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Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones. –Psalm 116:15
Brian Sean Fitzpatrick, 1960-2018.
The following is adapted from email conversations between my good friend and former AFTAH adviser Brian Fitzpatrick and his fiancée, Trinka Jeffery. The night of December 4, 2018, Brian passed away suddenly, at 58, to be with his Savior, Jesus. On a personal note, Brian was my best friend a really terrific guy who loved and served God. I am sad that we will no longer be able to talk, hang out and laugh together here on earth, but I know he is in a much better place. And I am grateful for what God did in his life. Minor edits, additions and web links have been made for the sake of clarity and to provide additional resources. I will see you again one day, my friend! – Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH.org; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera
Note: There is a memorial service for Brian on Saturday, Jan. 5th at the Philippine International Bible Church in Laytonsville, MD. Reception: 3:00 pm; service 3:30. ___________________________
Introductory note:
I’m Trinka Jeffery, Brian Fitzpatrick’s fiancée.
Brian had a story that he would want you to know. Much of our courtship was in writing, and I’ve compiled his story, using his own words.
Please … will you enjoy a last little visit with Brian, with me?
I asked Brian how he came to know God the Father and his Son personally, and this is what he told me:
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From Atheist Scoffer to Christian Believer: The Testimony of Brian Fitzpatrick
As shared with Trinka Jeffery, August 13, 2017…
By Brian Fitzpatrick
I was not someone who would easily convert. It happened on a singles retreat, which I went to mostly because they were going to play softball. I brought a bat along in case somebody tried to baptize me in a river.
I grew up in a Catholic family, but at age 12 we studied Greek mythology in school, and it occurred to me that the Greeks believed in their gods just as I believed in Jesus and Mary, but both couldn’t be true.
My catechism teachers had no answers. So I decided to become an atheist. (OK … maybe partially so I wouldn’t have to get up on Sunday mornings.)
My parents weren’t pleased, and we fought over it for three years. At 14, I was required to be confirmed. I chose the confirmation name Thomas (for doubts), but this was forbidden because “it would kill your grandfather.” So I was confirmed as Michael because I thought the spelling was cool.
At age 20 or so, I read some philosophy and logic and learned that you can’t prove a negative, therefore you can’t prove God does not exist, therefore my atheism was irrational. So I became an extremely skeptical agnostic.
The first time somebody witnessed to me, it was a man from Campus Crusade [for Christ, later renamed Cru] during my freshman year in college. I was a rather bitter atheist, full of disdain for these hicks and very confident in what I didn’t know. I didn’t even let them in my dorm room. I stepped into the hallway and verbally fenced for 45 minutes or so: “How do you know this is true” and so forth. Eventually they left and I went down the hall to the opposite stairway and ran ahead of them to the room of two fellow iconoclasts. “The God Squad is on the way!”
This interview by LifeSiteNews founder and publisher Steve Jalsevac with conservative Catholic apologist Peter Kreeft is excellent. Kreeft concisely summarizes the weakness of modern American Christianity in the face of two much bolder foes: the LGBTQueer movement and fundamentalist Islam. Watch the full nine minutes: [to sign up for LSN’s superb daily pro-life/pro-family news email, go HERE]. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera
The full LifeSiteNews story on the Kreeft interview can be found HERE.
Christ Helps ‘Homosexuals’ Change: Stephen Black, who once lived as a “gay” man before accepting Christ and leaving the homosexual lifestyle, is among the speakers at the God’s Voice conference Feb. 22-23 in Oklahoma City. Black leads First Stone Ministries, which helps others overcome sexual brokenness. God’s Voice will be responding to “Revoice,” a July conference and movement that seeks to recognize (chaste) homosexuals as a “sexual minority” in the Christian Church. AFTAH president Peter LaBarbera, a speaker at God’s Voice, was disinvited and banned from attending Revoice by its organizer, Nate Collins. Black was also banned by Revoice.
I will be speaking on how trendy “LGBTQ-inclusive Christianity”–even if well-intended–merely puts a Christian facade on the revolutionary “gay” idea of an aggrieved homosexual “minority” deserving affirmation in their aberrant self-identity. That notion, first championed in the U.S. by one-time Communist Harry Hay, is built on the idea that there is a separate group of humanity (the “gay” minority) who live by different sexual rules than the rest of us, as opposed to all people living under the same God-given, universal moral code.
We now see clearly the expanding chaos that this subversive “gay” ideology has engendered: if “identity” and “minority” status are derived essentially from one’s subjective feelings, and then awarded full “civil rights” status under the law, how can we as a society say no to new identities and minorities, such as “pansexuals,” “asexuals,” “non-binaries” and “genderqueers”? And mustn’t we affirm “gay” and LGBTQueer youth in their “identities”? If “truth” is subjective and judging is wrong (except judging “bigoted” Christians, of course), then how can we affirm one sexual/gender “minority” and not the other(s)?
Now this chaos threatens the Church itself. I wonder: why is there no discussion of recognizing and affirming other sin-based “minorities” in the evangelical Church–say, lustful men (which I suspect is a rather common “orientation”)?
Christians are called to deny themselves, and especially their flesh (sins), for Jesus’ sake and to please God. Our identity is in Christ. But the “LGBTQ+ Christian” movement demands that the Church sympathetically recognize their non-biblical “identities,” even though they are rooted in sinful desires and self-deception (Romans 1/Jeremiah 17:9)). Invariably, the next step will be to demand, with ever greater zeal and vociferousness, that all “compassionate” Christians do the same, while shaming those who refuse to indulge homo-trans ideology.
It goes without saying that we should preach the Gospel and reach out with truth in the love of Jesus to all sexual strugglers. But LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) ideology–though seductive in our victim-mongering culture like the Sirens of Greek mythology–is an ungodly, incrementalist agenda that Christians must reject in toto.
Please consider making plans to come to the “God’s Voice” conference in Oklahoma City February 22-23, to gird yourself in biblical truth so that you can better withstand the serious and growing threat of “LGBTQ Christianity.” More coming on this. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera
P.S. Unlike the “LGBTQ Christian” Revoice conference, God’s Voice will not be preemptively banishing potential critics from attending. (I was disinvited by Revoice’s organizer, Nate Collins, after paying and signing up to attend; see AFTAH story HERE.)
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God’s Voice Media Release
God’s Voice Conference to Equip Christians to Stand Against ‘LGBTQ+ Christianity’ Inside the Church
Contact: Don Otis, 719-275-7775
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla., Nov. 6, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ — In response to recent attempts to “revoice” God’s Word on the critical issues of human sexuality and identity, First Stone Ministries is pleased to announce the GOD’S VOICE Conference, taking place Feb. 22 and 23, 2019, at First Moore Baptist Church in Moore, OK.
Subtitled: “A Biblical Response to the Queering of the Church,” the GOD’S VOICE Conference will be the Scriptural counter to a new “LGBTQ+ Christian” effort called Revoice, which has affirmed “gay, lesbian, same-sex-attracted, and other gender and sexual minority Christians,” “mixed-orientation marriages” and the concept of “redeeming queer culture.”
Organizer and conference speaker Stephen Black, executive director of First Stone Ministries, says, “it’s imperative that biblically faithful Christians, churches and denominations awaken to the threat of this new ‘LGBTQ+’ narrative, which radical activists and psychologists are pushing on our congregations.” In a continued response, Black says, “the church must once again listen only to the eternal, unchanging voice of God, whose Word alone conveys the truth about biblical sexuality and human identity.”
“We are living in a day when Bible-believing churches are being hit with a tsunami of an ‘LGBTQ+ Christian’ narrative,” Black said. “Many are being lied to by this messaging that LGBTQ+ people have a fixed orientation and that grace covers their same-sex attractions, leaving people stuck in sin and broken identities. This movement has a form of religion, but denies the power of the Holy Spirit, who transforms souls through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ!”
Co-organizer and conference speaker Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, says “it is time for the church to take a firm and unwavering stand against the encroaching, unbiblical message of ‘sexual minorities’ and ‘sexual orientation.'”
LaBarbera continues by saying, “Standing on God’s infallible Word, our team of experts will dissect the web of lies that hold subversive ‘queer Christianity’ together. We will show how Revoice and the expanding, cunning ‘LGBTQ+ Christian’ network are rooted not in the Bible, but in the same homosexualist ideology that has turned truth and God’s created order on their heads in our culture. We cannot stand by and allow this same LGBTQ+ ideology to be advanced in the name of Jesus Christ!”
Other GOD’S VOICE Conference speakers include Dr. Robert Oscar Lopez, professor of humanities at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; the Rev. Thomas Littleton, Southern Baptist pastor and evangelist; the Rev. Al Baker, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America; Andrea Minichiello Williams, founder and CEO of Christian Concern & Christian Legal Centre in the UK; and Janet Mefferd, host of the nationally syndicated, daily Christian radio talk shows “Janet Mefferd Today” and “Janet Mefferd Live.”
Black added that above all, the GOD’S VOICE Conference is designed to share the love of God and the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone who attends. “This conference will be filled with the Word of God and His testimonies of transformation to bless the believer and unbeliever alike,” Black said.
The GOD’S VOICE Conference is set for Friday evening, Feb. 22, and Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019, at First Moore Baptist Church, 301 Northeast 27th Street, Moore, OK.
First Stone Ministries is a 501(c)3, non-profit and non-denominational organization that ministers, educates and helps lead people to freedom from homosexuality and sexual brokenness through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord.
For more information, interviews or media please contact Don Otis at: 719.275.7775 or you can use the contact form at First Stone Ministries www.firststone.org/contact-us.
Can you be gay and Christian? What does the Bible actually say? Did the biblical writers address loving, committed, same-sex relationships? In this “Consider This” episode Dr. Brown tackles this controversial issue.
Folks, 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):
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.
Stephen is the author of the forthcoming book, Freedom Realized: Finding Freedom from Homosexuality & Living a Life Free from Labels, which testifies to the truth, ignored by the media, that many men and women have found freedom from homosexuality through Christ. Stephen’s powerful testimony and bold defense of biblical truth is a rebuke to the timidity and shallow, defensive thinking on homosexual sin that pervades the evangelical church today.
Stephen will be the keynote speaker at our dinner banquet Friday, October 20th, and then will lead three seminar discussions on Saturday, October 21st, answering questions like these:
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?
Please share these links and the video below about Islam and homosexuality…
Homosexual activists and their fellow travelers certainly are deceived to believe Christians are hateful for telling them the truth about the sinful acts they engage in. Christians want persons caught up in homosexual practice to repent and turn away from sexual sin, so they can make it into heaven. Islam doesn’t have that same love in its heart and concern for the person’s soul. Islam doesn’t understand the concept of repentance and the grace of Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
How can persons caught up in homosexual practice not see the clear difference between Islam and Christianity? That last thing a Christian wants is anyone to die before that have come to the Lord. Yet homosexual activists excoriate anyone who does not accept their same-sex “marriage” lie. Now the real face of hate shows itself in Islam, and barely a peep from the LGBTists. Homosexual activists and their sympathizers just don’t get it: we Christians are NOT their enemy…
This video was posted by MRC-TV [click HERE]. Here is the link for the UK Daily Mail article on the barbaric “death penalty,” including stoning, in Syria: [click HERE]. And HERE is a useful article from “Answering Islam” on the difference between Islam and Christianity on homosexuality.
[Note from AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera: The Answering Islam author’s section on anti-sodomy laws, at the end of his paper, is a bit shallow; AFTAH has long opposed draconian penalties on this issue, but we no more support removing anti-sodomy laws from the books than we would anti-adultery laws. As the saying goes, “the law is a teacher”–and the very fact that Western anti-sodomy laws have produced nothing close to the present barbarity we are witnessing in the Middle East testifies to the humaneness of the Christian approach toward those practicing homosexual sin (and other sins) compared to the approach of Muslim sharia law.]
