Posted on 01/13/2005 2:31:58 PM PST by tutstar
Stepping forward, Niemoeller looked Hitler in the eye and responded: "As Christians and churchmen, we too have a responsibility to the German people. That responsibility was entrusted to us by God, and neither you nor anyone in this world has the power to take it from us."
A great hush settled over the room as everyone realized that these words signaled a great divide. Middle-of-the-road churchmen felt that Niemoeller had ruined their chances of easing their tensions with Hitler. Protesting his rhetoric as "abrasive" and "divisive," they drew up a statement condemning Niemoeller, and then all but one of them resigned from the Pastors' Emergency League. Martin Niemoeller, who had counted on the support of his fellow pastors in his stand against Hitler's policies, left that meeting virtually alone.
http://www.confessingchurcharchive.homestead.com/barmensermon.html
I repeat the Philly clergy is silent on the matter.
I'm sure that Outfest didn't want to restrict everyone from coming in because they could probably do a lot of recruiting too, if you know what I mean.
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http://www.preparetoleave.com/home.html
Good post, I agree that the evangelists have great courage.
Last night I was thinking about the apostle Paul and in the book of Acts ch 18-19 how he and others such as Apollos preached in Ephesus which was the center of worship of the goddess Diana. Those men went to the sinners (this is but one example}and when we do the same we are following Biblical examples. The Bible says that the people there were enraged when they heard their goddess was being talked against and they cried aloud for 2 hrs.
In the Bible we find preaching in the synagogues, house churches, and traveling to cities to preach the Good News. In America we have retreated to the churches and thus we find ourselves in a real situation where we may lose our freedom to engage in street ministry. Street ministry is probably the prime example of evangelism and yet American Christians have all but abandoned it.
I think they have them in public for the purpose of 'shoving it in America's face', recruiting, and the more we see it the more the tendency to become desensitized to it.
I also don't see why they got a red dime from Philly but I've done some reading here and there and it seems the Philly gov't is catering to the homosexual crowd in a big way by other actions. Right now I couldn't elaborate on that, but it's true and rather obvious that they are encouraging the gathering of homosexuals in Philly.
Christians also have protections under the law and they aren't being afforded that protection in this situation.
At the very bottom of the PhillyPride website, sponsors page, is none other than the City of Philadelphia!! also the Philadelphia Dept of Commerce
links from Philly Pride go directly to those city sites!!
http://www.phillypride.org/sponsors.html
How on Earth would you know what their actual motivation was? They got out into a very hostile crowd of people, got spat on, cursed and screamed at, harrassed by the cops and many of them ended up in jail.
You are judging their heart and motives based on what you cannot possibly know. You apparently sympathize with the homosexual community and whether intentionally or not, you are helping them to not merely promote themselves as normal but also likely to recruit more confused young men.
This was a power ploy, and these people hid behind the bible in order to satisfy their ego's.
Again, you cannot possibly know this, but your judgemental condemnation shows that you apparently hate the teachiong of the Gospel which is what these protesters did, warning the homosexuals of their sin and telling them the good news of how to escape that sin.
That you see it merely as a power play reveals your hatred of the Gospel.
Personally, I think God takes a pretty dim view of Pharasises, as these people did nothing but publically espouse religeon in a very santimonous way.
I think you havent the slightest clue about what God 'thinks'. You are simply defending perverts who are killing themselves in the most horrid and disgusting self-destructive behavior.
Simply stated, their goal was to goad and insult, using the word of God as a weapon.
The Word of God is a weapon - it is a mighty two edged sword and cuts both ways.
At least you get that part, the other part is that it reveals our final destiny to be judged by God and He is a jealous and angry God when confronted with arrogant self-righteous sin-mongering and perversion of His Creation.
I really hope they sue Philadelphia big time on civil rights charges.
Bump that post to the top!
There are lots of us thinking the same thing. The court is putting off the scheduling of trial for the adults, I wonder if they're testing to see which way the wind is blowing. The minor is due to be in court mid Feb.
I was just checking the photo section at Philly Pride, the Philly mayor and the Gov of Pa have their pics with members/participants? of the event. Pa is definitely supporting the advancement of the homosexual lifestyle.
Homosexual Manifesto
AN ESSAY ON THE HOMOSEXUAL REVOLUTION
by Michael Swift
THIS ESSAY is outre, madness, a tragic, cruel fantasy, an eruption of inner rage, on how the oppressed desperately dream of being the oppressor.
We shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of you shallow dreams and vulgar lies. We shall seduce them in your schools, in your dormitories, in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups, in your movie theater bathrooms, in your army bunkhouses, in your truck stops, in your all-male clubs, in your houses of Congress, wherever men are with men together. Your sons shall become our minions and do our bidding. They will be recast in our image. They will come to crave and adore us. Women, you cry for freedom. You say you are no longer satisfied with men; they make you unhappy. We, connoisseurs of the masculine face, the masculine physique, shall take your men from you then. We will amuse them; we will instruct them; we will embrace them when they weep.
Women, you say you wish to live with each other instead of with men. Then go and be with each other. We shall give your men pleasures they have never known because we are foremost men too and only man knows how to truly please another man; only one man can understand with depth and feeling the mind and body of another man.
All laws banning homosexual activity will be revoked. Instead, legislation shall be passed which engenders love between men.
All homosexuals must stand together as brothers; we must be united artistically, philosophically, socially, politically, and financially. We will triumph only when we present a common face to the vicious heterosexual enemy.
If you dare to cry faggot, fairy, queer, at us, we will stab you in your cowardly hearts and defile your dead, puny bodies.
We shall write poems of the love between men; we shall stage plays in which man openly caresses man; we shall make films about the love between heroic men which will replace the cheap, superficial, sentimental, insipid, juvenile, heterosexual infatuations presently dominating your cinema screens.
We shall sculpt statues of beautiful young men, of bold athletes which will be placed in your parks, your squares, your plazas. The museums of the world will be filled only with paintings of graceful, naked lads.
Our writers and artists will make love between men fashionable and de rigueur, and we will succeed because we are adept at setting styles. We will eliminate heterosexual liaisons through the devices of wit and ridicule, devices which we are skilled in employing.
We will unmask the powerful homosexuals who masquerade as heterosexuals. You will be shocked and frightened when you find that your presidents and their sons, your industrialists, your senators, your mayors, your generals, your athletes, your film stars, your television personalities, your civic leaders, your priests are not the safe, familiar, bourgeois, heterosexual figures you assumed them to be. We are everywhere; we have infiltrated your ranks. Be careful when you speak of homosexuals because we are always among you; we may be sleeping in the same bed with you.
There will be no compromises. We are not middle-class weaklings. Highly intelligent, we are the natural aristocrats of the human race, and steely-minded aristocrats never settle for less. Those who oppose us will be exiled. We shall raise vast, private armies, as Mishima did, to defeat you.
We shall conquer the world because warriors inspired by and banded together by homosexual love and honor are as invincible as were the ancient Greek soldiers. The family unit spawning ground of lies, betrayals, mediocrity, hypocrisy, and violence will be abolished. The family unit, which only dampens imagination and curbs free will, must be eliminated. Perfect boys will be conceived and grown in the genetic laboratory. They will be bonded together in a communal setting, under the control and instruction of homosexual savants.
All churches who condemn us will be closed. Our only gods are handsome young men. We adhere to a cult of beauty, moral and aesthetic. All that is ugly and vulgar and banal will be annihilated. Since we are alienated from middle-class heterosexual conventions, we are free to live our lives according to the dictates of the pure imagination. For us too much is not enough.
The exquisite society to emerge will be governed by an elite comprised of gay poets. One of the major requirements for a position of power in the new society of homoeroticism will be indulgence in the Greek passion. Any man contaminated with heterosexual lust will be automatically barred from a position of influence. All males who insist on remaining stupidly heterosexual will be tried in homosexual courts of justice and will become invisible men. We shall rewrite history, history filled and debased with your heterosexual lies and distortions.
We shall portray the homosexuality of the great leaders and thinkers who have shaped the world. We will demonstrate that homosexuality and intelligence and imagination are inextricably linked, and that homosexuality is a requirement for true nobility, true beauty in a man.
We shall be victorious because we are fueled with the ferocious bitterness of the oppressed who have been forced to play seemingly bit parts in your dumb, heterosexual shows throughout the ages. We too are capable of firing guns and manning the barricades of the ultimate revolution. Tremble, hetero swine, when we appear before you without our masks!
Reference. This essay was printed in the February 15, 1987 issue of the homosexual newspaper Gay Community News by Michael Swift, and was reprinted in the February 15-21 1987 Congressional Record.
This travesty keeps reminding me of something my preacher asked the congregation years ago. "If it suddenly became illegal to be a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" I still ask myself that question from time to time.
Yep, something we all need to be asking ourselves.
I'm wondering if the DOJ attorneys who were reportedly at Outfest paid their own way to the city or if they were there for some gov't purpose and happened to time it for Outfest. That would be a fine pickle, USA paid their way with tax money, on taxpayers' time, and acted against the Constitution at our expense.
Enquiring mind....
Hmmm... How would one find out?
I'm not sure but I'm thinking about it and praying for the answer to that question.
I agree! I wonder if Philly has denied any conservative groups money for similar gathering.
And yes, some of those sponsors were over the edge!!
Luv-U-2 sweetie ... too bad that last tongue piercing you had got infected ... the infection obviously spread to your brain.
Um, dare I ask, but he did not mean all that, did he?
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