Prophets vs Profits: Principled Protests to Businesses

Here's a couple of letters I recently sent to businesses that have completely lost their moral bearings. Why write? Because it's a response decidedly more consistent with Christian sanctification (including the proclamation of God's truths to the world) than is tolerant silence, indifference, or other moral compromise. Indeed, I post these letters in hopes that others (including yours) will be forthcoming. Have at it!

The first letter was directed to Postmates, Burger King, Dr. Pepper, and Cottonelle for recent ads they promoted as part of their "Pride Month" advertising. Those ads included "humorous" references to homosexual acts.

Dear Burger King,

I recently read the details of your recent use of explicit homosexual references in what you considered humorous ads for your products.  We are only two of many who find that particularly crass and mean-spirited. We will be demonstrating our protest through our consumer decisions and will pass along the word to others.

And this next letter was sent to companies whose response to the reversal of the evil Roe v Wade law was to scream loudly against any and all restrictions to abortion and then to go so far as to pledge the financing of an abortion and related expenses to their employees who decided to have an abortionist destroy their babies. Unbelievable.

Those companies? 

* Amazon.com    * Bank of America (The nation's second-largest bank)
* Cigna    * CNN    * Comcast (The parent company of NBC/Universal)
* CVS Health     * Dick's Sporting Goods    * Estee Lauder 
* Hewlett Packard     * Ikea      * Kroger      * Lyft
* MasterCard     * Microsoft 
* Paramount (The media conglomerate which owns CBS News)
* Patagonia     * Paypal     * Procter & Gamble    * Starbucks 
* Target    * Tesla    * Uber     * Walt Disney     * Yahoo

Dear Dick's Sporting Goods,

I write to express my extreme disappointment for your cruel zealotry regarding the dismemberment and poisoning of preborn boys and girls. I refer, of course, to your support of Planned Parenthood, the nation's #1 abortionist, and your support of unlimited abortion without the slightest regard to the little innocent children which will be abortion’s victims. That is so very mean-spirited...and sad. But to then go further in the actual enablement of that horrendous violence by financing the abortions of your employees goes even further beyond the pale.

We are but two of the many Americans who will also express our disappointment with your cold-hearted company by our consumer decisions. And, yes; we will pass the word to others.

And What Might We Learn From This Country Church?

My, my, my. Did we ever have church yesterday morning!  Claire and I are in Branson and we re-visited Friendly Baptist Church, a church we have attended a few times since meeting many of their members when we joined them two years ago for the Life Chain.  In fact, we assembled with them again yesterday afternoon for that same pro-life witness.

But let me get back to the church service.  Before I go into a description of this church, however, let me warn you that you just might find my remarks a little unsettling. Why? Because they may suggest some important things that your church should be doing too…but are not.  If that’s the case, be aware you are far from being alone.  Indeed, the reasons that I’m talking about them is both to encourage you by the fact that there are still churches in America like this…and to illustrate a few “targets of opportunity” for all of us to work towards in those of our churches that need revival and reform.

First of all, let me say that the sermon was a fine, biblically-centered one.  Excellent content.  Well-crafted and delivered, though with humility and compassion.  Relevant.  Bold. Furthermore, it was a sermon which presented illustrations of a “grown-up sort” instead of Hollywood film clips, pop music lyrics, video game parallels, GIFS and memes, corny jokes, quotes from modern celebrities, and so on.  I really appreciated that.  Instead, the preacher used several other Scriptures to illustrate and expand the morning’s text (James 1:26-27) as well as insightful references to Charles Dickens, Martin Luther, Alexander Hamilton, the opportunity of a new Supreme Court Justice who would oppose Roe v Wade, the terribly poor record of the food stamp policy to alleviate poverty, the U.S. Constitution, the counter-productive rhetoric and actions of Black Lives Matter, a kind but firm presentation of biblical truth to someone caught up in sexual perversion, and more.  The sermon was challenging, persuasive, and presented important and immediate applications for the hearers.

But though the text of the Bible should always be the star of a Sunday morning church service, there are other elements. In this case, there were times of prayer, Bible reading, and music. (And, I mean, a lot of music -- but I’ll get to that in a moment.)  Let me begin with a review of the prayers. There were prayers lifted to God for the effect of that afternoon’s Life Chain, for the health of the President and First Lady (and other members of the administration who had tested positive for the Covid virus), and the health of several members of the church congregation who were undergoing trials.  Also, there were prayers for Amy Coney Barratt and the Supreme Court; for persecuted Christians around the world, for an overcoming end to the lies, chaos and destruction fomented by the devil; for the pastor and his hearers; for police and firefighters; for the election; and for all of us to hear carefully and heed consistently the message God had for us through His Word. These were critically important matters for believers in our time that were brought before the throne and Claire and I really appreciated that often-neglected ministry.

The Bible reading included a lengthy reading of Proverbs 14 by one of the congregation’s lay leaders who gave an excellent introduction to the text before asking those who could to stand while he read the Bible text itself.  Later, the pastor began his sermon with reading from Chapter 1 of James and the congregation stood for that as well. 

And then there was that wonderful music. We purposefully arrived at Friendly Baptist Church early because we knew that 8-12 musicians show up long before the service begins. They come to play beloved hymns about a half hour before with dozens of the saints coming in to enjoy the worshipful concert. These musicians (mostly older) play guitars, keyboards, fiddles, saxophone, steel guitar, harmonica, and more.  It is a really superb ministry with the people listening to great old hymns (instrumentals only) as they sing along, pray, enjoy memories, and prepare their hearts for the teaching of the Word.  But when the service starts, there are plenty more hymns to sing as well as 2-3 special music presentations. It was, as we have experienced before at this church, charming and inspiring and something which well contributes to a wholesome body life for the congregation.

But I’m not done yet.  Let me finish by telling you a bit about the announcements, the church bulletin, and what’s going on throughout the week at this church because they reveal how much further the ministry of the church goes beyond the Sunday morning program. In this too, I must say, the church is unfortunately unusual among evangelical churches of our day.  For instance, the announcements included a heartwarming pitch for the Life Chain outreach given by the pastor.  He spoke eloquently about the need for such public witnesses for the sanctity of life, warmly thanked the congregation for their faithfulness in this outreach in the past, and then gave a personal charge to everyone to join him in the afternoon’s event. Perhaps it’s needless to say, but that also impressed Claire and I a great deal.  Later, one of the members of the missionary committee explained how a final push for Operation Christmas Child would let them beat the record for the number of shoeboxes they had set in previous years. Yes, there were a couple of announcements that dealt with programs centered around the church building but how refreshing it was to see how this church sees it’s “holy business” as being outside the walls of the building too.

This visionary perspective was even seen in the church bulletin for there we saw another pitch for Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Child outreach, more information about the Life Chain, information about two other missionary endeavors, and finally, the weekly prayer calendar suggested by the Voice of the Martyrs, Wow. And the building is used beyond that Sunday morning too. For although, Covid has caused them to suspend Sunday evening services for awhile longer, there’s still Sunday School classes, a Monday night Bible study, a sewing circle, Wednesday night prayer service, and who knows what else? 

Like I said, we really experienced church yesterday morning. And how we pray that other American churches would rediscover (and quickly too) the need to speak to truth to the culture, to challenge pew-sitters to stop being molded by the world, to heartily seek to equip and  mobilize the church in counter-culture outreach, to get seriously involved in pro-life ministries, to find new respect for the beauty and power of traditional hymns which have been so beloved by generations, and more. Thank you, Lord, for allowing Claire and I the blessing, the inspiration, and the serious challenge that came our way yesterday through the brethren at Friendly Baptist Church.

A Midweek Roundup

* “The five blatantly false rationalizations Republicans will use to vote for Donald Trump” (John J. Pitney, Jr., Quartz)

* “ISIS Crimes Against Christians Detailed in New Report” (Kristiana Mork, Daily Signal)

* “Trumpcare: A Lazy Plan from a Lazy Man” (David Catron, American Spectator)

* “Russia may be leaving Syria but Putin will have Assad's back for a long, long time” (James Jay Carafano, Fox News)

* “The ‘Compassionate’ Bullying of the Left” (Erick Erickson, Daily Signal)

* “Why Ben Shapiro Resigned from Breitbart” (Paul Mirengoff, Power Line)

* “Kanye West Isn’t the Only One With a Spending Problem” (Mollie McNeill, Daily Signal)

* “ICE: 124 illegal immigrants released from jail later charged in 138 murder cases” (Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner)

* “The 25 Manliest Quotes By Americans” (John Hawkins, Town Hall)

A Sexual Revolution Report: Alfred Kinsey's Flawed (and Foul) Research

In The Godfather of Gay Rights, an illuminating, detailed, and well-authenticated Mercator article, Alan Branch, former Army chaplain and now professor of Christian Ethics at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, relates the bizarre career of sexologist Alfred Kinsey and the wide-ranging social effects of Kinsey’s dramatically flawed research.

Here are a few excerpts:

…Kinsey compiled the findings from these interviews into two books that were the opening salvos of the sexual revolution that soon swept the United States: Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953). Both works contain many sweeping assertions and often move quickly from tables full of data to moral speculation about the repressed sexual ethics of America.

Kinsey officially began sexual research in 1941 with the help of funds from the Rockefeller Foundation and the assistance of the National Research Council. In 1947 Kinsey founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now simply known as The Kinsey Institute. What has become clearer in the years since the publication of the Kinsey reports is that Kinsey was not merely gathering information about other people’s sexual experiences, but he was also engaging in assorted sexual practices with various members of the research team.

Instead of the staid atmosphere most people associate with academia, the Institute for Sex Research became a kind of sexual utopia for the gratification of the appetites of Kinsey and his team. According to one biographer, “Kinsey decreed that within the inner circle men could have sex with each other; wives would be swapped freely, and wives too, would be free to embrace whichever sexual partners they liked.”Kinsey himself engaged in various forms of heterosexual and homosexual intercourse with members of the institute staff, including filming various sexual acts in the attic of his home...

Reflecting on the public morality of the day, Kinsey suggested American society’s moral revulsion to many of the sexual acts he described originated in “ignorance and superstition” and not in “scientific examinations of objectively gathered data.”…In this way, Kinsey argues much like other sexually libertine propagandists of the second half of the Twentieth Century: We should no longer look at sexual behavior in the categories of right versus wrong, but instead in the categories of more common versus less common…

Much of what Kinsey called “data” was actually vulgar, pornographic material with no morally redeeming value. He went so far as to include graffiti from bathroom walls in his research. Attempting to dignify the unwholesome filth often scrawled in public bathrooms, Kinsey noted, “From the days of ancient Greece and Rome, it has been realized that uninhibited expressions of sexual desires may be found in the anonymous inscriptions scratched in out-of-the-way places by authors who may freely express themselves because they never expect to be identified.” According to Kinsey, we should not think of such filth as inappropriate defacing of property; it is actually a venue for the sexually repressed…

Another glaring problem in Kinsey’s report is the phenomenon of volunteer bias: Survey participants who volunteered to be questioned about their sexual experience were also more likely to be sexually adventurous and out of the mainstream…

The most disturbing and hotly debated part of Kinsey’s research is chapter 5 of Sexual Behavior in the Human Male titled, “Early Sexual Growth and Activity.”  Kinsey gathered data from people who can only rightly be called child molesters. Describing the source of some of his data on small children he said, “Better data on pre-adolescent climax come from the histories of adult males who have had sexual contacts with younger boys and who, with their adult backgrounds, are able to recognize and interpret the boys’ experiences.”…

Although Kinsey’s data and conclusions are flawed, his work opened the door for public discussion of homosexuality and helped set the stage for the Sexual Revolution and the burgeoning gay rights movement.

Today's Must Reads

* “America the Vulnerable” (Judith Miller, City Journal)

* “After Paris: A Christian View on Protecting the Innocent” (Mark Tooley, National Review)

* “Sweden has it all - except freedom of conscience: A court has ruled that abortion rights leave no room for a midwife to be exempted.” (Carolyn Moynihan, Mercator)

* “Clueless Hillary: ‘Muslims Have Nothing Whatsoever To Do With Terrorism’” (Editorial, Investor’s Business Daily)

* “U.S. ran out of ammo in attack on ISIS trucks” (Byron York, Washington Examiner)

* “Emails show DOD analysts told to 'cut it out' on ISIS warnings; IG probe expands” (Catherine Herridge, Fox News)

* “Can Opposing Same-Sex Marriage Get You Fired at Marquette University?” (M.D. Kittle, Daily Signal)

* “Millennials being ‘priced out of parenthood’” (Tamara El-Rahi, Mercator)

* “150 on flight from Mexico allowed to skip customs, leave JFK airport” (Brian Niemetz, Victoria Bekiempis, New York Daily News)

* “Democrats Unveil New Strategy: Take Unpopular Positions” (John Hinderaker, Power Line)

Checking In

Among the many excellent articles provided by the increasingly important alternative media this past weekend, I've chosen to pass along the following:

* “Liberals against Religious Liberty in Indiana” (The Editors of National Review)

* “Obama, son of anarchy in the scrambled Middle East” (New York Daily News editors)

* “Expected Iranian nuclear deal worse than Israel feared: Netanyahu" (Dan Williams, Reuters)

* “Black Church Group of 34,000 Churches From 15 Denominations Splits With PCUSA Over Gay Marriage” (Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post)

* “Hillary Clinton’s unpardonable scandal trail” (Adriana Cohen, Boston Herald) 

* “Google controls what we buy, the news we read — and Obama’s policies” (Kyle Smith, New York Post)

* “By It’s Own Criteria, The Obama Administration Is An Economic Failure” (John Hinderaker, PowerLine)

* “Hillary: The Democrats’ Nixon” (John Fund, NRO)

Up To Speed: Today's Important Reads

* “Harper’s Magazine urges readers to ‘Stop Hillary! Vote No’” (Page Six Team, NY Post)

* “A Church in Exile: Hillsong Shifts on Homosexuality” (Andrew Walker, First Things)

* “Hillsong Church, Relevance & Pariahs” (Mark Tooley, Juicy Ecumenism)*

* “Incompetence Meets Mendacity in Obama Administration’s Ebola Response” (Andrew C. McCarthy, NRO)

* “The Vatican Backpedals on Support for Gays and Divorcees” (Allen McDuffee, Atlantic)

* “Voters Poised to Hit Brakes on Obama, Dems” (Salena Zito, Real Clear Politics)

* “Pets Allowed: Why are so many animals now in places where they shouldn’t be?” (Patrica Marx, The New Yorker)

* “Gay Marriage vs Religious Freedom, The Latest Installment” (Paul Mirengoff, PowerLine)

* “Kerry: Extremism Not Linked to Islam; Factors Include Deprivation, Climate Change” (Patrick Goodenough, CNS News)

Releasing the Dogs on All Nonconformists

Imagine going to work one day only to be, in effect, fired -- not because of anything you did or didn’t do at your job, but because of something you did in your personal life.  Something religious.  Or maybe, something political…

That’s exactly what happened to Brendan Eich, a highly-respected tech guru in Silicon Valley and co-founder of Mozilla Corporation, after he was appointed CEO in late March.  In less than a week, he was forced out of this position for no reason other than that he had a made a $1000 contribution to the Prop 8 initiative in 2008.  His own money.  On his own time.  In his private capacity.  Mozilla had nothing to do with it…

Welcome to the brave new world of thought police, coercion, injustice, and the rigorous persecution of persons of conscience.

Ah, America. The land of the free and the home of the brave. The city shining on the hill.

It was nice knowing you.

Here's more of Sally Zelikovsky’s excellent article for American Thinker, "Brendan Eich and the New American Totalitarian State."

Urgent Action Needed on Nebraska "Sexual Orientation" Bill

LB485 is being pushed through very quickly and is on today's agenda agenda in the Nebraska Capitol. Here is a quick summary of what you can do. And believe me, now is the time to act. Don't put it off.

Would you take a few minutes to do 3 things?

1.  Forward this email to your family, friends, colleagues, Bible Study groups, business owners, pastors, and your church community.  Senators need to hear from hundreds of concerned Nebraskans within the next 48 hours.

2.  Contact Speaker Adams:  402.471.2756  and/or gadams@leg.ne.gov
Politely leave Speaker Adams a message and ask him to not support LB485.

3. Contact Senators: visit www.nebraskafamilyalliance.org for contact information or give them a call @ 402.770.7713.  They would be glad to let you know who your senator is and discuss any questions or concerns you may have. Politely tell your Senator to oppose LB485. Choose two or three of the talking points below:

* In America, people should be free to live and work according to their beliefs. It’s one of the principles on which this country is founded.

* The government should not require Nebraskans to abandon their faith just to earn a living.

* LB485 would change our state non-discrimination statutes to extend special protections to sexual orientation and gender identity and provides a very weak religious exemption.

* LB485 demands that Nebraskans comply and risk losing their job to honor their deeply held religious beliefs.

* LB485 would allow unelected bureaucrats to decide what faith is, who the faithful are, and where and how faith may be lived out.

* We all agree arbitrary discrimination is wrong. All people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. The real question in LB485 is whether we should enact a law that, while attempting to protect homosexuals against discrimination, fosters widespread discrimination against people of faith and subjects business owners to needless litigation.

Important Reading For Culture Warriors (And Anyone Who Wants To Be In The Know)

* “Bob Kerrey Calls Obama a Delusional Liar; Media Mum” (P.J. Gladnick, Newsbusters)

* “Startling Rift on Supreme Court Springs From Error by Kagan On Text of Obamacare Law” (Betsy McCaughey, New York Sun)

* “Report: Obama administration released 68,000 convicted criminal aliens last year” (Caroline May, Daily Caller)

* “Cleveland Clinic CEO: Three-Quarters Of Americans Who Signed Up For Obamacare Now Have Higher Premiums” (CBS TV, Cleveland)

* “6 Big Unanswered Questions About Obamacare” (Peter Suderman, Reason.com)

* “Chick-fil-A stole KFC's chicken crown with a fraction of the stores” (Venessa Wong, Business Week via Yahoo Finance)

* “Obamacare Real Enrollment: Just 1.7% of Uninsured Covered” (Wynton Hall, Breitbart)

* “Obama Told Military Leaders: Accept Gays In Military Or Step Down, Admiral Says” (Ellie Hall, BuzzFeed)

World Vision Hits Reverse. But Is Their Apology Enough?

Igniting a furor among Evangelicals after Monday’s announcement accepting same sex unions by employees, the $1 billion relief group World Vision on Wednesday completely reversed itself and apologized for its “mistake.”

After a board meeting, World Vision’s president and board chair affirmed it will “revert to our longstanding conduct policy requiring sexual abstinence for all single employees and faithfulness within the Biblical covenant of marriage between a man and a woman.”

They added: “We have listened to you and want to say thank you and to humbly ask for your forgiveness” for neglecting World Vision’s “commitment to the traditional understanding of Biblical marriage” and belief in the Bible as the “inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.”…

World Vision’s Monday policy was a muddle from the start and seemed like possibly the clueless construction of a secular public relations firm. It affirmed same sex marriage, inclusively in deference to liberal Protestant churches, while still implausibly insisting singles remain celibate until married, which liberal Protestants mostly don’t. It insisted employees must still uphold the Apostles Creed without admitting liberal Protestants typically reject it, ignore it, or reinterpret it into meaningless metaphor.

Sexual liberalism in religion always walks hand-in-hand with theological liberalism, which made continuance of World Vision’s Evangelical identity impossible under Monday’s policy, and which is why Evangelical critics were so viscerally aggrieved.

There are reports that after Monday several thousand World Vision donors, out of a reported more than 400,000, threatened ending their support. There’s also an indication that work with overseas missions partners, working in traditional cultures, was imperiled. The later was probably more persuasive than the former, although both should have been anticipated before Monday. Ironically, Wednesday’s policy may cost World Vision far more dollars than Monday’s.

Angry LGBTQ groups and their allies, who previously were unfocused on World Vision’s internal policy, furiously now may target it for boycott, demanding that government and corporations halt funding. Liberal supporters of Monday’s policy angrily denounced Evangelicals withdrawing support, with one declaring: “It’s astounding to me that Christians would take food from starving children because a gay person might have helped in getting it there.” Will that same professed concern for starving children inhibit liberal demands for corporations and government to defund World Vision?…

From Mark Tooley’s “World Vision Withdraws From the Brink” at The American Spectator.

Tooley's essay is a good one. That's par for the course. Mark Tooley's writing, research and advocacy work at the Institute on Religion and Democracy is first rate and I feature him frequently on Vital Signs Blog.

However, in this case, I think my skepticism about World Vision's reversal is deeper than Tooley's. For instance, he suggests that the original decision to allow on staff homosexuals who were in "marriage" unions "seemed like possibly the clueless construction of a secular public relations firm."

No.

These guys were well aware of what they were doing and were arrogant enough to think they could get away with it. Remember, World Vision's boss, Richard Stearns, boasted of how enlightened they were and how they were presenting a new model of "unity through diversity" that would heal the blindness and error of other Christian groups.

Remember too that Richard Stearns insisted that the World Vision governing board was "overwhelmingly in favor" of the move to legitimize homosexual unions.

No. I'm sorry; I'm not buying the apology or the professed change of heart. To do that I would have to see apologies and a change of heart about the other nefarious actions that World Vision has taken in recent years: the connections to abortion organizations and abortion-promoting "family planning" groups, the antagonistic attitudes towards Israel, the embrace of socialism and wealth distribution, the high salary of the World Vision CEO, and so on.

Until these things change too, I cannot support World Vision.

World Vision Caves In Again. This Time with Same-Sex "Marriage."

The American branch of World Vision, a Christian relief mission, has announced it is now going to accept staff members who are in same-sex unions. World Vision will retain, however, a policy of abstinence from sexual activity for staff who are not married.

Sexual virtue among the single? Why hang on to this particular biblical standard when turning so dramatically and blasphemously aside from others?

The change was explained to Christianity Today by Richard Stearns, president of World Vision's American branch (whose annual salary, by the way, is over $400,000). Stearns insisted that it is only the American branch making this move...a move in which its governing board was "overwhelmingly in favor."

However, the international organization (one of America's largest charities with over a billion dollars a year take) isn’t protesting the move at all and thus seems not only willing to embrace the new policy, but probably will shift its own in that direction soon. After all, the international part of the organization has long ago made its own “marriages” with worldliness, most disgustingly by partnering with abortionists.

I have, by the way, reported on these cave-ins by World Vision before. And that after correspondence with the organization itself. So, this isn't mere rumor. World Vision is deliberately moving away from orthodox Christian values.

That's bad enough in my book and I will never give another dollar to an organization so willfully indifferent to the clear teaching of Scripture.

And yet there are still other bothersome things about World Vision. Statements and policies that are "decidedly supportive of the Palestinian cause and condemnatory of Israel." A belief that justice is served through socialism and a coercive redistribution of wealth.  A rating by Charity Navigator that is not the highest. Attitudes of arrogant denial and of wanting to foist it's style of political-correctness on other evangelicals.

Says Stearns, "I want to reassure you that we are not sliding down some slippery slope of compromise, nor are we diminishing the authority of Scripture in our work. We have always affirmed traditional marriage as a God-ordained institution. Nothing in our work around the world with children and families will change. We are the same World Vision you have always believed in."

You've got to be kidding. His words do not come close to matching his actions. Furthermore, "Stearns asserts that the 'very narrow policy change' should be viewed by others as 'symbolic not of compromise but of [Christian] unity.' He even hopes it will inspire unity elsewhere among Christians."

He also explains that the decision to allow same-sex partners as staff in World Vision "makes our policy more consistent with our practice on other divisive issues." And, "It's been heartbreaking to watch this issue rip through the church. It's tearing churches apart, tearing denominations apart, tearing Christian colleges apart, and even tearing families apart. Our board felt we cannot jump into the fight on one side or another on this issue. We've got to focus on our mission. We are determined to find unity in our diversity."

"This is also not about compromising the authority of Scripture. People can say, 'Scripture is very clear on this issue,' and my answer is, 'Well ask all the theologians and denominations that disagree with that statement.' The church is divided on this issue. And we are not the local church. We are an operational organization uniting Christians around a common mission to serve the poor in the name of Christ."

Stearns and World Vision have made a devastating compromise with the postmodern world and, even worse, they are wrapping it in a false and preposterous piety in order to make it palatable to other Christians. This is shameful, cowardly and menacing.

In response to World Vision’s policy change, Russell D. Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, writes, “At stake is the gospel of Jesus Christ. If sexual activity outside of a biblical definition of marriage is morally neutral, then, yes, we should avoid making an issue of it. If, though, what the Bible clearly teaches and what the church has held for 2000 years is true, then refusing to call for repentance is unspeakably cruel and, in fact, devilish…

"There’s an entire corps of people out there who make their living off of evangelicals but who are wanting to 'evolve' on the sexuality issue without alienating their base. I don’t mind people switching sides and standing up for things that they believe in. But just be honest about what you want to do. Don’t say 'Hath God said?' and then tell us you’re doing it to advance the gospel and the unity of the church.

"Donor bases come and go. But the gospel of Jesus Christ stands forever.

‘World Vision’ is a good thing to have, unless the world is all you can see.”

Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, also shared his disappointment and opposition to World Vision's move. 

"I was shocked today to hear of World Vision's decision to hire employees in same-sex marriages. The Bible is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. My dear friend, Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision and Samaritan's Purse, would be heartbroken. He was an evangelist who believed in the inspired Word of God. World Vision maintains that their decision is based on unifying the church – which I find offensive – as if supporting sin and sinful behavior can unite the church. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, the Scriptures consistently teach that marriage is between a man and woman and any other marriage relationship is sin."

As We've Said, These Aren't Your Mom's Girl Scouts

As millions of moms consider digging into pocketbooks for Girl Scout cookies this year, they may be interested to know about the hiring of Krista Kokjohn-Poehler in the Girl Scouts executive office in New York City.

Kokjohn-Poehler is an out lesbian married to a woman named Ashley Kokjohn. And, given her sexual preference, it may strike some as odd that her job title is "Girl Experience Officer.”

Her hiring five months ago was largely missed by the coterie of Girl Scout critics around the country who make the claim that the Girl Scouts have drifted leftward in the past 20 years…

The main charge leveled by Girl Scout critics concerns the leftward drift of the Girl Scouts, which was founded along conservative religious principles. The leftward drift began in the early '90s when God was made optional in the Girl Scout promise. This precipitated the founding of American Heritage Girls and the first widespread exit from the Girl Scouts.

In the ensuing years, social liberals insinuated themselves into national leadership of the Girl Scouts so that now it is unremarkable when they feature and promote women who are offensive to the sensibilities of hundreds of thousands of traditional-minded moms, including: Betty Friedan; Gloria Steinem; Hillary Clinton; Kathleen Sibelius, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and chief promoter of the Obamacare contraceptive mandate; and Wendy Davis, advocate for late term abortions.

The leftward drift likely made them tone-deaf to the inevitable controversy in their hiring of homopunk-rocker Josh Ackley, whose band The Dead Betties and their music video depicting violence against a woman became national news after reporting by Breitbart News last fall.

Penny Nance, former Girl Scout and president of Concerned Women for America, told Breitbart News, “In the last ten years the Girl Scouts have lost about a few hundred thousand members, and part of the reason for that is their tone deafness toward the cultural values of American moms."

Read the entirety of Austin Ruse's article for Breitbart right here.

Bills Before Nebraska Lawmakers: Sexual "Orientation" and Casino Gambling

The Nebraska Family Alliance wants to pass along news about two important bills that are currently under consideration by the Nebraska Unicameral. In a 90-second video clip below, Dave Bydalek summarizes what’s been happening with those two bills. It’s good.

But I wanted to also pass along a written report (plus action desired) that was sent out by the NFA.

LB 485 — Sexual Orientation Protected Class in Employment

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

1) The Judiciary Committee VOTED 4-3 AGAINST a motion to move LB 485 out of committee this week.

2) Senator Conrad, who introduced the bill, has vowed to continue to push for another vote on the bill at a later date.

3) Your involvement played a major role in defeating the bill. Would you take a moment to thank Senator Christensen, Senator Davis, Senator Coash, and Senator Seiler for voting against this bill? Check out our website for a list of Senators and their contact info here.

4) Read more about how NFA and the Nebraska Catholic Conference were instrumental in delaying the vote in the Omaha World Herald.

5”) Any law must respect every American's freedom of speech and freedom of religion. These fundamental liberties are so precious they are specifically protected in the First Amendment. LB 485 violates these fundamental principles." (Dave Bydalek, NFA Policy Director)

LR 416 CA — Casino Gambling

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

1) This legislative resolution proposes a Constitutional Amendment to legalize casino gambling in Nebraska. Cities would vote on whether to have a casino in their community.

2) At the committee hearing Tuesday, February 11th, only one person came to testify in support of LR 416, with 6 or 7 against.

3) It is unlikely that this bill will be voted out of committee.

4) Read NFA Policy Director, Dave Bydalek's testimony concerning LR416CA here.

The Darkness Descends

Please. Let’s have no more whistling through the graveyard. The time for alarms regarding the state of the old Republic is most definitely at hand.

* Homosexual couples are “married” live on the internationally-televised Grammy Awards.

* Michelle Obama "couldn’t be prouder of" Jason Collins, invites him to sit with her at the State of the Union Address. (Collins is a former NBA player who has garnered recent headlines for “coming out” as a homosexual.) 

* As if our President wasn't already acting illegally, unconstitutionally, and imperially, he is now boasting of ignoring Congress and engaging in even more unilateral executive actions in order to "fundamentally transform" the USA as he sees fit.

* The pattern of political retribution from the Obama White House against its enemies (retribution that uses not only the bully pulpit but government agencies) is well established.

Spinning Out of Control

From a story over at Bloomberg News:

“Gonorrhea and syphilis are on the rise in the U.S., mostly in men who have sex with men, a trend the government said is linked to inadequate testing among people stymied by homophobia and limited access to health care.” 

Good grief. Leave it to the government (and the enabling media) to ignore completely the all-too-obvious reason for the STD increase and blame it instead on too much homophobia and too little ObamaCare. 

Goodnight, Gracie.

Was the Sexual Revolution Supposed to Give Us This?

The sexual revolution was supposed to be liberating and progressive, remember? But I’m afraid that all the love-ins, the live-ins, and the hooking up for one night stands have brought us are a coarsening of culture and an uncountable number of broken hearts.

Here's just a few recent headlines to illustrate:

* “Why are baby boomers so divorce-prone?” (Pepper Schwartz at CNN)

* “Gonorrhea, Syphilis Regain Traction in U.S., CDC Reports” (Elizabeth Lopatto, Bloomberg)

* "CDC: U.S. Fertility Rate Hits Record Low for 2nd Straight Year; 40.7% of Babies Born to Unmarried Women” (Terence P. Jeffrey, CNS News)

* And, of course, don't forget the other fruits of the sexual revolution including the most bitter and blasphemous of all, the ongoing holocaust from surgical and chemical abortions.

Looking for a Few Important Reads?

Amid the Christmas hustle and bustle, you may have missed these exceptional articles. Here's another chance at them.

* “The Genuine Conflict Being Ignored in the Duck Dynasty Debate” (Larry Alex Taunton, Atlantic) 

* “Obama’s terrible, horrible, very bad year” (John Podhoretz, New York Post)

* “Churches and the Welfare State” (Mark Tooley, Juicy Ecumenism)

* “Gay Couple to Marry on Float During Rose Parade” (Alec Torres, NRO)

* “Insurers show no backbone as White House keeps moving ACA goalposts” (Jonah Goldberg’s syndicated column)

* "The Obama Christmas card reveals the zero at the center of our government." (Bookworm blog)

Gay Activist (Honored by Obama) Indicted for Sex with a Minor

This is a sad, sordid tale in so many respects.

Caleb Laieski, an openly gay teen who was honored last year by President Obama at a White House "gay pride" dinner, has been indicted in Arizona on more than a dozen counts of sexual misconduct with a minor under the age of 15, according to a report published last week on Life Site News. Laieski, 18, was 17 at the time of the alleged abuse.

The report says the alleged victim in the case, who was not identified because he is a minor, was a close friend of Laieski. The two met on TrevorSpace, a social media site for children and young adults aged 13-24 who have an interest in homosexuality. The victim was 14 when the alleged abuse occured. The victim told investigators the sex was consensual, but that he felt “pressured” to participate. Arizona law says no one younger than 15 is capable of giving consent.

Authorities say Laieski is also considered a victim in the case, due to the fact that some of the charges came as a result of a three-way sexual encounter between Laieski, the 14-year-old victim and 43-year-old Chris Wilson. Wilson, an openly homosexual Phoenix police officer, was arrested last year…

Laieski became nationally known after he and a 35-year-old friend, Casey Cameron, sent e-mails to 5,000 Arizona schools in 2011 demanding special protections for gay students and threatening legal action if they failed to bring their policies in line with his demands…

According to the report investigators at first believed Laieski was only a victim in the case, but police records say that Laieski actively pressured the 14-year-old not to tell anyone about the abuse in order to protect his reputation, even after the younger boy became suicidal.

Politically Incorrect Christian B&B Owners Found Guilty, Endure Abuse, Lose Business

Hilary White reports on this sad and alarming story for LifeSiteNews:

Peter and Hazelmary Bull, the Christian hoteliers fined for refusing a single room to two homosexual men in September 2008, have lost their appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court, with the court ruling that their company policy was “discriminatory.”

Despite the fact that the couple proved that their policy applied equally to any unmarried couples, and not just homosexuals, all five judges ruled the Bulls’ policy to be a case of illegal discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, and dismissed their appeal. Two of the judges said the discrimination was “indirect,” but unjustified.

The elderly couple said they were “deeply disappointed and saddened” at the decision that has “reinforced the notion that gay rights must trump everything else.”

They have said that they have been the victims of an ongoing hate campaign, including threats and abusive phone calls and emails, vandalism of their home and car. The Christian Institute reports that wheel nuts were removed from the couple’s car “and recently a dead rabbit was nailed to their fence”. The website of the business was recently hacked and replaced with pornography.

Mrs. Bull told the Christian Institute in September that they had no choice but to sell their business, having gone hungry and without heating last winter in their struggle to make mortgage payments.

“We’re just ordinary Christians who believe in the importance of marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” Mrs. Bull said in a statement after the verdict.

“Britain ought to be a country of freedom and tolerance, but it seems religious beliefs must play second fiddle to the new orthodoxy of political correctness,” she added. “Somehow, we have got to find a way of allowing different beliefs to coexist in our society.”

The Supreme Court deputy president, Lady Hale, said the Bulls are free to “manifest their religion” but by refusing to allow homosexual men to share a double bed in their establishment, they were breaking the law.

In what has been called the first national test case of the Equality Act’s Sexual Orientation Regulations (SOR) for Christians who hold traditional sexual moral beliefs, the Bulls have lost in every court, starting with the Bristol Crown Court in January 2011…

The legal action has had a huge impact on the Bulls’ lives. In addition to being fined £3,600 for the “hurt and embarrassment” felt by the complainants, Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy, the Bulls were ordered to pay the latter’s legal expenses…

Hazelmary Bull has described their situation as exemplifying the ongoing marginalization of Christianity in Britain. With these kinds of rulings, she said, it is clear that “some people are more equal than others.”