The Power of Three
How trio of pastors sparked
movement against same-sex marriage in
WORLD ^ | July 26, 2008 | Lynn Vincent
This is an excellent article that puts in perspective were
exactly we are in the war that the media, school educators, and the Gay, Lesbian,
Feminist, Atheist, and Humanist Cabal has brought to the gates of the Church
and the gates of the Christian Household.
The article correctly places the blame where it belongs – at
the feet of the preachers and teachers in the church who have for decades stood
in silence as the enemy built itself in strength and power taking over the American
education system, taking over the media and print journalism, taking over the
Judicial and Legislative branches of government, taking over liberal churches
and pulpits – and now seeking to legislatively and judicially complete the Gay
and Lesbian Master-plan written in the Gay Liberation Army Manifesto of 1972 (Which is available on this website in its
entirety)
The things that that have happened have not happened for no
reason – they have come as judgment against the church here in the US, in
Canada, and in the EU because the ministry has turned away from God and turned
itself in a unbelieving, disobedient, corrupt place of Christian Business -- Rather than a place where men women and
children come to hear and learn of the ways of the Lord – so that they might
come into a deep personal abiding relationship with God the Father and With
Jesus Christ just as the Apostles and holy men woman and children of old walked
in.
This is the day of God calling unto His people we can not
wait for another day or another time. This is the only day we can come to know
the Lord, obey His voice and affect ourselves, our households, our neighbors,
and our nation for Jesus Christ.
While Skyline organized the event, satellite
technology provided live video feeds to 1,300 more people—again, mostly
pastors—gathered at 101 other churches up and down the state. Miles MacPherson,
senior pastor of The Rock, a San Diego congregation of 12,000, opened
the meeting with a call to repentance for Christian leaders.
"We've been given a vineyard," he said,
alluding to a parable in the book of Matthew,
"and we're in this position because we didn't take care of it."
MacPherson was referring not only to
"If we can't honor marriage in the church, if pastors can't
even stay married, we've got a bigger problem."
If push-pins on a map of
In 2000, 61 percent of
Given the high court's activist history, a
coalition of conservatives immediately submitted to the secretary of state a
measure that would go farther than Prop 22 and would amend the state
constitution. But amendment backers held only thin hope: The initiative would
need nearly 700,000 voter signatures to qualify for the November 2008 ballot,
and there was almost no money for paid signature-gathering. In 2006, a
volunteer signature-collection effort on a similar measure had fallen miserably
short.
Meanwhile, throughout 2007, several major
Then came a political moment that proved pivotal
for the whole state: Liberals on the
As a destination city,
In fact, if it weren't for a flip-flopping
Republican mayor named Jerry Sanders, the fat lady might already have sung on
gay marriage in the
Nationally, gay activists and their allies like to
wonder aloud why anyone in
Writing on
the fallout from
Perhaps not the sky.
But both polygamists and advocates of "man-boy" love (And advocates of, child -child sex beginning in grade
school, and man-animal sex also) have become more vocal in recent years,
wondering why their proclivities should not also be recognized as the latest
"sexual minority." And unlike
But
The 14th
Amendment equal-protection argument in favor of gay marriage already is
trampling First Amendment rights to religious exercise and free speech.
In March 2006, for example, the 103-year-old
adoption division of Boston Catholic Charities (BCC) decided to close its doors
rather than comply with the
In September 2007, a boardwalk pavilion owned by
the Methodist Ocean Grove [
In April
2008, Christian photographers Jon and Elaine Huguenin
were fined $6,000 by a
Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel for Liberty Legal
Institute in
The Supreme Court's ruling in favor of gay marriage is about
something else," he said. "It is a direct attempt to establish
same-sex couples as morally equivalent to a married man and woman."
Legal scholars on both sides of the debate agree
that if Massachusetts begins exporting gay marriage, and/or California's
gay-marriage law is allowed to stand, it will likely trigger nationwide court
clashes that will profoundly alter law and public policy in the areas of
employment, education, family law, and even the boundaries of the First
Amendment.
None of those things were on Chris Clark's mind
when he sat down in his
"I looked at this and my first thought was,
'I'm pastoring a church! I'm remodeling a bathroom at home! I don't have time
for this!'" said
Still, convinced that God would have him
"stand up in the face of this atrocity,"
But the end wasn't the end, it turned out. City
councilmember Toni Atkins, a lesbian, used a procedural two-step to wrangle
another vote. Two weeks later, the resolution passed.
"But I didn't feel too bad," said Clark,
who also attended the second council meeting. "I had heard that Mayor
Jerry Sanders had vowed to veto the resolution if it came to his desk."
Indeed, he had—and publicly. But on Sept. 19,
Sanders held a press conference during which he tearfully revealed that his
daughter is a lesbian. Sanders told reporters he could not look his daughter or
his gay friends "in the face and tell them that their relationships . . .
were any less meaningful than the marriage I share with my wife."
Translation: No veto.
To Clark, no one in
Garlow had known about the monthly policy meetings but had never
attended. But when Clark and Ann Subia invited him in
October 2007, "I went because of what Jerry Sanders did," Garlow said.
At the meeting, Ron Prentice, California Family
Council CEO and chairman of ProtectMarriage.com, laid out the
stakes: not only the historic and biblical definition of marriage but also the
very right of pastors to teach what the Bible says about homosexuality.
Jim Garlow listened for
90 minutes without saying a word. At 9 p.m., the meeting adjourned. But Garlow gathered six people around a corner table and said,
"We have to mobilize pastors across the state, and I'm not leaving here
until we have a plan."
That plan, which involved activating the
Miles MacPherson
listened.
"When I heard what was happening and what was
at stake, I wanted to fight," said MacPherson, a
former defensive back for the NFL's San Diego Chargers. "I did not want to
look back on this and have to look God in the eye and have Him say, 'Why didn't
you do something? I gave you a big mouth—why didn't you use it?'"
After the meeting, MacPherson
emerged as a third prime mover who, with Clark and Garlow,
would muscle an unprecedented church-powered, volunteer petition drive north
through
The trio set up meetings of area pastors in
Jack Hibbs, the church's
senior pastor, had for years been protesting gay activists' attacks on Prop 22,
and his congregation had long been active on local policy issues. "When we
heard what was going on, it was a natural fit," he said.
Hibbs, whose church serves 7,000 adults, began rallying pastors
in
Between late January and April 1, similar drives
took place across the state, with more than 300 churches serving as petition
distribution and drop-off centers. The goal, Garlow
liked to say, was to "make getting petitions as easy and accessible as
getting a coffee at Starbucks." The grassroots groundswell spurred a flood
of donations small and large for paid signature-gathering, including nearly $1
million from Catholic groups and $1.1 million from evangelicals.
Ultimately, the drive netted 1.12 million
signatures, an unprecedented 400,000 of which were collected by volunteers.
On June 2, the
At the ballot box
Law: Same-sex marriage issues are also front and
center in
| Lynn Vincent
Voters in four states will go to the polls Nov. 4
and weigh in on marriage-related ballot measures. As in
Backers of
Prop 8 polling data varies: A May L.A. Times/KTLA
poll of 834 Californians, including 705 registered voters, showed 54 percent
supporting the measure, with 35 percent opposed. A May Field poll asked the
question differently and tallied different results: In a random sample of 1,052
registered voters, 51 percent approved of the idea of allowing gay and lesbian
couples to marry, while 42 percent were opposed.
In
Only three states—
—with reporting by Kristin Chapman