Homosexuality out of the closet, Christianity in

 

Homosexuality out of the closet, Christianity in

“Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone! Dare to have a purpose firm! Dare to make it known.” Do you remember this rousing Sunday School song?  It was one of my favorites as a child and I still remember standing with other Sunday School kids as we belted it out somewhere between “Do Lord” and “Deep and Wide.” Yesterday one sports celebrity was a Daniel – standing alone.  And it wasn’t NBA player Jason Collins who publically announced yesterday that he was a homosexual.  Collins wasn’t the one standing alone, because he had the vast forces of the secular, liberal army at his side.  President Obama personally called Collins to congratulate him for coming out.   Michelle Obama tweeted:  “A huge step forward for our country.”  The list is endless as celebrities, professional athletes, and politicians have lined up to give Collins a proverbial pat on the back. As Sports Illustrated reported:  “Collins’ coming-out party was a joyous affair. He was praised in enormous measure. His announcement was called groundbreaking, epic, country-changing. At last count, his Twitter following had swelled from about 3,500 to nearly 85,000.” “Praised in enormous measure” for announcing that he prefers men for a sexual partner. No, Collins isn’t the one who stood alone – not in today’s “tolerant” America.  Those who exhibit real courage – who truly stand alone against the tide of public pressure and muzzled speech – are those who speak the truth in a culture that no longer tolerates absolute Truth. In an article published in Sports Illustrated magazine about his decision to announce his homosexuality, Jason Collins wrote:  “… I take the teachings of Jesus seriously, particularly the ones that touch on tolerance and understanding.” The one who did stand alone yesterday was one who seems to take all the teachings of Jesus and God’s Word seriously – ESPN sports analyst Chris Broussard.  Broussard, a Christian, was asked on an ESPN sport program to express his opinion on Collins’ announcement of his homosexuality and his claim to faith. In a discussion on the topic with another ESPN sports analyst, openly gay L.Z. Granderson, this is what Broussard stated: “I’m a Christian. I don’t agree with homosexuality. I think it’s a sin, as I think all sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman is. (ESPN’s) L.Z. (Granderson) knows that. He and I have played on basketball teams together for several years. We’ve gone out, had lunch together, we’ve had good conversations, good laughs together. He knows where I stand and I know where he stands. I don’t criticize him, he doesn’t criticize me, and call me a bigot, call me ignorant, call me intolerant. “In talking to some people around the league, there’s a lot Christians in the NBA and just because they disagree with that lifestyle, they don’t want to be called bigoted and intolerant and things like that. That’s what LZ was getting at. Just like I may tolerate someone whose lifestyle I disagree with, he can tolerate my beliefs. He disagrees with my beliefs and my lifestyle but true tolerance and acceptance is being able to handle that as mature adults and not criticize each other and call each other names. “… Personally, I don’t believe that you can live an openly homosexual lifestyle or an openly premarital sex between heterosexuals, if you’re openly living that type of lifestyle, then the Bible says you know them by their fruits, it says that’s a sin. If you’re openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality, adultery, fornication, premarital sex between heterosexuals, whatever it may be, I believe that’s walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ. I would not characterize that person as a Christian because I do not think the Bible would characterize them as a Christian.” Broussard’s Biblical statement threw the secularists in a fit of un-righteous indignation.  The gall of this Christian man to call their sin what it is! Yahoo Sports writer Kelly Dwyer was especially outraged and couldn’t believe that Broussard still clung to his out-of-date religious beliefs in 2013. Dwyer wrote: “Chris Broussard is allowed to say whatever he wants on any subject he wants at any time, such is his right as an American citizen. Whether his personal views on the subject of homosexuality were appropriate for this particular setting is a completely different story. Especially as an American citizen, one that does not live in a theocracy that creates laws and freedoms based off of a religious text. … “… be reminded of the fact that if you had sex before marriage, or have had sex and are not married, Chris Broussard thinks that you are a sinner that is in defiance of God, and he used the pulpit of a sports talk show to remind you of such. Do you like him saying those sorts of things about you?  … “Broussard is free to live his life as he sees fit, and admonish those that he sees as lacking in the face of his chosen god. We’re also free to question the centuries-old influence that created this line of thinking …” Notice that according to Mr. Dwyer the viewpoints of American Christians are only “appropriate” to express in certain settings – and obviously not in a public discourse – that somehow because Broussard’s comments about morality stem from “religious text,” the First Amendment doesn’t apply to them. Dwyer and countless others like him are telling American citizens who happen to be Christian – ‘say whatever you like – as long as it’s not in public.” Open the door to homosexuality, but push Christians in the closet. Mr. Dwyer, in “shooting the messenger,” somehow misses the point that Chris Broussard’s statements aren’t just Broussard’s “personal views.”  The message didn’t originate with him – it originated with God.  The sovereign, immutable ruler who will sit in judgment over all mankind. For the record, speaking the Truth of God’s Word does not make Christians “haters.”  We do not hate homosexuals such as Jason Collins – we love them and therefore speak the Truth, in love.  As the saying goes, the truth sometimes hurts – but it also heals, redeems, and saves.   We know, because we’ve also been blind to our own sin.  We are not ‘morally superior’ – we’re forgiven and justified through Christ and long for all mankind to experience that same forgiveness and redemption. Millions of people will continue to try to pick and choose the teachings of Jesus “that touch on tolerance and acceptance” and discard the rest of God’s unchanging Word.  They will continue to shake their fists at their Creator.  They will cheer immorality and jeer at those who speak the Truth.  They will put on a pedestal those in rebellion against God’s Law (which is written on their hearts), and vilify those who dare utter that Law. Yet there will always be a few following the narrow way.  There will always be Daniels daring to stand alone.  May you and I be counted in that band. “Hold the Gospel banner high! On to victory grand! Satan and his hosts defy, And shout for Daniel’s band.” “Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone! Dare to have a purpose firm! Dare to make it known.” http://americandecency.org/full_article.php?article_no=1858

Hannibal – “repulsive and soul-depleting”

Hannibal – “repulsive and soul-depleting”

Before writing this piece, I did an online search of reviews of NBC’s new show “Hannibal.”  As expected, the secular entertainment writers are ecstatic over this gruesome and sadistic TV program. Take Action!  Click here to send a message to the sponsors empowering “Hannibal.” Of course the reviewers must think they’re quite clever in their trite descriptions of a show with cannibalism as a weekly theme as they attempt to use every culinary term imaginable to describe this detestable show.  The following are just a few reviewers’ comments: “A tasty thriller.”  “NBC’s new horror drama a tasty treat.”  “A bloody good meal.”  “Deliciously disturbing, Hannibal is bound to leave viewers hungry for more.” As you may recall, “Hannibal” is a new crime drama about an FBI profiler tracking serial killers who enlists the help of psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter, who, unbeknownst to the FBI, is also a psychotic serial killer who eats the bodies of his victims. Yes, that is how far we have fallen as a culture in America today when cannibalism is featured on a network TV show – as entertainment!   Where a demented serial killer is portrayed not as a villain, but as what can best be described as a hero.  A show swimming in moral relativity where horrific killing is examined from a psychological viewpoint, but not a moral one.  And it’s not just the theme of the show that is abhorrent.  Each week horrifically gruesome scenes are depicted of bloody bodies impaled, filleted, etc.  The writer of one of the glowing reviews I read, while praising the show, acknowledged surprise that such stomach-churning imagery would air on network television. This reviewer described the most recent episode as “… another wonderfully macabre, grisly and fascinating tale. Fuller and his writers are going to some very twisted, creative places with their killers here. The mixture of beautiful and grotesque that was the “angels” in this episode is certainly an example of that, and once more, I’m somewhat amazed this is airing on network TV.” Of all the reviews I read, there’s only one, The Daily Beast, that came out and called this show what it is – repulsive. The Daily Beast reviewer writes:  “… Lest I haven’t made it clear enough yet: I find Hannibal generally repulsive and definitely tiresome. All of this talent and effort to burnish a (and let’s face it, that’s what he is here) hero who maims, kills, and eats people (most of them female) while feeling nothing regarding their suffering:  ick, to use the shortest, most polite word. … I admit that my capacity to consume entertainment death has been curtailed in the post–Newtown, Connecticut, era. I just don’t find this stuff very amusing anymore. Part of me has come to understand … that being repeatedly exposed to such material can seem soul-depleting.” Soul-depleting.  What an accurate description of a show that feeds people pure evil.  I’ll spare you descriptions of the gruesome violence and cannibalistic scenes. In addition, Hannibal also advances Hollywood’s favorite theme – misrepresenting God.  Each week there has been blasphemous elements – depicting God as taking delight in killing.  This latest episode was no different claiming God “abandons His creations” and blames God for the serial killer’s actions. The difference between this show and other gritty crime dramas on television is that “Hannibal” isn’t a show about good vs. evil – of justice prevailing over depraved humanity.  On “Hannibal” depraved evil is the central theme of a show whose main character is a cannibalistic murderer. Take Action!  Click here to send a message to the sponsors of “Hannibal.” Advertisers include: Kohl’s Kraft Foods Subway restaurants Home Depot Jeep (Chrysler) Chevrolet Toyota Mazda Geico Allegra Degree deodorant – Unilever Magnum ice cream bars – Unilever Windows 8 – Microsoft Bing.com – Microsoft Verizon Wireless – Blackberry Virgin Mobile Capital One Warner Brothers http://americandecency.org/full_article.php?article_no=1846

A Victoria’s Secret woman or Proverbs 31?

A Victoria’s Secret woman or Proverbs 31?

The adage, “Be careful what you wish for, it just might come true” is something Kylie Buscutti learned the hard way.   As a young girl, Kylie dreamed of becoming a supermodel.  To her the pinnacle of success was epitomized by being a Victoria’s Secret lingerie model.  At the tender age of 19 she reached her goal when she beat out 10,000 other girls to win the 2009 Victoria’s Secret Angel Search competition. However, life as a “Angel” was not very sublime.  Last year Kylie announced she left a lucrative modeling career to become a Proverbs 31 woman. The New York Post reports how Kylie, as a very young Christian, came to the conclusion her former dream job was actually a nightmare: I’m lying on a bed wearing a tight, little T-shirt and boy-cut panty bottoms while camera flashes keep popping away. I’m giving the camera that seductive, bombshell look I’d become famous for. “Pull the top further up,” the FHM photographer encouraged me. “Hold up the covers like you don’t have any panties on.” I didn’t feel comfortable but he kept urging me on. “This is what Victoria’s Secret models do,” he said. “This is why they hired you. If you want to be like Gisele, this is what you have to do.” That’s when it hit me. I was being paid to strip down and pose provocatively to titillate men. It wasn’t about modeling clothes anymore; I felt like a piece of meat. The next day, I broke down and started sobbing. I was in my bedroom and dropped to my knees and started to pray. “God, why did you have me win the Victoria’s Secret Angel competition if it was going to make me feel this way? I’m not honoring my husband. I just want answers!” That was two years ago. Today, I’m living in Montana with my husband, enjoying the fresh air and volunteering with our church. The old me would never have believed that I gave up my career for this quiet, country life. When I was a little girl growing up in Las Vegas, surrounded by billboards of half-dressed women, I dreamed of becoming a Victoria’s Secret Angel. I thought the models I saw defined beauty, and beauty meant you were important. I would watch the Victoria’s Secret fashion shows at home on TV and imitate the models’ signature struts when I’d walk to my bedroom at night.  … Until I was 15, modeling was the most important thing in my life, but then a girl I barely knew at school invited me to her church’s youth group. That party changed my life. I’d never been to church, but hearing that Jesus died for my sins was just amazing to me. Shortly after that party, although I was just becoming a Christian, I didn’t think twice about moving to New York to pursue my dream of becoming a model. I moved in with four other models on the Lower East Side. One of my roommates was a Christian, and we’d take the long subway ride to the Upper West Side to go to church, but we were the exceptions. I’d see girls getting into black SUVs with club promoters at night and getting home when the sun was coming up the next day — teenagers my age! I was never tempted by alcohol because I have relatives who were alcoholics, so I knew how destructive it could be, but I could relate to wanting the attention that those older men would give the girls. But the girls didn’t seem happy, and it broke my heart. Over the next two years, New York really opened my eyes to the dark side of the modeling industry. … And while I was still going to church and consulting my Bible, I was so desperate to succeed in the business that I complied when my agent told me, “All models have a topless shot.” I was only 16 when I posed for mine. I pretty much restricted my diet to oatmeal, fruits and vegetables to meet runway expectations. I’m 5-foot-10, and I got down to 115 pounds with measurements of 34-24-34. In February 2007, New York Fashion Week was approaching, and while everyone I knew was being sent out to auditions, I wasn’t. “Why am I still going on test shoots?” I asked my agent. “It’s because you look like a fat cow right now, Kylie. You need to lose 2 inches off of your hips,” the agent said. After cutting my diet even further to just pineapples, watermelon and liters of water while exercising two hours a day, six days a week, I finally dropped down to 108 pounds, which satisfied my agent, and the gigs started rolling in.  … Two years after I won the Angel Search, I realized I didn’t want to model anything that sold sex. At the time, a Victoria’s Secret lingerie show was airing on TV, and I was looking at Twitter and saw loads of tweets from women comparing themselves to the impossible image of the models. It made me think back to earlier in my modeling career, when my 8-year-old cousin was watching me put on makeup and said to me, “I’m going to throw up my food so I look like you.” I realized my career was sending a bad message to women about confidence and body image. I was traveling with my husband on a business trip and, from the hotel room, I sent out my own tweet. “I quit being a VS model to be a Proverbs 31 wife.” (Proverbs 31 talks about being a virtuous and capable wife that a husband can trust. It says, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.”) … Today, I’m focused on creating a Christian clothing line, speaking tours and my blog, imnoangel.org. My clothing line comes out next month, and it will feature models of all shapes and sizes promoting our modest clothes. I want girls to see people who look like them, so they feel good about themselves. Read more of Kylie’s compelling account at: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/gave_up_modeling_for_god_IDcrhkzPzHgtLCcQmkgHxK#ixzz2RaIBbGmA How refreshing to see a young woman turn her back upon the siren’s song of fame and take such a stand!   Sadly, millions of young girls are continually being drawn into the false image of femininity pushed by Victoria’s Secret as they indoctrinate young girls – as they did with Kylie – that beauty is equated with eroticism, nudity, and titillating men. Thankfully for Kylie, she discovered what true beauty is – becoming a woman who seeks after God, rather than pleasing men.  However, countless young girls are still buying the lie that stares them in the face every time they go to the mall and walk past a Victoria’s Secret window display. Take Action!  Click here to send a message to Victoria’s Secret regarding the damage they perpetuate both for young girls, as well as young men who, as Kylie stated, learn to view women as nothing more than “a piece of meat.” http://www.americandecency.org/full_article.php?article_no=1844

A Homophobic Nightmare

I had a disturbing dream last night. I guess you could call it a homophobic nightmare. The fact is, wherever I turned in the dream, from McDonald’s to ESPN, charges of “homophobia” and “transphobia” were flying.

First I dreamed that I was sitting at McDonald’s with our two granddaughters, aged 12 and 6, and they needed to use the bathroom. “Go ahead kids,” I said. “I can see you from here.”

Off they went, under my watchful eyes, the older girl holding the younger girl’s hand, until they disappeared into the ladies room. But seconds later, they came running out, shocked.

“Grandpa, there’s a man wearing a dress in there!”

Stunned, I went to talk to the manager, but he informed me that this was the official policy of the franchise, pulling out a document that read, “We respect the rights of all customers and employees. We believe all people must have access to safe and dignified bathroom facilities regardless of their gender identity or expression. . . . Employees and customers may use any restroom that corresponds with and is based upon the gender identity they publicly and exclusively assert or express.”

When I asked him how this new policy respected the rights of my granddaughters to have access to safe and dignified bathroom facilities, he said I sounded homophobic (actually, “transphobic” was the word he used.)

Still stunned, I explained to the girls that my heart went out to this man, who was obviously very confused, and that we should pray for him. Then we headed back home where some of the neighborhood kids were having an animated discussion. Some of the older ones – perhaps high school age – were really passionate, so I asked them what they were talking about.

“Our school is so mean,” one of them said. “There’s a really cool guy who was born a girl and ran for Prom King, but our principal said he could only run for Prom Queen – even though he’s been a girl for one whole year!”

“Our principal is so homophobic!” another student opined. “You mean transphobic,” yet another student explained.

My mind was becoming numb. Yes, I cared about this young person, but what was the message for the other kids? And what were my grandkids thinking?

At that point my wife called our girls inside for dinner, and I went straight to my computer to check out the story. Was it really true? Sure enough, it was, and the ACLU was taking up the offended student’s cause.

“Time for a break!” I thought to myself – but it’s not because I dislike LGBT people. In fact, when I was just 5 ½ years old, my first music teacher was an openly gay man, and he would come to our house to give lessons to my sister and me, often accompanied by his partner. And both of them would then join us for dinner.

So, I grew up without a hint of “homophobia,” and, more importantly, as a follower of Jesus, it is second nature for me to treat everyone with dignity and respect, regardless of our differences. It’s just that I didn’t expect my granddaughters to encounter a man in the ladies room at McDonald’s, nor did I expect a girl wanting to be Prom King to be the topic of discussion among the neighborhood kids.

Getting back to the dream, as I was researching the Prom King story, I spotted a link on BBC News about Richard O’Brien, writer of the hit musical The Rocky Horror Show. According to the headline, he now described himself as “70% man.”

“What in the world?” I thought to myself.

So I clicked on the link to the article, which contained a totally unexpected, really sad picture. (If you think I’m exaggerating, go to the article.)

According to the story, “a decade ago, he started taking the female hormone oestrogen – and is happy with the results. . . . He has also developed small breasts. But O’Brien is not intending to go further and have sex reassignment surgery.”

“Enough with this!” I said to myself.

To be sure, I felt nothing but pity for this poor man, even if that makes me homophobic (or, transphobic) in some people’s eyes, but I was determined to change subjects, so I went over to the ESPN home page, only to find that the lead story was about . . . homosexuality. Who would be the first gay athlete to come out? And there was another article on Magic Johnson’s gay son, and another article on the top female college basketball player, who was also openly gay.

“Can’t I just enjoy sports for a few minutes without homosexuality coming up again?”

So I decided to go to another sports website, but there was breaking news there too: Jason Collins had just come out as the first openly gay NBA player.

Yes, I care about him as an individual too, but I had to wonder: Is homosexuality the biggest sports story out there?

So I turned on the TV to catch up on the latest scores, except the subject was not the NBA playoffs or the NFL draft. Instead, sports pundits were ganging up on ESPN reporter Chris Broussard who, when asked his opinion as a Christian about Jason Collins’ claim to be a practicing homosexual Christian, gave a straightforward Christian answer. “How homophobic!” everyone cried out.

And then I came to a startling realization. This was not a dream after all. I was awake the whole time.

This was a slice of America, April, 2013. Who can imagine what April, 2014 will look like?

Michael Brown

Michael Brown holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and has served as a professor at a number of seminaries. He is the author of 22 books and hosts the nationally syndicated, daily talk radio show, the Line of Fire. Follow him atAskDrBrown on Facebookor @drmichaellbrownon Twitter.

http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2013/04/30/a-homophobic-nightmare-n1582805/page/full

Song of Solomon 5:13 His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers.

Lo, the flowery month is come! March winds and April showers have done their work, and the earth is all bedecked with beauty. Come my soul, put on thine holiday attire and go forth to gather garlands of heavenly thoughts. Thou knowest whither to betake thyself, for to thee “the beds of spices” are well known, and thou hast so often smelt the perfume of “the sweet flowers,” that thou wilt go at once to thy well-beloved and find all loveliness, all joy in Him. That cheek once so rudely smitten with a rod, oft bedewed with tears of sympathy and then defiled with spittle-that cheek as it smiles with mercy is as fragrant aromatic to my heart. Thou didst not hide Thy face from shame and spitting, O Lord Jesus, and therefore I will find my dearest delight in praising Thee. Those cheeks were furrowed by the plough of grief, and crimsoned with red lines of blood from Thy thorn-crowned temples; such marks of love unbounded cannot but charm my soul far more than “pillars of perfume.” If I may not see the whole of His face I would behold His cheeks, for the least glimpse of Him is exceedingly refreshing to my spiritual sense and yields a variety of delights. In Jesus I find not only fragrance, but a bed of spices; not one flower, but all manner of sweet flowers. He is to me my rose and my lily, my heart’s ease and my cluster of camphire. When He is with me it is May all the year round, and my soul goes forth to wash her happy face in the morning-dew of His grace, and to solace herself with the singing of the birds of His promises. Precious Lord Jesus, let me in very deed know the blessedness which dwells in abiding, unbroken fellowship with Thee. I am a poor worthless one, whose cheek Thou hast deigned to kiss! O let me kiss Thee in return with the kisses of my lips.

http://www.crosswalkmail.com/ShareArticle.do?perform=view&articleID=tjljzzmlh&siteID=fhqgsrdngqgdynfbzlctcdryhzzyqjdcssf&recipID=526889780

Actress Margaret Colin: Why Would New York Want More Abortions?

Actress Margaret Colin: Why Would New York Want More Abortions?.