Thursday, December 25, 2008
Tis The Season To Be Jolly Glad
Monday, December 22, 2008
This aint my home I's just a passin thru, thank God
PRO-HOMOSEXUAL MEDIA GOING BANKRUPT
By Cliff Kincaid
December 19, 2008
NewsWithViews.com
Before Newsweek created a controversy with its laughably absurd cover story that the Bible supports homosexual marriage, lame duck President George W. Bush declared in an interview with Cynthia McFadden of ABC News that he doesn’t believe the Bible to be the literal word of God. So Adam and Eve could just as easily be Adam and Steve? We needed a follow-up from McFadden.
Bush spoke with conviction during the interview about how Jesus Christ has changed his life while McFadden played “gotcha” journalism on the subject of evolution, which has nothing to do with his record as president. What should be addressed is one of his precious few “legacies”—that of promoting the acceptance of homosexuality—which some conservatives do not want to admit or address. It is a record that Barack Obama will build and expand upon.
Bush would prefer to call it “compassionate conservatism,” but there is nothing compassionate about wasting taxpayer dollars promoting a “lifestyle” that spreads disease and death.
Consider the “International Medal of Peace” that Bush was given on December 1, World AIDS Day, by Pastor Rick Warren. One of the many problems with such an award, which sounds humanitarian, is that while it was designed to honor Bush for spending billions of our tax dollars to fight AIDS, it diverts attention from what has become an extremely corrupt, pork-laden and wasteful program. By any rational analysis, it is not “compassionate” to misspend taxpayer dollars that the taxpayers can’t afford to spend or waste. The United Nations still doesn’t even know how many people have AIDS in Africa, which is where Bush has spent most of our tax dollars.
In one of the latest examples of this scandal, Senator Tom Coburn has highlighted how 116 U.S. federal employees joined 22,000 people attending this year’s International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. According to Coburn, the event was supposed to feature a “Sex Workers Mini Film Festival” and a session led by a pro-prostitution group that bragged of bringing in “lots of tourist dollars” for Thailand. Another workshop was titled, “Good Catholics Use Condoms.” The only story I could find about this mess was written by Amanda Carpenter of the conservative Townhall.com website.
Even if the AIDS money were being spent legitimately, it would still be objectionable. The FAIR Foundation exists because of the inequities in disease research spending by the federal government and notes that AIDS gets far more money than 16 diseases that kill a million more Americans than AIDS annually. More than $200 billion in federal money has been spent on AIDS here and abroad since the virus was discovered. No cure or vaccine has been found, but the money keeps flowing because a moneyed special interest group, based in Hollywood, the media, and the homosexual community, demands it.
Washington Post property Newsweek, which acts like an official organ of the homosexual rights movement, a year ago ran an interview with Michael Guest, one of several open homosexuals appointed by Bush to various posts. Guest was given the position of U.S. Ambassador to Romania. During Guest’s swearing-in ceremony, it was reported that then-Secretary of State Colin Powell made a point to recognize Guest’s “partner.” In 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice swore in another openly homosexual Bush appointee, Mark Dybul, to be the global AIDS coordinator, and acknowledged his “partner.” First Lady Laura Bush looked on with approval.
Guest later quit, saying that the State Department was not sufficiently pro-homosexual, and is now an adviser to the Council for Global Equality, which is pressuring the Bush Administration to endorse a pro-gay rights statement being considered this week by the United Nations General Assembly. The group is demanding that Secretary of State Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Zalmay Khalilzad, and Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Brian Hook approve the resolution.
Don’t expect to see any critical coverage of this effort by the national media. Even the “conservative” Fox News was a sponsor of this year’s National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA). Other sponsors were CBS, CNN, ESPN, Gannett, Hearst Newspapers, NBC Universal, the McClatchy Company, the Washington Post, and Bloomberg.
And you thought that Fox News and NBC were rivals? Not on the matter of cozying up to the gays. They’re strange bedfellows on the matter of gay rights. This crowd considers criticism of homosexuality a hate crime.
Indeed, the FoxNews.com website has run a bizarre story on how “journalists and activist groups” are blasting the Vatican for its “grotesque” opposition to the pro-gay rights statement being considered by the U.N. Fox News ran photos of the anti-Vatican protests, highlighting a lesbian wearing a noose to signify her treatment by Christians.
Americans who support traditional marriage are not threatening anyone. They are just trying to preserve traditional values. As we saw recently with the homosexual rampage in California, following approval of the pro-traditional marriage Proposition 8, Christians should be fearful. A 69-year-old woman carrying a Styrofoam cross had it ripped out of her hands and stomped on by “gay” activists. White powder, designed to make people think it contains the deadly anthrax bacteria, has been sent to Mormon temples and offices to protest the fact that members of the church supported Proposition 8.
The real threat comes from the militant homosexuals, their media allies, and President-elect Barack Obama, a double-talker on the subject who claims he opposes gay marriage but opposed Proposition 8.
In regard to Newsweek’s ridiculous cover story, “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage,” a leading Bible authority, Professor Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, has written at length about how Newsweek author Lisa Miller distorted the bible and deceived her readers. It is interesting to note that, at about the same time this sorry excuse for a cover story was being distributed, Newsweek announced more job cuts. It cut more than one hundred jobs in the Spring.
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In a major article posted one day before the national election, Gagnon went beyond the issue of media bias to write ominously about “Obama’s Coming War on Historic Christianity over Homosexual Practice and Abortion.” He said the record indicates that, in the area of free speech rights, Obama and/or his appointees to federal agencies will seek to enact “severe restrictions” against alleged “homophobic” utterances. Those who violate these new rules and regulations will “incur financial penalties and loss of license,” he warned. Such a scheme could be the forerunner to the re-imposition of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” on broadcasters.
But wait. Aren’t we being told by liberal and conservative columnists and commentators that Obama is coming across as “moderate?”
As we have argued in the past, especially in regard to the handling of the financial crisis, Obama looks like a “moderate” only because Bush has moved so far to the left. That’s also true in regard to promotion of homosexuality. Bush did not support homosexual marriage, but he promoted the homosexual agenda in many other ways, earning sympathetic press releases from the “gay” Log Cabin Republicans. Their heroes are Republicans such as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who believes Proposition 8, the pro-traditional marriage amendment which the majority of people in the state voted for on November 4, is unconstitutional.
Under pressure, alleged Republican homosexual Senator Larry Craig will be gone when the new Senate convenes next year, but the problem will remain. Alan Stang’s incendiary book, Not Holier Than Thou, will be an eye-opening experience for those unfamiliar with the significant number of homosexuals in official Republican ranks. He names names.
For those who say none of this is relevant and that it doesn’t impact public policy, Stang points to the ongoing scandal on the other side of the aisle, involving Democratic Party Rep. Barney Frank. You may recall that he hired a “hot bottom” out of the Washington (Gay) Blade and then let him use his apartment as the base of a homosexual prostitution ring. Frank also tried to fix his parking tickets. Frank was reprimanded for this conduct by the House of Representatives, but the Democrats have lower standards than Republicans and did not expel or force him out of Congress.
Frank found a new “partner” or “lover,” Herb Moses, who became assistant director for product initiatives at Fannie Mae while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie. In this case, Bill Sammon of Fox News did the necessary digging, noting the obvious conflict of interest. He reported, “Although Frank now blames Republicans for the failure of Fannie and Freddie, he spent years blocking GOP lawmakers from imposing tougher regulations on the mortgage giants. In 1991, the year Moses was hired by Fannie, the Boston Globe reported that Frank pushed the agency to loosen regulations on mortgages for two- and three-family homes, even though they were defaulting at twice and five times the rate of single homes, respectively.”
Doesn’t it seem newsworthy that a Congressman who received campaign donations from Fannie was romantically involved with a Fannie executive?
But in the famous October 2 interview with Frank over his role in the mortgage crisis, Bill O’Reilly of Fox News never once brought up the subject. It’s probably because Frank would have brought up O’Reilly’s own sex scandal. The Fox News personality settled with a former employee who charged him with sexual harassment.
To take the story one step further, it turns out the Freddie Mac Foundation has given more than $125,000 to gay-activist groups since 2005, while the Fannie Mae Foundation has donated about $80,000 to such groups over the last decade.
Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth has documented how the media have a deliberate policy of not reporting anything that puts homosexuals in a bad light. The group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays says this is due to the efforts of NLGJA, which “boasts over 1,300 journalists embedded in the nation’s leading newspapers, television and radio stations, and new media” and which has announced that it is monitoring the “new generation of journalists” to make sure they toe the line.
These are the people who give Bush “credit” for wasting money on AIDS and will portray Obama’s expanded pro-homosexual and anti-Christian agenda as one of tolerance and diversity.
It’s no wonder “mainstream” media outlets like Newsweek are losing readers and jobs. They deserve to go economically bankrupt because they have demonstrated they are morally bankrupt.
© 2008 Cliff Kincaid - All Rights Reserved
Good Will Warning
SUBVERTING THE WORD OF GOD
By Marsha West
December 19, 2008
NewsWithViews.com
Recently we learned that President Bush, an evangelical Christian, doesn’t take the Bible literally. During an interview ABC’s Cynthia McFadden asked him if the Bible is literally true and he replied “probably not.” He said he does believe you can learn a lot from the Bible, “but I do think that the New Testament for example is ... has got ... You know, the important lesson is 'God sent a son.’” [1] Important lesson? No, Mr. President, the New Testament contains Good News…and “the important lesson” is not that “God sent a son” it’s the reason He sent His Son. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
The president certainly knew that his words would be heard by millions of people, yet this professing Christian stopped short of explaining the Good News of the Gospel. President Bush’s answer was a huge let down for true Christians.
Another quote from the president:
"It is hard for me to justify or prove the mystery of the Almighty in my life," he said. "All I can just tell you is that I got back into religion and I quit drinking shortly thereafter and I asked for help. ... I was a one-step program guy."
Our president obviously lacks a clear understanding of Christianity. Sadly, he admitted that he’s not a literalist. Translated this means he doesn’t believe in the authority of Scripture. In other words, he takes the Bible cafeteria style. And he’s not alone! Today many professing Christians don’t hold to the authority of the Bible, and like Bush they pick and choose what they like and ignore what doesn’t make sense to them or seems offensive. One example of this is the doctrine of hell. Many Christians choose to reject the idea that a good and loving God would send those who deny Jesus Christ to eternal damnation. A literalist believes He will do just that. Literalists hold that all Scripture is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. The Apostle Paul called the scriptures “God-breathed.” Simply put: God spoke into the minds of the writers.
“Our authority is not our own,” Albert Mohler reminds us. “We are called to the task of preaching the Bible, in season and out of season. We are rightly to divide the Word of truth, and to teach the infinite riches of the Word of God. There are no certainties without the authority of the Scripture. We have nothing but commas and question marks to offer if we lose confidence in the inerrant and infallible Word of God. There are no thunderbolts where the Word of God is subverted, mistrusted, or ignored.” [2]
In an effort to promote same-sex “marriage,” “Newsweek” went after conservative Christianity in a big way when Lisa Miller attempted to make “the religious case for same-sex marriage.” [3] “Newsweek,” it seems, has taken the “progressive” view of homosexuality. "Biblical literalists will disagree,” said Miller, “but the Bible is a living document, powerful for more than 2,000 years because its truths speak to us even as we change through history."
She’s right. Biblical literalists disagreed -- vehemently. Tony Perkins of the conservative Family Research Council said in a recent Washington Update:
“Newsweek magazine effectively declared war on marriage this week, running a long essay on "The Religious Case for Gay Marriage" as their cover story. In the wake of the victory of California's marriage amendment (Proposition 8) on Election Day, homosexual marriage advocates realize that their opponents are not going to fade away or compromise their convictions. Not content any longer to make a "separation of church and state" argument for same-sex "marriage," they are instead mounting a direct attack on Christian opposition to homosexual conduct and to same-sex "marriage" on biblical grounds.”
The tone of the “Newsweek” essay was arrogant and condescending. Lisa Miller presumes to know what Christians think and feel. She went so far as to say that some followers of Jesus operate out of prejudice. She even tried to make the case that Christians oppose same-sex “marriage” because they’re uncomfortable with same gender sex which is simply not true. Christians oppose same-sex “marriage” because the Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sexual perversion.
Perkins went on to say:
“The article included blatant factual errors, such as the claim that Jesus never "explicitly defines marriage as between one man and one woman" (see, e.g., Mark 10:6-8-"But from the beginning of creation, God MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE. FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH; so they are no longer two, but one flesh."), and the claim that "nowhere in the Bible do its authors refer to sex between women" (see Romans 1:26). It also had logical contradictions, arguing for the Bible's support of "gay marriage" while simultaneously dismissing the Bible as supportive of slavery and anti-Semitism.” [4]
Romans 1:26 says, “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature.”
“For the record,” said Chuck Colson, “nowhere in the Bible is homosexual activity praised or advocated. The only mentions of it condemn the practice, some calling it an abomination. On the other hand, the Bible has plenty to say about the marriage of one man to one woman. Take a look at God’s commands in the garden, or Christ’s words on leaving and cleaving and becoming one flesh, or look at Paul’s instructions specifically for “husbands” and “wives” in Ephesians 5.” [5]
A well-known evangelical “shifting” on same-sex “marriage” is Richard Cizik. The chickens have come home to roost for Cizik. On Dec. 12 he resigned as vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, an organization that claims to represent 45,000 churches. His resignation came after protests over a Dec. 2 interview on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" show with Terry Gross. Cizik told Gross that he voted for pro-abortion Barack Obama in the Virginia primary and “suggested that Christians should not be afraid to vote for candidates who support abortion and same-sex "marriage." He also admitted on that broadcast that he was "shifting" on the issue of marriage and that he supports homosexual civil unions.” [6]
Emergent Church leader Tony Jones recently came out in support of same-sex “marriage.” In my article, “Tony Jones’ Continuous Leftward Slide Into Apostasy” I took him to task for making the announcement that practicing homosexuals can be Christians. Among other things, I pointed out that his “opinion” does not line up with what Scripture teaches on homosexuality. Sadly, in his zeal to promote same-sex “marriage,” Tony neglected to mention that same gender sex has HUGE health risks! (More on this later.) Since Christians are to strive to be like Christ the obvious question is can a practicing homosexual who engages in risky deviant behavior be like Christ? I await Tony’s answer on this.
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Another theological liberal, Tony Campolo, claims he doesn’t support same-sex “marriage” yet in his book “Red Letter Christians” he says otherwise. So what gives? (To find out, read Joseph Farah’s article “Campolo on same-sex marriage.”) Does Tony Campolo really oppose same-sex “marriage”?:
"Allow me to suggest a way out of this conflict and the difficult questions being raised these days about whether our country should approve of homosexual marriages," he writes. "I propose that the government should get out of the business of marrying people and, instead, only give legal status to civil unions. The government should do this for both gay couples and straight couples, and leave marriage in the hands of the Church and other religious entities. That's the way it works in Holland: If a couple wants to be united in the eyes of the law, whether gay or straight, they go down to city hall and legally register, securing all the rights and privileges a couple has under Dutch law. Then, if the couple wants their relationship blessed – to be married – they go to a church, synagogue or other house of worship.
"Marriage should be viewed as an institution ordained by God and should be out of the control of the state. Of course, homosexual couples could go to churches that welcome and affirm gay marriage and get their unions blessed there, but isn't that the way it should be in a nation that guarantees people the right to promotion religion according to their personal convictions?"
Sorry, Tony, but this is not what the Bible teaches. What it does teach is, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." (Lev. 18:22)
Campolo’s wife, Peggy, who is an activist involved in homosexual causes, said, “We both believe that homosexual orientations are not chosen any more than heterosexual orientations are chosen.” There’s not a shred of scientific evidence to support her claim, still it’s what she and her husband choose to believe, in spite of what the Bible teaches. Peggy thinks, “homosexuals are entitled to the same rights and privileges I claim for myself, including being able to marry legally and in the sight of the church...”
Tony and Peggy go around the country debating homosexuality. Tony defends his view of what the Bible teaches, Peggy defends homosexuals. (Read one debate here…footnote [7])
Without getting too far afield, Peggy tells of her personal experiences with “gays” she’s known. What she wants is for the church to love and accept homosexuals just as they are. Tony wants that too. Peggy’s words tug on your heart strings! But this well-meaning woman never once warns the audience of the inherent risks in same gender sex! She has harsh words for the Christian community, yet she fails to mention the pain HIV-AIDS causes its victims and their families and friends, or the medical cost to society. No mention of drug resistant MRSA, the virulent staph that’s infecting the “gay” community, either. Also on the rise is gay bowel disease, but no warning from the Campolos.
Why would they want to withhold this kind of important information from the public? People deserve to know the truth! But progressives are mute.
Since we live in a free country liberals have the right to say whatever they want to about Christianity. Moreover, they’re free to demonize Christians and criticize them for having what they perceive as Stone Age moral values. Progressives have the freedom to make bogus claims in regards to what the Bible does and does not teach on a whole host of subjects, including homosexuality. And they have a perfect right to promote tolerance, diversity, and multiculturalism. But do they have the right to lie about and try to silence those who disagree with them? This is exactly what liberals, who claim to be loving and tolerant, are doing. After the passage of Proposition 8, the ballot measure that banned same-sex “marriage” in California, here’s how they reacted:
“[It] stirred the ire of gay activists like little else,” noted Chuck Colson. “Besides thuggish vandalism of church property, that anger is being translated into mockery of the faith community.”
“Nowhere do we see it more clearly than the viral video, “Proposition 8: The Musical,” created by “Hairspray” composer Marc Shaiman, which has now been seen by 2 million people online. In it the religious characters sing, “It's time to spread some hate/ And put it in the constitution.”
“The short video is full of distortions, and even lies. As radio commentator Dennis Prager of the Hoover Institution puts it, “Hatred based on ignorance is known as bigotry.” [8]
Progressives are out to knock Christianity off its orthodox foundation that’s based on absolute truth and are trying to rebuild it on a foundation of moral relativism, where truth is unknowable. You heard what Lisa Miller said about the Bible being a “living document.” Well the same has been said of the U.S. Constitution! In 2000 Al Gore said if elected he promised to appoint judges "who understand that our Constitution is a living and breathing document," and who understand that "it was intended by our founders to be interpreted in the light of the constantly evolving experience of the American people."
The question people of faith need to ask is did God intend for the Bible to be a living and breathing document that should be interpreted in the light of the constantly evolving experience of moral relativists?
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Another question people of faith need to ask themselves is what would happen in terms of group marriage, incestuous marriage, and polygamy if same-sex “marriage” becomes legal? What else are we opening up the doors to? And if you think this kind of thing will never happen, think again. For years radical “gay” activists, public school teachers, and the Hollywood elite have been indoctrinating kids to believe that the homosexual, bisexual, and other sexually deviant behaviors are the moral equivalent of biblical heterosexuality. What’s next on their agenda!
Something people of faith need to ask themselves about same-sex “marriage” is does it help create a healthy society? We preach to our kids about good nutrition and exercise. We warn kids of the hazards of smoking and alcohol and drug abuse. We even try to protect them from secondhand smoke, yet we say little or nothing about secondhand sex, which is more of a health risk than secondhand smoke!
Parents who love their kids limit their time on electronics, protect them from sexual predators, try to keep them from viewing unseemly TV programs and movies, and buckle them into car seats. Many teachers scare students with all the hype about so-called dangers of global warming and then get them fretting over polar bear extinction. What kids should be fretting over is the risks inherent in anal sex because more and more of them are engaging in this perversion!
Anal sex isn’t the only area parents and teachers fall short. Young girls are not being told that lesbians have higher rates of alcohol and drug use, especially among young lesbians, plus poor nutrition and obesity. Thus there’s an increased risk of breast, ovarian, endometrial, and other cancers. Girls need to be informed of health risks! Telling the truth is loving, not hateful!
Sadly, I have yet to hear words of warning from the lips of neo-evangelicals who proudly promote same-sex “marriage.” They pat themselves on the back for not sitting in judgment of anyone and spout the Left’s mantra that the Church must become tolerant and inclusive. While these phonies are preaching acceptance of every perversion imaginable, Christ’s lambs are being led over a cliff by these moral degenerate wolves!
The truth is, neo-evangelicals are feeding the wolves and starving the sheep! Sound harsh? Jesus was even harsher. He called the religious leaders “hypocrites.” He also called them a “generation of vipers.” He told them that God had been right about them when he said, “This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Jesus loved people but he condemned the religious leaders as the blind leading the blind, calling them “whitewashed tombs containing dead men’s bones.”
Paul wrote in Phil. 3:16-17 “Let us walk by the same rule let us be of the same mind. Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.” The New Testament was not in circulation so Paul used himself and the other apostles as examples to follow. They were servants of God. They were not worried about their reputations -- and they certainly didn’t care if they were politically correct! Their purpose was to spread the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and to challenge anyone who taught a false gospel.
Christianity is under assault! God’s people must forget about their reputations and start defending the faith! Should followers of Christ do less than Paul, who warned the Church to, “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!” (Phil. 3:2). Paul was talking about false teachers!
It’s astonishing how masses of professing Christians will sit idly by and allow a small number of liberals to change the face of Christianity. In this article I provided a few examples of this -- but they’re just the tip of the iceberg. Lisa Miller’s hack job article for “Newsweek” is the most recent attempt, but rest assured plenty more like it will soon follow. By running the article “Newsweek” has put forth its agenda to normalize same-sex “marriage.” But in order to accomplish this, Christianity must be redefined so that it blends into a culture where happiness and pleasure, not truth, are of primary importance.
“Newsweek” is a secular magazine. But until recently Richard Cizik was a representative of the largest evangelical organization of in the country! Where does he get off speaking for evangelicals, when his views on same-sex “marriage” and abortion don’t represent the organization’s view? And what gives emergent church guru Tony Jones the right to declare that homosexuality is compatible with Christianity when the Bible says it’s not? Who are Tony and Peggy Campolo to bash historic orthodox Christianity because they feel the need to placate sinful behavior?
As for President Bush, not long ago he shocked conservative Christians when he said he believes Muslims and Christians worship the same God. Clearly, he doesn’t grasp one of the essentials of the Christian faith: The Trinity. True Christians hold that God exists as a unity of three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each person is divine and there is only one God. Muslims reject the Trinity. They hold that Jesus Christ is not God, he was a prophet. Since the Christian God is Trinitarian, anyone who believes that Christians and Muslims pray to the same God is dead wrong.
Serious Christians are to:
“have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11).
Moreover:
“ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3-4).
And remember:
“there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed” (2 Peter 2:1-2).
