Undercover Homosexual Methodist 'Pastors' Exposed

More than a hundred male and female American leaders in the United Methodist Church joined together this week to formally admit they've been falsely serving in local churches by concealing their claims to deviant sexuality.  Their announcement comes as the UMC quadrennial global General Conference begins in Portland, Oregon where these renegades will attempt to force their personal predilections upon the world-wide traditionally Christian denomination that believes homosexual behavior is incompatible with church teaching.

". . . this public relations campaign is designed to overwhelm our denomination’s infrastructure until traditionalists abandon their theological moorings."
-- Rev. Tom Lambrecht, Vice President and General Manager of Good News (representing UMC Christians who hold to Scriptural Authority)

For background, read how renegade UMC leaders recommend taking over the denomination by force.

Click headlines below to read previous articles:

New York Methodist Bishop Allows Same-sex Marriages

UMC Bishop Talbert Breaks UMC Covenant via 'Gay Marriage'

Renegade Methodist Clergy for Same-sex 'Marriage'

Methodists Ignore Own Rules re: Lesbian Pastor

African Methodists' Votes Halt Homosexualists' Rebellion

Also read Methodist Seminaries Train Pluralistic Clergy

And read Methodists Wonder Why Members Leave in Droves



-- From "Defying church ban, dozens of Methodist clergy come out as gay and lesbian" by Daniel Burke, CNN Religion Editor 5/9/16

Dozens of United Methodist clergy members came out as lesbian, gay or bisexual on Monday, defying their church's ban on "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" serving in ministry and essentially daring their supervisors to discipline them.

In a public letter posted online, 111 pastors, deacons, elders and candidates for ministry said church rules require "that we not bring our full selves to ministry, that we hide from view our sexual orientations and gender identities."

A spokesman for Reconciling Ministries Network, [a renegade UMC] LGBT advocacy group that organized the letter, said that about 80% of the 111 signatories are coming out to their supervisors for the first time. In addition to gay and lesbian clergy, the letter was also signed by intersex and transgender pastors, who are not technically excluded from ministry.

Monday's missive follows a similar letter issued by 15 Methodist ministers in New York, who also openly acknowledged that they are gay or lesbian.

A council of African bishops issued a statement last September urging Methodists to "submit to the teachings of Scripture that God designed marriage to be between man and woman."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "As United Methodists meet, 111 clergy come out as gay, defy church ban" by Greg Garrison, The Birmingham News 5/11/16

The United Methodist Church, the nation's second-largest Protestant denomination with 7.4 million members [in the U.S.], has debated homosexuality at its General Conference every four years for four decades.

While the U.S. membership in the denomination has declined, membership in Africa has expanded, and those members have an increasingly important voice in the General Conference debates. While the U.S. leadership has become more accepting of homosexuality, the newer African members have held the conservative line.

While the number of United Methodists in Africa grows by about 250,000 members a year, the number of U.S. United Methodists shrinks every year, by more than 50,000.

Africans will constitute about 30 percent of the 864 delegates to this year's General Conference.

Without the church's growing global membership, the United Methodists would very likely have taken a turn towards acceptance of gay marriage, like several other mainline Protestant denominations . . .

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "United Methodist lawmaking body to weigh LGBT issues" by Holly Meyer, The Tennessean 5/10/16

The United Methodist Church does not permit its clergy to officiate same-sex marriages, but that divisive issue and others regarding full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members are up for debate as the denomination convenes its top policy-making body this week in Portland, Ore.

Delegates from across the globe will consider more than 100 pieces of legislation regarding human sexuality at the General Conference, which meets every four years to decide the future direction of the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States. It counts about 12.8 million members worldwide.

The 864 delegates gathering at the Oregon Convention Center have the power to revise church law, pass resolutions on social and public policy and adopt churchwide budgets and plans. While LGBT concerns are in the spotlight, the General Conference is considering a plethora of issues. The gathering started Tuesday afternoon with a worship celebration and concludes May 20.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Good News responds to clergy coming out letter" by Jay Voorhees, Executive Editor, United Methodist Reporter 5/9/16

The Rev. Tom Lambrecht, Vice President and General Manager of Good News, an organization that has advocated for the retention of the current United Methodist teaching on homosexuality, released a statement this afternoon in response to the letter from 111 UM clergy identifying themselves as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning, and Intersex (LGBTQI).

“Unfortunately, the statement comes across more like a manifesto for an orchestrated campaign to influence General Conference than a ‘Love Letter to the Church,’” Lambrecht wrote.

Lambrecht addressed the concerns raised by the letter writers about their need to hide parts of themselves as they carry out  the work of ministry:

The letter talks about LGBTQI persons being forced to hide parts of themselves in order to engage in ministry. No one is forcing LGBTQI persons to hide their identities. That is a choice that they are making. The church has always been straightforward about what is acceptable behavior for clergy. Having same-sex attractions or being LGBTQI is not a bar to ordained ministry. Engaging in sexual relationships outside monogamous heterosexual marriage is a bar to ordained ministry. The line is clear. It is LGBTQI persons who have chosen to cross that line and yet pretend to fulfill their ordination vows. Such an action constitutes a fundamental lack of integrity that undermines the doctrine, discipline, and unity of the church.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "United Methodists may never agree on LGBT issues. Can they stay together anyway?" by Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post 5/9/16

Disputes over human sexuality appear to many to be most pressing [for the UMC General Conference]. This is in part because United Methodists have not changed their stance on homosexuality, whereas much of mainline Protestantism has in some way. The United Methodist Book of Discipline – the group’s book of law and doctrine – calls homosexuality “incompatible with Christian teaching.” The church has also seen huge controversy in recent years as pastors have begun openly bucking the ban on officiating at same-sex weddings, and high-profile disciplinary trials have embarrassed many Methodists.

According to the United Methodist News Service, the conference will weigh more than 100 pieces of legislation on human sexuality. Delegates from dozens of countries will consider the possibility of full inclusion of LGBT people, the “agree to disagree” option, whether gay people can be ordained, the question of officiating at same-sex weddings, whether such weddings can be held in Methodist churches and whether the current Book of Discipline wording should remain.

The United Methodist News Service lists “church structure and powers” as the first of top, broad issues to be voted upon this month. The most broad is a measure asking whether Methodists “can create a global Book of Discipline that says: ‘Here’s what we agree upon worldwide,’ and then one for each area of the world to help us deal with our own cultures,” said the Rev. Tom Berlin, a delegate from the Floris United Methodist Church in Herndon, Va. “The issue is: What questions belong to the whole, and what questions belong to the parts?”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Charlotte gay wedding defies United Methodist Church rules" by Tim Funk, The Charlotte Observer 4/24/16

. . . [Rev. Val Rosenquist, 59,] the pastor of Charlotte’s First United Methodist Church and a retired bishop [Melvin Talbert] who once did jail time with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. decided to go ahead over the weekend and preside at the wedding of John Romano and Jim Wilborne.

The two Charlotte men became the first same-sex couple in North Carolina to get married – at least publicly – in a United Methodist church.

They said the Saturday wedding was attended by more than 250 people – including about 30 supportive United Methodist clergy. Also in attendance: Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, who is a friend of the couple’s.

Last August, [Rosenquist] said, the leadership board at First United Methodist voted that any member of the church could get married in the sanctuary, even if that defied the [UMC] Book of Discipline.

The 81-year-old Talbert, a retired United Methodist bishop based in Nashville and a one-time leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, spent three days and three nights in a jail cell with King in 1960. He called his disobedience of Methodist rules against same-sex marriage an act of “biblical obedience.”

On Sunday, Talbert delivered the sermon at First United Methodist Church, telling about 150 people in the pews that, like African-Americans, women and other past victims of discrimination, LGBT persons are being ridiculed and ostracized “simply because of the way God created them.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Methodists call themselves the ‘church of the big tent.’ Why one minister is camping outside." by Julie Zauzmer, Washington Post 4/5/16

[His daughter Sarah] was the inspiration for [UMC Rev. Michael Tupper's] activism – and the first lesbian bride he married.

[Sarah] and her wife met at the preeminent evangelical university Wheaton College — despite the fact that Tupper, suspecting that his teenage daughter was lesbian, told her that if she were lesbian she should not go to Wheaton.

Tupper reached a sort of out-of-court settlement in the United Methodist Church’s judicial system. He knew when he agreed to officiate [the same-sex wedding] that he might be defrocked for it . . . But Tupper was cleared to continue ministry at his church near Kalamazoo, Mich.

Then he performed his second gay wedding, that of a fellow United Methodist minister who was banned from his pulpit when he came out as gay. Tupper expected, after he helped officiate Benjamin Hutchison’s wedding, that he would face a church trial.

But the trial never came.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Female Methodist pastor admits she's gay during church service, stunning worshippers" by Czarina Ong, Christian Today 1/19/16

Nobody was prepared for Pastor Cynthia Meyer's coming out declaration during the Edgerton United Methodist Church's first sermon this 2016, but the 53-year-old Kansas pastor decided then that it was the best time for her to serve "with full authenticity and as my genuine self—as a woman who loves and shares my life with another woman."

Meyer risks being sacked because of her pronouncement, but she insists that her conscience is clear because she keeps "faith with the church by challenging it to keep faith with the Gospel."

Conservative Methodists, on the other hand, are not condoning Meyer's vocal support of same-sex relationships and marriages.

They wrote: "We simply cannot abandon the Bible's teachings on the practice of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Your proposal would put us, who believe that same-sex relations are sinful, in the position of having to deny our consciences. This new policy is simply asking us to do something we cannot do."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "New York United Methodist Body Says It Will Ignore Church's Rules on Gay Clergy" by Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter 3/3/16

The New York Annual Conference's Board of Ordained Ministry released a statement Tuesday noting that they will no longer consider the sexual orientation or gender identity of an ordination candidate.

The Rev. William B. Pfohl, chair of the NYAC BOOM and chief signatory of the statement, told The Christian Post that the . . . final vote on the released statement took place on Feb. 20, with a supermajority of the New York board approving the standards via secret ballot.

NYAC is not the only conference in the UMC that has recently announced its decision to ignore the denomination's ordination rules regarding homosexual practice.

Last month the Board of Ordained Ministry of the Baltimore-Washington Conference announced that they recommended a married lesbian to a provisional deacon position.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Liberal 'Churches' Continue to Wither as well as Liberal 'Churches' Conforming to Decadent Culture

In addition, read President Obama's National Cathedral is the Seat of Apostasy

For myriad attacks on the Bible and Christian faith, read CBS Gives Voice to Atheists, Heretics, & Apostates

Pastor's Wife Fined for Praying Too Loud—N. Dakota

Martha Nagbe, wife of United Methodist Pastor Juwle Nagbe of Lisbon, North Dakota, has been fined $150 after multiple court dates because police ticketed her for "praying too loud on city sidewalks."  The family, originally from Africa, are protesting the infringement of their American right to freedom of speech.

"I can't stop [praying]. I'm trusting God. . . . In the United States it's one nation under God."
-- Martha Nagbe

For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:

Indiana Town Denounces Loud, Praying Christians

Missouri Police Steal Preacher's Amplifier to Shut Him Up

Pastor Arrested in California for Reading Bible in Public

Christian Jailed in Texas for Witnessing on Sidewalk

Buffalo, NY Police Boot Christian from Festival for Talking

Jesus Talk Outlawed in New Orleans, Arrests Made

Preacher Arrested: 'Breach of the Peace' on Street

Virginia Police Halt Bible 'Noise,' Preacher Sues City & Wins

Pastor Wins Free Speech Lawsuit Over California Mall

Police Say Prayer Illegal Outside U.S. Supreme Court Building

Christians Arrested for Praying Too Loud Near Chicago Abortion Clinic

Christians Arrested for Praying at Gay Festival

Praying Mother Banned from School Grounds in New Hampshire



-- From "Lisbon pastor's wife fined for praying too loud" by Christina Craig, Valley News KVLY-TV11 & KXJB (Fargo, ND) 2/24/15

Nagbe said police told her to stop praying downtown and in area neighborhoods. She moved from Liberia to this country for opportunity, but feels that she's being denied her rights.

In one hand Nagbe carries her bible, singing versus [sic] of praise throughout the streets. Lisbon's police chief told us Nagbe's loud praying is "disturbing the peace."

Police further comment this isn't about race, religion, or freedom of speech. They've received complaints from neighbors "that have been woken up and she is standing outside of their house shouting,” said Chief [Jeanette] Persons. “It's not that she just walks by, but she will stand out there for a lengthy period of time."

Chief Persons said if Nagbe continues to pray loudly in the streets, she will continue to get fined. But, Chief Persons also comments if Nagbe lowered her voice the problems would go away.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Colleges: Humanist Chaplains for the Nonbelievers

"As more people are coming out and more people are becoming atheists and humanists, universities are recognizing the need to service their diverse populations, including people who don't believe in God."
-- Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association

"Our mission is to build, educate and nurture a diverse community of atheists, humanists, agnostics and the non-religious."
-- Jonathan Figdor, Stanford University's humanist pastor and co-author of "Atheist Mind, Humanist Heart: Rewriting the Ten Commandments for the Twenty-First Century"

For background, read Stanford University Hires Atheist 'Chaplain' and then hires an Anti-Christian Lesbian Ordained Priest

Click headlines below to read previous articles:

Church is About Friendships, NOT God: University Study

God is Not a Being, but an Experience, Pastor Says

New Atheist 'Churches' in America Give Competition to Mainlines

Also read California Boots College Christian Clubs Across the State

-- From "US colleges bringing in chaplains to serve the nonbelievers" by John Rogers, Associated Press 2/14/15

[Bart Campolo, 51,] the onetime United Methodist youth minister, who worked for decades with the poor in inner-city neighborhoods in Philadelphia and Cincinnati, figured he'd try to keep doing that by presiding over what he cheerfully calls "a church for people who don't believe in God."

USC already had more than 50 religious leaders ministering to students of various faiths, said Varun Soni, dean of the school's Office of Religious Life. So it seemed only right, he added, to bring one in for non-believers seeking spiritual guidance.

"Spirituality is really engaged with the ultimate questions that make us human. The questions of meaning and purpose, of significance and authenticity," Soni said. "Many of our students who identify as religious find the answers to those questions through God. But we realize that not everyone does, and we want to be a resource to our entire university community."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

For more about the secularization of America, read CBS Gives Voice to Atheists, Heretics, & Apostates

Former Christian Univ. Announces Muslim Prayers

The Muslim call to prayer chant will now blare from a loud speaker of the bell tower at the Duke University Chapel every Friday in accordance with the Koran. Duke was founded by Methodists and continues its relationship with The United Methodist Church, but as of May 9, 2014, the Board of Trustees revised its mission statement to emphasize "generous hospitality towards diverse religious and cultural traditions . . . [and] to promote a respectful spirit of dialogue and understanding."

Previously, the aims of Duke University were "to assert a faith in the eternal union of knowledge and religion set forth in the teachings and character of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; to advance learning in all lines of truth; to defend scholarship against all false notions and ideals; to develop a Christian love of freedom and truth . . ."
-- Duke University Charter, Bylaws, Aims, and Mission Statement

For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:

Islamic 'Call to Prayer' at National Cathedral in Washington D.C.

Muslims Force Christmas Off School Calendar in Maryland

Colorado School Visits Mosque, Enforces Sharia Law

Massachusetts Students Forced To Learn Muslim Conversion

Stanford Hires Anti-Christian Lesbian Ordained Priest

Methodist Duke University Ups Fees for Sex Changes

Allah Worshiped in Virginia Methodist Church

Methodist Seminaries Train Pluralistic Clergy

Also read myriad examples of hostility toward Christianity on college campuses including censorship of Christian speech.

UPDATE 1/16/15: Duke Hears America, Cancels Muslim 'Call to Prayer'


-- From "Muslim call to prayer to resonate from Duke University chapel every Friday" by Susan Svrluga, Washington Post 1/15/15

On Friday, the Muslim call to prayer will sound from the Duke Chapel, a new weekly tradition for the campus.

In a Duke University news release, Imam Adeel Zeb, Muslim chaplain at Duke, said: “The adhan is the call to prayer that brings Muslims back to their purpose in life, which is to worship God and serves as a reminder to serve our brothers and sisters in humanity. The collective Muslim community is truly grateful and excited about Duke’s intentionality toward religious and cultural diversity.”

Christy Lohr Sapp, the chapel’s associate dean for religious life, said in the release: “This opportunity represents a larger commitment to religious pluralism that is at the heart of Duke’s mission. It connects the university to national trends in religious accommodation.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Duke Chapel To Allow Muslim Call To Prayer" by Cavan Sieczkowski, The Huffington Post 1/14/15

The Adhan will be sung in Arabic, then followed by an English translation, according to a Facebook event announcing the call.

The chapel also holds an interdenominational Christian service on Sunday mornings and a Catholic mass on Sunday evenings, along with other services and events. Omid Safi, director at Duke's Islamic Studies Center, told The Huffington Post that the response to the decision has been "overwhelmingly positive" thus far.

"Almost everyone that has written in has celebrated it as a sign of Duke University's commitment to creating a welcoming and pluralistic community," he said in an email Wednesday. "We see it as a sign of including our diversity -- yes, including our religious diversity -- in the public arena. We have over 700 Muslim members of the Duke community, and this is a day to be seen -- and, yes, heard. It is a validating experience to tell one another that we can and do co-exist not by denying our particularity, but through them. There is room at Duke for Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, atheists, agnostics ... people of every faith and no faith."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Duke University's decision to sound Muslim call to prayer riles some" by Emma Lacey-Bordeaux, CNN 1/15/15

Starting Friday, the Duke Muslim Students Association will chant the call, or adhan, from the Duke Chapel bell tower. The adhan signals the beginning of the weekly prayer service. It's ubiquitous in Muslim countries the world over; not so in the Carolina piedmont.

Various Christian denominations hold prayer and worship services in the chapel. The school also has spaces dedicated spaces on campus for various faiths, including Jews, Hindus and Buddhists.

"Just as the bells announce chapel worship in the building on Sundays, the adhan announces Muslim prayers on Fridays," the chapel said.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Franklin Graham slams Duke University over Muslim call to prayer" by Adam Bell, Charlotte Observer 1/15/15

[Evangelist Franklin] Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham, urged people to withdraw their support of Duke until the policy is reversed.

“As Christianity is being excluded from the public square and followers of Islam are raping, butchering, and beheading Christians, Jews, and anyone who doesn’t submit to their Sharia Islamic law, Duke is promoting this in the name of religious pluralism,” Graham wrote on his Facebook page Wednesday.

Over the years, some of Graham’s critics have accused him of demonizing Islam.

Graham has defended his outspoken ways, saying he is simply speaking out like his father did in his younger years.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Rev. Franklin Graham Loves Muslim People, Hates Islam

From "Duke University decision invites Sunni, Shiite conflict to campus" by Will Hall, Christian Examiner 1/15/15

According to the think tank Council on Foreign Affairs [CFR], it is the ancient religious divide between Sunnis and Shias that "have fed a Syrian civil war that threatens to transform the map of the Middle East ... and sparked a revival of transnational jihadi networks that poses a threat beyond the region."

But, university officials seem unaware of this deep religious divide within Islam, and at least publicly, have not addressed concerns sure to arise about whether they will honor both sects.

Even the issue of imams has divided the Islamic faithful and it relates to the origin of the conflict.

CFR summarizes that for mainstream Shias, there are only twelve imams, historic holy men, the last of which has been in a state of occultation, or "hiddenness," since 939 A.D. to return at the end of time. Consequently, for them an imam has a direct bloodline to Mohammad, through Husayn, the son of Ali who was the cousin, son-in-law and successor of Mohammad. Their senior clerics are called ayatollahs.

Sunnis, who compose 85 percent of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims, on the other hand, do not recognize a bloodline, but elect religious leaders. For them, imams are men who lead prayer services in mosques. Moreover, 40 percent of Sunnis, according to a 2012 Pew Research Center report, do not regard Shias as proper Muslims.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Congress: America No Longer a Christian Nation

And read President Obama Praises Islam for Making America What It Is

FDR's D-Day Prayer is Un-American, Say Atheists

As Allied troops fought the Nazi stronghold at Normandy in 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt led America in prayer to "Almighty God" in a nationwide radio broadcast.  Now, seventy years later, a coalition of atheists, and the religious left, are demanding that the prayer be obliterated from history, and NOT included in the World War II Memorial because it "disrespects America's religious diversity."

"Slapping a prayer onto a memorial that honors all those veterans would be an insult to both their service and their sacrifice."
-- Simon Brown, Americans United for Separation of Church and State

For background, read President Obama Opposes Prayer for Soldiers in Battle

Also read of the myriad atheist lawsuits against Christians and prayer nationwide.

However, in response, read of countless examples of citizens banding together to defy the atheists and pray in school and other local government bodies, and also read the long list of states enacting laws to bring prayer back to schools.

Also read Atheists Fret Supreme Court Ruling Favoring Prayers in Christian America



From "FDR led Americans in prayer on D-Day" by The Associated Press 6/6/14

In a live broadcast 70 years ago today, the president of the United States prayed for victory in the D-Day invasion.

"With thy blessing," he prayed, "we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy."

Congressional efforts to authorize adding Roosevelt's D-Day prayer to the FDR memorial at private expense have so far been unsuccessful.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "FDR’s D-Day Prayer" by Jon Meacham, Time Magazine 6/5/14

One of his sons once referred to Franklin Roosevelt as a “frustrated clergyman.” The president, an Episcopalian, loved liturgy and found the cadences of the Book of Common Prayer and of the King James Bible at once stirring and reassuring. And so the time came for Overlord—what his friend and colleague Winston Churchill called “the most difficult and complicated operation that has ever taken place”—FDR decided to commemorate the moment and address the nation not with a Fireside Chat or a grand speech but with a prayer of his own composition.

The White House distributed the text on the morning of June 6, 1944, so that the afternoon newspapers could publish it and listeners could pray along with Roosevelt when he broadcast that evening. With an estimated audience of 100 million, FDR was to lead what must rank as one of the largest mass prayers in human history. . . .

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Seventy Years On: Franklin D. Roosevelt's D-Day Prayer" by Derrick G. Jeter, Christian Post Op-Ed Contributor 6/5/14

On December 8, 1941, many Americans heard the then familiar voice of President Roosevelt crackle over the radio asking Congress for a declaration of war. Three years later, on June 6, 1944, on what would become one of the greatest days in American history - the invasion to liberate Europe from Nazi Germany - Americans stared at the amber glow of their radios and listened to President Roosevelt deliver another impassioned plea.

This time it wasn't a speech, it was a prayer. Roosevelt didn't ask the country to honor a moment of silence. He didn't ask the nation to pray before turning in for the night. He, the President of the United States of America, did what would be unthinkable today - he asked the American people to "join" him in prayer. As he led the nation in a solemn petition for the lives of thousands of American and Allied men - boys, really - who were crossing the English Channel and landing on the bloody beaches of Normandy, France, he asked for God's will to be done in the great endeavor that was D-Day.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Congress Considers Adding FDR Prayer to World War II Memorial" by Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter 5/22/14

Known as H.R 2175 [World War II Memorial Prayer Act of 2013], the bill was introduced last year with the House Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation holding a hearing on it Tuesday morning.

"The Secretary of the Interior … shall install in the area of the World War II Memorial in the District of Columbia a suitable plaque or an inscription with the words that President Franklin D. Roosevelt prayed with the United States on June 6, 1944, the morning of D-Day," reads the bill.

"[The Secretary] may not use Federal funds to prepare or install the plaque or inscription referred to in paragraph (1), but may accept and expend private contributions for this purpose."

The "World War II Memorial Prayer Act of 2013" has been considered in past sessions of Congress, passing in the House of Representatives only to stall in the Senate.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Liberal Groups Reject FDR'S D-Day Prayer" by Jeff Walton, Institute on Religion and Democracy 6/6/14

"Our religious diversity is one of our nation's great strengths," the coalition declared. "This bill, however, shows a lack of respect for this great diversity. It endorses the false notion that all veterans will be honored by a war memorial that includes a prayer that proponents characterize as reflecting our country's 'Judeo-Christian heritage and values.'"

Signers include several Jewish groups, the American Civil Liberties Union, a Hindu, a Humanist, and a mostly liberal Protestant group, plus the United Methodist Church's Capitol Hill lobby. They insist that quoting the prayer on the National Mall will undermine "religious freedom" and "co-opt religion for political purposes, which harms the beliefs of everyone."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Rejecting FDR’s D-Day Prayer" by Mark Tooley, Institute on Religion and Democracy, posted at The American Spectator 6/6/14

There’s little to nothing in FDR’s prayer that would theologically offend almost any monotheist, except possibly for its very lack of theological specificity. And why would even polytheists or atheists be overly distressed by such a prayer, if in fact they too hoped for encouragement, solace, and victory for those forces, mostly very young men, attempting to liberate Europe from Nazi control and “to set free a suffering humanity?”

Such a regime in extreme version was, in FDR’s words, the “unholy forces of our enemy” whom the Allied forces opposed on D-Day. They and other totalitarians deny any transcendent authority over the all-controlling state. For them, not only is there no religious freedom, there is no moral architecture for human rights at all. The will to power supersedes all morality and notions of human dignity.

. . . whether everyone likes it or not, FDR did say the prayer. It is intrinsically part of what the WWII Memorial represents. His prayer is considerably less provocative than Abraham Lincoln’s Calvinist suggestion, inscribed on his nearby monument, that the Civil War was divine punishment for slavery.

To read the entire opinion column above, CLICK HERE.

From "President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's D-Day Prayer" posted at the American Presidency Project

My fellow Americans:

Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home - fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas - whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them - help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too - strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.

Also read Liberal Media Ignore 40,000 National Prayer Events

NY Methodist Bishop Allows Same-sex Marriages

Bishop Martin D. McLee announced that he will no longer require clergy in his New York region of the United Methodist Church (UMC) to abide by the denomination's restriction on pastors performing same-sex weddings.  However, denomination leaders are preparing to put another bishop on trial for violating that restriction. Schism seems inevitable.

For background, read Homosexualists Say, Take Methodist Denomination by Force and also read Bishop Melvin G. Talbert Breaks UMC Covenant via 'Gay Marriage'

-- From "Methodist Bishop to End Trials for Ministers Who Perform Gay Weddings" by Sharon Otterman, New York Times 3/10/14

As the first sitting United Methodist bishop to publicly make such a pledge, Bishop Martin D. McLee instantly became a leading figure in a decades-old movement within the United Methodist Church, the country’s second-largest Protestant denomination, to extend equal recognition and rights to gay and lesbian members. Though Bishop McLee said that he hoped his approach would heal the church’s deep divisions over homosexuality, more conservative Methodists warned that his actions would push the denomination closer to an irrevocable split.

. . . Bishop McLee, who oversees about 460 churches in lower New York State and Connecticut, agreed to drop all charges against [the Methodist minister and retired dean of Yale Divinity School, Dr. Thomas W.] Ogletree; in exchange, he asked only that Dr. Ogletree participate in a dialogue about the church and its stance on matters of sexuality. Promoting dialogue, the bishop said, could be a model for other United Methodist bishops to follow.

. . . about 1,500 United Methodist ministers around the country have pledged to officiate same-sex unions in defiance of the rules, including 217 clergy in the New York Annual Conference. Bishop McLee’s move, said Dorothee Benz, who leads a pro-gay rights group, Methodists in New Directions, shows that “the bishops are starting to catch the same drift.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "United Methodist Church won’t defrock former Yale Divinity School dean who performed gay wedding" by Jim Shelton, New Haven Register 3/10/14

Bishop Martin D. McLee of the church’s New York Annual Conference said his district agreed to a “cessation” of church trials against Methodist clergy who officiate at same-sex weddings. The district will organize public forums for a “spiritual conversation” about the issue.

“Church trials produce no winners,” McLee said. “Church trials result in harmful polarization and continue the harm brought upon our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.”

Gregory E. Sterling, the current dean of [Yale Divinity School] said he was “immensely relieved” at the outcome of Ogletree’s case.

“This would have been seen as an example of Christianity hurting humans and human rights, rather than supporting human rights,” Sterling said.

The resolution only applies to the New York Annual Conference . . .

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Conservative Methodists Upset by UMC Bishop's Decision to Drop Church Trial of Pastor Who Officiated Son's Gay Wedding" by Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter 3/12/14

"We are deeply disappointed in the decision to negotiate a settlement that contains no consequences for Dr. Ogletree's disobedience," [conservative leader Rev. Tom] Lambrecht told The Christian Post. "Such a decision puts the will of individuals above the requirements of our church covenant and nullifies the will of the General Conference, which has been prayerfully and democratically arrived at and sustained for over 40 years."

Lambrecht also told CP that Bishop McLee's decision to halt church trials for UMC clergy who perform gay weddings "is a green light for clergy to disregard our church covenant and Discipline."

"The commitment sets a pattern for other bishops and annual [regional] conferences to follow, and it increases the distrust and division within the church," said Lambrecht. "This course of action by the bishop reneges on the commitment he and the entire Council of Bishops made in 2012 to continue to uphold the Discipline, despite our disagreements."

John Lomperis, director of the United Methodist program at The Institute on Religion and Democracy, told CP . . . "Bishop McLee has ensured a prolonging and an intensification of our denomination's internal conflicts. No wonder his region is losing members so rapidly."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "United Methodist bishop may face trial for presiding at gay wedding" by Renee K. Gadoua, Religion News Service, Washington Post 3/13/14

Complaints have been filed against [Bishop Melvin G. Talbert,] a United Methodist bishop who presided over a same-sex wedding of two men in defiance of his denomination’s rules prohibiting such ceremonies.

According to a statement from the [UMC] Council of Bishops on Thursday (March 13), Talbert “has violated the sacred trust of his office.”

The church’s disciplinary process could lead to a trial and the loss of Talbert’s clergy credentials. Several other United Methodist clergy face possible trials, as the denomination grows increasingly polarized over church law over ministry to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "The Coming Methodist Schism" by Rod Dreher, The American Conservative 3/11/14

A Methodist pastor responded to my request yesterday for someone within Methodism to explain what’s going on in the church in light of the news that the Methodist pastor who conducted a marriage service for his gay son would not be tried in church court for violating church discipline. Will there be a schism? I asked. The pastor responds:

You ask will there be a schism? Yes. . . .

Your second question was how do you avoid one?  I do not see how.  The covenant, and that is what the Book of Discipline is, has been broken.  There is no fixing it. . . .

Finally you ask if it is desirable to avoid schism.  Two years ago I would have said at all costs.  Now I do not think we should avoid it and indeed I think the sooner we get it over with the better all involved will be. . . . I want to pastor my flock, lead worship, preside at the sacraments, preach the word, and serve the least of these.  I do not want to argue about things on which the Bible is clear. . . .

. . . The UMC is in decline in the US, slower then our fellow mainline denominations but declining nonetheless, and that pace of decline will soon pick up as more and more of our members die off. . . .

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Liberal 'Churches' Continue to Wither as well as Liberal 'Churches' Conforming to Decadent Culture

In addition, read President Obama's National Cathedral is the Seat of Apostasy

For myriad attacks on the Bible and Christian faith, read CBS Gives Voice to Atheists, Heretics, & Apostates

Homosexualists: Take Methodist Denomination by Force

Ordained clergy, including bishops, have been trying for decades to persuade Christian leaders of the United Methodist Church (UMC) to embrace the Gay Agenda, but after repeated defeats in denomination-wide votes, these desperate homosexual activists are adopting "scorched earth" tactics.

"Most folks, after 40 years of trying legislative solutions, realize they won't work. The way forward is to claim what we know to be true. And we're going to continue doing it in an aggressive way."
-- Matt Berryman, executive director of Reconciling Ministries Network (a formal homosexualist group within the UMC)

"The time for talking is over."
-- UMC California Bishop Melvin Talbert

For background, read Bishop Talbert Shoves 'Gay Marriage' Up Methodists' Alley and also read Renegade Methodist Clergy for Same-sex 'Marriage' as well as African Methodists' Votes Halt Homosexualists' Rebellion

UPDATE 3/14/14: New York Methodist Bishop Allows Same-sex Marriages

-- From "Methodists in crisis over gay marriage, church law" by Rachel Zoll, Associated Press 2/9/14

The intensity of the conflict was laid bare over the last several months, when the church tried, convicted and defrocked Frank Schaefer, a Pennsylvania pastor who presided at the wedding of his son to another man. Berryman said the case galvanized Methodists advocating for recognition of gay marriage, increasing donations to the group and traffic on Reconciling Ministries' online sites. Schaefer has since been traveling the country giving talks and sermons on gay acceptance.

Frustration over the lack of change fueled the new movement to openly defy church law, starting in 2011 in Minnesota and New York. Methodist ministers had already been quietly officiating at same-gender ceremonies in some communities for years. A few of the more publicly defiant clergy had faced formal complaints or had been tried by the church. But the public marriage pledges brought new energy to the campaign.

Last month, a new Methodist group formed called the Wesleyan Covenant Network to support theologically conservative Methodists and keep them from leaving the denomination. The meeting in Atlanta drew about 130 clergy and others. One speaker choked back tears while telling the group his son is considering entering ministry — but not in the United Methodist Church.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Ranks of defiant United Methodist clergy rise" by Renee K. Gadoua, Religion News Service (Washington Post) 1/23/14

Almost daily, evidence mounts of defiant United Methodist clergy breaking church law on behalf of gays and lesbians as the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination struggles with what may be its most vexing rebellion in decades.

Every week, another Methodist minister “comes out” and acknowledges performing a same-sex wedding on the website of the New York-based Methodists in New Directions. So far, 14 clergy have made such disclosures; none has faced a church complaint, said Dorothee Benz, MIND spokeswoman.

“The defrocking of [UMC Pennsylvania pastor] Frank Schaefer brought great shame to our denomination and much pain to our LGBTQ brothers and sisters,” said Bishop Minerva G. Carcano of the California-Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church.

She sees the growing movement challenging church policy as a turning point.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Another Methodist clergyman faces charges for gay wedding" by Rachel Zoll, Associated Press 1/18/14

The Rev. Thomas Ogletree [80] will be tried March 10 for violating church law against officiating at gay unions, his spokeswoman, Dorothee Benz, said Friday. . . . Ogletree is a theologian, a former Yale Divinity School dean, and a retired elder in the church’s New York district, or Annual Conference. Some clergy had filed a complaint after his son’s 2012 wedding announcement appeared in The New York Times.

In the last few years, as gay marriage has gained legal recognition by US states, Methodists advocating for gays and lesbians have intensified their protests, hosting gay weddings in Methodist churches or officiating at ceremonies elsewhere.

Two other similar cases are pending within the Methodist church. The Rev. Stephen Heiss of the Upper New York Annual Conference is expected to face a church trial for presiding at same-sex marriages, including officiating at his daughter’s 2002 wedding. The Rev. Sara Thompson Tweedy, of the New York Annual Conference, is facing a formal complaint that she is a "self-avowed practicing" lesbian, or lives openly with a same-sex partner, which is barred by church law.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "United Methodist Church Sets Date for Trial of Pastor Who Officiated Son's Gay Wedding" by Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter 1/20/14

In addition to considering homosexuality "incompatible with Christian teaching", the UMC Book of Discipline also states that clergy cannot perform same-sex marriages.

Ogletree's actions were "injurious to the church", said Rev. Thomas Lambrecht, vice president and general manager of the conservative Methodist group Good News, according to the NY Times. "And it undermines the whole covenant of accountability that we share with each other as pastors," continued Lambrecht.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Same-sex marriage ban strains region's Methodists churches" by William Moyer, Star-Gazette (Elmira, NY) 1/26/14

Rev. Stephen Heiss, of Tabernacle United Methodist Church, 83 Main St., Binghamton, and the Rev. Frank Schaefer, whose defrocking drew national media coverage and invigorated the same-sex marriage debate, want the 12 million member church to allow clergy to extend marriage ceremonies to everyone, regardless of sexual preference.

Schaefer will be the speaker at a 10:30 a.m. worship service Feb. 2 as Tabernacle celebrates the seventh anniversary of its decision to become a Reconciling Congregation.

A reconciling United Methodist congregation has formally adopted a statement to welcome people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Reconciling Congregations are not officially endorsed by the United Methodist Church.

In the Southern Tier, several congregations have approved this welcoming statement, including Tabernacle and Centenary-Chenango Street churches in Binghamton, St. Paul’s in Ithaca and First United Methodist Church in Oneonta. . . .

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Some United Methodists speak out against the denomination's same-sex marriage ban" by Carla Hinton, The Oklahoman 2/1/14

The Rev. Trina Bose North and the Rev. Deborah Ingraham [of Edmond, Oklahoma] said their group, informally called Oklahoma United Methodists for Marriage Equality, wanted to counter the public statements made by the Rev. Robert Hayes Jr., Oklahoma United Methodist bishop, upholding the denomination's stance against same-gender marriage.

North [38] and Ingraham, 60, said Epworth United Methodist Church, where Ingraham is senior pastor, is part of the Reconciling Network, a network of United Methodist churches across the country working toward full inclusion for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the church.

. . . they said it's important that United Methodists who disagree with the prohibitions tied to homosexuality let people know how they feel.

. . . North and Ingraham said momentum for such public dissent is growing. They said 70 Oklahoma United Methodist clergy and 280 laypeople signed a 2011 statement in favor of the denomination changing its stance on same-sex marriage and ordination of openly gay individuals. Ingraham said the local statement tied in with a similar national statement called Altar for All.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "United Methodist Church to Review Resolution Supporting Same-Sex Marriage" by Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter 1/27/14

The denomination's highest court, the Judicial Council, will review the Desert Southwest Annual Conference's "Marriage Equality Resolution" in April it was announced.

In the recently released docket for the Judicial Council, the reproduced resolution stated that the Conference took a stand in favor of gay marriage, even though the UMC Book of Discipline defines marriage as being between one man and one woman.

Last July, the Arizona-based Desert Southwest Annual Conference passed the "Marriage Equality Resolution," validating the regional body's open support for the pro-LGBT wing of the mainline protestant denomination.

Bishop Robert Hoshibata, head of the Conference, decided to allow the resolution and concluded that it did not conflict with the Book of Discipline.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "UM polity expert asks Council of Bishops to 'stop the trials'" by Jay Voorhees, Executive Editor, United Methodist Reporter (liberal news source) 11/13/14

In an “Open Letter to the Council of Bishops (COB)” released today, Wake Forest University professor and United Methodist polity expert the Rev. Dr. Thomas E. Frank asked the council “…for the sake of the unity of the church, to stop the trials.” “We need to engage our differences through “Christian conversation” within our conferences and particularly within our orders of elders. Church trials are “an expedient of last resort” and are not the way forward,” Frank wrote.

Frank believes that the constitution of the United Methodist Book of Discipline empowers the bishops to act in opposition to the will of the General Conference in the face of peril to the denomination.

Frank believes that it is within the power of the bishops to refrain from referring complaints to counsel for the church, and the subsequent church trials. “You have discretion as the chief pastors of the church over the manner, purpose, and conduct of any supervisory response and just resolution under ‘fair process.’”

To read the entire article above and the full text of Frank’s letter, CLICK HERE.



Also read Liberal 'Churches' Continue to Wither as well as Liberal 'Churches' Conforming to Decadent Culture

In addition, read President Obama's National Cathedral is the Seat of Apostasy

For myriad attacks on the Bible and Christian faith, read CBS Gives Voice to Atheists, Heretics, & Apostates

Bishop Shoves 'Gay Marriage' Up Methodists' Alley

Homosexualists inside the United Methodist Church, both clergy and laity, have worked for decades to reverse the denomination's lack of acceptance of homosexual behavior as a "Christian teaching," but to no avail.  Although many avenues for amicable exit from the UMC (including money and/or property) have been offered to defiant pastors, and entire church congregations, these homosexualists refuse to leave but rather insist that the denomination change.

This week, a retired San Francisco UMC bishop, who sat in the Birmingham jail with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., says the UMC is "immoral and unjust" concerning homosexuality, and now has officiated a same-sex "marriage" in an Alabama church, in order to intimidate the Christian majority of the worldwide denomination.

"I think it would be appropriate for those who think they cannot live within the policies of the church to withdraw from the church, and [the denomination majority] would be willing to allow them to keep their property, their pensions, and send them forward."
-- Rev. Tom Lambrecht, UMC Christian pastor

Click headlines below to read previous articles:

Methodists Ignore Own Rules re: Lesbian Pastor

Renegade Methodist Clergy for Same-sex 'Marriage'

Baby Jesus with Two Lesbians: Methodist Nativity

Methodist Clergy Buck Bible, Church - Science Also

Methodists Team Up with Atheists for Bible Study

Allah Worshiped in Virginia Methodist Church

African Methodists Vote to Keep United Methodist Church on 'Straight and Narrow'

In addition, read this NON-joke: A Rabbi, Pastor & Imam Join a Methodist Seminary, and ...

UPDATE 12/21/13: Apostate Methodist Bishops Support Defrocked Pastor (see excerpts below)

-- From "Methodist bishop performs gay wedding" posted at Montgomery Advertiser 10/27/13

A retired United Methodist bishop performed a wedding for two gay men Saturday in [Center Point,] Alabama despite opposition from other church leaders.

Joe Openshaw said he and longtime partner Bobby Prince asked [San Francisco's former United Methodist Bishop Melvin] Talbert to marry them when they were refused permission to marry in their United Methodist church.

Talbert and other Methodist supporters of same-sex rights have been encouraging their denomination to recognize gay marriages for years. Alabama does not recognize same-sex marriage.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Defiant Methodist bishop fuels gay-marriage battle" by Matt Smith, Center for Investigative Reporting, posted at San Francisco Chronicle 10/27/13

San Francisco's former United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert gave a sermon at the denomination's global conference last year, urging pastors to defy church law by performing same-sex wedding ceremonies.

Church leaders predict that Talbert's action will aggravate a conflict between conservative and liberal factions of the United Methodist Church - one of the last mainline Protestant denominations that bans same-sex marriage.

Talbert says he doesn't want to divide the church or its 12 million members worldwide. His goal, he said, is to address hypocrisy in a denomination that includes thousands of gay parishioners and gay pastors living with partners.

. . . While church policy calls for punishing those who perform same-sex weddings, the denomination said Tuesday that it would nonetheless extend employee benefits to same-sex couples.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

 From "Bishop follows through on commitment to conduct same sex wedding" by Bart Styes, Correspondent, United Methodist Reporter (a UMC official, but liberal, publication) 10/26/13

. . . With three sheriff’s deputies, multiple media representatives and an officiating United Methodist bishop in jeopardy of facing charges for violating the denomination’s Book of Discipline, this was a unique occasion. However, for the majority of the approximately one-hundred and fifty in attendance, this remained a marriage ceremony, even in the face of the implications for the United Methodist Church and the presiding clergy. Like most “traditional” weddings, there were flowers, music, and restless children.

For several of the clergy in attendance, there was a sense of frustration at this even being a divisive or contentious issue. One elder of the North Alabama [regional] conference in asserted that “some clergy were told not even to attend the wedding as it could hurt their careers.”

“We just need to get over it,” said Rev. Mike Harper. “It’s obvious these guys care about each other. I’m embarrassed that we feel awkward about affirming something so beautiful.”

Openshaw and Prince requested that the service end with a prayer for the affirming clergy in attendance and for the United Methodist Church as a whole. Local elders and deacons of the North Alabama Conference filled the front two rows of the sanctuary. Several ministers from different parts of the country participated in the service as supporting clergy. During the prayer the Bishop Talbert and the other supporting clergy who participated in the service were compared to Jesus turning over the tables of the money-lenders in the temple.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Methodist Gay Marriage Debate Being Formally Considered By Court As LGTB Acceptance Grows" by Renee K. Gadoua, Religion News Service, on Huffington Post 10/23/13

The United Methodist Church’s highest court gathers for its semiannual meeting in Baltimore on Wednesday, as the denomination confronts a growing movement of defiant clergy members opposed to church doctrine on gays and unwilling to back down.

The church law cannot change until the next quadrennial conference, in 2016. But at its meeting, the Judicial Council, the “Supreme Court” of the United Methodist Church, will consider a number of related resolutions. One asks the council to support a Western [liberal] Jurisdiction 2012 resolution that says the church is in error on homosexuality and should ignore the Book of Discipline’s laws on it.

Also on the docket are a New York [liberal] Conference resolution commending clergy, laity and congregations who “help to provide for the pastoral needs of same-sex couples” and a case involving the ordination eligibility of a Southwest Texas candidate who is a lesbian.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.



From "Gay marriage debate threatens to splinter the United Methodist Church" by Ivey DeJesus, Central Pennsylvania Patriot-News 10/25/13

Under the stiffest penalties, the Rev. Frank Schaefer, pastor at Zion United Methodist Church of Iona [Lebanon County], could lose his ordination credentials. Schaefer faces charges of marrying his son Tim and his gay partner in 2006 in Massachusetts.

A considerable number of Schaefer’s congregation has walked away in opposition to his actions, but the German-born pastor has also garnered mounting support from among his flock and peers.

Next month, in a show of solidarity for Schaefer, as many as 30 United Methodist pastors from 25 churches in eastern Pennsylvania will preside over gay marriages in Philadelphia.

The most recent pastor to be convicted of performing same-sex marriages was the Rev. Amy DeLong, a Wisconsin pastor who in 2011 was found guilty of performing gay marriages. A lesbian, she was also found not guilty of being a “self-avowed practicing homosexual.”

“This is nothing new really,” [Christian UMC Rev. Tom] Lambrecht said. “What is new is the widespread inclination to disregard and disobey the church’s policy... in an attempt to get the church to change it through pressure tactics.”

Lambrecht said his group [of UMC Christians] has over the years received thousands of letters from United Methodist parishioners who say they can no longer remain church members amid flagrant disobedience of church policy.

Given the demographics of the general assembly, Lambrecht doubts the policy will change anytime soon. Approximately 40 percent of the representatives to the general assembly come from outside the United States, the majority from Africa, the Philippines and Europe.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

UPDATE 12/21/13: "Methodist bishops offer support to pastor who lost credentials over son’s same-sex wedding" by Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post

The cause of Frank Schaefer, whose credentials were taken after he officiated at his son’s same-sex wedding, is spreading at high levels in his denomination, with a New Jersey bishop [John Schol] releasing a tearful video supporting gay equality and a California bishop inviting Schaefer to be a pastor in her region.

Schaefer’s credentials were formally removed Thursday after he told a clergy oversight body in Philadelphia that he could not uphold doctrine “in its entirety,” saying church teachings were contradictory and un-Christian on the treatment of gays and lesbians. They jury had given him 30 days to decide whether he could abide by the ban on clergy officiating same-sex weddings.

On Friday Bishop Minerva Carcano invited Schaefer to serve as a minister in the California-Pacific Annual Conference in the Los Angeles area. In a statement, Carcano said she was inspired by Methodist leaders in the 1960s who came to the support of clergy fighting racial discrimination.

Schaefer said he is also considering an offer to become a member of Foundry United Methodist Church, a large church in the Dupont Circle area, where he is scheduled to preach Sunday. . . .

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.


A Message from Bishop John Schol - December 20, 2013 from Greater New Jersey Annual Confer on Vimeo.


For myriad attacks on the Bible and Christian faith, read CBS Gives Voice to Atheists, Heretics, & Apostates

Methodist Duke Univ. Ups Fees for Sex Changes

Every student at North Carolina's Duke University will be paying for sex-change surgeries (up to $50,000) for fellow students suffering from sexual confusion.  Duke is the 38th institution of "higher learning" to adopt the health insurance mantra of the Gay Agenda.

University officials acknowledge that the student fees for health insurance will skyrocket, but say that most of the increase is due to ObamaCare, not transgender coverage.

For background, read 'Transgender Rights' Put Men in Women's Locker Rooms and also read Sex Training Sweeps Campuses on Taxpayers' Dime as well as San Francisco OKs Taxpayer-funded Sexual Mutilation

-- From "Duke University hikes student fees to pay for sex-change surgeries" by Cheryl K. Chumley, The Washington Times 5/2/13

Duke University is hiking student fees in order to cover the cost of sex-change surgery in its insurance plan.

“The addition of sexual reassignment surgery with a $50,000 cap makes Duke’s student health care plan one of the most, if not the most, transgender-inclusive plans in the country,” said Sunny Frothingham, the outreach chair for Blue Devils United, said in the Duke Chronicle.

The announcement follows a March resolution passed by the student government that advocated for Duke to pay for sex-change operations.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Duke OKs student health insurance coverage for sex reassignment" by Carleigh Stiehm, Duke Chronicle 4/16/13

Administrators signed a new contract with Duke’s health insurance provider, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, that will include up to $50,000 to cover sexual reassignment surgery, Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek confirmed. With this new coverage, she said, all vital aspects of transgender health care—counseling, hormone therapy, and surgery—are now included in students’ plans.

“The [health insurance] plan premium is increasing 8 percent next year, with 4 percent of that increase resulting from taxes associated with the Affordable Care Act,” she said. “The remaining 4 percent is attributed to health care cost trend and benefit enhancements.”

[Junior Jacob Tobia, president of the homosexualist Blue Devils United,] added that this inclusion is one step to further ensure that students spanning the LGBT community feel welcome at Duke.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Transgenderism is a 'Delusion' According to Victim

In addition, read Gay Agenda Training Kids: Drag Queen Barbie Doll

In an unrelated story, the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University will become the repository of anti-Christian literature from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

For background, read SPLC Labels Christian Hate Groups for Bible Honesty and also read SPLC Spawns Homosexualists' Terrorist Attack on Christians

From "Duke gets extremist literature collection" posted at Durham Herald Sun 4/29/13

"We are very excited that Duke University's David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library has decided to house the extremist materials we've been collecting for decades," said Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project. "We are especially pleased that these relatively rare materials will finally be made available to scholars who research America's radical right. We look forward to learning from their scholarship."

The SPLC Intelligence Project monitors hate groups and other extremists throughout the United States and exposes their activities to law enforcement agencies, the media and the public. The project posts its investigative findings online, on the Hatewatch blog and in the Intelligence Report, a quarterly journal.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

CBS Gives Voice to Atheists, Heretics, & Apostates

CBS News latest foray into American religion is the 30-minute broadcast Religion & Spirituality in a Changing Society wherein a variety of liberal "christians," humanists, atheists, hedonists, homosexualists, feminists and pagans explain how America is rejecting Bible-based (real) Christianity.

John P. “Jack” Blessington, the program's part-time executive producer of CBS News (and part-time school headmaster), says that his broadcast career has offered him “the largest classroom that I’ll ever have.”

This CBS News indoctrination piece equates the reelection of President Bush in 2004 (said to be caused by Evangelical Christians) and the Catholic priest sexual abuse scandal, to the 9/11 terrorist attack against America -- all three jolted Americans into an anti-religion phase.

That sounds familiar: Obama's Army Says Christians are Worst Terrorists

For background on such propaganda, read The Religious Left 'Taste' the Millennium in Obama and also read Obama's National Cathedral is the Seat of Apostasy as well as Biblical Prayer Stricken from Obama Inauguration

But don't worry, President Obama Denies Leading a War Against Christianity



-- From "For CBS producer, sharing beliefs is key" by Linda Bloom, United Methodist News Service 4/1/13

[John P. “Jack”] Blessington, the long-time executive producer of the CBS Religion and Culture series, will receive a special Wilbur award April 6 from the Religion Communicators Council during the council’s 84th annual convention.

The special award recognizes his contributions to public discussions of faith topics for more than 30 years, demonstrating, as Douglas F. Cannon, a United Methodist communicator and RCC president points out, “that faith topics can be approached as news and are not boring.”

Blessington likes to allow believers to share the stories of their own faith. “I am a church-attending Roman Catholic who argues for ecumenism,” he told United Methodist News Service in a recent interview.

Since 1989, Religion and Culture has worked with members of the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission to develop programming. “We try to find out what the people of various religions believe and what they do to help each other and help mankind,” Blessington said.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

For related articles, click headlines below:

Atheism, Paganism Latest Liberal Media Darling

Liberals Tell MSNBC to Censor Evangelical Christians

Methodists Team Up with Atheists for Bible Study

Baby Jesus with Two Lesbians: That's a Methodist Nativity Scene

Methodist Clergy Buck Bible, Church - Science Also

Allah Worshiped in Virginia Methodist Church

A Rabbi, Pastor & Imam Join a Methodist Seminary, and ... (it's NO joke!)

Pagans and Liberal 'christians' Celebrate Earth on Good Friday

Liberal 'Churches' Conforming to Decadent Culture

ELCA Lutherans Pardon Homosexual 'Pastors'

Episcopal Church Blesses Deviant Sexual Behavior

Sexually Deviant Pastors OK in Presbyterian Church

Sex Trainers of the Unitarian Universalist and Religious Left Teach Orgasm to Teens

United Church of Christ Eliminates 'Heavenly Father'

Atheist Proposes Godless Religion, Complete with Sermons

Atheists Crave Church Fellowship, but Absent God

New Massachusetts 'Church' With No God

Church is About Friendships, NOT God: Study

God is Not a Being, but an Experience