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The Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) may be on the verge of allowing the ordination of homosexual clergy, despite the wishes of the majority of its members.

That’s the disturbing claim being made by Presbyterians for Faith, Family and Ministry (PFFM), a group of Presbyterian clergy and laity who hope to work within the denomination to restore Biblical and confessional fidelity.

The group says that in June, the General Assembly – the denomination’s highest court – will consider the recommendations of the “Peace, Unity and Purity Report,” which deals with the issue of homosexuality in the PCUSA.

A PFFM letter concerning the report states that, “if approved, [it] will permit the ordination of practicing, unrepentant homosexuals in our denomination.”

When the question has been put to local presbyteries in the past, nearly three-quarters have rejected the ordination of homosexuals to ministry. However, PFFM says the procedures being applied in this instance would circumvent the presbyteries, which serve a function similar to a local congressional district.

That means that should PCUSA convention delegates approve the report, “it will permit governing bodies to ordain whomever they wish regardless of the clear constitutional standards approved by 73% of the presbyteries,” says PFFM. “The changes proposed by the report will not return to the presbyteries for a vote.”

In order to forestall what it calls “a serious Biblical and constitutional crisis” in the denomination, PFFM recommends that presbyteries carefully consider who they elect as representatives to the General Assembly.

The crisis comes at a time when the PCUSA is already facing a serious financial crunch. According to the Associated Press, the denomination of approximately 2.4 million members reported that it must cut its budget by more than $9 million over the next couple of years – starting with a $2.7 million cut this year.

www.theologymatters.com, 3/30/06; AP 3/24/06

United Methodist school association publicly disagrees with highest church court’s ruling
The National Association of Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church (NASCUMC) released a public statement disagreeing with two decisions of the denomination’s highest ecclesiastical court – decisions which had temporarily checked the agenda of homosexual activists.

The United Methodist Church’s (UMC) Judicial Council ruled last year in two closely-watched cases concerning two ministers. In one case, the denomination’s high court reinstated a conservative Virginia clergyman, Ed Johnson, who had been suspended without pay for denying church membership to an unrepentant homosexual. Johnson was serving as senior pastor at South Hill (Virginia) UMC until last June, when he was required to take an involuntary leave of absence.

In the second case, the Judicial Council defrocked Beth Stroud, a lesbian minister from Pennsylvania, for violating the UMC ban on “self-avowed, practicing, homosexuals” in ordained ministry.

Both decisions angered those within the denomination who have been pushing the UMC to change ecclesiastical prohibitions of the homosexual lifestyle.

The NASCUMC statement criticized both rulings: “We promote a vision of life in which people are judged by the content of their character and not their skin color, their gender, their sexual orientation, or any of the other official barriers used to devalue some of God’s children.”

Good News, an evangelical ministry within the UMC, was distressed by the statement. “The way for us as United Methodist Christians to honor the sacred worth and sacred identity of all persons is to offer them the loving transformation available through a relationship with Jesus Christ,” said Rev. Tom Lambrecht, a UMC pastor in Wisconsin and chairman of the Good News board of directors.

www.goodnewsmag.org, 3/23/06; AgapePress, 12/27/05;
www.umc.org, 3/14/06

AFA/ACTIVISM
Meet at City Hall Set May 4
Numerous city halls across the country will be the gathering place on May 4 for those interested in praying for the moral rebirth of America.

In coordination with the National Day of Prayer, AFA will sponsor its 15th annual Meet At City Hall from 12:20-12:40 p.m. During this 20-minute time span, people are encouraged to meet at their local city halls and publicly take a stand for the values on which this nation was founded.

In addition to gathering for prayer, AFA suggests participants invite members of their Sunday School classes and churches. AFA also encourages the involvement of public officials and administrators, local pastors and even church choirs. The extent of organization and promotion is left up to those participants who want to take a leading role in the initiative.

National Day of Prayer recommends the book Experiencing Prayer by Henry and Norman Blackaby as a resource. The book takes a thorough look at the prayer life of Jesus.

With this study, you'll have a better understanding of God's intent for prayer and learn to gain the fullness that a life of prayer can provide.

“America desperately needs a moral rebirth,” AFA Chairman Don Wildmon said. “We need to implore God’s blessings on our country and ask Him to forgive our sinfulness and restore our moral perspective.”

CULTURE
Spiritual aid project for U.S. troops faces financial shortfall
Late last year, New Life Ministries initiated Every Soldier’s Battle (ESB), a project to help U.S. military troops maintain sexual purity and integrity. Dr. Stephen Arterburn is founder and chairman of New Life.

New Life developed ESB kits in response to a request from a chaplain in Iraq for materials for a Bible study among the troops.

As the critical need in this area became more evident, New Life began trying to provide the ESB kits to other chaplains as well. By the end of March, the California-based ministry had shipped 20,000 ESB kits and received requests for 10,000 more.

It has created a fiscal crunch in the ministry because only 8,000 kits have been funded by contributions. Consequently, New Life has depleted the organization’s operating and critical ministry budgets to cover this new project.

New Life COO Larry Sonnenburg told AFA Journal, “It’s a need based on the response we’ve been getting and the requests that keep coming in.”

Each man’s kit costs about $50 and contains the Every Man’s Battle book and workbook, Every Man’s Bible, a daily devotional book and one other book. A kit for women has comparable resources.

“We still need your help to continue this campaign,” said Sonnenburg. “The demand for kits has far outpaced the support.” New Life has been inundated with letters of gratitude from both soldiers and chaplains.

“I can think of no better way to help our troops spiritually than this great project,” said AFA President Tim Wildmon.

One-night stands fall flat, women say
Findings from a British survey reveal that females hold a more conservative and traditional view of casual sex than expected, especially in light of feminist lifestyles.

According to Dr. Sharron Hinchcliffe, a psychologist from the University of Sheffield, “Our results did not fit in with the image we have of today’s independent woman who can go out and get sexual fulfillment without the ties of a relationship.

“There was a view that if women had one-night stands they were doing it for reasons other than their own pleasure, more out of a feeling of being desperate, needy or looking for something, or that they had lost control through drink or drugs,” she added.

Those surveyed ranged in age from 23 to 83, with an average of 48 years. Approximately 9 out of 10 women who were questioned said they viewed casual sex as immoral, whereas 10 percent of the whole sample of 46 disagreed.

“It shows that most women are seeking more than the fleeting gratification that temporary sexual relationships can offer,” said Norman Wells, director of family and youth concerns. “Sexual intimacy was never meant to be engaged in outside the context of lifelong union between one man and one woman.”

EDUCATION
AFA attorneys aid teens in rights case
A conservative student club at one Michigan high school won a major free-speech victory in April. After initially resisting the idea, school administrators recently allowed the group to display its flag alongside the rainbow colored flag of the school’s Diversity Club.

Steve Crampton, chief counsel with the AFA Center for Law & Policy, assisted the TVC and said the Howell High School faculty had been resistant to the student group’s existence from its inception and was reluctant to sponsor the club.

“The reason there was no one willing to serve as faculty sponsor, in my opinion, is that the school had already condemned the club, at one point calling them a hate group,” Crampton said. “What faculty member, knowing that the administration has firmly stated that this is a hate group, wants to be affiliated with it?”

And yet, Crampton said, the members of the TVC stood tall and continued to seek out a faculty member. When, after two years of arduous effort, the student club “finally got a sponsor,” he said, the members “immediately went back to the flag issue.”

Crampton said he is glad a lawsuit was not required to compel the school to recognize the TVC’s right to official recognition and its equal right to display its flag. He pointed out that many public schools are hostile to the conservative Christian viewpoint. At one point, according to a Daily Press & Argus report, roughly 40 staff members at Howell High School met with Principal Margaret Hamill to air concerns over the decision to allow the TVC to display its flag, which some see as a representation of the Christian faith.

“In schools such as Howell,” Crampton observed, “I think the tables have turned to such an extent that you’ve got the upper hand in the pro-homosexual camp, and really, Christian students have become second-class citizens.” As a result, they end up having to “go to extra lengths in order to obtain equal rights alongside a pro-homosexual group.”

In the end, Crampton said, persistence paid off for the students of the Howell High TVC. He applauded the students, adding that their group “has been a model of patience and perseverance in the face of tremendous adversity.”

ENTERTAINMENT
Virtual housewives
Walt Disney Company’s Buena Vista Games, Inc. recently announced plans to release a computer game inspired by the Golden Globe-winning ABC television series Desperate Housewives.

A game player takes on the simulated personality of a new Wisteria Lane housewife who works to unlock juicy dark secrets and create new scandals while being as nice or as nasty as she wants to be to her neighbors – Bree, Lynette, Gabrielle, Edie and Susan. As the “new housewife,” gamers can do anything from decorating a house to playing poker. Gamers are guided through a virtual life that includes bathing, dating and working.

“This game allows players to move to Wisteria Lane and live all the gossip, drama and intrigue of a true desperate housewife,” said Graham Hopper, the senior vice president and general manager of Buena Vista Games.

Video game makers are targeting the game to females in an attempt to expand their $25 million global market beyond that of young males. The game is expected to hit retailers this fall.

FAMILY
200th city signs on to save marriage
For more than a decade, Michael J. McManus has urged cities to adopt a Community Marriage Policy in order to help stem the rising divorce rates in the nation.

The reduced divorce rate has been dramatic in cities where pastors adopted Marriage Savers. Modesto, California, pastor Michael Douglass said that city’s divorce rate dropped 57% after pastors agreed to and implemented the policy.

In January, Las Cruces, New Mexico, became the 200th city to adopt the voluntary guidelines. “We’re not trying to be legalistic,” said McManus. “We’re just trying to give you the best preparation – Biblically centered preparation – that we can give you so that you have a lifelong and fulfilling marriage.”

The Marriage Savers Web site (www.marriagesavers.org) gives details of the program, news releases and success stories.

GOVERNMENT
Gambling industry lobbies with big bucks
Recent scandals and ongoing criminal investigations in the nation’s capital demonstrate clearly just how much money – and political influence – the gambling industry possesses.

“The gambling industry is insidious in the way it operates,” said Chad Hills, gambling analyst at Focus on the Family. “It has a tremendous amount of money to offer during campaigns and elections – this is a $73 billion dollar industry when you combine all forms of gambling – and they can make a lot of promises to a lot of people.”

John Kindt, a business professor at the University of Illinois, told CitizenLink that the gambling industry may very well be the foremost interest group in the country. “Recent scandals have shown that our government can probably be called ‘the best government that money can buy,’” he said. “Now the casinos are making these contributions legally, but there’s basically unlimited dollars to put into lobbying and into political campaigns.”

That’s why, says Dianne Berlin, vice president of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, state legislators often ignore the facts about gambling.

“According to [economist] Earl Grinols, the economic costs of a casino outweigh the benefits by a factor of nearly six-to-one,” Berlin said. “What are we doing? It is insanity to say, ‘We need to have casinos or we need slot machines.’ But it’s happening because the gambling industry can afford to pay for the access to our elected officials.”

HOMOSEXUALITY
Jerusalem targeted for gay pride march
Not content with staging marches in the U.S. and Europe, homosexual activists seem to think that Jerusalem, home to all three of the world’s monotheistic religions, is in need of an in-your-face dose of gay pride.

The WorldPride Web site says, “The message sent from Jerusalem WP will echo worldwide, redefining LGBT identity, faith, and vision.”

Lambert said the activists had originally planned the event for last summer. However, the plans were discovered by James Hartline, a former homosexual who published the news in his online James Hartline Report. From there, Hartline’s pastor, the Rev. Leo Giovinetti of San Diego, began informing the international religious community. Giovinetti distributed a petition protesting the gay pride parade. It was signed by numerous members of the Israeli Knesset and, according to Hartline, tens of thousands of Christians and Jews. In response, the event was canceled.

While previous international gay pride celebrations have taken place in Amsterdam and Rome, the Rev. Jerry Falwell believes the homosexual community is making a mistake in staging the next event in the historic city of Jerusalem.

“While the people involved [in WorldPride] are sincere, they must know that the Judeo-Christian beliefs still see homosexuality as sin,” he says. “After 2,000 years there has been no shift of opinion on the part of Christians and Jews who believe in the Bible.”

U.K. gays earn more than straights
For decades now homosexual activists have been painting members of the gay and lesbian community as suffering economic discrimination due to their sexual orientation. But at least in the U.K., that picture seems different from reality.

According to The Advocate, a magazine targeting the homosexual community, a recent survey indicates that British homosexuals “have fatter paychecks compared with their straight counterparts.”

Measured in annual salary, homosexual men earn $60,992 while straight men earn $43,213. A similar gap, although not quite as wide, appeared for women: lesbians earned $44,185 a year, compared to $33,059 for straight women.

“The constant complaint of discrimination just doesn’t ring true because homosexuals actually do quite well economically,” said AFA President Tim Wildmon. “In fact, the well-financed gay lobby groups are simply making the discrimination claims in order to win sympathy from a kindhearted but unsuspecting American – and, no doubt, British – public.”

PORNOGRAPHY
Early porn exposure has lasting effects
Recent studies confirming the corruptive impact of pornography on people revealed a growing concern among both secularists and Christians regarding its effect on children, especially if they are exposed at an early age.

“This possibly violent, very degrading image or depiction of sexuality becomes the normal depiction of sexuality in the child’s mind,” said Daniel Weiss of Focus on the Family Action.

Even if the exposure to graphic sexual images is accidental, research shows that it can warp a child’s understanding of sexuality. This twisted view follows them through life-tainting relationships well into adulthood, and creates a plethora of problems along the way.

For example, experts associate early exposure to pornography with an increase in teen pregnancy, abuse, drug and alcohol abuse and relationship problems. According to researcher Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, these problems surface when external beauty fades after years of marriage.

“The ability to see the human being on the inside and respond erotically requires that you not have set up and trained yourself in a set of completely artificial, impersonal expectations,” he said.

But with constant advancements in technology these artificial expectations are staring kids in the face while making it more difficult for parents to protect them.

As reported by the U.S. Justice Department, nine out of ten school age children are exposed to pornography, usually while doing their homework online. In addition, the New York Times recently cited a study titled “Impact of the Media on Adolescent Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors” in which it was noted that one in five children ages 10 to 17 had “inadvertently encountered explicit sexual content, and one in five had been exposed to an unwanted sexual solicitation while online.”

While Internet filters such as the American Family Filter (www.afafilter.com) are helpful when it comes to protecting children from online pornography, counselor Joann Condie also encourages parents to help their children process a good, wholesome and healthy view of sexuality.

PRO-LIFE
No denying, abortion harms women
A self-described pro-choice atheist and rationalist set out to prove that abortion does not have any psychological consequences. He found the opposite, and the results were so profound that they cannot be ignored in the scientific field or the political arena.

Professor David Fergusson, New Zealand researcher at Christchurch School of Medicine and Health, said, “[F]rom a personal point of view, I would have rather seen the results come out the other way – but they didn’t. And as a scientist you have to report the facts, not what you’d like to report.”

Fergusson and his colleagues were surprised by the study that followed 500 women from birth to age 25 and revealed that abortive women were one-and-a-half times more likely to suffer mental illness.

“Those having an abortion had elevated rates of subsequent mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviors and substance use disorders,” according to the research published in the Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology.

Numerous journals refused to publish the research, but Fergusson defended its relevance saying it would be “scientifically irresponsible” to overlook the findings.

“To provide a parallel to this situation, if we were to find evidence of an adverse reaction to medication, we would be obligated ethically to publish that fact,” he explained.

“Fergusson’s study underscores the fact that evidence-based medicine does not support the conjecture that abortion will protect women from ‘serious danger’ to their mental health,” added Dr. David Reardon, a seasoned researcher of abortion’s impact on women. “Physicians who ignore this study may no longer be able to argue that they are acting in good faith and may therefore be in violation of the law.”

As a result, the study is heating up the political debate over abortion in the United States while having a more profound effect on countries such as New Zealand and Great Britain where abortions are certified based on what was once thought to be in the best interest of the woman’s health.

“If we were talking about an antibiotic or an asthma risk, and someone reported adverse reactions, people would be advocating further research to evaluate risk,” Fergusson explained. “I can see no good reason why the same rules don’t apply to abortion.”

RELIGION
Study shows religion prolongs health, life
According to a study recently published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, regular church attendance is an effective way to increase life expectancy.

Specifically, people who attend a religious service on a weekly basis tend to prolong their life 1.8 to 3.1 years. In comparison, regular physical exercise prolongs life 3.0 to 5.1 years, while proven therapeutic regimens add 2.1 to 3.7 years to a person’s life.

Since the study is a review of existing research, it does not explain the link between faith and health. But Daniel Hall, leader of the study and a resident in general surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, speculates that the social aspect of religion may have something to do with the results.

“There is something about being knit into the type of community that religious communities embody that has a way of mediating a positive health effect,” Hall said. Therefore, being religiously active may decrease your stress level or increase your ability to cope with stress. “Being in a religious community helps you make meaning out of your life,” he added.

In addition to health data, Hall also examined the annual cost of these typical life-gaining activities. He found that people spend about $4,000 a year on physical exercise, $10,000 a year on therapy and $7,000 a year per household on contributions to religious institutions.

“[Yet] there is no evidence that changing religious attendance causes a change in health outcomes,” Hall warned.