests that home environments provided by lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those provided by heterosexual parents to support and enable children’s psychosocial growth.”

Lisa Stevenson
State College

A response to this letter from Gary L. Morella follows:

Lisa Stevenson stated that “The American Psychological Association reports: ‘Not a single study has found children of lesbian or gay parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents.’”

This is not true per The American College of Pediatricians, which is a national medical association of licensed physicians and healthcare professionals who specialize in the care of infants, children, and adolescents.

In a report entitled Homosexual Parenting: Is It Time For Change?

The ACP said the following.

“Those current studies that appear to indicate neutral to favorable results from homosexual parenting have critical flaws such as non-longitudinal design, inadequate sample size, biased sample selection, lack of proper controls, and failure to account for confounding variables. Childrearing studies have consistently indicated that children are more likely to thrive emotionally, mentally, and physically in a home with two heterosexual parents versus a home with a single parent.”

Citing 26 references on the risks of homosexual lifestyle to children, the ACP concludes:

“The environment in which children are reared is absolutely critical to their development. Given the current body of research, The American College of Pediatricians believes it is inappropriate, potentially hazardous to children, and dangerously irresponsible to change the age-old prohibition on homosexual parenting, whether by adoption, foster care, or by reproductive manipulation. This position is rooted in the best available science.”

For the difficulties in blindly referencing the American Psychological Association see the following:

• The Trojan Couch: How the Mental Health Guilds Allow Medical Diagnostics, Scientific Research and Jurisprudence to be Subverted in Lockstep with the Political Aims of their Gay Sub-Components

• Psychology Losing Scientific Credibility, Say APA Insiders

Gary Morella is a Catholic member of the research faculty of Penn State University, and a father and grandfather who is concerned whether there will be a recognizable faith left to his children and grandchildren.

Excerpted from Gay-Friendly NC Church Invites Investigation; Ouster Now Likely, by Steve DeVane, published Feb 8, 2007, by Associated Baptist Press News:

A church in Charlotte has turned itself in to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, admitting it is in violation of the convention’s stance against homosexuality.

The deacons at Myers Park Baptist Church sent an open letter to state convention officers Feb. 6 saying the church welcomes gay and lesbian persons to participate fully in church life and serve as church leaders. Messengers to the state convention meeting in November changed their governing documents to say churches that support homosexuality are no longer in “friendly cooperation” with the convention — in effect excluding them.

“The purpose of this letter is to inform you there is no need to wait upon the secret reports of others,” the deacons’s letter said, noting convention procedures call for two complaints about a church before an investigation is started. “We, with our 1,850 members serving as witnesses, hereby turn ourselves in.”

Continue reading at Associated Baptist Press News…