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AFTAH Presents Ex-‘Gay’ Overcomer and Homosexual Predator Victim Stephen Black with ‘American Truth Teller Award’
November 1st, 2017
AFTAH Media Release, November 1, 2017; 312-324-3787; americansfortruth@gmail.com.
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) presented its 2017 “American Truth Teller Award” to former homosexual Stephen Black, executive director of First Stone Ministries in Oklahoma City, at its annual banquet and teach-in Oct. 20-21, held outside Chicago.
AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera presented Black with a check for $1,000 as the recipient of the annual award, which is given to a pro-family leader who stands boldly for biblical truth and time-tested Judeo-Christian morality against the lies and myths of homosexual and transgender activists.
As AFTAH’s keynote speaker, Black gave riveting testimony of how he grew up filled with shame after being twice molested as a boy by adult homosexual male predators. He joyfully touted the transformative power of Christ and the many successes of ex-“gay” ministries like First Stone, described in his new book, “Freedom Realized: Finding Freedom From Homosexuality & Living a Life Free from Labels.”
The secular media, which generally caters to LGBTQ activists, rarely covers successful ex-homosexuals like Black, who has been married to wife Robin for more than 30 years.
Stephen came out of the homosexual lifestyle after receiving Jesus Christ as his Savior in his twenties. He and his staff have counseled hundreds of men and women with unwanted same-sex attractions into a life in line with biblical morality and their Christian faith.
Black is also Board Chairman of Restored Hope Network, the umbrella group for “ex-gay” Christian ministries that formed after Exodus International imploded under the failed leadership of Alan Chambers. The latter embraced pro-“gay” apostasy and falsely and arrogantly declared that true, lasting change away from homosexuality is nearly impossible to achieve. Chambers’ top aide at Exodus, Randy Thomas, re-entered the homosexual lifestyle yet still claims to be a faithful Christian—in defiance of Scripture.
LaBarbera praised Black as epitomizing the Christian ideal of speaking biblical truth in the pure love and grace of Jesus Christ, and for leading the effort to hold Chambers and Exodus accountable for their worldly drift.
Black joins a list of accomplished recipients of the AFTAH American Truth Teller Award:
- Don Wildmon, founder of American Family Association (2009);
- The late Kenneth “Hutch” Hutcherson (2010), founder and pastor, Antioch Bible Church, author and bold family advocate;
- Scott Lively, author, “The Pink Swastika,” and other books, founder, Abiding Truth Ministries (2011);
- Judith Reisman, author, “Sexual Sabotage,” and leading exposer of corrupt sex researcher Dr. Alfred Kinsey (2012);
- Sandy Rios, AFA talk show host and former president of Concerned Women for America (2013);
- Michael Brown, Christian talk show host and author. “Something Queer Happened to America” (2014);
- Robert Reilly, author, “Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior Is Changing Everything”(2015), former director, Voice of America; and
- Linda Harvey, author, “Maybe He’s Not Gay: Another View on Homosexuality,” and founder and president of Mission America (2016).
“People in ministry and those nobly fighting the good fight against the LGBTQ sin movement would do well to follow Stephen’s example,” LaBarbera said. “Stephen has tremendous compassion for people caught up in homosexuality, gender confusion and sexually broken lifestyles. And yet he is unyielding in defense of biblical truth, even when it is politically incorrect.”
“In an era in which LGBTQ activists and even mainstream evangelicals are pushing the idea of ‘gay-affirming Christianity,’ Stephen remains faithful to the timeless Gospel, which never changes to accommodate sin and self-delusion but rather holds up the Lord Jesus as the hope for repentant sinners,” he said.
VIDEO: Peter LaBarbera Interviews Ex-‘Gay’ Stephen Black on His Book ‘Freedom Realized’
October 29th, 2017Folks, this is a short, edited and condensed interview I did Oct. 21, 2017, with my friend and AFTAH’s 2017 banquet speaker Stephen Black, about his new book “Freedom Realized: Freedom From Homosexuality and Living A Life Free From Labels.’ Stephen is executive director of First Stone Ministries and Board Chair of Restored Hope Network–two wonderful Christian ministries. The book is available for a donation of $20 or more to Americans For Truth; give safely online or send your gift noting the book offer to: AFTAH, P.O. Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; americansfortruth@gmail.com; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera
AFTAH Reboot Begins with Banquet and Teach-in October 20-21 Featuring Ex-Gay Stephen Black
October 18th, 2017
Changed Life: Stephen Black of First Stone Ministries and Restored Hope Network once lived his life as a “gay” man [see his powerful video testimony HERE]. Now he helps others leave the homosexual lifestyle. Stephen will give four presentations on understanding homosexuality and reaching out to those trapped in sexual sin and gender confusion—in the love and truth of Jesus Christ. Full banquet details HERE. Sign up for just $25 for both days HERE.
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is holding its annual banquet this Friday, Oct. 20, followed by a “Teach-in” Saturday, Oct. 21. There will be a total of four presentations by our keynote speaker, my friend Stephen Black, a godly Christian man who came out of homosexuality and now helps others do the same. [See his powerful video testimony HERE.] We also have an “all-star” Q-&A panel Saturday featuring: Denise Shick, whose father told her he wanted to be a “woman” when she was a young girl; stellar writer Laurie Higgins of Illinois Family Institute; and AFA-Pennsylvania pro-family warrior Diane Gramley.
This Teach-in is ideal for anyone with loved ones trapped in homosexual and/or transgender lifestyles. Like all our events, it will be highly educational and spiritually uplifting—loaded with information that you can put to use in your life and relationships. It is only $25 for both days and will be held at Grace for Life Bible Church in Naperville, Illinois, Oct. 20-21. Full details are HERE.
KEY DETAILS:
WHO: Stephen Black, author, Freedom Realized; director, First Stone Ministries, Oklahoma City; Board Chairman, Restored Hope Network.
WHAT: AFTAH’s annual dinner-banquet and next-day teach-in on homosexuality. Stephen will give a total of 4 presentations, and there will also be a Q&A panel featuring him, Denise Shick, Laurie Higgins and Diane Gramley.
WHEN: Banquet with casual dinner (catered by Portillo’s) is Friday, Oct. 20, 6:00-9:30 PM. Doors open at 5:30 PM Friday, and 8:30 AM Saturday. Teach-in seminars led by Stephen is Saturday, Oct 21, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. A casual lunch will be served Sat., and the Q&A panel begins at 1:30 Sat.
WHERE: Grace For Life Bible Church, Naperville, Illinois (west of Chicago), 7S201 S. River Rd., Naperville, IL. [at the corner of River Rd. and Aurora Ave.; entrance is on River Rd. across the street from “Safety Town” and the Naperville PD.]
COST: Just $25/person to attend either or both events. Table of 10 at banquet for $250. Separate gift offerings will be taken both Friday and Saturday. Mail check to: AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522 — or pay online HERE
RSVP and AFTAH contact info: americansfortruth@gmail.com, or call 312-324-3787.
AFTAH Reboot
This year’s banquet is a little different from past ones in that it launches what is essentially AFTAH’s “reboot” as an organization. For the last year, I have been writing full-time for LifeSiteNews.com, an excellent pro-family news site for which I will continue to write blog articles. But my Americans For Truth work in the last year has been limited mainly to doing dozens of interviews on conservative and Christian media relating to LGBTQ issues [see HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE]. Moral-minded conservatives are big fans of AFTAH because we are direct and honest in speaking the truth about homosexual-bisexual-transgender activism, in the love and grace of Christ.
Beginning at the Friday banquet [casual dinner catered by Portillo’s], I will again be devoting my full energies to AFTAH, which I formed more than two decades ago (an offshoot of my “Lambda Report”) and has always been my first love when it comes to opposing Big Gay and its cheerleading media enablers. (We veterans of the fight against the LGBTQueer lobby could tell Donald Trump a few things about “fake news.”)
Our website will return to doing that for which AFTAH is known (and which drives LGBT militants and the Left crazy): telling the hard truths about homosexuality and “transgenderism” that so many others—even people on our side—are often unwilling to tell. Yes, that includes publishing disturbing (albeit boxed-out) photos of unsavory “gay” events that remind us why, for centuries, homosexuality has been regarded as deeply immoral and an unnatural perversion.
Read the rest of this article »
Denise Shick – Leads Ministry to Families of ‘Transgenders’ – to Speak at AFTAH Teach-in Oct. 20-21
October 1st, 2017
Denise Shick’s father told her he wanted to become a “woman” when she was just nine years old. Now she runs the Help 4 Families Ministry, which reaches out to families dealing with “transgender” issues. Shick will be speaking on a panel at the AFTAH Teach-in Sat., Oct. 21, following our dinner-banquet with ex-“gay” Stephen Black Oct. 20. Black also will give three presentations on Saturday.
Folks, I’m excited to announce that Denise Shick, founder and executive director of Help 4 Families Ministry, will be speaking at the AFTAH Teach-in Oct. 21, which follows our banquet with former homosexual Stephen Black Oct. 20. Help 4 Families describes itself as “a Christian ministry that compassionately reaches out to family members and brings understanding of the emotional and spiritual issues that families face when a loved one is gender confused.”
As you can read in the essay by Denise below, Shick’s father revealed to her when she was just nine years old that he wanted to become a “woman,” then asked her not to tell her own mother. Her ministry today was birthed by her many years of dealing with the pain and trauma of such emotional abuse at the hands of her own gender-confused dad; read more about her harrowing personal story HERE.
Denise is author of three books dealing with “transgender” issues (see below). She will be on our Q-and-A panel Saturday afternoon, following three presentations on homosexuality by Stephen Black, who has lived 35 years free of the “gay” lifestyle that he once thought defined him. Black also speaks Friday evening, Oct. 20, with a casual dinner served. Tickets are just $25 for both days of outstanding teaching. My friend and pro-family leader Diane Gramley of American Family Association of Pennsylvania will also appear on the final Saturday panel.
Banquet & Teach-in sign up: More information HERE; sign up with your safe payment online HERE. — Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth
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The ‘Transgender’ Lobby Is Weaponizing Children as Pawns in the Culture War
By Denise Shick, Oct. 1, 2017
I’ll never forget the first time I heard of warlords such as Uganda’s Joseph Kony turning little boys into killer soldiers and little girls into sex slaves. My heart ached at the thought. It still does. It seemed like a horrible war movie—but it was real, with real children as casualties.
War is always horrible, but in some sad cases it is necessary. But children should be—to the greatest degree possible—shielded from violent conflicts. They should never be forced to kill or do violence. Innocent, impressionable children are malleable. They can be sculpted into persons of deep character, guided by transcendent principles. Or they can be turned into weapons, as Joseph Kony and many other evil men have done.
Read the rest of this article »
Ex-‘Gay’ Leader Stephen Black to Keynote AFTAH Banquet and Teach-in Oct. 20-21
August 24th, 2017Folks, please make plans to attend the Americans For Truth banquet and next-day teach-in featuring my friend and pro-family leader Stephen Black, Oct. 20-21, 2017 — at Grace For Life Bible Church, in Naperville, IL (west of Chicago). Stephen once considered himself “gay” but now is a Christian family man and the director of First Stone Ministries, which helps people overcome homosexuality like he did. He is also author of the forthcoming book, Freedom Realized, and Board Chairman of Restored Hope Network, the largest umbrella group of ex-gay Christian ministries. This will be a spectacular learning event that you will not want to miss!! Event details follow the video from our friends at PFOX. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera
AFTAH Banquet and Teach-in on Homosexuality (note venue change):
WHO: Stephen Black, author, Freedom Realized; director, First Stone Ministries, Oklahoma City; Board Member, Restored Hope Network.
WHAT: AFTAH’s annual dinner-banquet and next-day teach-in on homosexuality.
WHEN: Banquet with casual dinner is Friday, Oct. 20, 6:00-9:30 PM. Teach-in seminars led by Stephen is Saturday, Oct 21, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. A casual lunch will be served.
WHERE: [Note venue change] Grace For Life Bible Church, Naperville, Illinois (west of Chicago), 7S201 S. River Rd., Naperville, IL. [at the corner of River Rd. and Aurora Ave.]
COST: Just $25/person to attend either or both events. Table of 10 at banquet for $250. Separate gift offerings will be taken both Friday and Saturday. Mail check to: AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522 — or pay online HERE (we are still updating the banquet donor form).
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Background
Stephen H. Black’s life is a microcosm of homosexuality and the “gay” cultural debate. Molested and bullied as a boy, he came to believe the lie that he was “gay.” Unsatisfied with his homosexual life as a man, he ultimately found salvation through Jesus Christ, walked away from homosexual sin, married a wonderful woman and had children (Stephen is a grandfather now, too). In recent years, Stephen was used by God to defend the truth about homosexuality as a board member of the largest Christian ex-gay umbrella group, Exodus International, which imploded after its leaders embraced apostasy.
- People I love are “gay.” What is the best way to reach out with the heart of Christ to homosexual or “transgender” strugglers?
- Why should I believe what the Bible teaches about homosexuality and marriage, and how do I defend it in a secular culture?
- If “born gay” is a myth, what are the major contributing factors to a person embracing a homosexual identity?
- Is there really solid evidence that MANY once-“gay” men and women have changed and found lasting freedom apart from homosexuality?
- Why is it wrong to affirm “LGBTQ youth” in “gay” identities and gender confusion?
- What is the danger of “gay”- and “trans”-affirming “Christianity” and how should believers answer its false claims?
- Why should the Church stay engaged in the cultural battle for Truth surrounding LGBTQ issues?
- How are LGBTQ activists destroying religious liberty in America?
Transsexual ‘Surgeries’ in the Military: What Are You Paying For? ‘Vaginoplasty’ Described
July 20th, 2017Folks, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my tax dollars spent on transsexual “male-to-female” “vaginoplasty” “surgeries” that attempt to turn a severely gender-confused man’s healthy penis–which God designed to bring forth new life–into a makeshift “vagina.” Nor do I want to subsidize through my government the surgical removal of a woman’s healthy breasts so she can have a flat chest to help fulfill her disordered “transgender” fantasy of becoming a “man.” Ex-transsexual Walt Heyer of SexChangeRegret.com is right: your DNA does not lie and you cannot change your sex.
The mutilations are revolting and tragic, yet YOU and I are paying for them. Recently, the U.S. House narrowly rejected the Hartzler Amendment to the main defense spending bill–designed to stop taxpayer funding of such grotesque operations in the U.S. Armed Forces. Amazingly, 23 Republicans joined the unified Democrats in voting it down.
The following graphic is excerpted from a larger description of a “vaginoplasty” by the Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery. Beneath the graphic (after the jump), we have reprinted the Center’s full “Vaginoplasty Methodology” description. Let’s put an end to this tax-funded madness; call your U.S. Congressman at 202-225-3121 and your Senators at 202-224-3121. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera [click on graphic to enlarge]
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LISTEN: LaBarbera Discusses GOP Sellouts on Vote to End Military’s Tax-Funded Transsexual Mutilation ‘Surgeries’
July 20th, 2017AFTAH in the News
On Tuesday (July 18, 2017), I was a guest on VCY America’s “Crosstalk,” with my friend and host Jim Schneider (who always does an excellent job) [Click HERE to listen.] It was a great program; Crosstalk’s description of it follows (I have added some links). Also, a reminder: you can view all of my articles and columns on LifeSiteNews by clicking on the button at the lower right or by going HERE. — Peter LaBarbera, president, Americans For Truth; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera; write us at americansfortruth[at]gmail.com.
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Selling Out to the LGBT Agenda
Posted on July 18th, 2017
??Date: July 18, 2017
Host: Jim Schneider
Guest: Peter LaBarbera
?Listen: MP3 ???| Order from VCY America
?This edition of Crosstalk began with an update concerning baby Charlie Gard. An American doctor, who previously testified that Charlie’s chances of improvement are up to 50%, is examining him.
The judge is allowing for this examination and then he’ll allow up to a week in making a decision.
Also, Charlie has received a government appointed lawyer who supposedly is speaking for Charlie in the courts. The problem is that this lawyer is the chairman for Compassion in Dying, an end-of-life advocacy group with a sister organization that supports assisted suicide.
Peter LaBarbera is the founder and president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality and also a writer for Lifesitenews.com.
Jim indicated that he commends the Trump administration for putting on hold the recruitment of people who desire to identify in a way that’s contrary to their biological sex. That policy was set to take effect July 1st but has been postponed to January 1st. However, those in the military who wish to identify as transgender are being allowed to do so. Peter feels it’s ridiculous that under President Trump we’re not shelving this radical experiment.
According to Peter, there’s radical pro-transgender training which is telling even women that they need to get used to and accept (in the name of non-discrimination) the idea that there will be biological males in the same shower facilities, barracks and restrooms with them.
Jim noted that what’s even more disturbing is that now when a vote has come before Congress to put a stop to things like this, they have refused to do so. For example, he mentioned how the Republican led U.S. Congress had an opportunity to ban taxpayer funding for sex change surgeries for military personnel. They blocked a ban on such operations which means they kept the Obama era policy intact and put taxpayers on the hook for those in the military who are gender confused.
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Jamaican Attorney Explains How Sexual Orientation Laws Undermine Genuine Rights and Freedom
June 14th, 2017
America Corrupts the World: Even under Trump, the American Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica flies the LGBTQ-activist “rainbow flag” under Old Glory. But Jamaicans know that immoral “gay-” and “transgender” “rights” inherently destroy real freedoms. Photo: Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, June 2017.
Folks, the following column was published Sunday in the Jamaica Gleaner. It is written by Shirley Richards, a wise Christian advocate for genuine rights and moral truth whom I had the privilege of meeting in Jamaica when I spoke there in 2013. Below Richards ably explains the difference between genuine rights based on a moral philosophy, rooted in timeless Judeo-Christian truth–and counterfeit “gay/transgender rights,” which “compete with, and undermine, fundamental human rights and freedoms.”
Smart Jamaicans–and peoples all over the world–are trying to learn from the USA’s and the West’s failed experiment of creating sodomy-based “rights,” which became the foundation for the modern Western abomination of “same-sex marriage.” Meanwhile, the United States and other decadent Western nations–and leftist organizations like the George Soros-funded Human Rights Watch–are pressuring Jamaica and many other nations to join our illicit “rights” revolution.
At right is a current photo of the American Embassy in Kingston, flying the LGBT “rainbow flag” (as it did under Obama)–thereby telegraphing to this small nation that, even under Trump, we will use our immense political and economic power to “persuade” them to embrace a system of newfangled legal “rights” that inherently destroys liberty. Let’s hope we don’t prevail, and that Donald Trump gets America out of the business of exporting the immoral, anti-Christian LGBT “rights” revolution. — @Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth; see my LifeSiteNews articles here.
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Majority view on gay rights must have sway
By Shirley Richards
Published in Jamaica Gleaner, June 11, 2017
In an article written by Dr. Carolyn Gomes published [in the Jamaica Gleaner] on Sunday, May 28, 2017, she stated, in relation to the development of the [Jamaican] Charter of Rights: “The Parliament, however, appears to be timid. It has not acted on the recommendation to ensure that all citizens are protected from discrimination on the basis of disability, health status, if they speak Patois, have a mental illness, or are different in sexual orientation and gender identity.”
These were recommendations made by various interest groups. They were debated by the joint select committee of Parliament on the Charter of Rights (Constitutional Amendment) Bill and decisions were made to accept or reject accordingly.
The Parliament had then, and still does have, a responsibility to allow for citizens to make submissions, but there was, and still is, the corresponding responsibility to sift submissions and to decide which ones are in the best interests of the country. Parliament must examine all the relevant studies and data. They must also have an understanding of the impact of these decisions on the country both now and in time to come and be satisfied that such decisions are in fact for the good of the country.
In determining what is in the “best interests” of the country, they cannot afford to disregard the voice of the people. Specifically, the members of the House of Representatives are there to represent the people, not to foist their own viewpoints on the people, a point Justice Minister Delroy Chuck, as a member of said House, may do well to remember. As the late [First Premier of Jamaica] Norman Manley, QC, said on the occasion of the passage of the 1962 [Jamaican] Constitution:
“As a politician, sir, I would be the first person to acclaim every instance in which the public succeeds in having their way … for we, sir, are their servants and are here to execute their will.”
Non-discrimination
As it relates to the issue of “sexual orientation”, the joint select committee (1999-2001) debated the request by the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays to protect ‘sexual orientation’ as grounds for non-discrimination. The committee expressly decided not to protect this term. The committee was concerned about the impact of such a term on the institution of marriage and on parenting.
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Americans For Truth
P.O. Box 340743
Columbus, OH 43234
