People cannot be saved by the blood of animals. The animal sacrifices in the Old Testament were merely a foreshadowing of the sacrificial death of God the Son. God sees everything in the present tense (He is beyond space and time as we know it). The blood of Christ applies to anyone who accepts Christ today, and applied to everyone who had faith in God and His promised Messiah, all the way back to Adam. The sacrifice of animals was only a way of showing (i.e., foreshadowing) the death of Christ before it actually happened. God is not appeased, nor does He enjoy, the shed blood of animals. But then, neither does He enjoy sin. But the Son was willing to die in order to save a remnant of His human creatures from sin, and the fact that the Father allowed the Son to be crushed at the cross shows us how seriously God takes the offense of sin.
As already stated, the Old Testament sacrifices were a foreshadowing---a sort of temporary replacement---to suffice until the real, true, perfect and final sacrifice was enacted, fulfilling God's promise. The blood of animals was only a representation of the real thing (Christ) until the real thing came.
"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, 'Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, O God.' " First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (Hebrews 10:1-10)
(Also see "Why was eating blood forbidden? And why blood sacrifices?")
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
From Islam to Christ
Ergun Caner shares his journey through Islam. Awesome story about coming to faith in Christ from a complete Muslim upbringing.
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Avoid at all costs
At first, this video may seem harsh and even legalistic, but the truth is, nothing is more important than being sure you are saved and being sure that you will NOT spend eternity in that horrible, torturous, nightmarish Lake of Fire.
Many people think they are already saved because they go to church, or because they believe in God, or because they believe in Jesus, or because they are an average middle-class American citizen who has never gone to jail. However, even the devil believes in God. And the devil believes in Jesus. The devil knows that Jesus died and rose again. But, obviously, the devil is not saved.
Before I got saved in 1977, I thought I was already a Christian. All my life, I had gone to church every Sunday. I had always believed in God. I had always believed in Jesus. I had always believed that Jesus died on the cross and that He rose again. I grew up believing the Bible was true. Before I got saved in 1977, I even read the entire KJV Bible, from cover to cover. I believed in Heaven before I got saved. I believed in Hell before I got saved.
When that black Pentecostal classmate took me outside the class every day for about a week, during the 3-or-4 hour Commercial Art Class that I took my first semester at Miami-Dade Community College, I thought I was already a Christian. I thought I was already saved. But I saw in him something that I did not have. I saw a fearlessness and a boldness and a zeal that I did not have. And I wanted that. I went home and prayed, "God, I want what he has. Please give me that." And then, I found a Jack Chick comic tract in the parsonage library at the Lutheran church I had gone to all my life. And I read it. And it talked about how demons interact invisibly and undetected with people in this world. And it talked about how holy angels interact invisibly and undetected with and around people. And it talked about how there is an invisible spiritual battle going on around us. And, even though I had always believed in the Bible, in a 6-day Creation, and in all the foundational truths that a Christian must believe, this showed me that there were things going on behind the scenes, invisibly, that I was not aware of. And this made it far more real for me.
So, I found another Chick tract and read it. After about the third Chick tract, I finally prayed the prayer at the end, because I wanted to be saved from Hell. There was no bolt of lightning, but I knew I was saved. I wanted to find that black Pentecostal guy and tell him what happened. But I could not find him. Then I got involved in Campus Crusade for Christ, and I went to a person's house with several other people, through Campus Crusade, for a weekly Bible study on the basics for a believer. And we went over the Four Spiritual Laws. And we studied very basic stuff that a babe in Christ needs to learn. And I also went to a few different retreats and conferences through Campus Crusade for Christ, and at one of those conferences, Josh McDowell was speaking, and the leader of our home Bible study was sitting next to me, and Josh McDowell called out to him by name, and said, "Hey, how are you doing?" And the leader of our group said, "Hey, Josh, how's it going?" So the leader of our home Bible study knew Josh McDowell personally, and the leader of our group later went on to become a missionary to Africa, and I never heard from him since.
For years after that, I struggled with the idea of, "How can a person (like me) believe in the Bible, read the entire Bible and love it, believe in the Trinity, believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the grave, go to church every Sunday and love it more than going to school, believe that God created the entire universe and everything in it in 6 days...and not be saved?" I could not understand that. Then, several years ago, as a result of 3 1/2 years of the most intensive Bible study that I have ever encountered, through a year-long BSF (Bible Study Fellowship, Int'l) study on Romans, I was introduced to, and came to believe in, the idea of Election. And that finally explained it for me. I had been Elected and Chosen by God from before the beginning of time, and all the stuff that I had gone through before getting saved, and all the things I had already believed in before I got saved, were simply things that God was doing in my life to prepare me for the time when He would regenerate me and sanctify me and bring me under His Lordship. And I would find out that one of the things God did to insure that I would absolutely get saved was, when I was a baby, my dad said he didn't want to bring us up in a church, but he wanted us to grow up outside of any church, and to choose our own Religion when we were adults; he did not want us to be exposed to any Religion when we were little...but my mom said, "No! I want them brought up in church!" And my mom won out. So I went to church every single Sunday from the time I was born, and, unlike my 2 brothers and 1 sister who felt like they were being forced, I absolutely loved it. And that was just one of the ways that God initiated to prepare me for being saved.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The Jewish Bridegroom
"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:2-3)
The idea of God's relationship to man as similiar to the relationship of husband and wife has been taught extensively in the Old Testament. Christ, in the parable of the ten virgins, likened His relationship to the Church as the bridegroom coming for the bride. In answer to the Pharisees' question, "Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?" Christ refers to Himself as the bridegroom saying, "Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?"
At and prior to the time of Christ, in the ordinary Jewish marriage processions, the bridegroom, accompanied by his groomsmen and friends, went to the bride's house, and thence conducted the bride into his own or his parents' home.
It is noteworthy that, according to Edersheim (Vol. i, p. 352), the marriage conveyed to the Jews much higher thoughts than merely those of festivity and merriment. The pious fasted before the marriage, confessing their sins. It was regarded almost as a Sacrament. Entrance into the marriage state was thought to carry the forgiveness of sins, and the bridal pair on the marriage day symbolized the union of God with Israel.
In the Jewish community, the germ of the idea of the sacrament was present, and the marriage ceremony was planned to bear the impress of sanctity.
The bridegroom would travel from his home to the home of the bride, in order to negotiate the purchase price of his bride. This price, refered to as the "mohar", had to be paid prior to any other events relating to the marriage. Once paid, the marriage covenant was established, and the man and woman were, for all intents and purposes, considered to be husband and wife. From that moment on, the bride was declared "consecrated" or "sanctified"---set apart exclusively for her bridegroom.
In comparison, Christ left heaven, His Father's house, and came to earth, the home of His bride, to pay the price for a lost humanity. The "mohar" was His life's blood. Christians are redeemed by His blood. Ephesians 1:7 states, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." Peter also mentions that, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things...but with the precious blood of Christ..." (1 Peter 1:18,19)
The groom obtained his bride through the establishment of a marriage covenant. In the same manner, Christ came to the earth to establish a covenant. This covenant, foretold in the Old Testament by the prophet Jeremiah, was established the same night He gave the promise to His disciples. It is the New Covenant established by the shedding of His blood on the cross.
When the price had been paid, the Jewish bride was considered sanctified---set apart exclusively for her husband. The Church, too, has been declared sanctified, set apart exclusively for Christ. In Ephesians Paul teaches, "Husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." Even Corinth, the most carnal of churches addressed in the New Testament, was considered sanctified. The author of Hebrews says we are all sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once for all.
As a symbol of the covenant relationship which had been established, the groom and bride would drink from a cup of wine over which a betrothal benediction had been pronounced.
In the Jewish ceremony a shared cup of wine served as a symbol of the marriage covenant. In the Church today the communion cup is the symbol of the covenant established by Christ to obtain His bride.
Once the marriage covenant had been established, the groom would leave the home of his bride and return to his father's house. He would remain separated from his bride for an indefinite period of time, usually not to exceed twelve months. During this time both the groom and the bride had specific preparations which had to be accomplished prior to the wedding ceremony.
With the establishment of the marriage covenant and the payment of the "mohar" accomplished, the groom would return to his father's house to accomplish the necessary preparations. Christ, after paying the price, also departed to His Father's house to make preparation. The promise of His return in John 14 includes His preparation on our behalf when He said, "I go to prepare a place for you". Christ's separation is also for an indefinite period of time, and the Church is now living in this period of separation. The Church is meant to keep busy spreading the gospel and maturing in relationship with Christ.
The groom was required to prepare living accomodations for him and his new bride. This customarily involved building an addition to his father's house large enough for the two of them to live in. The strong family ties inherent in the Jewish culture of Christ's day normally precluded the building of a separate house away from the family. The groom's preparations would include not only the structure, but also everything needed to set up a household. He would provide all that he could afford in order to offer his bride the most comfortable and pleasant living accommodations possible.
The groom's father had to inspect the building of the bedchamber and living accomodations, and approve of the building, before the groom could go and get his bride. Because of this, the groom did not know beforehand exactly when it would be approved, and therefore never knew exactly when he would be able to go and get his bride, until his father gave him the go-ahead.
The bride, in anticipation of her married life, would busy herself with getting ready. Traditionally, during this separation, her mother would teach her all things necessary to fulfill her marital responsibilities. It was a time spent in close fellowship as both recognized their new roles.
For the Christian, the Holy Spirit is the teacher and the One Who works to bring the believer to sanctification.
As stated earlier, the groom would be separated from his bride-to-be for an indefinite period of time, usually not exceeding twelve months. Once he had prepared the household and everything was ready for his bride, the groom would prepare himself for the wedding ceremony. He would call his closest friends and inform them of his immediate intentions so that they, too, could prepare for the wedding procession through the town.
The taking of the bride usually occurred at night. The groom and his friends would form a procession and, with lighted torches, they would proceed through the town so that all the townspeople would be aware of the wedding. Then, they would proceed to the home of the unsuspecting bride. The bride, even though anticipating the return of her groom, would never know exactly when he was coming for her and therefore, had to be constantly prepared for his return.
Just as the Jewish bride had no idea when her groom would return for her, the Church today has no idea when Christ will return.Paul tells us as he told the Thessalonian believers, "This day will come as a thief in the night."
In the taking of the bride in the Jewish ceremony, the groom was accompanied by a procession of his friends. Christ will also be accompanied by a procession of an angelic escort.
The procession would hush themselves before arriving at the home of the bride in order to surprise her, and the groom would announce his return with a shout.
Christ will return for His bride in like manner. It will undoubtedly be at night for some and day for others as we are told by Paul it will occur in the twinkling of an eye. Christ's presence will be made known by a shout also. Paul tells us through his letter to the Thessalonians, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel..." (1 Thessalonians 4:16)
The bride would then join the procession through the town to her new home prepared by her husband. She would be wearing her wedding gown and her face would be veiled. The wedding guests would already be in attendance when the bridal pair arrived. Presumably, these guests had heard the procession and went straight to the house to help prepare for the wedding feast.
Similar to the Jewish bride returning with her husband to his father's house, the Church will return with Christ to heaven. In this way we will inhabit the heavenly dwelling place prepared specifically for us by Christ in heaven. And we will find the souls of the Old Testament saints there as guests to celebrate with us. When the Church is taken to the Father's house in heaven we will enter into spiritual union with Christ, thereby consummating the relationship which Christ covenanted with the Church 2000 years ago. The bride's face would be veiled. Similarly, Paul said, "For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."
The bride's garment is white as snow.
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1: 18)
"And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." (Revelation 6:11)
"Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?" I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Revelation 7:13-14)
Shortly after their arrival the bridal pair were escorted by their closest friends to the bridal chamber, referred to as the "huppah". These friends making up the wedding party would then wait at the door while the couple consummated the marriage, entering into physical union for the first time. This would finalize the marital agreement which had been covenanted earlier. After the consummation the groom would step out and announce to the wedding party that the marriage had been finalized and completed.
Directly after the groom made his announcement the wedding feast would begin. This feast would last seven days and was called the seven days of the "huppah". During this time the bride and groom were waited on by their friends and all meals were taken in the bridal chamber. Upon completion of the week they would emerge from the bridal chamber and the bride would now be unveiled for all to see.
When the groom came to take his bride to his father's house, she went veiled, for it would have been considered improper for her face to have been seen in public. The Jewish bride remained veiled until she was in the "huppah", the bridal chamber. In like manner, the Church, during this age, does not know exactly who the other members of the Church are; as Paul says, "we see through a glass darkly." When Christ takes us to heaven though, we shall see each other as face to face.
Just as the Jewish bride remained hidden in the "huppah" for a period of seven days, so will the Church remain hidden for a period of seven. Both Daniel in the Old Testament and Revelation in the New Testament give the exact amount of time for this period. This is the time period of Daniel's seventieth seven. It is the period referred to in Revelation as the Tribulation. Revelation gives the exact number of days for the last half of this time period.
At the close of the wedding feast, the groom would proudly escort his bride out of the bridal chamber. She would now be unveiled for all to see, in full view. So Christ will bring the Church out of heaven at the end of the Tribulation period in full view of all who are left alive. Paul told the Colossians of this event in these words: "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:3,4)
The analogy between the Jewish marriage customs and the relationship Christ has with the Church is a beautiful one and full of significance. It shows the believer the sequence of events which have led up to the present time of separation between the Church and Jesus Christ, and gives the believer hope for the return of Jesus Christ and the re-establishment of the close personal relationship Christians will share with Him throughout eternity.
It is also significant in what it teaches about our present relationship to the risen Christ. In the Jewish analogy, it was possible for the Jewish bride to commit adultery. In the absence of her husband-to-be, she could do this by giving herself to another man. Even though the actual wedding ceremony had not yet taken place, this was still considered adultery. Today, it is possible for the believer to commit spiritual adultery in the absence of Christ. Paul expressed his concern over this issue when He wrote to the Corinthians and said:
"For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid, lest as the Serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:23)
James also was concerned about the same thing when he wrote that friendship with the world is hostility toward God. The context here seems to indicate one commits spiritual adultery when he becomes more devoted to the godless world system than to Jesus Christ and the things that please Him.
So, the significance to be applied personally, is to evaluate your relationship to the risen Lord and determine what it is He would have you to do in His absence. Determine whether He remains the center of your life and whether you are anxiously awaiting His return. Ask yourself if He is controlling your every desire and thought, or if your relationship to the world is of more importance.
If you have been unfaithful in your relationship to Him, you can be confident He will forgive you of those actions if you confess them and ask for His forgiveness. II Timothy 2:16 affirms His faithfulness toward us despite our actions. If we earnestly seek a closer walk with Him and desire Him to rule in our lives, we will readily admit our failure to remain pure. But upon confession, we can be assured the Holy Spirit will renew our devotion and we can wait for His return confidently.
Secondly, to the unbeliever, if you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you have absolutely no part in the foregoing analogy. If you do not establish a relationship with Jesus, you cannot become a part of His bride, the Church. You will not take part in the reunification. Christ died on the cross for your sins. By His shed blood on that cross he paid the price for your sins also. You can enter into this relationship by admitting your need for a Savior and by accepting Him as that Savior.
Trivia: The wedding ring is worn on the fourth finger of the left hand because of the ancient belief that a vein in the fourth finger led straight to the heart. The Romans called this the “vena amoris” or “vein of love.”
Information is from:
http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=801
http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924021869171/cu31924021869171_djvu.txt
http://weddingringssymbols.com/history-rings/history-of-wedding-rings/
The idea of God's relationship to man as similiar to the relationship of husband and wife has been taught extensively in the Old Testament. Christ, in the parable of the ten virgins, likened His relationship to the Church as the bridegroom coming for the bride. In answer to the Pharisees' question, "Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?" Christ refers to Himself as the bridegroom saying, "Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?"
At and prior to the time of Christ, in the ordinary Jewish marriage processions, the bridegroom, accompanied by his groomsmen and friends, went to the bride's house, and thence conducted the bride into his own or his parents' home.
It is noteworthy that, according to Edersheim (Vol. i, p. 352), the marriage conveyed to the Jews much higher thoughts than merely those of festivity and merriment. The pious fasted before the marriage, confessing their sins. It was regarded almost as a Sacrament. Entrance into the marriage state was thought to carry the forgiveness of sins, and the bridal pair on the marriage day symbolized the union of God with Israel.
In the Jewish community, the germ of the idea of the sacrament was present, and the marriage ceremony was planned to bear the impress of sanctity.
The bridegroom would travel from his home to the home of the bride, in order to negotiate the purchase price of his bride. This price, refered to as the "mohar", had to be paid prior to any other events relating to the marriage. Once paid, the marriage covenant was established, and the man and woman were, for all intents and purposes, considered to be husband and wife. From that moment on, the bride was declared "consecrated" or "sanctified"---set apart exclusively for her bridegroom.
In comparison, Christ left heaven, His Father's house, and came to earth, the home of His bride, to pay the price for a lost humanity. The "mohar" was His life's blood. Christians are redeemed by His blood. Ephesians 1:7 states, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." Peter also mentions that, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things...but with the precious blood of Christ..." (1 Peter 1:18,19)
The groom obtained his bride through the establishment of a marriage covenant. In the same manner, Christ came to the earth to establish a covenant. This covenant, foretold in the Old Testament by the prophet Jeremiah, was established the same night He gave the promise to His disciples. It is the New Covenant established by the shedding of His blood on the cross.
When the price had been paid, the Jewish bride was considered sanctified---set apart exclusively for her husband. The Church, too, has been declared sanctified, set apart exclusively for Christ. In Ephesians Paul teaches, "Husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." Even Corinth, the most carnal of churches addressed in the New Testament, was considered sanctified. The author of Hebrews says we are all sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once for all.
As a symbol of the covenant relationship which had been established, the groom and bride would drink from a cup of wine over which a betrothal benediction had been pronounced.
In the Jewish ceremony a shared cup of wine served as a symbol of the marriage covenant. In the Church today the communion cup is the symbol of the covenant established by Christ to obtain His bride.
Once the marriage covenant had been established, the groom would leave the home of his bride and return to his father's house. He would remain separated from his bride for an indefinite period of time, usually not to exceed twelve months. During this time both the groom and the bride had specific preparations which had to be accomplished prior to the wedding ceremony.
With the establishment of the marriage covenant and the payment of the "mohar" accomplished, the groom would return to his father's house to accomplish the necessary preparations. Christ, after paying the price, also departed to His Father's house to make preparation. The promise of His return in John 14 includes His preparation on our behalf when He said, "I go to prepare a place for you". Christ's separation is also for an indefinite period of time, and the Church is now living in this period of separation. The Church is meant to keep busy spreading the gospel and maturing in relationship with Christ.
The groom was required to prepare living accomodations for him and his new bride. This customarily involved building an addition to his father's house large enough for the two of them to live in. The strong family ties inherent in the Jewish culture of Christ's day normally precluded the building of a separate house away from the family. The groom's preparations would include not only the structure, but also everything needed to set up a household. He would provide all that he could afford in order to offer his bride the most comfortable and pleasant living accommodations possible.
The groom's father had to inspect the building of the bedchamber and living accomodations, and approve of the building, before the groom could go and get his bride. Because of this, the groom did not know beforehand exactly when it would be approved, and therefore never knew exactly when he would be able to go and get his bride, until his father gave him the go-ahead.
The bride, in anticipation of her married life, would busy herself with getting ready. Traditionally, during this separation, her mother would teach her all things necessary to fulfill her marital responsibilities. It was a time spent in close fellowship as both recognized their new roles.
For the Christian, the Holy Spirit is the teacher and the One Who works to bring the believer to sanctification.
As stated earlier, the groom would be separated from his bride-to-be for an indefinite period of time, usually not exceeding twelve months. Once he had prepared the household and everything was ready for his bride, the groom would prepare himself for the wedding ceremony. He would call his closest friends and inform them of his immediate intentions so that they, too, could prepare for the wedding procession through the town.
The taking of the bride usually occurred at night. The groom and his friends would form a procession and, with lighted torches, they would proceed through the town so that all the townspeople would be aware of the wedding. Then, they would proceed to the home of the unsuspecting bride. The bride, even though anticipating the return of her groom, would never know exactly when he was coming for her and therefore, had to be constantly prepared for his return.
Just as the Jewish bride had no idea when her groom would return for her, the Church today has no idea when Christ will return.Paul tells us as he told the Thessalonian believers, "This day will come as a thief in the night."
In the taking of the bride in the Jewish ceremony, the groom was accompanied by a procession of his friends. Christ will also be accompanied by a procession of an angelic escort.
The procession would hush themselves before arriving at the home of the bride in order to surprise her, and the groom would announce his return with a shout.
Christ will return for His bride in like manner. It will undoubtedly be at night for some and day for others as we are told by Paul it will occur in the twinkling of an eye. Christ's presence will be made known by a shout also. Paul tells us through his letter to the Thessalonians, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel..." (1 Thessalonians 4:16)
The bride would then join the procession through the town to her new home prepared by her husband. She would be wearing her wedding gown and her face would be veiled. The wedding guests would already be in attendance when the bridal pair arrived. Presumably, these guests had heard the procession and went straight to the house to help prepare for the wedding feast.
Similar to the Jewish bride returning with her husband to his father's house, the Church will return with Christ to heaven. In this way we will inhabit the heavenly dwelling place prepared specifically for us by Christ in heaven. And we will find the souls of the Old Testament saints there as guests to celebrate with us. When the Church is taken to the Father's house in heaven we will enter into spiritual union with Christ, thereby consummating the relationship which Christ covenanted with the Church 2000 years ago. The bride's face would be veiled. Similarly, Paul said, "For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."
The bride's garment is white as snow.
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1: 18)
"And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." (Revelation 6:11)
"Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?" I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Revelation 7:13-14)
Shortly after their arrival the bridal pair were escorted by their closest friends to the bridal chamber, referred to as the "huppah". These friends making up the wedding party would then wait at the door while the couple consummated the marriage, entering into physical union for the first time. This would finalize the marital agreement which had been covenanted earlier. After the consummation the groom would step out and announce to the wedding party that the marriage had been finalized and completed.
Directly after the groom made his announcement the wedding feast would begin. This feast would last seven days and was called the seven days of the "huppah". During this time the bride and groom were waited on by their friends and all meals were taken in the bridal chamber. Upon completion of the week they would emerge from the bridal chamber and the bride would now be unveiled for all to see.
When the groom came to take his bride to his father's house, she went veiled, for it would have been considered improper for her face to have been seen in public. The Jewish bride remained veiled until she was in the "huppah", the bridal chamber. In like manner, the Church, during this age, does not know exactly who the other members of the Church are; as Paul says, "we see through a glass darkly." When Christ takes us to heaven though, we shall see each other as face to face.
Just as the Jewish bride remained hidden in the "huppah" for a period of seven days, so will the Church remain hidden for a period of seven. Both Daniel in the Old Testament and Revelation in the New Testament give the exact amount of time for this period. This is the time period of Daniel's seventieth seven. It is the period referred to in Revelation as the Tribulation. Revelation gives the exact number of days for the last half of this time period.
At the close of the wedding feast, the groom would proudly escort his bride out of the bridal chamber. She would now be unveiled for all to see, in full view. So Christ will bring the Church out of heaven at the end of the Tribulation period in full view of all who are left alive. Paul told the Colossians of this event in these words: "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:3,4)
The analogy between the Jewish marriage customs and the relationship Christ has with the Church is a beautiful one and full of significance. It shows the believer the sequence of events which have led up to the present time of separation between the Church and Jesus Christ, and gives the believer hope for the return of Jesus Christ and the re-establishment of the close personal relationship Christians will share with Him throughout eternity.
It is also significant in what it teaches about our present relationship to the risen Christ. In the Jewish analogy, it was possible for the Jewish bride to commit adultery. In the absence of her husband-to-be, she could do this by giving herself to another man. Even though the actual wedding ceremony had not yet taken place, this was still considered adultery. Today, it is possible for the believer to commit spiritual adultery in the absence of Christ. Paul expressed his concern over this issue when He wrote to the Corinthians and said:
"For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid, lest as the Serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:23)
James also was concerned about the same thing when he wrote that friendship with the world is hostility toward God. The context here seems to indicate one commits spiritual adultery when he becomes more devoted to the godless world system than to Jesus Christ and the things that please Him.
So, the significance to be applied personally, is to evaluate your relationship to the risen Lord and determine what it is He would have you to do in His absence. Determine whether He remains the center of your life and whether you are anxiously awaiting His return. Ask yourself if He is controlling your every desire and thought, or if your relationship to the world is of more importance.
If you have been unfaithful in your relationship to Him, you can be confident He will forgive you of those actions if you confess them and ask for His forgiveness. II Timothy 2:16 affirms His faithfulness toward us despite our actions. If we earnestly seek a closer walk with Him and desire Him to rule in our lives, we will readily admit our failure to remain pure. But upon confession, we can be assured the Holy Spirit will renew our devotion and we can wait for His return confidently.
Secondly, to the unbeliever, if you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you have absolutely no part in the foregoing analogy. If you do not establish a relationship with Jesus, you cannot become a part of His bride, the Church. You will not take part in the reunification. Christ died on the cross for your sins. By His shed blood on that cross he paid the price for your sins also. You can enter into this relationship by admitting your need for a Savior and by accepting Him as that Savior.
Trivia: The wedding ring is worn on the fourth finger of the left hand because of the ancient belief that a vein in the fourth finger led straight to the heart. The Romans called this the “vena amoris” or “vein of love.”
Information is from:
http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=801
http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924021869171/cu31924021869171_djvu.txt
http://weddingringssymbols.com/history-rings/history-of-wedding-rings/
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Praying for Revival
“I wonder if you have been praying for revival. Many are, and that’s good. But if we make revival sovereign and don’t share our faith with the lost, in effect this is what we are saying: “Lord, I know that you have commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. But we will stay here and pray. We know that you have chosen the ‘foolishness’ of preaching to save them that believe. But we will stay here and pray. And we know that the Bible asks us, ‘How will they hear without a preacher?’ But we will stay here and pray, because it sure is easier to talk to God about people than it is to talk to people about God.”
C.T. Studd said: “We Christians too often substitute prayer for playing the game. Prayer is good; but when used as a substitute for obedience, it is nothing but a blatant hypocrisy, a despicable Pharisaism…To your knees, man! And to your Bible! Decide at once! Don’t hedge! Time flies! Cease your insults to God. Quit consulting flesh and blood. Stop your lame, lying and cowardly excuses.”
A.W. Tozer hit the nail on the head: “Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late---and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work. To pray for revival while ignoring the plain precept laid down in Scripture is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience.”
God has given the Church the ability (under His hand) to govern the tides of revival. A.W. Pink writes, “It is true that [many] are praying for world-wide revival. But…it would be more timely, and more scriptural, for prayer to be made to the Lord of the Harvest that He would raise up and thrust forth laborers who would fearlessly and faithfully preach those truths which are calculated to bring about a revival.”
(p.4, "The Way of the Master," by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron)
C.T. Studd said: “We Christians too often substitute prayer for playing the game. Prayer is good; but when used as a substitute for obedience, it is nothing but a blatant hypocrisy, a despicable Pharisaism…To your knees, man! And to your Bible! Decide at once! Don’t hedge! Time flies! Cease your insults to God. Quit consulting flesh and blood. Stop your lame, lying and cowardly excuses.”
A.W. Tozer hit the nail on the head: “Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late---and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work. To pray for revival while ignoring the plain precept laid down in Scripture is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience.”
God has given the Church the ability (under His hand) to govern the tides of revival. A.W. Pink writes, “It is true that [many] are praying for world-wide revival. But…it would be more timely, and more scriptural, for prayer to be made to the Lord of the Harvest that He would raise up and thrust forth laborers who would fearlessly and faithfully preach those truths which are calculated to bring about a revival.”
(p.4, "The Way of the Master," by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron)
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Love and Light
Followers (disciples) of Christ should generally exhibit two characteristics: Love and Light.
Christians are to walk (an action verb) in love. Ephesians 5:8 (KJV) says that Christians are to walk as children of light. Christians should be imitating Jesus. Christians should be striving to emulate Jesus. Ephesians 5:1 (KJV) says, "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children." Just as a loving son tries to be like his dad, we who are born-again Christians should strive to be like YHWH, our Heavenly Father.
Ephesians 5:2 (KJV) gives us an exhortation concerning love when it says, "And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour." We are to be a sweet-smelling savor to God, through our thoughts, words and actions. "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10, NIV) We who are regenerated Christians are responsible to continually practice divine love in our lives. Christ has a sacrificial love; He gave His life for the Elect. He offered Himself, unconditionally, on the cross, for our sins. Those of us who are the redeemed are, out of love and gratitude and obedience, to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship." (Romans 12:1, NIV)
We who are of the Elect are to remain or continue in His love. We are to abide in His love. "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." (John 15:9-10, KJV) It's not an option; it's a command.
Ephesians 5 exhorts the Christian concerning darkness:
"But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light." (Ephesians 5:3-8, KJV)
As Christians, we are to guard against immorality. "But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints." (Ephesians 5:3, KJV)
"Fornication" refers to any kind of illicit sex; any kind of sexual immorality. "Uncleanness" generally refers to moral uncleanness. Jesus pointed out that God doesn't just look at our outward actions, but He also judges our thoughts, as well. For example, "adultery," in God's eyes, not only includes sex with anyone other than your husband or wife, but also includes lustful thoughts. "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matthew 5:28)
It also says we are to guard against covetousness. "Covetousness" is an unholy desire for more wealth or possessions. Commercial advertising is based on covetousness (creating a desire in you to want something that you do not currently have).
We are to guard against the sins of the tongue:
"Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks." (Ephesians 5:4, KJV)
Those of you who are Christians should use only clean and wholesome speech. "Filthiness" is obscenity. Obscenity includes any words which are indecent, impure or lewd, or that present what is offensive to a chaste or pure mind. "Foolish talking" is empty, silly talk. "Jesting" is joking about sin. How often do we forward "humorous" e-mails that contain cursing, derogatory remarks, bigotry or even blasphemy?
"Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." (James 3:5-6, NIV)
We who are born-again Christians should quit acting like a lost Gentile ("Gentile," unless you are a Messianic Jew), and start acting like a saved Gentile.
"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7Therefore do not be partners with them.
8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."
15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."
(Ephesians 5:1-17, NIV)
Christians are to walk (an action verb) in love. Ephesians 5:8 (KJV) says that Christians are to walk as children of light. Christians should be imitating Jesus. Christians should be striving to emulate Jesus. Ephesians 5:1 (KJV) says, "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children." Just as a loving son tries to be like his dad, we who are born-again Christians should strive to be like YHWH, our Heavenly Father.
Ephesians 5:2 (KJV) gives us an exhortation concerning love when it says, "And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour." We are to be a sweet-smelling savor to God, through our thoughts, words and actions. "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10, NIV) We who are regenerated Christians are responsible to continually practice divine love in our lives. Christ has a sacrificial love; He gave His life for the Elect. He offered Himself, unconditionally, on the cross, for our sins. Those of us who are the redeemed are, out of love and gratitude and obedience, to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship." (Romans 12:1, NIV)
We who are of the Elect are to remain or continue in His love. We are to abide in His love. "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." (John 15:9-10, KJV) It's not an option; it's a command.
Ephesians 5 exhorts the Christian concerning darkness:
"But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light." (Ephesians 5:3-8, KJV)
As Christians, we are to guard against immorality. "But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints." (Ephesians 5:3, KJV)
"Fornication" refers to any kind of illicit sex; any kind of sexual immorality. "Uncleanness" generally refers to moral uncleanness. Jesus pointed out that God doesn't just look at our outward actions, but He also judges our thoughts, as well. For example, "adultery," in God's eyes, not only includes sex with anyone other than your husband or wife, but also includes lustful thoughts. "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matthew 5:28)
It also says we are to guard against covetousness. "Covetousness" is an unholy desire for more wealth or possessions. Commercial advertising is based on covetousness (creating a desire in you to want something that you do not currently have).
We are to guard against the sins of the tongue:
"Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks." (Ephesians 5:4, KJV)
Those of you who are Christians should use only clean and wholesome speech. "Filthiness" is obscenity. Obscenity includes any words which are indecent, impure or lewd, or that present what is offensive to a chaste or pure mind. "Foolish talking" is empty, silly talk. "Jesting" is joking about sin. How often do we forward "humorous" e-mails that contain cursing, derogatory remarks, bigotry or even blasphemy?
"Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." (James 3:5-6, NIV)
We who are born-again Christians should quit acting like a lost Gentile ("Gentile," unless you are a Messianic Jew), and start acting like a saved Gentile.
"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7Therefore do not be partners with them.
8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."
15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."
(Ephesians 5:1-17, NIV)
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Scripture Twisting: What the Bible Says About Homosexuality
PCANews -For "gay" and lesbian activists intent on molding American culture in their own image, the Church is seen as the most stalwart opponent resisting the triumph of homosexual philosophy.
As Paul Varnell, a homosexual columnist and writer, says, "It can scarcely be doubted that the primary, and perhaps only sources of our culture's anti-gay hostility are the Christian denominations."
To counter this threat, some activists have undertaken a long-term strategy of capturing the Church from within, in order to use its longstanding moral authority as an instrument of change.
However, this approach has one glaring weakness. How could churches, which hold to beliefs that are presumably anchored in Scripture, be used by activists to condone something the Bible clearly condemns – namely, homosexuality?
The solution to that dilemma has been to allege that the Scriptures have been erroneously interpreted. Some activists claim that the mistaken assessments are the result of simple ignorance, while others, like the Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the homosexually-oriented Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), assert there are more malevolent reasons. In his book, Don't Be Afraid Anymore, Perry said, "To condemn homosexuals, many denominations have intentionally misread and misinterpreted their Bibles to please their own personal preferences."
Smoke and Mirrors on Sodom
So what does the Bible actually say? Activists have taken great pains to provide alternative interpretations of the biblical passages that seem to clearly condemn homosexuality.
Of course, the obvious place to start is Sodom and Gomorrah. The familiar tale of the duo of doomed cities, recounted in Genesis 18 and 19, has made Sodom and Gomorrah synonymous with divine judgment. But the cities have become synonymous with something else, too: homosexuality. In fact, the word sodomy, which generally refers to unnatural sex acts (especially homosexual anal intercourse), is derived from the name of the city of Sodom.
This association comes from the events of Genesis 19. When two angels, in the form of men, came to Sodom to stay with Lot, the men of the city surrounded the house and asked, "Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them" (vs. 5, KJV).
Lot pleaded with them to reconsider their request, and - shockingly - even offered them his two virgin daughters instead. The men again demanded that the two newcomers be brought out, and even threatened Lot, after which the angels pulled Lot to safety and warned the man of God to take his family and flee Sodom. Fiery judgment then engulfed the two cities.
With such a biblical event casting its shadow over the theological landscape, how could "gay" advocates sidestep the obvious implication that God considered homosexuality a despicable sin?
Some simply deny that any type of sexuality - homosexual or heterosexual - is in view in the Sodom and Gomorrah saga. For example, in his book, Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition, Dr. Sherwin Bailey argues that the Hebrew word translated "know" in this verse does not refer to sex at all. Instead, the request on the part of the townsmen to "know" the visitors was merely a request to become acquainted with Lot's guests, especially since they were outsiders.
A proper exegesis of this passage reveals the ludicrous nature of this argument. Lot responded to the initial request by beseeching the men, "Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly" (vs. 7, NAS). This is hardly a comprehensible statement if all the men wanted to do was meet Lot's guests and start up a conversation.
Furthermore, as P. Michael Ukleja argues in Bibliotheca Sacra, with such a restricted meaning for "know," Lot's offer of his daughters to the men of the city (itself a disgraceful act) would be inexplicable.
The more common approach for activists, however, has been to argue that the sin here in Genesis is not homosexuality per se, but homosexual rape. "Violence -- forcing sexual activity upon another – is the real point of this story," said lesbian English professor Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, co-author of the book Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?
Mollenkott is not completely off the mark, for the story does demonstrate that the men of Sodom, after being rebuffed by Lot, fully intended to sexually brutalize Lot's visitors.
However, Mollenkott misses the obvious: what if Lot's two visitors had been agreeable to the initial suggestion of carnal knowledge with the men of the city? There is nothing in the Genesis account to suggest that the resulting homosexual orgy would have been forced. The homosexuals wanted sex with the strangers, and they would take it any way they could get it; but they were homosexuals.
In any case, it was not one incident alone that led to the demise of Sodom and Gomorrah. As clearly seen in Genesis 18, God had already stated that the sin of the cities was "exceedingly grave" (vs. 20). Even before the two angels showed up in Sodom, the Lord had already targeted the cities for destruction. The divine intention to "sweep away" all who lived there (vs. 23) was what led Abraham to plead for mercy in that passage's memorable example of intercession.
An Inhospitable Folk?
So what were the "exceedingly grave" sins which led to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? Most Christians would be surprised to hear an interpretation of these events that did not even include the issue of homosexuality – but that is precisely what many activists offer.
"Many contemporary [scholars] agree that the Old Testament story about the destruction of Sodom cannot be read as a lesson about divine punishment of same-sex copulation. If any lesson is wanted from the story, the lesson would seem to be about hospitality," said Mark D. Jordan, Emory University professor of religion.
As bizarre as that assertion might seem at first, Jordan's explanation is worth investigating. In Ezekiel 16:49-50, the prophet addresses the sins of Israel by pointing to the sins of Sodom: "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it."
Ezekiel clearly links Sodom's judgment – at least in part – to the city's pride and luxurious lifestyle, and the inhabitants' refusal to help those in need.
Do we have two conflicting accounts of Sodom's guilt in Scripture? Does Genesis focus on homosexuality, while the prophet Ezekiel accuses the city's inhabitants of pride and inhospitality?
The two passages are actually in agreement, for Ezekiel does not ignore the issue of homosexuality at all. The prophet's reference to the fact that Sodom "committed abominations" before God is no doubt a reference to the inhabitants' homosexual proclivities – especially with the Genesis story in the minds of Ezekiel's hearers. After all, the Jews understood "abomination" as a common way of referring to grotesque sexual sin like homosexuality (Lev. 18:22).
Therefore, rather than being an unexpected revision of Scriptural history, Ezekiel's reference to Sodom is a clear explanation of it, adding to the Genesis account, rather than contradicting it. The "arrogant self-indulgence" of Sodom's citizens contributed to the sexual perversion.
In fact, this supposition fits more reasonably within the context of Ezekiel's denunciation of Israel – who, after all, is the real subject of the prophet's preaching. Israel's harlotries and abominations, clearly laid out in the earlier portions of Ezekiel 16, are tied to the unfaithful nation's own wealth and material blessings (vv. 10-14). Such luxury and arrogance, therefore, can lead to sexual perversion, and that would be the precise impact of Ezekiel's reference to Sodom.
However, the attempt to deflect away from homosexuality the horror of the judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah receives its fatal blow from the New Testament. In verses which even Jordan calls "problematic," the epistles of both 2 Peter and Jude link Sodom's guilt to carnality and sexual perversion.
In 2 Peter 2, the apostle said the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah should serve as an example to the wicked of every generation (vs. 6). Lot, he said, continually witnessed "the sensual conduct of unprincipled men," who, among other things, "indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires" (vv. 7, 10).
Jude 7 makes the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah even more explicit: the inhabitants "indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh," and what could be stranger than men fornicating with other men?
While the two cursed cities may have been judged for more than their homosexuality, there is no legitimate way to remove homosexuality from the list of sins that doomed them.
The Deadly Sin
Openly homosexual Rev. Peter J. Gomes, the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard University, also insists on reinterpreting the Sodom and Gomorrah story. In The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Heart and Mind, which argues for Christianity's acceptance of homosexuality, Gomes says that even Jesus "was under the impression that Sodom was destroyed because it lacked hospitality."
His proof? Gomes cites Matthew 10, in which the Lord Jesus prepared his disciples to go forth and preach the gospel among the cities of Israel. Some cities, of course, would reject the message of the kingdom, but the disciples were simply to turn away from them.
"Truly I say to you," Jesus warned ominously, "it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city" (vs. 15). In Gomes' mind, Jesus' reference to the destruction of the doomed cities is yet another warning against inhospitality.
Gomes' exegesis is inexcusably poor. Jesus did not use the judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah as an indictment against inhospitality, but as a warning against rejecting the gospel. As Brian Fitzpatrick argues in the Lambda Report, it is the severity of the Old Testament judgment that is in Jesus' view, not the reasons for it.
Ironically, in turning to Matthew 10 in an attempt to excuse Sodom and Gomorrah, Gomes has laid the groundwork for his own judgment. In rejecting the necessity of repentance (by homosexuals) for entrance into the kingdom of God, he has placed himself in the position of the very cities to which Jesus referred in Matthew 10.
Homosexual activists like Gomes, by repudiating the obvious meaning of Scripture, run the risk of committing the most deadly sin of all – unbelief.
============
Ed Vitagliano, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is news editor of AFA Journal, a publication of the American Family Association. This article appeared originally in the November/December 2003 issue.
For more articles like this go to PCANews.com.
(The above article is from: http://70030.netministry.com/articles_view.asp?articleid=31548&columnid=3801)
As Paul Varnell, a homosexual columnist and writer, says, "It can scarcely be doubted that the primary, and perhaps only sources of our culture's anti-gay hostility are the Christian denominations."
To counter this threat, some activists have undertaken a long-term strategy of capturing the Church from within, in order to use its longstanding moral authority as an instrument of change.
However, this approach has one glaring weakness. How could churches, which hold to beliefs that are presumably anchored in Scripture, be used by activists to condone something the Bible clearly condemns – namely, homosexuality?
The solution to that dilemma has been to allege that the Scriptures have been erroneously interpreted. Some activists claim that the mistaken assessments are the result of simple ignorance, while others, like the Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the homosexually-oriented Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), assert there are more malevolent reasons. In his book, Don't Be Afraid Anymore, Perry said, "To condemn homosexuals, many denominations have intentionally misread and misinterpreted their Bibles to please their own personal preferences."
Smoke and Mirrors on Sodom
So what does the Bible actually say? Activists have taken great pains to provide alternative interpretations of the biblical passages that seem to clearly condemn homosexuality.
Of course, the obvious place to start is Sodom and Gomorrah. The familiar tale of the duo of doomed cities, recounted in Genesis 18 and 19, has made Sodom and Gomorrah synonymous with divine judgment. But the cities have become synonymous with something else, too: homosexuality. In fact, the word sodomy, which generally refers to unnatural sex acts (especially homosexual anal intercourse), is derived from the name of the city of Sodom.
This association comes from the events of Genesis 19. When two angels, in the form of men, came to Sodom to stay with Lot, the men of the city surrounded the house and asked, "Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them" (vs. 5, KJV).
Lot pleaded with them to reconsider their request, and - shockingly - even offered them his two virgin daughters instead. The men again demanded that the two newcomers be brought out, and even threatened Lot, after which the angels pulled Lot to safety and warned the man of God to take his family and flee Sodom. Fiery judgment then engulfed the two cities.
With such a biblical event casting its shadow over the theological landscape, how could "gay" advocates sidestep the obvious implication that God considered homosexuality a despicable sin?
Some simply deny that any type of sexuality - homosexual or heterosexual - is in view in the Sodom and Gomorrah saga. For example, in his book, Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition, Dr. Sherwin Bailey argues that the Hebrew word translated "know" in this verse does not refer to sex at all. Instead, the request on the part of the townsmen to "know" the visitors was merely a request to become acquainted with Lot's guests, especially since they were outsiders.
A proper exegesis of this passage reveals the ludicrous nature of this argument. Lot responded to the initial request by beseeching the men, "Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly" (vs. 7, NAS). This is hardly a comprehensible statement if all the men wanted to do was meet Lot's guests and start up a conversation.
Furthermore, as P. Michael Ukleja argues in Bibliotheca Sacra, with such a restricted meaning for "know," Lot's offer of his daughters to the men of the city (itself a disgraceful act) would be inexplicable.
The more common approach for activists, however, has been to argue that the sin here in Genesis is not homosexuality per se, but homosexual rape. "Violence -- forcing sexual activity upon another – is the real point of this story," said lesbian English professor Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, co-author of the book Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?
Mollenkott is not completely off the mark, for the story does demonstrate that the men of Sodom, after being rebuffed by Lot, fully intended to sexually brutalize Lot's visitors.
However, Mollenkott misses the obvious: what if Lot's two visitors had been agreeable to the initial suggestion of carnal knowledge with the men of the city? There is nothing in the Genesis account to suggest that the resulting homosexual orgy would have been forced. The homosexuals wanted sex with the strangers, and they would take it any way they could get it; but they were homosexuals.
In any case, it was not one incident alone that led to the demise of Sodom and Gomorrah. As clearly seen in Genesis 18, God had already stated that the sin of the cities was "exceedingly grave" (vs. 20). Even before the two angels showed up in Sodom, the Lord had already targeted the cities for destruction. The divine intention to "sweep away" all who lived there (vs. 23) was what led Abraham to plead for mercy in that passage's memorable example of intercession.
An Inhospitable Folk?
So what were the "exceedingly grave" sins which led to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? Most Christians would be surprised to hear an interpretation of these events that did not even include the issue of homosexuality – but that is precisely what many activists offer.
"Many contemporary [scholars] agree that the Old Testament story about the destruction of Sodom cannot be read as a lesson about divine punishment of same-sex copulation. If any lesson is wanted from the story, the lesson would seem to be about hospitality," said Mark D. Jordan, Emory University professor of religion.
As bizarre as that assertion might seem at first, Jordan's explanation is worth investigating. In Ezekiel 16:49-50, the prophet addresses the sins of Israel by pointing to the sins of Sodom: "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it."
Ezekiel clearly links Sodom's judgment – at least in part – to the city's pride and luxurious lifestyle, and the inhabitants' refusal to help those in need.
Do we have two conflicting accounts of Sodom's guilt in Scripture? Does Genesis focus on homosexuality, while the prophet Ezekiel accuses the city's inhabitants of pride and inhospitality?
The two passages are actually in agreement, for Ezekiel does not ignore the issue of homosexuality at all. The prophet's reference to the fact that Sodom "committed abominations" before God is no doubt a reference to the inhabitants' homosexual proclivities – especially with the Genesis story in the minds of Ezekiel's hearers. After all, the Jews understood "abomination" as a common way of referring to grotesque sexual sin like homosexuality (Lev. 18:22).
Therefore, rather than being an unexpected revision of Scriptural history, Ezekiel's reference to Sodom is a clear explanation of it, adding to the Genesis account, rather than contradicting it. The "arrogant self-indulgence" of Sodom's citizens contributed to the sexual perversion.
In fact, this supposition fits more reasonably within the context of Ezekiel's denunciation of Israel – who, after all, is the real subject of the prophet's preaching. Israel's harlotries and abominations, clearly laid out in the earlier portions of Ezekiel 16, are tied to the unfaithful nation's own wealth and material blessings (vv. 10-14). Such luxury and arrogance, therefore, can lead to sexual perversion, and that would be the precise impact of Ezekiel's reference to Sodom.
However, the attempt to deflect away from homosexuality the horror of the judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah receives its fatal blow from the New Testament. In verses which even Jordan calls "problematic," the epistles of both 2 Peter and Jude link Sodom's guilt to carnality and sexual perversion.
In 2 Peter 2, the apostle said the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah should serve as an example to the wicked of every generation (vs. 6). Lot, he said, continually witnessed "the sensual conduct of unprincipled men," who, among other things, "indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires" (vv. 7, 10).
Jude 7 makes the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah even more explicit: the inhabitants "indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh," and what could be stranger than men fornicating with other men?
While the two cursed cities may have been judged for more than their homosexuality, there is no legitimate way to remove homosexuality from the list of sins that doomed them.
The Deadly Sin
Openly homosexual Rev. Peter J. Gomes, the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard University, also insists on reinterpreting the Sodom and Gomorrah story. In The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Heart and Mind, which argues for Christianity's acceptance of homosexuality, Gomes says that even Jesus "was under the impression that Sodom was destroyed because it lacked hospitality."
His proof? Gomes cites Matthew 10, in which the Lord Jesus prepared his disciples to go forth and preach the gospel among the cities of Israel. Some cities, of course, would reject the message of the kingdom, but the disciples were simply to turn away from them.
"Truly I say to you," Jesus warned ominously, "it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city" (vs. 15). In Gomes' mind, Jesus' reference to the destruction of the doomed cities is yet another warning against inhospitality.
Gomes' exegesis is inexcusably poor. Jesus did not use the judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah as an indictment against inhospitality, but as a warning against rejecting the gospel. As Brian Fitzpatrick argues in the Lambda Report, it is the severity of the Old Testament judgment that is in Jesus' view, not the reasons for it.
Ironically, in turning to Matthew 10 in an attempt to excuse Sodom and Gomorrah, Gomes has laid the groundwork for his own judgment. In rejecting the necessity of repentance (by homosexuals) for entrance into the kingdom of God, he has placed himself in the position of the very cities to which Jesus referred in Matthew 10.
Homosexual activists like Gomes, by repudiating the obvious meaning of Scripture, run the risk of committing the most deadly sin of all – unbelief.
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Ed Vitagliano, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is news editor of AFA Journal, a publication of the American Family Association. This article appeared originally in the November/December 2003 issue.
For more articles like this go to PCANews.com.
(The above article is from: http://70030.netministry.com/articles_view.asp?articleid=31548&columnid=3801)
Friday, May 29, 2009
Obama's First 100 Days
By Fr. Alphonse de Valk, Editor, Catholic Insight
May 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Catholic Insight, Canada's national Catholic magazine of news, analysis and opinion, recently issued a review of U.S. President Barack Obama's first 50 days in office. It has now updated it to reflect his first 100 days and the revised article is presented below.
The anti-life assault begins
The election of Barack Obama as president, Catholic Insight stated in a November 3, 2008 press release, would turn out to be a disaster for the advance of a pro-life culture.
On the most important cultural issue of all, the equality and dignity of all human beings before God, President Obama represents the greatest threat today. His leadership is being hailed as a sign of hope across the world and welcomed with open arms. He has a 100 per cent approval rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America, the U.S.'s leading pro-abortion organization. That rating is based on a record of consistently voting against the unborn.
Obama has told Planned Parenthood he regards so-called choice as "a fundamental issue" on which he will not yield. He voted against an Induced Infant Liability Act in the Illinois legislature in 2002; this would have given legal protection and medical assistance to babies born from botched abortions. He also voted against banning partial-birth abortion in the Senate in October 2007.
On another key issue, the integrity of the traditional family, in 2004 Obama called the Defence of Marriage Act an "abhorrent law" and added: "The repeal of DOMA is essential ... For the record, I opposed DOMA in 1996. It should be repealed and I will vote for its repeal on the Senate floor. I will also oppose any proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gays and lesbians from 'marrying.'"
"We must be careful to keep our eyes on the prize - equal rights for every American," he has told homosexual activists. "We must continue to fight for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). We must vigorously expand hate-crime legislation and be vigilant about how these laws are enforced. We must continue to expand adoption rights to make them consistent and seamless throughout all 50 states and we must repeal the 'don't ask, don't tell' military policy."
Apart from issues of human life and the family, there are numerous other question marks surrounding Obama, many of which are covered by Dr. Jerome Corsi in his New York Times bestselling book, The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality (see the review on page 32 of the April 2009 edition of Catholic Insight).
Inauguration
January 20, 2009 Barack Obama is sworn in as president of the United States of America. His original birth certificate is not available. He calls himself a "person of faith," without specifying what faith he means. It is not Christianity as founded by Jesus and entrusted to his Apostles.
In his inaugural address, Obama neglects to mention the American founders' emphasis on life and liberty as the first of the inalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence. Five minutes after Obama becomes president, the White House website changes from pro-life to pro-abortion.
Policies
January 21 The president is at work selecting members of his staff and cabinet while Congress, where Democrats have a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, sets to work developing policies and legislation to advance the agnostic-atheist attack on the Judeo-Christian foundations of law and order.
In Congress, Obama receives assistance from numerous Catholic politicians who have scuttled Catholic moral teaching in favour of "political correctness," I.e., various aspects of modern hedonism and the culture of death. While the overriding focus of attention during the first 50 days is the economy, the bailout of banks, various "stimulus" packages and the housing credit and unemployment crises, the anti-life agenda was set in motion from the beginning.
January 21-22 Obama signs executive orders calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay (January 22), a ban on torture (January 22) and new rules regarding transparency and lobbyists (January 21). This is what draws the attention of the world.
January 21 Meanwhile, the White House website is updated - under the title "Civil Rights," for the LGBT activists, it reads:
- SSM (same-sex "marriage")
- Repeal the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA)
- Repeal the army's "don't ask, don't tell" policy
- Pass "hate crime" legislation granting "transgendered" homosexual activists and crossdressers equal rights
- Pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)
- Promote "gay adoption" (I.e., motherless or fatherless homes for children)
January 22 Buried in the House Stimulus Bill, in Section 5004, is the "State Eligibility Option for Family Planning." This would make national Medicaid a money machine to the tune of $87 billion for family planning clinics in the United States. (Family planning in the U.S., as well as in Canada and elsewhere, means: "Planning not to have families," i.e., promote contraception, sterilization and abortion.) The U.S. already spends more than $400 million on overseas "family planning" assistance each year.
- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves a guide for the use of embryonic stem cells for human trial. (To this point in time, embryonic stem cell research has never cured or helped any patient; on the other hand, the use of adult stem cells already has some 80 medical achievements on its roster.)
- Two hundred thousand people walk in the March for Life in Washington, marking the 36th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision establishing abortion throughout the U.S.
- Obama issues a written statement that he backs a woman's "right to choose."
January 23 Obama overturns, by executive order, the Mexico City Policy of previous presidents that forbade the funding of abortions and abortion groups outside U.S. boundaries. (No TV cameras or press were present for the signing on a late Friday afternoon when news services were shut down. Hundreds of millions of dollars will go to support abortions in poor countries, especially in Asia, Africa and South America.)
- Appended to the statement announcing the end of the Mexico City Policy, Obama declared: "In addition, I look forward to working with Congress to restore U.S. financial support for the UN Population Fund." (That funding was halted in 2002 when a State Department investigation showed the Fund supported China's coercive one-child-per- family policy through forced abortions and sterilizations.)
January 25 House of Representatives majority leader Nancy Pelosi (a pro-abortion, pro-same-sex "marriage" Catholic) declares that contraception is now part of the U.S. economy.
January 26 Obama calls upon Democratic leaders to remove the "family planning" provisions supported by Pelosi from the $825 billion stimulus bill, after Americans and media outlets, such as the Drudge Report, ridicule the items as non-starters in stimulating the economy and creating more jobs. Senate Republicans threaten a filibuster.
January 27 A Congressional committee debates the Prevention First Act (PFA), which, if passed, would hand over millions for "family planning" methods, attack freedom of conscience rights for health providers and financially pave the way for the proposed Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), which would strip all states of the ability to restrict abortions and homosexual activism. The Prevention First Act was introduced by Senate majority leader Harry Reid (Mormon, pro-abortion) on January 6, 2009. The act claims to reduce unintended pregnancies and abortion and is based on the premise that contraception prevents abortion. (In reality, contraception is the gateway to abortion.)
- Susan Rice, Obama's new ambassador to the UN, pledges support for the convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Already, the CEDAW committee has tried to bully 93 countries into making abortion legal.
- The administrator of the USAID foreign assistance program, pro-lifer Kent Hill, is replaced with Alonzo Fulgham, the CEO of the agency, who announces that the reversal of the Mexico City Policy is being implemented immediately. Fulgham issues a formal notice informing field offices worldwide.
- The director of the UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), pro-abortion Thoraya Obaid (Saudi Arabia), welcomes Obama's restoration of $50 million to the UNFPA's coffers and its coercive population control plans. "Access to reproductive health (a code word for contraception, sterilization and abortion) is the core of equality for women and girls," she says. The funding had been suspended since 2002.
January 28 Obama tells Democrats to remove a bailout for the Planned Parenthood abortion business ($200 million for 295 abortuaries and 850 consultation centres) from the economic stimulus bill after vigorous pro-life protests, for fear that it might jeopardize the bill's passage. It is dropped on January 30.
- The Senate defeats an amendment to restore the Mexico City Policy, 60-37. (Eighteen of 25 Catholic Senators helped defeat it.)
- Pro-life groups continue their massive protests and opposition to the FOCA bill, which has been filed with Congress. The act would outlaw every abortion restriction passed by Congress, state legislatures or local communities. Obama has repeatedly expressed his support for FOCA, the last time on January 22, 2008, the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. FOCA's sponsor is Senator Barbara Boxer (Jewish, pro-abortion).
January 29 The UN children's agency UNICEF launches its annual report, stating: "Having a child remains one of the biggest health risks for women worldwide." It recommends global financing for "family planning" and "reproductive health services" as the primary way to reduce maternal deaths. It then admits that the statistics on worldwide annual deaths are subject "to a high degree of uncertainty."
- The Senate, by a 59-39 vote, rejects national medical coverage in the SCHIP program for unborn children and their pregnant mothers. This, pro-life sources say, will lead to more abortions, supposedly against the president's intention of reducing abortions.
February 5 Obama's new group of 24 faith-based advisors includes Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Washington-based Religious Action Centre of Reform Judaism, which was a sponsor of a 2004 pro-abortion march by Planned Parenthood and NARAL. Other pro-abortion members are added later.
February 6 The Senate refuses to remove a discrimination clause against the religious use of university facilities benefiting from the stimulus bill.
February 19 The federal government is drafting guidelines that will be put in place once Obama approves federal funds for embryonic stem cell research.
February 25 As feared by pro-life groups, the Omnibus Appropriations Bill cuts funding for abstinence education by $54 million, while giving more money to Planned Parenthood programs. This leaves only $95 million for national programs. This money disappears later on.
- Time magazine, in attacking opponents of the FOCA bill, is accused of many inaccuracies, non-sequiturs and misrepresentations. Time has described the bill as "mythical." Yet, Obama announced his intentions to sign such a bill in 2006, again in a July 2007 speech to Planned Parenthood and once more on January 22, 2008 on the Roe v. Wadeanniversary.
February 27 The Obama administration prepares to rescind conscience rules for health care workers. Obama officials tell the Chicago Tribune that, for the Provider Conscience Law and other regulations protecting medical personnel against involvement in abortions, they are opening a 30-day public comment period, after which they will rescind the law. Pro-abortion groups have long desired to coerce all medical personnel and hospitals into providing contraception and sterilizations and committing abortions. As one writer put it, "This is a declaration of war on all who oppose the killing of the unborn."
March 4 The president has begun consulting his top defence advisors on how to lift a ban on gays serving openly in the military.
March 5 The Senate, by a 55-39 vote, rejects an amendment to stop funds from going to the United Nations Population Fund.
March 6 Obama shuts out pro-life groups from attending today's White House health care summit, called to discuss how health care reform should be implemented. Pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood, however, are invited to attend. Planned Parenthood's president, Cecile Richards, called for including access to abortion in any health care reform plan.
- U.S. bishops launch e-mail campaign to "maintain widely-supported pro-life policies" and oppose FOCA (Freedom of Choice Act). It is a follow-up to the postcard campaign begun in January.
March 9 Obama eliminates eight-year-old limits on federal money for the use of embryonic stem cells for research - which kills newly conceived embryos - by presidential decree, in a room packed with scientists. "As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering," the President said, (forgetting that human embryos are killed in the process).
Nowhere in the world has embryonic stem-cell research produced a single therapy or treatment. Meanwhile, adult stem-cell research has over 70 therapies to its credit so far. The President's Executive Order also removes the HHS Secretary's duty to pursue funding for adult stem-cell research.
- This ends ability of pro-abortionists, including President Obama, to say they are "pro-choice" because they no longer allow health officials a choice to oppose or disapprove.
- The HHS administration announces the intention to abolish the "final rule" (protection of conscience for health workers opposed to abortion, contraception, IVF, etc).
Appointments
During the first 50 days, Obama selected the most anti-life, anti-family radicals he could find for his administration.
- Vice-President Joseph Biden (senator, Catholic, pro-abortion, pro-same-sex
"marriage")
- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Methodist, feminist, extremely pro-abortion). Clinton controls the American UN delegation
- Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano (former governor of Arizona, Methodist, strongly pro-abortion and pro-SSM)
- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar (senator from Colorado, Catholic, pro-abortion)
- Secretary of Defence Robert Gates, a holdover from the Bush administration
- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Ken Shinseki (retired four-star general, Medical Corps; disagreed with former secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld)
- National Security Advisor Retired Marine General James Jones
- Labour Secretary Thida (Hilda) Solis (California congresswoman, Catholic, pro-abortion)
- Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood (Rep Congressman, pro-life)
- Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (favours separate schools for homosexuals)
- Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner (president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a Bill Clinton holdover)
- Secretary of Energy Steven Chu (1997 Nobel prize in physics)
- Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan (New York Housing Commissioner)
- Central Intelligence Agency director Leon Panetta (former congressman; Bill Clinton's chief of staff, a pro-abortion Catholic)
- Food and Drug Administration director Margaret Hamburger (New York City health commissioner under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, pro-abortion). An earlier appointment was listed as Jane Henney (headed the FDA under Clinton; professor at the University of Cincinnati, approved abortion drug RU 486 (mifepristone))
- Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (governor of Iowa, 1999-2007; Catholic, pro-abortion)
Legal Counsel
- Attorney-General Eric Holder. The first African-American to hold this office (was deputy attorney-general under Janet Reno during the Clinton years)
- Deputy Attorney-General David Ogden (denies negative effects of abortion; considers pregnancy a form of slavery; was a lawyer for Playboy and other pornographic interests)
- Office of Legal Counsel, White House (assists attorney-general in her role as legal adviser to the president). Dawn Johnsen (pro-abortion, lawyer and legal director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, 1988-1993, professor at Indiana University School of Law)
- Assistant Deputy Attorney-General Thomas Perrelli (lawyer, pro-euthanasia, represented Terry Schiavo's husband in his successful quest to have his wife starved and dehydrated to death)
- Solicitor-General Elena Kagan (strong abortion supporter. The solicitor-general represents the government before the Supreme Court)
Health
- Health and Health Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (former governor of Kansas, Catholic, pro-abortion, including support for late term abortions (Ontario and Quebec send late-term abortions to Kansas, paying an average of $5,000 (US) for each.) HHS would play a role in getting abortion coverage in the new health program and make it mandatory that hospitals or insurance companies cover abortion.)
- Health Care Reform Office, White House. Nancy-Ann De Parle, Clinton political advisor (wants health care to cover abortion)
- Deputy Health Care director Jeanne Lambow (pro-abortion)
Other Clinton Holdovers and Washington Lobbyists for White House Appointments (Do Not Require Congressional Approval)
- Chief of Staff, White House. Rahm Emanuel (congressman from Illinois, Jewish, pro-abortion - has a 100 per cent NARAL "pro-choice" rating; pro-SSM)
- White House Political Advisor David Axelrod (Jewish, pro-abortion). Axelrod was Obama's main election strategist during the two-year-long campaign for office
- Director of Communications Ellen Moran (former CEO of Emily's List, a major and wealthy pro-abortion political action committee)
- Director of Domestic Policy Melody Barnes (former board member of Emily's List and Planned Parenthood staff member)
- Director for foreign Women's Issues (a new office to re-affirm the population and development goals of the Beijing 1995 UN conference; i.e., to promote abortions and overturn pro-life laws in foreign countries) Melanne Verveer (former chief of staff to Hillary Clinton; a pro-abortion Catholic). Holds rank of ambassador-at-large
- White House Council on Women and Girls (new office) director Tina Tchen (Chicago Lawyer, vice-president of NOW, feminist, pro-abortion. She has a mandate to examine all federal laws and agencies pertaining to women)
- Council on Environment Quality Nancy Sutley (lesbian).
- Director of the Environmental Protection Agency Lisa Jackson
- Climate "czarina," White House Carol Browner
- Director for the Office of Management and Budget Peter Orszag (former economic advisor to Clinton)
- Head of the National Economic Council, White House. Lawrence Summers (former Clinton advisor)
- Chairman of the Democratic Party Tim Kayne (governor of Virginia, Catholic, pro- abortion)
Summary
The facts of the first 50 days of the Obama presidency seem overwhelming. According to the 55-page pro-abortion document, "Advancing Reproductive Rights and Health in a New Administration," $4.5 billion in federal funding will be disbursed at home and abroad to "advance reproductive rights." This document is posted on http://www.change.org, Obama's official website for his transition team.
Obama's Steps for the First 100 Days projects the end of the Mexico City Policy, the Hyde Amendment, the Kemp-Kasten Amendment, the Weldon Amendment, restrictions on emergency contraception (Plan B), the termination of all abstinence-only programs and a reversal of the recent HHS regulation protecting pro-life physicians and institutions. By Day 50, many of these had been accomplished already. Any present obstacles to so-called abortion rights not covered by removing these restrictions, such as the ban on partial birth abortion and state laws requiring parental notification, will be covered by the passage of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) or perhaps by many acts or regulations each embodying one particular aspect.
We draw the attention of our readers especially to the coercion which is built into many of these measures. A combined United States-United Nations assault on the freedom of poor countries to determine their own domestic policies on population is already underway.
At home, the Obama regime will take on more abusive, tyrannical features as it seeks to destroy the rights of people to disagree and dissent. All along, this has been the implication of the new legislated rights to kill and to overthrow the natural moral law in family and sexual matters introduced 40 years ago.
The president and his advisors will be making some 7,000 appointments who will influence policy; they will be pro-abortion ones, said one commentator, with the exception being the ambassador to the Vatican. What resistance the Christian community will be able to offer remains to be seen.
March 10 The end of the first 50 days. Except for publicity about the new financing of stem cell research and a mention of the overturning of the Mexico City Policy, adoring liberal daily newspapers have not mentioned Obama's new Death Culture.
March 11 The Obama administration opens an e-mail address for public comments to respond to the decision to dump the Provider Conscience Clause. The e-mail window will close on April 9, after which a simple Executive Order can eliminate the protective shield against discrimination for pro-life health care personnel.
- Obama establishes a White House Council on Women and Girls and appoints pro-abortion Chicago lawyer Tina Tchen as Executive Director. Tchen served as Vice-President of NOW (National Organization for Women). The new Council will examine all federal laws to see how they affect women, especially from the point of view of feminist "rights" supporters.
March 12 The United Nations Annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meeting continues in New York. The US delegation (Ellen Chester) states that "sexual and reproductive health and rights" will be a priority with them from now on. Their delegation considers abortion to be part of "reproductive health," even though in the past that interpretation was voted down by the majority.
- The Obama administration publishes a proposal in the Federal Register to rescind the pro-life protections for health care personnel in its entirely.
- The Senate stimulus bill contains a bailout package for Planned Parenthood.
- The Senate rejects by a 55-39 vote an amendment to stop US taxpayer funding of the UNFPA. The UNFPA backs policies of forced abortion and sterilizations, as in China.
March 17 President Obama's first federal judicial nominee (to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals) is pro-abortion US district Judge David Hamilton. The President is also bringing back the judicial reviews of the American Bar Association whose members regularly take a pro-abortion stand.
March 18 Cardinal Francis George of Chicago visits President Obama at the White House for an unscheduled visit. Purpose: to express the Catholic Church's opposition to the administration's anti-life agenda. Earlier Cardinal George had expressed the bishops' deep concern about Obama rescinding the conscience protection legislation put in place by the Bush administration.
- The State department confirms that Hillary Clinton will endorse the UN declaration calling for the global "decriminalization of homosexuality." That is a measure former President Bush had refused to sign. President Obama sent a $50 million cheque to the UN Population Fund.
March 20 Notre Dame University President Father John Jenkins invites President Obama to address the commencement exercises on May 17 and receive an honorary Doctor of Law degree. It sets off a tremendous adverse reaction among Catholics aware of the President's pro-abortion agenda.
- All four pro-abortion candidates for the Office of Legal Counsel, David Odgen, Dawn Johnsen, Thomas Perelli, Elena Kagan have received Senate approval.
- Various Congressional Bills are gutting abstinence education while promoting "comprehensive" sex education heavy on contraception. The Administration is now giving financial aid to Marie Stopes International, a British abortion provider with branches throughout Africa.
March 24 All during these weeks the media's entire attention is drawn to the President's economic measures running into the trillions of dollars. Barely a word about the "other" cultural agenda filters through in the media.
March 26 A mandatory national (Obama) youth corps is called for in GIVE (Generations Immigrating Volunteerism and Education Act - H.R. 1388) passed by the House (321-105) and by Senate (79-19). Note: In the USA, classroom indoctrination is now found in "Hate" and "Sexual diversity" training in 3, 500 units by Lesbian Straight Education Network(GSLEN).
March 27 In Mexico Hillary Clinton states that emphasizing and promoting abortion is a key issue in President Obama's foreign policy from now on. Clinton received the Margaret Sanger award from the abortionist Planned Parenthood group, two days after she visited the Catholic Lady of Guadalupe shrine in Mexico.
March 28 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Dem) approves of including abortion in national health plan.
March 30 House of Representatives, with only eight nay votes, passed Bill H.R. 20 (S 304). It requires all new mothers, their spouses and children, to be evaluated for post-partum depression. This Mother's Act seeks to re-classify the natural process of pregnancy and birth as a mental disorder requiring psychiatric treatment and medication. The bill is promoted by the pharmacy industry.
- Another new bill introduced is the Prevention First Act (H.R. 463), promoted by Louise Slaughter (D., Rochester N.Y.). It requires all hospitals receiving federal funds to provide "emergency contraception," and all insurance plans to provide coverage for contraception.
- State Department's new top legal advisor is Harold Koh, pro-abortionist, until now Yale Law School Dean; "trans nationalist," i.e., he believes that American law and values must give way to current international trends, as they do in Europe. For example, Sharia law should apply in America. This office shapes foreign policy in the Courts and in international treaties. He is also Obama's first choice to fill an opening in the Supreme Court.
April 2 An amendment to keep the rights of conscience and protections for health care providers was defeated in the Senate, 56-41. Sixteen Catholic Senators (out of 25) voted against it, despite appeals by Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the US Bishops Conference, and Rockville Bishop William Murphy to support it.
- These individuals included: Mark Begich (D., Alaska), Chris Dodd (D., Conn.), Ted Kaufman (D., Del.), Richard Durbin(D., Ill.), Tom Harkin (D., Iowa), Mary Landrieu (D., La), Susan Collins (R., Maine), Barbara Mikulski (D., Md.), John Kerry(D., Mass.), Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.), Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), Kristen Gillibrand (D., N.J.), Jack Reed (D., R.I.), Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.), Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.), and Patty Murray (D., Wash.).
- The nine Catholic senators who voted for the amendment were: Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska), Mel Martinez (R., Fla.), Jim Risch (R., Idaho), Sam Brownback (R., Kansas), Jim Bunning (R., Ky.), Dave Vitter (R., La.), Mike Johanns (R., Neb.), George Voinovich (R., Ohio), and Robert Casey (D., Pa.).
- The Obama administration is now free to repeal the protections by Executive Order.
- Nina Fedoroff, advisor to Hillary Clinton, claims the world faces overpopulation.
April 3 The UN Commission on Population and Development celebrated the 15th anniversary of the Cairo Conference on Population. The European Union, the US Obama Administration and Canada, propose "fertility reduction" and broad "sexual and reproductive rights." The Holy See and Muslim nations, on the other hand, do not see people as a burden to be controlled, but as a resource to be promoted. They propose poverty reduction, basic education and health care.
April 6 The White House Faith-Based Advisory Council is completed (full membership may be found on White HousePress Release, April 6, 2009). The list includes more pro-abortion and gay "rights" people, including Harry Knox - gay "rights" group; Rev. Peg Chemberlin - National Council of Churches; and Nancy Ratzan - National Council of Jewish Women. Pro-life advocates especially object to Harry Knox, the director of the "religion and faith" program at "Human Rights Campaign," a homosexualist "rights" group. In March, Knox described Pope Benedict as a liar and as a "discredited leader" (for rejecting condoms). He called the Knights of Columbus "foot soldiers of a discredited army of oppression."
- On April 10 Secretary of Education Arne Duncan appointed Peter Groff as Director of the Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Center in his office. Groff is the Colorado State President in the Legislature and Executive Director for the Center of African-American Policy.
April 7 President Obama, speaking in Turkey: "We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation." He also stated: "We convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world-including in my own country." Comment by George Neumayr: Obama expresses his deep sympathy for Islam and his rejection of Christianity. His enemy is not Islam abroad but Christianity at home.
April 8 Vatican informally rejects three suggested Obama ambassadors over their pro-abortion views. Vatican denies all. Insiders give names such as Prof Kmiec and Caroline Kennedy.
April 9 Time for objecting to the overthrow of Provider Conscience Regulation ends. A national poll of Americans finds a strong majority (87%) want to keep protections in place. 340, 000 people had sent e-mails.
- President Obama has nominated pro-abortion Ron Welch as Assistant Attorney-General for legislative affairs. He will also participate in the Senate confirmation process for federal judges and US attorneys.
- The President signs executive order for embryonic stem-cell research under the slogan "science should triumph ideology."
April 14 Pro-life advocates are trying to derail the Senate confirmation of Governor Kathleen Sebelius as HHS Secretary because of her strong support for abortion, including late term abortions.
April 15 The Office of Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of Homeland Security (Secretary Janet Napolitano), issues nine-page report, which registers the pro-life movement among "right-wing extremism in the Unites States." Those concerned call the document "outrageous," describing the tying of conservatives and opponents of abortion to foreign terrorists as a radical deceit.
April 16 Mexico City. Speaking on protecting the so-called right of women to choose abortion, President Obama stated:"…[W]e must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information and prevention services."
- Defence Secretary Robert Gates states that the Obama administration will move cautiously in shifting policies to accepting homosexual activists serving in the military.
April 17 HHS Secretary Janet Napolitano apologizes for footnote tying opponents of abortion to terrorists. Pro-lifers are angry about this smear tactic tried earlier in the State of Missouri.
- The media remain exclusively concerned with: economic bailouts, credit cards, President Obama's foreign policy (reaching out to Cuba, Venezuela), CIA policies, the use of torture, Bank of America's underhandedness, and automobile rescues and management.
April 22 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will not appeal the ruling of federal judge Edward Korman that the MAP (Morning After Pill) be made available to 17-year-olds without prescription.
April 23 Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton admits before the House Foreign Relations Committee that as far as the new government is concerned, the term "reproductive health" includes abortion. "The Obama government will promote abortions overseas." "We are now an Administration that will protect the rights of women," she also added: "The 20thCentury reproductive rights movement, really embodied in the life and leadership of Margaret Sanger, was one of the most transformational in the entire history of the human race." (Note: Margaret Sanger was a radical eugenicist and racist of the 1920's and the 1930's who lived and worked in New York City).
- The Administration's new International Ambassador, Melanne Verveer, White House Director for Foreign Women's issues, confirmed President Obama's commitment to population control as outlined, she claimed, at the UN Population Conference in Cairo 15 years ago.
April 27 White House expresses disappointment that former Ambassador Mary Glendon has cancelled her appearance at Notre Dame University.
April 28 Pro-abortion Republican Senator Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania defects to the Democrats.
- The long drawn-out Senate confirmation process for HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius ends in a 2-1 margin for the Kansas Governor (65-31). Nineteen "Catholic" Senators vote for Sebelius, indicating again that the issue of abortion means little or nothing to them.
April 29 The President urges Congress to pass federal "hate crimes" legislation (H.R. 1913) "to protect citizens from violent acts of intolerance." The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Act of 2009 grants the federal government authority to punish crimes that appear to be motivated by "hatred" of a person's sexual orientation. H.R. 1913 "serves only to punish individuals for the beliefs, opinions or convictions held at the time an act is committed" (Liberty University law professor Shawn Akers). " As such H.R. 1913 does not punish criminal intent, but criminalizes thought." The House approved H.R. 1913 and voted 249-175 for the inclusion of sexual orientation as a protected right. Here, as in other countries, no definition of sexual orientation is provided.
April 30 Abortion advocate Nancy Keenan, President of NARAL, "celebrates" the end of the first 100 days of the Obama Administration as a "milestone in these challenging times."
- Alas it is much more. Freedom of speech, thought and religion are now under attack. False "rights" are about to triumph. The Culture of Death is seeking to destroy the Culture of Life. In this it will fail because of the secret power on the side of Life, which will conquer even despite the mass apostasy of its Protestant and Catholic followers.
Sources: Americans for Truth; the American Life League; the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute; the Culture of Life Foundation; LifeNews.com; LifeSiteNews.com; the National Post; the Population Research Institute; Time; United Families.org; The Wanderer; WorldNetDaily.com, Zenit.org.
Father Alphonse de Valk is a historian by profession and presently the editor of Catholic Insight magazine.
The above article is from:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09050808.html
May 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Catholic Insight, Canada's national Catholic magazine of news, analysis and opinion, recently issued a review of U.S. President Barack Obama's first 50 days in office. It has now updated it to reflect his first 100 days and the revised article is presented below.
The anti-life assault begins
The election of Barack Obama as president, Catholic Insight stated in a November 3, 2008 press release, would turn out to be a disaster for the advance of a pro-life culture.
On the most important cultural issue of all, the equality and dignity of all human beings before God, President Obama represents the greatest threat today. His leadership is being hailed as a sign of hope across the world and welcomed with open arms. He has a 100 per cent approval rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America, the U.S.'s leading pro-abortion organization. That rating is based on a record of consistently voting against the unborn.
Obama has told Planned Parenthood he regards so-called choice as "a fundamental issue" on which he will not yield. He voted against an Induced Infant Liability Act in the Illinois legislature in 2002; this would have given legal protection and medical assistance to babies born from botched abortions. He also voted against banning partial-birth abortion in the Senate in October 2007.
On another key issue, the integrity of the traditional family, in 2004 Obama called the Defence of Marriage Act an "abhorrent law" and added: "The repeal of DOMA is essential ... For the record, I opposed DOMA in 1996. It should be repealed and I will vote for its repeal on the Senate floor. I will also oppose any proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gays and lesbians from 'marrying.'"
"We must be careful to keep our eyes on the prize - equal rights for every American," he has told homosexual activists. "We must continue to fight for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). We must vigorously expand hate-crime legislation and be vigilant about how these laws are enforced. We must continue to expand adoption rights to make them consistent and seamless throughout all 50 states and we must repeal the 'don't ask, don't tell' military policy."
Apart from issues of human life and the family, there are numerous other question marks surrounding Obama, many of which are covered by Dr. Jerome Corsi in his New York Times bestselling book, The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality (see the review on page 32 of the April 2009 edition of Catholic Insight).
Inauguration
January 20, 2009 Barack Obama is sworn in as president of the United States of America. His original birth certificate is not available. He calls himself a "person of faith," without specifying what faith he means. It is not Christianity as founded by Jesus and entrusted to his Apostles.
In his inaugural address, Obama neglects to mention the American founders' emphasis on life and liberty as the first of the inalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence. Five minutes after Obama becomes president, the White House website changes from pro-life to pro-abortion.
Policies
January 21 The president is at work selecting members of his staff and cabinet while Congress, where Democrats have a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, sets to work developing policies and legislation to advance the agnostic-atheist attack on the Judeo-Christian foundations of law and order.
In Congress, Obama receives assistance from numerous Catholic politicians who have scuttled Catholic moral teaching in favour of "political correctness," I.e., various aspects of modern hedonism and the culture of death. While the overriding focus of attention during the first 50 days is the economy, the bailout of banks, various "stimulus" packages and the housing credit and unemployment crises, the anti-life agenda was set in motion from the beginning.
January 21-22 Obama signs executive orders calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay (January 22), a ban on torture (January 22) and new rules regarding transparency and lobbyists (January 21). This is what draws the attention of the world.
January 21 Meanwhile, the White House website is updated - under the title "Civil Rights," for the LGBT activists, it reads:
- SSM (same-sex "marriage")
- Repeal the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA)
- Repeal the army's "don't ask, don't tell" policy
- Pass "hate crime" legislation granting "transgendered" homosexual activists and crossdressers equal rights
- Pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)
- Promote "gay adoption" (I.e., motherless or fatherless homes for children)
January 22 Buried in the House Stimulus Bill, in Section 5004, is the "State Eligibility Option for Family Planning." This would make national Medicaid a money machine to the tune of $87 billion for family planning clinics in the United States. (Family planning in the U.S., as well as in Canada and elsewhere, means: "Planning not to have families," i.e., promote contraception, sterilization and abortion.) The U.S. already spends more than $400 million on overseas "family planning" assistance each year.
- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves a guide for the use of embryonic stem cells for human trial. (To this point in time, embryonic stem cell research has never cured or helped any patient; on the other hand, the use of adult stem cells already has some 80 medical achievements on its roster.)
- Two hundred thousand people walk in the March for Life in Washington, marking the 36th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision establishing abortion throughout the U.S.
- Obama issues a written statement that he backs a woman's "right to choose."
January 23 Obama overturns, by executive order, the Mexico City Policy of previous presidents that forbade the funding of abortions and abortion groups outside U.S. boundaries. (No TV cameras or press were present for the signing on a late Friday afternoon when news services were shut down. Hundreds of millions of dollars will go to support abortions in poor countries, especially in Asia, Africa and South America.)
- Appended to the statement announcing the end of the Mexico City Policy, Obama declared: "In addition, I look forward to working with Congress to restore U.S. financial support for the UN Population Fund." (That funding was halted in 2002 when a State Department investigation showed the Fund supported China's coercive one-child-per- family policy through forced abortions and sterilizations.)
January 25 House of Representatives majority leader Nancy Pelosi (a pro-abortion, pro-same-sex "marriage" Catholic) declares that contraception is now part of the U.S. economy.
January 26 Obama calls upon Democratic leaders to remove the "family planning" provisions supported by Pelosi from the $825 billion stimulus bill, after Americans and media outlets, such as the Drudge Report, ridicule the items as non-starters in stimulating the economy and creating more jobs. Senate Republicans threaten a filibuster.
January 27 A Congressional committee debates the Prevention First Act (PFA), which, if passed, would hand over millions for "family planning" methods, attack freedom of conscience rights for health providers and financially pave the way for the proposed Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), which would strip all states of the ability to restrict abortions and homosexual activism. The Prevention First Act was introduced by Senate majority leader Harry Reid (Mormon, pro-abortion) on January 6, 2009. The act claims to reduce unintended pregnancies and abortion and is based on the premise that contraception prevents abortion. (In reality, contraception is the gateway to abortion.)
- Susan Rice, Obama's new ambassador to the UN, pledges support for the convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Already, the CEDAW committee has tried to bully 93 countries into making abortion legal.
- The administrator of the USAID foreign assistance program, pro-lifer Kent Hill, is replaced with Alonzo Fulgham, the CEO of the agency, who announces that the reversal of the Mexico City Policy is being implemented immediately. Fulgham issues a formal notice informing field offices worldwide.
- The director of the UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), pro-abortion Thoraya Obaid (Saudi Arabia), welcomes Obama's restoration of $50 million to the UNFPA's coffers and its coercive population control plans. "Access to reproductive health (a code word for contraception, sterilization and abortion) is the core of equality for women and girls," she says. The funding had been suspended since 2002.
January 28 Obama tells Democrats to remove a bailout for the Planned Parenthood abortion business ($200 million for 295 abortuaries and 850 consultation centres) from the economic stimulus bill after vigorous pro-life protests, for fear that it might jeopardize the bill's passage. It is dropped on January 30.
- The Senate defeats an amendment to restore the Mexico City Policy, 60-37. (Eighteen of 25 Catholic Senators helped defeat it.)
- Pro-life groups continue their massive protests and opposition to the FOCA bill, which has been filed with Congress. The act would outlaw every abortion restriction passed by Congress, state legislatures or local communities. Obama has repeatedly expressed his support for FOCA, the last time on January 22, 2008, the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. FOCA's sponsor is Senator Barbara Boxer (Jewish, pro-abortion).
January 29 The UN children's agency UNICEF launches its annual report, stating: "Having a child remains one of the biggest health risks for women worldwide." It recommends global financing for "family planning" and "reproductive health services" as the primary way to reduce maternal deaths. It then admits that the statistics on worldwide annual deaths are subject "to a high degree of uncertainty."
- The Senate, by a 59-39 vote, rejects national medical coverage in the SCHIP program for unborn children and their pregnant mothers. This, pro-life sources say, will lead to more abortions, supposedly against the president's intention of reducing abortions.
February 5 Obama's new group of 24 faith-based advisors includes Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Washington-based Religious Action Centre of Reform Judaism, which was a sponsor of a 2004 pro-abortion march by Planned Parenthood and NARAL. Other pro-abortion members are added later.
February 6 The Senate refuses to remove a discrimination clause against the religious use of university facilities benefiting from the stimulus bill.
February 19 The federal government is drafting guidelines that will be put in place once Obama approves federal funds for embryonic stem cell research.
February 25 As feared by pro-life groups, the Omnibus Appropriations Bill cuts funding for abstinence education by $54 million, while giving more money to Planned Parenthood programs. This leaves only $95 million for national programs. This money disappears later on.
- Time magazine, in attacking opponents of the FOCA bill, is accused of many inaccuracies, non-sequiturs and misrepresentations. Time has described the bill as "mythical." Yet, Obama announced his intentions to sign such a bill in 2006, again in a July 2007 speech to Planned Parenthood and once more on January 22, 2008 on the Roe v. Wadeanniversary.
February 27 The Obama administration prepares to rescind conscience rules for health care workers. Obama officials tell the Chicago Tribune that, for the Provider Conscience Law and other regulations protecting medical personnel against involvement in abortions, they are opening a 30-day public comment period, after which they will rescind the law. Pro-abortion groups have long desired to coerce all medical personnel and hospitals into providing contraception and sterilizations and committing abortions. As one writer put it, "This is a declaration of war on all who oppose the killing of the unborn."
March 4 The president has begun consulting his top defence advisors on how to lift a ban on gays serving openly in the military.
March 5 The Senate, by a 55-39 vote, rejects an amendment to stop funds from going to the United Nations Population Fund.
March 6 Obama shuts out pro-life groups from attending today's White House health care summit, called to discuss how health care reform should be implemented. Pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood, however, are invited to attend. Planned Parenthood's president, Cecile Richards, called for including access to abortion in any health care reform plan.
- U.S. bishops launch e-mail campaign to "maintain widely-supported pro-life policies" and oppose FOCA (Freedom of Choice Act). It is a follow-up to the postcard campaign begun in January.
March 9 Obama eliminates eight-year-old limits on federal money for the use of embryonic stem cells for research - which kills newly conceived embryos - by presidential decree, in a room packed with scientists. "As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering," the President said, (forgetting that human embryos are killed in the process).
Nowhere in the world has embryonic stem-cell research produced a single therapy or treatment. Meanwhile, adult stem-cell research has over 70 therapies to its credit so far. The President's Executive Order also removes the HHS Secretary's duty to pursue funding for adult stem-cell research.
- This ends ability of pro-abortionists, including President Obama, to say they are "pro-choice" because they no longer allow health officials a choice to oppose or disapprove.
- The HHS administration announces the intention to abolish the "final rule" (protection of conscience for health workers opposed to abortion, contraception, IVF, etc).
Appointments
During the first 50 days, Obama selected the most anti-life, anti-family radicals he could find for his administration.
- Vice-President Joseph Biden (senator, Catholic, pro-abortion, pro-same-sex
"marriage")
- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Methodist, feminist, extremely pro-abortion). Clinton controls the American UN delegation
- Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano (former governor of Arizona, Methodist, strongly pro-abortion and pro-SSM)
- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar (senator from Colorado, Catholic, pro-abortion)
- Secretary of Defence Robert Gates, a holdover from the Bush administration
- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Ken Shinseki (retired four-star general, Medical Corps; disagreed with former secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld)
- National Security Advisor Retired Marine General James Jones
- Labour Secretary Thida (Hilda) Solis (California congresswoman, Catholic, pro-abortion)
- Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood (Rep Congressman, pro-life)
- Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (favours separate schools for homosexuals)
- Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner (president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a Bill Clinton holdover)
- Secretary of Energy Steven Chu (1997 Nobel prize in physics)
- Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan (New York Housing Commissioner)
- Central Intelligence Agency director Leon Panetta (former congressman; Bill Clinton's chief of staff, a pro-abortion Catholic)
- Food and Drug Administration director Margaret Hamburger (New York City health commissioner under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, pro-abortion). An earlier appointment was listed as Jane Henney (headed the FDA under Clinton; professor at the University of Cincinnati, approved abortion drug RU 486 (mifepristone))
- Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (governor of Iowa, 1999-2007; Catholic, pro-abortion)
Legal Counsel
- Attorney-General Eric Holder. The first African-American to hold this office (was deputy attorney-general under Janet Reno during the Clinton years)
- Deputy Attorney-General David Ogden (denies negative effects of abortion; considers pregnancy a form of slavery; was a lawyer for Playboy and other pornographic interests)
- Office of Legal Counsel, White House (assists attorney-general in her role as legal adviser to the president). Dawn Johnsen (pro-abortion, lawyer and legal director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, 1988-1993, professor at Indiana University School of Law)
- Assistant Deputy Attorney-General Thomas Perrelli (lawyer, pro-euthanasia, represented Terry Schiavo's husband in his successful quest to have his wife starved and dehydrated to death)
- Solicitor-General Elena Kagan (strong abortion supporter. The solicitor-general represents the government before the Supreme Court)
Health
- Health and Health Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (former governor of Kansas, Catholic, pro-abortion, including support for late term abortions (Ontario and Quebec send late-term abortions to Kansas, paying an average of $5,000 (US) for each.) HHS would play a role in getting abortion coverage in the new health program and make it mandatory that hospitals or insurance companies cover abortion.)
- Health Care Reform Office, White House. Nancy-Ann De Parle, Clinton political advisor (wants health care to cover abortion)
- Deputy Health Care director Jeanne Lambow (pro-abortion)
Other Clinton Holdovers and Washington Lobbyists for White House Appointments (Do Not Require Congressional Approval)
- Chief of Staff, White House. Rahm Emanuel (congressman from Illinois, Jewish, pro-abortion - has a 100 per cent NARAL "pro-choice" rating; pro-SSM)
- White House Political Advisor David Axelrod (Jewish, pro-abortion). Axelrod was Obama's main election strategist during the two-year-long campaign for office
- Director of Communications Ellen Moran (former CEO of Emily's List, a major and wealthy pro-abortion political action committee)
- Director of Domestic Policy Melody Barnes (former board member of Emily's List and Planned Parenthood staff member)
- Director for foreign Women's Issues (a new office to re-affirm the population and development goals of the Beijing 1995 UN conference; i.e., to promote abortions and overturn pro-life laws in foreign countries) Melanne Verveer (former chief of staff to Hillary Clinton; a pro-abortion Catholic). Holds rank of ambassador-at-large
- White House Council on Women and Girls (new office) director Tina Tchen (Chicago Lawyer, vice-president of NOW, feminist, pro-abortion. She has a mandate to examine all federal laws and agencies pertaining to women)
- Council on Environment Quality Nancy Sutley (lesbian).
- Director of the Environmental Protection Agency Lisa Jackson
- Climate "czarina," White House Carol Browner
- Director for the Office of Management and Budget Peter Orszag (former economic advisor to Clinton)
- Head of the National Economic Council, White House. Lawrence Summers (former Clinton advisor)
- Chairman of the Democratic Party Tim Kayne (governor of Virginia, Catholic, pro- abortion)
Summary
The facts of the first 50 days of the Obama presidency seem overwhelming. According to the 55-page pro-abortion document, "Advancing Reproductive Rights and Health in a New Administration," $4.5 billion in federal funding will be disbursed at home and abroad to "advance reproductive rights." This document is posted on http://www.change.org, Obama's official website for his transition team.
Obama's Steps for the First 100 Days projects the end of the Mexico City Policy, the Hyde Amendment, the Kemp-Kasten Amendment, the Weldon Amendment, restrictions on emergency contraception (Plan B), the termination of all abstinence-only programs and a reversal of the recent HHS regulation protecting pro-life physicians and institutions. By Day 50, many of these had been accomplished already. Any present obstacles to so-called abortion rights not covered by removing these restrictions, such as the ban on partial birth abortion and state laws requiring parental notification, will be covered by the passage of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) or perhaps by many acts or regulations each embodying one particular aspect.
We draw the attention of our readers especially to the coercion which is built into many of these measures. A combined United States-United Nations assault on the freedom of poor countries to determine their own domestic policies on population is already underway.
At home, the Obama regime will take on more abusive, tyrannical features as it seeks to destroy the rights of people to disagree and dissent. All along, this has been the implication of the new legislated rights to kill and to overthrow the natural moral law in family and sexual matters introduced 40 years ago.
The president and his advisors will be making some 7,000 appointments who will influence policy; they will be pro-abortion ones, said one commentator, with the exception being the ambassador to the Vatican. What resistance the Christian community will be able to offer remains to be seen.
March 10 The end of the first 50 days. Except for publicity about the new financing of stem cell research and a mention of the overturning of the Mexico City Policy, adoring liberal daily newspapers have not mentioned Obama's new Death Culture.
March 11 The Obama administration opens an e-mail address for public comments to respond to the decision to dump the Provider Conscience Clause. The e-mail window will close on April 9, after which a simple Executive Order can eliminate the protective shield against discrimination for pro-life health care personnel.
- Obama establishes a White House Council on Women and Girls and appoints pro-abortion Chicago lawyer Tina Tchen as Executive Director. Tchen served as Vice-President of NOW (National Organization for Women). The new Council will examine all federal laws to see how they affect women, especially from the point of view of feminist "rights" supporters.
March 12 The United Nations Annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meeting continues in New York. The US delegation (Ellen Chester) states that "sexual and reproductive health and rights" will be a priority with them from now on. Their delegation considers abortion to be part of "reproductive health," even though in the past that interpretation was voted down by the majority.
- The Obama administration publishes a proposal in the Federal Register to rescind the pro-life protections for health care personnel in its entirely.
- The Senate stimulus bill contains a bailout package for Planned Parenthood.
- The Senate rejects by a 55-39 vote an amendment to stop US taxpayer funding of the UNFPA. The UNFPA backs policies of forced abortion and sterilizations, as in China.
March 17 President Obama's first federal judicial nominee (to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals) is pro-abortion US district Judge David Hamilton. The President is also bringing back the judicial reviews of the American Bar Association whose members regularly take a pro-abortion stand.
March 18 Cardinal Francis George of Chicago visits President Obama at the White House for an unscheduled visit. Purpose: to express the Catholic Church's opposition to the administration's anti-life agenda. Earlier Cardinal George had expressed the bishops' deep concern about Obama rescinding the conscience protection legislation put in place by the Bush administration.
- The State department confirms that Hillary Clinton will endorse the UN declaration calling for the global "decriminalization of homosexuality." That is a measure former President Bush had refused to sign. President Obama sent a $50 million cheque to the UN Population Fund.
March 20 Notre Dame University President Father John Jenkins invites President Obama to address the commencement exercises on May 17 and receive an honorary Doctor of Law degree. It sets off a tremendous adverse reaction among Catholics aware of the President's pro-abortion agenda.
- All four pro-abortion candidates for the Office of Legal Counsel, David Odgen, Dawn Johnsen, Thomas Perelli, Elena Kagan have received Senate approval.
- Various Congressional Bills are gutting abstinence education while promoting "comprehensive" sex education heavy on contraception. The Administration is now giving financial aid to Marie Stopes International, a British abortion provider with branches throughout Africa.
March 24 All during these weeks the media's entire attention is drawn to the President's economic measures running into the trillions of dollars. Barely a word about the "other" cultural agenda filters through in the media.
March 26 A mandatory national (Obama) youth corps is called for in GIVE (Generations Immigrating Volunteerism and Education Act - H.R. 1388) passed by the House (321-105) and by Senate (79-19). Note: In the USA, classroom indoctrination is now found in "Hate" and "Sexual diversity" training in 3, 500 units by Lesbian Straight Education Network(GSLEN).
March 27 In Mexico Hillary Clinton states that emphasizing and promoting abortion is a key issue in President Obama's foreign policy from now on. Clinton received the Margaret Sanger award from the abortionist Planned Parenthood group, two days after she visited the Catholic Lady of Guadalupe shrine in Mexico.
March 28 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Dem) approves of including abortion in national health plan.
March 30 House of Representatives, with only eight nay votes, passed Bill H.R. 20 (S 304). It requires all new mothers, their spouses and children, to be evaluated for post-partum depression. This Mother's Act seeks to re-classify the natural process of pregnancy and birth as a mental disorder requiring psychiatric treatment and medication. The bill is promoted by the pharmacy industry.
- Another new bill introduced is the Prevention First Act (H.R. 463), promoted by Louise Slaughter (D., Rochester N.Y.). It requires all hospitals receiving federal funds to provide "emergency contraception," and all insurance plans to provide coverage for contraception.
- State Department's new top legal advisor is Harold Koh, pro-abortionist, until now Yale Law School Dean; "trans nationalist," i.e., he believes that American law and values must give way to current international trends, as they do in Europe. For example, Sharia law should apply in America. This office shapes foreign policy in the Courts and in international treaties. He is also Obama's first choice to fill an opening in the Supreme Court.
April 2 An amendment to keep the rights of conscience and protections for health care providers was defeated in the Senate, 56-41. Sixteen Catholic Senators (out of 25) voted against it, despite appeals by Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the US Bishops Conference, and Rockville Bishop William Murphy to support it.
- These individuals included: Mark Begich (D., Alaska), Chris Dodd (D., Conn.), Ted Kaufman (D., Del.), Richard Durbin(D., Ill.), Tom Harkin (D., Iowa), Mary Landrieu (D., La), Susan Collins (R., Maine), Barbara Mikulski (D., Md.), John Kerry(D., Mass.), Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.), Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), Kristen Gillibrand (D., N.J.), Jack Reed (D., R.I.), Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.), Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.), and Patty Murray (D., Wash.).
- The nine Catholic senators who voted for the amendment were: Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska), Mel Martinez (R., Fla.), Jim Risch (R., Idaho), Sam Brownback (R., Kansas), Jim Bunning (R., Ky.), Dave Vitter (R., La.), Mike Johanns (R., Neb.), George Voinovich (R., Ohio), and Robert Casey (D., Pa.).
- The Obama administration is now free to repeal the protections by Executive Order.
- Nina Fedoroff, advisor to Hillary Clinton, claims the world faces overpopulation.
April 3 The UN Commission on Population and Development celebrated the 15th anniversary of the Cairo Conference on Population. The European Union, the US Obama Administration and Canada, propose "fertility reduction" and broad "sexual and reproductive rights." The Holy See and Muslim nations, on the other hand, do not see people as a burden to be controlled, but as a resource to be promoted. They propose poverty reduction, basic education and health care.
April 6 The White House Faith-Based Advisory Council is completed (full membership may be found on White HousePress Release, April 6, 2009). The list includes more pro-abortion and gay "rights" people, including Harry Knox - gay "rights" group; Rev. Peg Chemberlin - National Council of Churches; and Nancy Ratzan - National Council of Jewish Women. Pro-life advocates especially object to Harry Knox, the director of the "religion and faith" program at "Human Rights Campaign," a homosexualist "rights" group. In March, Knox described Pope Benedict as a liar and as a "discredited leader" (for rejecting condoms). He called the Knights of Columbus "foot soldiers of a discredited army of oppression."
- On April 10 Secretary of Education Arne Duncan appointed Peter Groff as Director of the Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Center in his office. Groff is the Colorado State President in the Legislature and Executive Director for the Center of African-American Policy.
April 7 President Obama, speaking in Turkey: "We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation." He also stated: "We convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world-including in my own country." Comment by George Neumayr: Obama expresses his deep sympathy for Islam and his rejection of Christianity. His enemy is not Islam abroad but Christianity at home.
April 8 Vatican informally rejects three suggested Obama ambassadors over their pro-abortion views. Vatican denies all. Insiders give names such as Prof Kmiec and Caroline Kennedy.
April 9 Time for objecting to the overthrow of Provider Conscience Regulation ends. A national poll of Americans finds a strong majority (87%) want to keep protections in place. 340, 000 people had sent e-mails.
- President Obama has nominated pro-abortion Ron Welch as Assistant Attorney-General for legislative affairs. He will also participate in the Senate confirmation process for federal judges and US attorneys.
- The President signs executive order for embryonic stem-cell research under the slogan "science should triumph ideology."
April 14 Pro-life advocates are trying to derail the Senate confirmation of Governor Kathleen Sebelius as HHS Secretary because of her strong support for abortion, including late term abortions.
April 15 The Office of Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of Homeland Security (Secretary Janet Napolitano), issues nine-page report, which registers the pro-life movement among "right-wing extremism in the Unites States." Those concerned call the document "outrageous," describing the tying of conservatives and opponents of abortion to foreign terrorists as a radical deceit.
April 16 Mexico City. Speaking on protecting the so-called right of women to choose abortion, President Obama stated:"…[W]e must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information and prevention services."
- Defence Secretary Robert Gates states that the Obama administration will move cautiously in shifting policies to accepting homosexual activists serving in the military.
April 17 HHS Secretary Janet Napolitano apologizes for footnote tying opponents of abortion to terrorists. Pro-lifers are angry about this smear tactic tried earlier in the State of Missouri.
- The media remain exclusively concerned with: economic bailouts, credit cards, President Obama's foreign policy (reaching out to Cuba, Venezuela), CIA policies, the use of torture, Bank of America's underhandedness, and automobile rescues and management.
April 22 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will not appeal the ruling of federal judge Edward Korman that the MAP (Morning After Pill) be made available to 17-year-olds without prescription.
April 23 Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton admits before the House Foreign Relations Committee that as far as the new government is concerned, the term "reproductive health" includes abortion. "The Obama government will promote abortions overseas." "We are now an Administration that will protect the rights of women," she also added: "The 20thCentury reproductive rights movement, really embodied in the life and leadership of Margaret Sanger, was one of the most transformational in the entire history of the human race." (Note: Margaret Sanger was a radical eugenicist and racist of the 1920's and the 1930's who lived and worked in New York City).
- The Administration's new International Ambassador, Melanne Verveer, White House Director for Foreign Women's issues, confirmed President Obama's commitment to population control as outlined, she claimed, at the UN Population Conference in Cairo 15 years ago.
April 27 White House expresses disappointment that former Ambassador Mary Glendon has cancelled her appearance at Notre Dame University.
April 28 Pro-abortion Republican Senator Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania defects to the Democrats.
- The long drawn-out Senate confirmation process for HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius ends in a 2-1 margin for the Kansas Governor (65-31). Nineteen "Catholic" Senators vote for Sebelius, indicating again that the issue of abortion means little or nothing to them.
April 29 The President urges Congress to pass federal "hate crimes" legislation (H.R. 1913) "to protect citizens from violent acts of intolerance." The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Act of 2009 grants the federal government authority to punish crimes that appear to be motivated by "hatred" of a person's sexual orientation. H.R. 1913 "serves only to punish individuals for the beliefs, opinions or convictions held at the time an act is committed" (Liberty University law professor Shawn Akers). " As such H.R. 1913 does not punish criminal intent, but criminalizes thought." The House approved H.R. 1913 and voted 249-175 for the inclusion of sexual orientation as a protected right. Here, as in other countries, no definition of sexual orientation is provided.
April 30 Abortion advocate Nancy Keenan, President of NARAL, "celebrates" the end of the first 100 days of the Obama Administration as a "milestone in these challenging times."
- Alas it is much more. Freedom of speech, thought and religion are now under attack. False "rights" are about to triumph. The Culture of Death is seeking to destroy the Culture of Life. In this it will fail because of the secret power on the side of Life, which will conquer even despite the mass apostasy of its Protestant and Catholic followers.
Sources: Americans for Truth; the American Life League; the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute; the Culture of Life Foundation; LifeNews.com; LifeSiteNews.com; the National Post; the Population Research Institute; Time; United Families.org; The Wanderer; WorldNetDaily.com, Zenit.org.
Father Alphonse de Valk is a historian by profession and presently the editor of Catholic Insight magazine.
The above article is from:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09050808.html
Sunday, May 24, 2009
The Four Components of Homosexuality
The problem of homosexuality involves much more than simply a sexual act. Those caught up in this sin usually have entered the homosexual lifestyle to some degree. To better understand the circumstances of the homosexual person seeking help, we've divided homosexuality into four components: behavior, psychic response, identity and lifestyle.
Behavior: Often, it is assumed that all homosexual people engage in homosexual acts, but this is not always the case. Because of fears or strong religious convictions, some may refrain from sexual behavior, yet experience an intense battle with homosexual attractions. Another wrong assumption is that all people who engage in homosexual acts are homosexual. There are significant numbers of heterosexual men who engage in homosexual acts for a variety of reasons, such as being in prison or anywhere where heterosexual sex is unavailable.
Also, we do not believe that a child who is involved in homosexual acts early in life will necessarily become homosexual unless these acts fulfill needs that are not being met in other ways, such as needs for love, acceptance, security and significance. In these cases, the child's involvement in the act is viewed as a "trade-off" for the non-sexual needs he is obtaining. It is possible that the act and the fulfilled needs may become synonymous, which could lead to the development of a homosexual orientation. However, statistics have shown that most children who experience homosexual acts leave them behind, growing up to lead a normal heterosexual life.
Psychic Response: A brief definition of this term is, "sexual excitation (stimulation) caused by visual perception or fantasy speculation." Psychic response is also what people refer to as a "homosexual orientation." Though many people claim that they have experienced visual or sexual attraction for the same sex "as long as they can remember," there is a progression in a person's life that leads to a homosexual psychic response. A child may start out with a need to compare himself with others to see if he measures up to societal standards. When he feels he doesn't compare favorably with others, he develops admiration for those traits and physical characteristics he feels he does not possess. Admiration, which is normal, may turn to envy. Envy leads to the desire to possess others and finally, to consume others. This strong desire eventually becomes eroticized, normally around puberty, leading to homosexual psychic response. As psychic response begins to grip someone's life, a certain amount of scheming takes place. Sexual situations are pictured in the mind. When the first sexual encounter takes place, it may be the result of several years of planning and fantasy. However, homosexual behavior can also precede psychic response, which may then develop as a conditioned response to sexually-gratifying encounters with those of the same sex.
Identity: Some people enter into homosexuality through "identity". These are people who may not have experienced sexual attraction for the same sex or have had any homosexual encounters. However, from an early age, they have felt they were "different" from other people. They felt abnormal, like they do not fit into the heterosexual world. They reason, "If I'm not heterosexual, then I must be gay" and they accept the homosexual label into their lives. Of course, this is a misinterpretation. A person troubled with shyness, fear of the opposite sex, lack of athletic or social skills need not accept the label "homosexual." However, people do grow into labels. Once a label is accepted, the implied characteristics of that label begin to develop in a person's life. What we believe about ourselves is of extreme importance.
Lifestyle: A homosexual may insist that he bears no responsibility for his identity, his psychic response or even his first sexual encounter, which may have been forced upon him. However, every homosexual person must bear the responsibility for his or her choice to enter the homosexual lifestyle. People enter this lifestyle to varying degrees. Some live in the heterosexual world for the most part, seeking out only sporadic, impersonal sexual encounters. Others immerse themselves in the total "gay subculture," a setting in which a person works, lives and socializes in a totally gay environment. There are all the varying degrees in between these two extremes but the gay lifestyle, for many people, is the first place where they have experienced any form of acceptance on a deeper level. In spite of the acceptance that is available, however, the homosexual lifestyle often proves to be a painful and unrewarding way of life, particularly for older gays who are no longer desirable sexually.
As you can see from looking at these four components, homosexuality is a complex problem with many definitions and variations. If someone tells you "I am a homosexual," he has really told you very little about himself. It takes a deeper look to determine the degree to which homosexuality has become a part of his life.
It is true that the way out of homosexuality is not easy, yet there are thousands who have left homosexuality behind and have become "new creations in Christ." Many have married and raised families, while others remain celibate, yet lead joyful lives devoted to God's service. God gives us the desires of our heart. Satan is not pleased when someone sees through the deception of homosexuality and discovers the way out. There are many battles to be fought, but "greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world."
"Do not be afraid or discouraged...for the battle is not yours, but God's."
(II Chronicles 20:15)
The above article is from:
New Hope Ministries
© New Hope Ministries. All rights reserved.
Also see my other blog posts on homosexuality HERE
Behavior: Often, it is assumed that all homosexual people engage in homosexual acts, but this is not always the case. Because of fears or strong religious convictions, some may refrain from sexual behavior, yet experience an intense battle with homosexual attractions. Another wrong assumption is that all people who engage in homosexual acts are homosexual. There are significant numbers of heterosexual men who engage in homosexual acts for a variety of reasons, such as being in prison or anywhere where heterosexual sex is unavailable.
Also, we do not believe that a child who is involved in homosexual acts early in life will necessarily become homosexual unless these acts fulfill needs that are not being met in other ways, such as needs for love, acceptance, security and significance. In these cases, the child's involvement in the act is viewed as a "trade-off" for the non-sexual needs he is obtaining. It is possible that the act and the fulfilled needs may become synonymous, which could lead to the development of a homosexual orientation. However, statistics have shown that most children who experience homosexual acts leave them behind, growing up to lead a normal heterosexual life.
Psychic Response: A brief definition of this term is, "sexual excitation (stimulation) caused by visual perception or fantasy speculation." Psychic response is also what people refer to as a "homosexual orientation." Though many people claim that they have experienced visual or sexual attraction for the same sex "as long as they can remember," there is a progression in a person's life that leads to a homosexual psychic response. A child may start out with a need to compare himself with others to see if he measures up to societal standards. When he feels he doesn't compare favorably with others, he develops admiration for those traits and physical characteristics he feels he does not possess. Admiration, which is normal, may turn to envy. Envy leads to the desire to possess others and finally, to consume others. This strong desire eventually becomes eroticized, normally around puberty, leading to homosexual psychic response. As psychic response begins to grip someone's life, a certain amount of scheming takes place. Sexual situations are pictured in the mind. When the first sexual encounter takes place, it may be the result of several years of planning and fantasy. However, homosexual behavior can also precede psychic response, which may then develop as a conditioned response to sexually-gratifying encounters with those of the same sex.
Identity: Some people enter into homosexuality through "identity". These are people who may not have experienced sexual attraction for the same sex or have had any homosexual encounters. However, from an early age, they have felt they were "different" from other people. They felt abnormal, like they do not fit into the heterosexual world. They reason, "If I'm not heterosexual, then I must be gay" and they accept the homosexual label into their lives. Of course, this is a misinterpretation. A person troubled with shyness, fear of the opposite sex, lack of athletic or social skills need not accept the label "homosexual." However, people do grow into labels. Once a label is accepted, the implied characteristics of that label begin to develop in a person's life. What we believe about ourselves is of extreme importance.
Lifestyle: A homosexual may insist that he bears no responsibility for his identity, his psychic response or even his first sexual encounter, which may have been forced upon him. However, every homosexual person must bear the responsibility for his or her choice to enter the homosexual lifestyle. People enter this lifestyle to varying degrees. Some live in the heterosexual world for the most part, seeking out only sporadic, impersonal sexual encounters. Others immerse themselves in the total "gay subculture," a setting in which a person works, lives and socializes in a totally gay environment. There are all the varying degrees in between these two extremes but the gay lifestyle, for many people, is the first place where they have experienced any form of acceptance on a deeper level. In spite of the acceptance that is available, however, the homosexual lifestyle often proves to be a painful and unrewarding way of life, particularly for older gays who are no longer desirable sexually.
As you can see from looking at these four components, homosexuality is a complex problem with many definitions and variations. If someone tells you "I am a homosexual," he has really told you very little about himself. It takes a deeper look to determine the degree to which homosexuality has become a part of his life.
It is true that the way out of homosexuality is not easy, yet there are thousands who have left homosexuality behind and have become "new creations in Christ." Many have married and raised families, while others remain celibate, yet lead joyful lives devoted to God's service. God gives us the desires of our heart. Satan is not pleased when someone sees through the deception of homosexuality and discovers the way out. There are many battles to be fought, but "greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world."
"Do not be afraid or discouraged...for the battle is not yours, but God's."
(II Chronicles 20:15)
The above article is from:
New Hope Ministries
© New Hope Ministries. All rights reserved.
Also see my other blog posts on homosexuality HERE
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