Same sex Marriage
Romans 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Now, that’s what God’s Word has to say and yet so-called Christian organizations go ahead and put their stamp of approval on the Sodomite life style. For example, ‘Bethany Christian Services, the country’s largest Protestant adoption and foster care agency, will begin serving LGBTQ couples, a significant change for the evangelical outfit and a sign of the growing cultural shift.
Bethany, which is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with offices in 32 states, announced the change in an email to employees today. Its board of directors approved the policy change back in January after nearly a decade of internal discussion.
An agency spokesperson said it has already been working with LGBTQ families in about 12 states.
“This decision implements consistent, inclusive practices for LGBTQ families across our organizations,” said Nate Bult, Bethany’s senior vice president of public and government affairs. “We’ve had a patchwork approach for the last few years.”
The change is the latest in a hot culture-war topic pitting faith-based adoption and foster care agencies and civil liberties groups against one another. Many faith-based adoption and foster agencies have come under increasing pressure over the past decade as city, state and federal authorities have added LGBTQ non-discrimination policies. Bethany was among them.
In 2018, the city of Philadelphia suspended contracts with Bethany for a period of time. The agency then decided to change its policy in Philadelphia and serve LGBTQ couples.
The Trump administration briefly lifted an Obama-era rule that barred adoption agencies, foster care agencies, and other social service providers from receiving taxpayer funding from the Department of Health and Human Services if they declined to serve people based on religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
But those rules will likely revert back under the Biden administration.
And in Fulton v. Philadelphia, the Supreme Court is expected to rule later this year on whether religious child placement agencies can refuse to place children with LGBTQ couples. In that case, the city of Philadelphia demanded that Catholic Social Services comply with its requirements, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. When the agency refused to do so, the city opted not to renew its contract. Catholic Social Services then sued.
Bult said that while not all of Bethany’s 1,500 employees may agree with the inclusive approach, most have been supportive and have known that the agency is examining the issue.’
So, before we make a decision to do what God has told us is wrong let’s take a survey on what people think! So, ‘In making its decision, Bethany commissioned Barna Group, a Christian polling firm, to ferret out the views of Christians about LGBTQ adoptions. Barna found 55% of Christians said either that sexual preference should not determine who can foster or adopt, or that it was better for children to be in an LGBTQ home than in foster care.
The survey also found that 76% of self-identified Christians agree, at least somewhat, that it would be better for Christian agencies to comply with government requirements pertaining to the LGBTQ community rather than shut down. (The survey was taken last year among 667 self-identified Christians.)
Bethany also released a letter showing that its three past executive directors and CEOs — James Haveman, Glenn De Mots and William Blacquiere — agreed with the new inclusion policy.’ https://julieroys.com/bethany-christian-services-allow-lgbtq-adopt/?mc_cid=0f285f5ebc&mc_eid=b13d34ad49
There we have it! A survey and three former executive directors and CEOs AGREED with the policy! Therefore WE can disobey the Word of God! It doesn’t matter what God’s Word says but a survey and what three past directors think will determine what is RIGHT! What a sham. Bethany Christian services NEEDS to REMOVE the word CHRISTIAN!
Church denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention are NOT found in the New Testament. Now SBC churches will sometimes say they are independent but if they were the following wouldn’t be an issue for a reading of Romans One answers most questions concerning creation, evolution and the sodomite, lesbian issues of today. However, in spite of God’s Word ‘Divisions over politics, race, sex abuse, and LGBTQ issues are roiling America’s largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), ahead of a meeting of its executive committee this week.
On the agenda are two items reflecting those divisions: A recommendation that a church in Kennesaw, Georgia, be ousted from the SBC because it accepted LGBTQ people into church membership, contravening Southern Baptist doctrine; and a report by an executive committee task force criticizing the leader of the SBC’s public policy arm, the Rev. Russell Moore. Among the grievances against Moore: His outspoken criticism of Donald Trump during Trump’s 2016 election campaign and his presidency.
Jim Conrad, the pastor of Towne View Baptist Church in Kennesaw, said he’s at peace with the likelihood that his church will be “disfellowshipped” by the executive committee during its meeting Monday and Tuesday.
But Conrad sees broader challenges for the SBC as its stances on various sensitive issues are questioned from inside and outside.’https://julieroys.com/baptists-divided/?mc_cid=26363a6f9d&mc_eid=b13d34ad49
I am an independent Baptist as the New Testament knows nothing else but independent churches. So, for those SBC folk that say they too are independent we read ‘On February 8, however, Towne View received a letter from Mike Lawson, chair of the SBC Credentials Committee, that the church’s case had been referred to the denomination’s Executive Committee in Nashville.‘ So much for independence!
‘That decision will purportedly be made at the Executive Committee’s scheduled meeting on Tuesday (Feb. 23). According to a member of the denomination staff who agreed to talk on condition of anonymity, Towne View’s fate is all but sealed.
“It’s about the bottom line, and that more churches than not in the Cobb County region would be against the acceptance of the LGBTQ community being members in their churches,” the staffer said.
Conrad said it is clear that he knows that he made the right decision, despite the loss of a third of his membership (and a third of his salary).’
Now, to top it all off the two sodomites who began all this have moved out of the area! The article continues by saying ‘The Reynolds, meanwhile, have left, moving out of the area for work reasons. John Reynolds, however, says: “We remain grateful for the experience of finding Towne View.” He said that like other groups who were once unwelcome in Baptist churches, the couple believes that “God is working in a very special way to open the door to the Baptist church community just a little wider.”’https://religionnews.com/2021/02/19/georgia-sbc-church-faces-banishment-for-accepting-lgbtq-members/
It isn’t God at work here but man as God’s Word is clear on the subject.
Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Romans 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
I wasn’t surprised to read that ecumenical ‘Christian author and pastor Max Lucado, who holds biblical Christian views on marriage, issued an apology for “disrespecting” and “hurting” the LGBT community in his past sermons after the Washington National Cathedral was criticized for inviting him as a guest speaker.
“In 2004 I preached a sermon on the topic of same-sex marriage. I now see that, in that sermon, I was disrespectful. I was hurtful,” wrote Lucado, pastor of Oak Hills Church, a nondenominational Christian church in San Antonio, Texas, in a letter last week to the Episcopal Church’s Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Paul in the City and the Diocese of Washington, also known as the Washington National Cathedral.
“I wounded people in ways that were devastating,” Lucado, who spoke at the National Cathedral on Feb. 7, continued. “I should have done better. It grieves me that my words have hurt or been used to hurt the LGBTQ community. I apologize to you and I ask forgiveness of Christ.”’https://www.christianpost.com/news/max-lucado-apologizes-for-past-sermon-on-homosexuality.html?uid=d3769f0ce2
Do you believe the Apostle Paul would apologize for writing Romans 1?
Victoria, Australia is probably the most Left leaning of all the Australian states. Victoria’s leader, comrade Dan Andrews, is probably the most boastful God hating leader that Victoria has seen in the last fifty years. The Opposition party is silent and seems to go along with most of Andrew’s progressive leftist agenda. Now, ‘The parliament of Victoria (Australia) is about to conclude the process of the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill.
The law has been approved by both the Lower House and the Legislative Council of the Victorian parliament and could be soon ready to be implemented.
Any practice that aims to “change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity” will now be illegal.
According to Australian evangelical magazine Eternity News, this ban includes “prayer conversations suggesting change, and counselling when targeted at an individual”.
Melbourne, the State’s capital, is known for being Australia’s region with a strongest support for LGBT movements – as seen in the Pride Marches and other demonstrations in the last years.
The law becomes a real challenge to churches that hold to a traditional and biblical view of sexuality. Jail sentences up to ten years and large fines can be imposed by courts if there is a perception that a ‘conversion’ practice has caused injuries to a LGBT person.
According to the analysis of Eternity News, the law distinguishes between general teaching and personal counselling. “Sermons and general discussion of same-sex and gender issues which might take a conservative line” would not be prosecuted but “activities which are directed at an individual, on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, and have the aim to change or supress that person’s identity” would.
The law will not come into effect right away, but there will be one-year period in which the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission will lead consultations to clarify the details of how the law would be applied in different scenarios.’https://evangelicalfocus.com/world/10080/australian-state-bans-counselling-of-samesex-attracted-people
Victoria, Australia has already done it and now in Scotland ‘LGBT activists and their political allies are trying to criminalise ‘conversion therapy’ through the back door in Scotland. They are behind an amendment by the Green Party to the Scottish Hate Crime Bill which would remove the freedom to criticise homosexual behaviour or to ask someone to refrain from or modify homosexual behaviour. This would have a profound and widespread impact on churches, counsellors, parents, teachers and others across Scotland.’https://christianconcern.com/comment/will-conversion-therapy-ban-be-sneaked-into-scottish-hate-crime-bill/
I received this email today concerning the communist state of Victoria in Australia. ‘Last night, something happened in the Victorian Parliament which affects all Australians.
The Andrews’ Labor Government successfully passed its so-called Change and Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill.
The bill purports to ban so-called “gay conversion therapy”, both in secular and faith-based settings.
“Conversion therapy” conjures up images of violence and harm – something no one supports – but is really a smokescreen by which to attack freedom of religion and belief.
This shocking legislation will ban any “practice or conduct” towards a person, even if undertaken with the person’s consent, aimed at “changing or suppressing the sexual orientation or gender identity of the person”.
BUT, people would still be permitted to participate in any practice that “supportive of or affirms a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation”. This includes conduct aimed at supporting gender transitions and expression of “gender identity”.
Parents should be alarmed. Any attempt to even counsel or pray with their own children over matters of their sexuality or gender could see them charged with an offence.
And churches and faith organisations are specifically targeted. Aside from secular services such as psychiatric therapy, the bill prohibits “carrying out a religious practice, including but not limited to, a prayer based practice, a deliverance practice or an exorcism.”
The penalties for breaching the legislation are serious.
For more serious offences, individuals face up to 10 years’ jail, a fine of up to $198,264, or both. For organisations, the fine rises to a maximum of $991,320.
Every single amendment moved last night – including one to exempt family discussions – was defeated.
The bill was ultimately passed 27 votes to 9.
This is shocking enough for Victorians – especially Victorian parents – but how is it relevant for those in other states and territories?
Firstly, the Victorian bill recognises no borders. Anyone who engages with a Victorian (either within or outside of Victorian borders) for the purpose of “changing or suppressing” will potentially be engaging in a criminal act.
Secondly, Victoria has in recent times been a “first mover” in terms of extreme social legislation. Consider its euthanasia and assisted suicide laws. Or its radical abortion-to-birth laws, carried way back in 2008.
If the Victorian Government feels confident enough to so drastically intrude into the private sexual lives of individuals, the prayer and counselling of churches and medical professionals, and even into the very family home, all Australians should be alarmed at the precedent this poses.
On a practical note, then: what is to be done?
For a start, those in other states and territories must be alert to any attempt to imitate this draconian and intrusive legislation.
And, as we’ve seen on a range of issues, having the best argument or even making the most noise is irrelevant if its fall on deaf ears. In that sense, we need better people in our parliaments.
Nothing much has changed since the 4th century BC, when Plato rightly said:
“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
Definitely worth thinking about.’https://www.austfamily.com.au/
‘Who leads the way in Australia when it comes to hating on Christians and Christianity – someone who does so regularly, habitually, and as a matter of course? One could think of plenty of likely candidates here. But we can certainly nominate one Victorian politician who has turned anti-Christian bigotry into an art form.
I refer of course to Australia’s most flagrant misotheist and Christophobe, Dan Andrews. This socialist left premier has spent most of his adult life waging war on Christianity and its beliefs and values. The list of his many hateful actions against the faith gets longer each passing month, and I have regularly written about this antichrist leader.
Too often I have had to document his many acts of infamy and villainy over the years.
Whether it is the radical abortion and euthanasia laws he has pushed through; his undying support of the diabolical “safe schools” programs and the like; his promotion of all things homosexual and trans; his attempts to throw into prison praying Christians who dare to help those struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction; and even his war on Christmas carols – to name a few examples – this guy is Pharaoh, Herod and Nero rolled into one.
Just how far can this guy go in his anti-Christian zeal? What has possessed him to keep this war against Christianity on the top of his priority list? Just why does he feel he must personally destroy the faith of millions of Victorians? Needless to say, I would have answers for all of those questions!
But consider his latest ugly outrage: his ongoing war against Australia’s – and the world’s – greatest ever tennis player, Margaret Court. Of course she has been under attack for years now, for the simple reason that she dares to be a Christian, dares to have a church in Perth that is faithful to the gospel, and is committed to standing up for biblical values in a pagan world.
So the hate-filled secular left have been hating on her quite some time, and have even sought to get the Margaret Court Arena renamed in Melbourne. On and on it goes. Their vile poisonous hatred knows no bounds. And Andrews is leading the pack here.
The most recent episode involves the news that she is about to be awarded an Order of Australia honour on Australia Day. That has got Andrews and the other Christophobes foaming at the mouth. As one news item put it:
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he [was] “quite sick” of discussing Ms Court after being asked about the backlash toward her during a press conference on Friday. “I’m quite sick of talking about that person every summer,” he said.
“I do not support that but I don’t give out those gongs, that’s not a matter for me, that’s for others.” Andrews stated Court’s views were “disgraceful and hurtful”, adding they “cost lives”. “Calling out bigotry is always important. This bigoted quackery costs lives.”
Dan Andrews just could not contain his irrational hatred. As he said on Twitter:
“I don’t want to give this person’s disgraceful, bigoted views any oxygen. But when others insist on rewarding them with this country’s highest honour – I think it’s worth saying again: Grand Slam wins don’t give you some right to spew hatred and create division. Nothing does.”
Good grief. Talk about a deplorable rant filled with falsehoods and furphies. Talk about showing your true colours. For leftist thugs like Andrews, those who dare to hold opposing points of view are not allowed to speak. Freedom of speech is only for those who hold the “correct” positions on contentious issues. All others must just sit down and shut up. Thanks for that strong stand for freedom and democracy Dan.
And believing what the overwhelming majority of mankind has always believed throughout human history is not bigotry. To simply affirm the truth that marriage is between a man and a woman is not spewing hate. You are the one spewing hate Andrews. You are the one causing division.
Court has done more good for more people – including homosexuals – than Andrews has ever done. Her church food distribution program alone – which serves everyone without partiality – has provided so much help to so many. Court loves all people and wishes the best for them. She even wishes the best for Andrews and prays for him.
And for Andrews to claim that her views were putting people’s lives at risk was utterly bizarre. Indeed, that is a bit rich coming from a guy who is directly responsible for causing the deaths of over 800 innocent people in his spectacular failure to manage the corona crises and the hotel quarantine programme.
Court is doing all she can to help save people’s lives – physically and spiritually. But all Andrews can do is keep pushing his ugly hatred, animosity and bigotry. What a loathsome political leader he is. As Sky News host Rowan Dean said about his remarks:
“In the petty, petulance stakes, nothing of course could match the spoilt, meanspirited, arrogant, virtue-signally narcissism of the premier of Victoria parading in front of his sycophantic press groupies.”
Of course Andrews was not alone in this hateful, bigoted reaction – there are plenty of other Christophobes out there who have been just as bad in their comments. Hardcore God-hater Phillip Adams was also quick to condemn her: “Margaret Court gets an AC – Australia’s top gong – in next week’s Honours List? Far worse than Bettina Arndt’s AM. Or Tony’s knighthood for the Duke. A disgraceful, shameful, tone deaf decision.”
Lesbian activist Magda Szubanksi was quick to comment: “Largely, to be honest, I think she’s irrelevant. We have marriage equality now. There are still many things that need to be worked on … but really I think let her wither on the vine.”
And then fake Christian Father Rod Bower of Gosford Anglican had this to say on his infamous outdoor signpost: “When homophobia is honoured everyone s dishonoured.” Give it a rest Rod. One day you will stand before the Lord to give an account of how you have for so long dishonoured God by your apostasy.
Other Labor big wigs also chimed in with their venom. Anthony Albanese said this: “Margaret Court has already been honoured for her tennis prowess. She’s already an Officer of the Order of Australia. I think it’s clear for everyone to see that making her a Companion of the Order of Australia has nothing to do with tennis.”
Labor Shadow Health Minister Chris Bowen agreed: “(Ms Court has) caused great hurt and anguish for many, many Australians and in my very strong view have not reflected mutual respect and respect for people’s beliefs and respect for people’s sexuality that is an important part of being a modern Australian.”
Wow, the haters sure are gonna hate. But pride of place certainly goes to Andrews. His demonic contempt for this wonderful woman of God is just so frightful to behold. And he always carries on like this when anyone dares to stand for biblical truth and values.
Just like Bower will one day face the one true and living God, so too will Andrews and his ilk. They need to repent now before it is too late. Keep them in your prayers. They sure need it.’https://goodsauce.news/calling-out-australias-most-shameless-christophobe/
The following video is Australian Lyle Shelton telling the truth about what is occurring here in Australia.
‘Lyle Shelton started his career as a rural journalist before being elected as a member of the Toowoomba City Council and serving the Australian Christian Lobby for 10 years. Half of that decade was as ACL’s managing director, and was a spokesman for the No campaign during the postal survey on legislation to redefine the meaning of marriage. His independent blog, Lyle Shelton, tackles issues such as faith, family, the nation and our values.’
I am old enough to remember Johnson’s war on poverty and later Australia’s Bob Hawke saying that if he was elected there would be no child in poverty! These politicians have the gall to continue to show their face even after their rhetoric has been proven to be another political lie. So, let us ‘Fast-forward to the 21st Century and let’s assess how the continuing war on poverty is tracking.
The United States, in 2012, spent $688 billion to fund 26 separate anti-poverty programs. State and local governments added another $284 billion, bringing total anti-poverty spending to nearly $1 trillion. That amounts to $20,610 for every poor person in America, or $61,830 per poor family of three. Since the mid-1960s, $23trillion has been spent.
In Australia, we have the big Aboriginal social welfare industry. It is great for working in, but useless at fixing anything. Government largess towards Aboriginal Australians has done little to fix poverty and has simply perpetuated it. For every disadvantaged Aboriginal or poor person, there is an abundance of persons on the government payroll who live off them.
Current welfare spending in the United States per year equals four times the amount of cash required to eliminate poverty. However, the poverty rate is much higher now than when the war on poverty began in the 1960s. The United States waged a relentless war on poverty with trillions and poverty won.
Economist Thomas Sowell has written that the number of black American lives damaged or destroyed by social welfare policies would exceed the dreams of any Klansman. The social welfare industry is a colossal empire. It is a deep bureaucracy. It sends out hollow promises. There are many city enclaves where voters simply vote on what new promises have been made and the cycle perpetuates itself.
The social welfare advocates say nothing about the pathologies that fuel it. They say nothing about fatherless homes for example. There is a multitude of programs that simply are about making poverty more comfortable. Welfare programs also heavily subsidize out of wedlock birth and incentivize divorce. Social welfare and the dependence that it generates amongst the recipient has become a gentler form of slavery.
The legacy of the welfare state has been the breakup of low-income families, the explosion of out of wedlock births, systemic poverty, higher crime and rates of incarceration, a substantial decrease in the number of low-income households headed by someone who works.
The huge rate of welfare programs penalizes marriage and the fear of losing benefits discourages marriage. The family unit throughout the developed West has imploded.
The Deep State in the United States is a big unelected bureaucracy and showcases all the dangers of big government. In Australia when people depend on big government for welfare, our democracy simply transitions into a powerful administrative state, and the bigger it grows, the power of the vote is far less effective, and the more the individual is disenfranchised. The monster of government ventures always engulfs an entire society. The erosion of self-sufficiency is giving way to tyranny.
The principle of self-reliance holds that each person has the ability to succeed in life without interference from the government. If you uttered those words at a university today or in a public forum you will be attacked. The progressive-left wants everyone on the government teat. Personal responsibility is often inimical to them and they want everyone to become dependent on and beholden to big government.
Eventually, the Western nations will have to make a choice. To either embrace utopian statism with ideological principles such as egalitarianism, redistribution of wealth and the monster of social justice, or a system based on democratically elected representatives and personal responsibility. We cannot have both.
We can have a system where government serves a common purpose in protecting freedoms, rule of law, private property, and so on, or we have social justice idealogues where everything falls under the control of the state: your thoughts, education, health, property, and children. The belief that people are entitled to what others have produced is at the heart of the social degradation we see in Australia today. Everyone now has a right but no one has a responsibility.
The chaos in the developed Western world has followed a similar pattern. The foundations and principles which built the West are being destroyed. The family has been destroyed. Toxic masculinity and feminism are being promoted.
The education system has gotten worse. At Universities Marxist professors are teaching leftism to the youth. We see critical race theory taught to children as part of a divide and conquer tactic.
Self-reliance has been undermined and more are dependent on government. People are now more subservient than ever and embracing welfare, more are unwilling to take care of themselves.
The recent manifestations of Black Lives Matter and Antifa are what happens when society has a whole generation of spoilt brats. They offer nothing and contribute nothing other than destruction. They live off victims they actually produce. Black Lives Matter is actually against things that would improve the plight of black lives such as building stable families, work, education, and self-reliance.
Antifa and Black Lives Matter will only bring about more poverty and crime. History tells us that the poorer can be called upon for revolution and to be the shock troops. Black suffering is a prop. White guilt is becoming a largely unchallenged dogma.
The hate campaign against whites will only increase and non-whites are told that your circumstances are the result of oppression or white privilege. They are taught that Western history is a long tale of oppression. Eventually, it could lead to a white backlash. We must resist these division tactics and identity that big government and the welfare state are where our current crises fester from.’https://www.theunshackled.net/recourse/the-war-on-poverty-five-decades-on/?fbclid=IwAR1bR5mQQTh2ogZSqpE86DtovjTuR8sSzVnk0DpGC9rHncZAjqWKaeBfP_s
