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Beto O’Rourke (via crockodile)

COGwriter

Former US Congressman Beto O’Rourke and Democratic presidential candidate for the office of US President has interviewed by CNN:

October 10, 2019

Thursday, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) said he would strip tax-exempt status from any religious organization that supports traditional marriage, defined as one man and one woman. In fact, his position essentially amounts to a government preference for pro-gay marriage religious bodies that likely violates the Establishment Clause.

CNN’s Don Lemon quoted O’Rourke’s policy on LGBT issues, which states: “Freedom of religion is a fundamental right but it should not be used to discriminate.”

“Do you think religious institutions — like colleges, churches, charities — should they lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage?” Lemon asked.

“Yes,” O’Rourke replied — to loud applause from the audience. …

“There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break, for anyone, any institution, any organization in America that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us,” O’Rourke said. “And so, as president, we are going to make that a priority. And we are going to stop those who are infringing upon the human rights of our fellow Americans.”

Leave aside Beto’s absurd use of the royal “we” to refer to himself as president. Leave aside the absurdity of his totalizing language (“the full civil rights of every single one of us.” Does that apply, for instance, to religious conservatives who also have the right of association just like any LGBT group, perhaps? No?). Look at the substance of what he said.

Beto’s pledge would amount to blatant viewpoint discrimination at the federal level, with money attached. Removing tax-exempt status from religious schools, charities, and churches on the basis of their beliefs on marriage would violate their free speech, free association, and religious freedom. But it would also involve violating the Establishment Clause. …

At the time of the founding, different states had established churches. That means tax revenue went directly to support religious bodies, and only those of one denomination. The First Amendment forbade Congress from making any law “regarding an establishment of religion.” By providing tax breaks to pro-LGBT churches and revoking tax breaks from pro-traditional marriage churches, Beto’s policy would endorse pro-LGBT religion. https://pjmedia.com/faith/beto-vows-to-strip-tax-exempt-status-from-churches-that-oppose-gay-marriage/

Should this happen (and it is not immediately likely), it first would seem to affect churches registered with the US federal government as 501(c)(3). Later, however, that would likely expand as, well, if the government would go so far to trash the Bill of Rights, other laws would also be violated.

Irrespective of Beto O’Rouke’s candidacy, the fact that he was reportedly willing to go in that anti-biblical morality direction shows that the USA is getting farther and farther away from its founding principles. Beto O-Rourke is declaring that a church, synagogue, or mosque cannot teach morality in line with the Bible without being subject to financial pressures from the US government.

Let’s notice something else from Beto O’Rouke:

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas said on Thursday that conversion therapy “should be illegal” and compared the widely discredited practice that seeks to change the sexual orientation of gays, lesbians and bisexuals to torture.

“As president, we will seek to outlaw it everywhere in this country,” the Democratic candidate said Thursday at an LGBTQ town hall hosted by CNN and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. “In my opinion, this is tantamount to torture. Torture that we’re visiting on children who are absolutely defenseless. …  We’re going to make sure that whatever the penalty is, it is steep enough to dissuade anybody from entering into this practice or being able to torture kids with the kind of impunity that we have seen so far … We’re also going to recognize that these kind of practices, in addition to the immediate torture that that child or that person feels, also adds to other challenges that we have.” He connected conversion therapy with homeless youth in America. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said at the town hall that she would also ban the practice. “I think we know this makes no sense at all. We know this isn’t the right thing to do,” she said. https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/10/politics/beto-orourke-conversion-therapy-illegal/index.html

First of all, I would say that pushing children to be “trans” and performing what are supposed to be sex change operations is actually torture.

It should not be illegal for LGBTQ oriented people to ask for help to change.

It should also be noted that I have not seen any politician say it should be illegal for someone to seek counseling to be LGBTQ. In fact, many governments actually pay for that type of “conversion” therapy.

It is also immoral to tell people that they cannot seek help to change.

BBC also reported:

Israeli Education Minister Rafi Peretz has said he believes so-called “gay conversion therapy” can work …

13 July 2019

“I think that it is possible to convert [someone’s sexual orientation],” Mr Peretz said on Saturday.

“I can tell you that I have deep familiarity on the issue of education, and I have also done this.”

He described how he had acted when a gay person told him about his sexual inclinations. “First of all, I embraced him. I said very warm things to him. I told him, ‘Let’s think. Let’s study. And let’s contemplate.’

“The objective is first of all for him to know himself well… and then he will decide,” Mr Peretz said. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-48978258

Notice also something from Peter Sprigg:

April 5, 2019

In Evidence Shows Sexual Orientation Can Change: Debunking the Myth of “Immutability,” I report on academic studies over the last two decades based on four large data sets drawn from surveys about sexuality. These studies are both “population-based” (representative of the population as a whole) and “longitudinal” (meaning they survey the same individuals at intervals years apart, allowing us to measure change over time).

The truth is, “sexual orientation” is a multi-faceted concept, involving a combination of attractions, behaviors, and personal identity. These four studies all demonstrate that significant change in each of the elements of sexual orientation is possible.  https://www.christianpost.com/voice/lgbt-equality-laws-lose-their-foundation-evidence-shows-sexual-orientation-can-change.html

And yes, while it is normally difficult, homosexuals can change. To suggest that they cannot is absurd and denies free will as well as God’s ability to assist (cf. Philippians 4:13).

The Bible not only warns that homosexuality, lesbianism, and cross-dressing are wrong, it also condemns those who condone all forms of sexual immorality:

5 A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 22:5)

24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,

25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.

27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,

30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;

32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:24-32)

But what about the claim that there is “no scientific basis” for gay conversion therapy?

Well, that is not true.

Consider the following:

Can homosexuals change? Is trying to change sexual orientation harmful? Should counselors work with clients with unwanted same-sex attractions, helping them live out their sexuality in a biblical way? There’s been a lot of debate in recent years in the mental health professions, the media and various state legislatures about these questions.

In the past, such help and change was widely considered both desirable and possible. More recently, however, an increasing number of mental health practitioners now believe that a homosexual orientation is an intrinsic part of a person’s identity that cannot – and should not – be changed. The mental health professions haven’t really discovered anything new about human sexuality or homosexuality; they are just more ideologically and politically driven. …

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 1998 issued a position statement “rebuking” practices that are broadly referred to as “reparative therapy” or “conversion therapy” for homosexuality. More recently, these practices have been labeled “sexual orientation change efforts” (SOCE). …

In 2007, the American Psychological Association set up a task force, composed exclusively of gay-identified activists and apologists, to study the issue. No practitioners of SOCE or experts on change from homosexuality were included in the task force. The group also threw out myriad accounts and reports of change from homosexuality and of help from SOCE, while at the same time using anecdotal statements of harm. Despite this stacked deck, the task force could not conclude in its 2009 report that SOCE was ineffective or inherently harmful. Nor did the group call for a ban on SOCE. They simply said more research was needed and cautioned therapists about their work.

Both groups claim to be scientifically driven, yet the APA states that homosexuality is a “normal variant of human sexuality.” And the American Psychological Association says that homosexuality is a “normal and positive variation of human sexual orientation.” But these views are really beyond the power of science to decide, entering into the worlds of philosophy, ethics and religion. Science can only tell us what is, not what is moral, good or ethical. Science also can’t describe for us God’s views about human sexuality.

Significantly, both groups seem to dismiss the fact that many individuals who experience same-sex attractions or engage in homosexual activity are dissatisfied with the situation and seek professional help to align their thoughts and behaviors with their convictions and faith. Many who experience homosexual temptations and impulses are responding to the Gospel message that unwanted same-sex attractions can be overcome. And as they seek pastoral and professional psychological counseling, they find that change and transformation are, indeed, possible.  …

* There are no scientific studies that demonstrate that adolescents have been harmed through SOCE.

* The psychological literature confirms that permanent change away from a homosexual orientation is possible:

* In 2007, Drs. Stanton L. Jones and Mark A. Yarhouse published a study confirming that long-term change away from homosexual orientation can occur through religious mediation. At the end of three years, 67 percent of men and women who had undergone group discussions, individual counseling, journaling, Scripture reading and prayer either reported a change towards heterosexual orientation or were successfully continuing work towards that goal.[8]

* In 2001, Dr. Robert Spitzer published a report showing that a majority of gay men and lesbians who sought “re-orientation” therapy were able to achieve fulfilling heterosexual relationships.[9]

* While acknowledging that change in sexual orientation is both difficult to define and to measure, a bibliographic review of the literature from the past 100 years or more notes the wide variety of treatments that have claimed success.[10]

* There is no valid or replicable research demonstrating the inevitability of homosexual behavior based on biological or genetic circumstances. Studies on twins show that homosexuality is not genetic.[11] https://www.focusonthefamily.com/socialissues/sexuality/leaving-homosexuality/the-right-to-counseling-for-unwanted-same-sex-attractions accessed 07/03/18

In Romans 1, the Apostle Paul also warned about those that “who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18).

Bans of homosexual conversion therapy are attempts to suppress the truth.

What about the claim from psychologists that such therapies are ineffective?

Consider the following related to the text Ex-Gays? A Longitudinal Study of Religiously Mediated Change in Sexual Orientation:

Is it possible to be an ex gay?

Stanton L. Jones and Mark A. Yarhouse present social science research on homosexuality designed to answer the questions:

• Can those who receive religiously-informed psychotherapy experience a change in their sexual orientation?
• Are such programs harmful to participants?

The results show that outcomes for this kind of religiously-informed psychotherapy are similar to outcomes of therapy for other psychological problems. Such programs do not appear to be harmful on average to individuals. https://www.ivpress.com/ex-gays accessed 07/03/18

So, if gay conversion therapy is about as effective as other psychological counseling, then should all psychological counseling be banned?

Banning counseling for those who wish to stop sinning is wrong.

That is unethical and immoral. It is wrong to tell people that they cannot change. It is wrong to censor peoples’ abilities to help those that want help.

In August 2019, a major study came out that essentially proved that LGBTQ people are not born that way. The Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put out the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel related to that study:

13:41

Gay Gene? Born That Way?

A study came out in August of 2019 showing that so many Americans are so fearful from news reports that more have become doomsday preppers. Meaning that they are storing up food, weapons, and other supplies for an apocalyptic type event to hit the USA. Jesus said sorrows and troubles would come, then a tribulation so bad that unless God intervened, no flesh would be saved alive. Is physical preparation the answer? Should Christians do any type of disaster preparations? Does God have a plan to protect some or all Christians from the coming “hour of trial” that Jesus spoke of? Who is promised protection and who is not? Is keeping the commandments enough? What has Jesus said His people should do? Are you supporting the work that needs to be completed before the end comes? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more.

Here is a link to the sermonette: Gay Gene? Born That Way?

We in the Church of God have long taken the position that homosexuals were NOT born that way.

Notice an article from the July-August 1984 Plain Truth magazine put out by the old Worldwide Church of God:

Is It True Some Are “BORN THAT WAY”?

There is a reason why many homosexuals assume they were “born that way”; why they assume their sexual attractions and emotions are as natural to them as the color of their eyes.

Genetics and hormones play a part in developing human sexuality, but not in the way many think. And individual responses to cultural, parental and personal experiences play a very big part in molding human sexual feelings. But, in addition, there is critical knowledge beyond biology and cultural studies that is missing in modern education about human sexual and emotional development. …

How Sexual Sin Enters

Humans are born with sexual emotional capacity. If wrong and damaging emotional and sexual feelings take root in human minds, it is because humans allow and do not resist them. Perhaps they don’t realize they should. Perhaps they choose not to resist when they could. Perhaps certain temperamental or emotional weaknesses may make some more vulnerable to certain sexual temptations than others. Some wrong experiences leave deep impressions.

Other misleading emotions, feelings and desires, repeated enough, become deeply learned and conditioned in the human mind.

“Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables,” goes an old Spanish proverb. Satan well understands this deep conditioning in human minds and emotions. He works to thwart God’s purpose through them.

Though many deny it, all humans have been deceived (Rev. 12:9). All become, in one way or another, the slaves of various deceptive sins, pleasures and feelings (John 8:34; Heb. 3:13). They can’t shake or escape them all on their own power.

It takes strong spiritual power from God, as well as high human motivation and effort, to break the damaging cables of wrong thinking and feeling and then learn the right thinking and emotions revealed in the law of God.

A person’s most important sex organ is his or her brain!

If a person is properly guided in youth by proper role models, example and teaching, he or she will come to respect and desire to adopt’ the correct sexual identity. Each will develop respect and love of the opposite sex and develop a right heterosexual desire. Each will also prepare to serve and love, in a right way, other human beings of all ages.

But sex education and emotional feelings are not primarily learned by formal instruction. Sex education and emotional feelings about sex automatically start from infancy with the way parents and other influential persons treat others of their own and the opposite sex, and how they treat children. Additional verbal or formal instruction merely reinforces learning.

Wrong sexual feelings develop not only out of a wrong culture but also out of ignorance. Many parents have failed to teach their children age-appropriate knowledge about sex. …

Misguided Choosing

Humans seek excitement — something to fill the void, emptiness or loneliness of their lives. What they need is a sense of worth to themselves and others. Whenever wrong sexual or emotional seeds are allowed and cultivated in an attempt to fulfill these needs, they will grow — in youth or even after one is married.

Scripture warns us, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7).

To some, extramarital involvement or homosexual thoughts or acts (a person may not even realize what they are) seem a way to find affection, gain attention, recognition, security or money. Maybe they seem a way of proving sexual prowess or masculinity. Maybe they seem the only option available, given one’s lack of confidence or misled desires, feelings or fears about the opposite sex.

One wrong thought, uncontrolled or accepted, leads to still more. Maybe a person doesn’t know he should resist temptation. Maybe he doesn’t care. Minds that feed on wrong emotional or erotic thoughts in various fantasies (especially masturbation fantasies or in conjunction with specific kinds of pornography) will eventually have them ingrained as desires and emotions.

Too many cop out and totally blame others for their problems and emotions in life.

One’s society or culture may be partly to blame. Parents mayor may not have set a right example in their relationships and teaching. Satan may have tempted. But individuals also repeatedly allow themselves to respond to wrong ways of living and thinking. …

The Real World of Sexuality

Many unfortunate human sexual and emotional feelings exist — some too obscene to describe (Eph. 5:12). All these warn us of the great varieties of sexual/emotional conditioning that can happen to improperly controlled minds and lives.

The majority of males in most cultures are heterosexually oriented. But even heterosexuals allow their minds and sexual feelings to be diverted by wrong desires. Some heterosexuals develop a degree of homosexual interest (a degree of bisexuality). Heterosexual males with effeminate (female) mannerisms also exist.

Feminine heterosexual females again are the majority. But there are also masculine-mannered females. The latter, however may still be heterosexual and maternal in interests.

There are many masculine-appearing (even super-masculine) male homosexuals and, at the other extreme, effeminate (or “swish” type) male homosexuals. There are all degrees in between. The effeminate type are usually only a small proportion of male homosexuals but, because they are more noticeable, are often erroneously stereotyped to represent the whole.

Female homosexuals (lesbians) are often typically feminine in outward appearance and manner. Others are very mannish (“butch” or “dyke”). There are all degrees between these appearances and mannerisms. In modern cultures, not all homosexuals are readily discernible from heterosexuals by outward appearances.

There are as many variances in appearances, shape, personality, temperament, preferences in attractions and professions among homosexuals as among heterosexuals. The vast majority of homosexuals of both sexes clearly identify themselves with their gender, but prefer their own sex sexually.

Other Unfortunate Conditioning

Transvestites are persons who cross-dress on various occasions. Research indicates most of these persons are males with heterosexual inclinations, although some have homosexual interests.

The majority of transvestite males identify themselves as males but have learned to get an erotic or emotional kick out of wearing items of clothing of the opposite sex, or in passing as a member of the opposite sex. Some can function sexually only after doing so.

This distorted emotional condition can often be traced back to early repeated cross-dressing by parents, siblings or by the person himself at some time. Such dressing began to produce exciting emotional or sexual responses that were repeated and cultivated.

God commanded the law of Deuteronomy 22:5 to prevent such distorted emotions: “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.”

The law of Deuteronomy 22:5 also is intended to discourage another human distortion: transsexuality.

Transsexuals (they may be male or female) feel they have the mind and emotions of the opposite sex and are trapped in the wrong physical body. Often such feelings have been traced back to very early childhood upbringing that deprecated or ignored the child’s true sex or caused them to experience or value only the feelings and emotions of the opposite sex.

Effeminate mannerisms in males may be due to rearing in a totally, or nearly exclusive female environment. Maybe a male wasn’t allowed or encouraged to identify with a male and male outlook and thinking. The person picked up certain female ways of acting or feeling about things.

Effeminate mannerisms may also be a way of portraying non aggressiveness or reveal that the male does not want to be treated or threatened as an ordinary male may be. Many of these males still have heterosexual interests.

Effeminacy is harmful because it damages a male’s proper leadership and thinking in a family unit.

The learning and conditioning of human sexual interests and emotional feelings are strong. So strong, in fact, that a person assigned the wrong sex at birth for some sex organ abnormality and then raised as a person of that assigned sex, readily develops the expected heterosexual interests for that sex even though his or her true genetics and hormone true genetics and hormone sex. These rare occurrences are sometimes not discovered until puberty changes force the true sex to appear.

The book Sexuality and Homosexuality — A New View by Arno Karlen, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, contains other backgrounds and causes of damaging sexuality.

Sexuality Not Private

Human sexuality is more than one’s gender or a sexual act. It is not just a private matter as so many want others to believe. Human sexuality is a total way of thinking, acting and feeling.

One’s sexuality affects the way one responds to his or her own and the opposite sex, to marriage, to the family experience and to every aspect of life.

That’s why sex has so much impact on human lives and culture. It’s the reason why the Creator commands men and women to develop it rightly.

The Bible says that true Christians can overcome practicing homosexuality and other forms of sexual immorality:

13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)

9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:5-10, NIV)

But in this age, many who claim to be Christians, do not believe that.

Earlier this year, the left-leaning publication Politico ran the following headline:

The ‘I’m sorry’ 2020 Democratic primary

It is a sorry state of affairs.

Related to it, the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put out the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

Various politicians have announced their intentions to run for the office of the President of the United States in 2020. ‘Politico’ ran an article about the ‘sorry state’ of various candidates. Some candidates have felt the need to apologize for previous statements in support of biblical marriage and the need to endorse items of the LGBTQ agenda. Many also support abortion and other anti-biblical actions. Are these ‘American values’? Should the English language be changed to eliminate male/female and singular pronouns? Does the Bible warn about female leaders? Does the Bible warn about leaders that lead people to err? What about condoning sexual immortality? Do the presidential contenders fit prophecies warned about in 2 Timothy 3:1-5? These are some of the subjects that Dr. Thiel addresses.

Here is a link to the sermonette video: Sorry state of the 2020 presidential campaign.

As for the Republican Donald Trump, here is a link to my article Donald Trump in Prophecy, which has a lot of information about him and many of his issues.

The 2020 presidential election will feature people who are against many aspects of biblical morality.

The Bible itself warns that if the children of Israel sinned and did not repent, the following would happen:

¹² As for My people … Those who lead you cause you to err, And destroy the way of your paths. (Isaiah 3:12)

¹⁶ For the leaders of this people cause them to err, And those who are led by them are destroyed. (Isaiah 9:16)

It seems like all who are potentially major candidates for the 2020 presidential election advocate and promote several positions which are not biblically good.

The Apostle Paul warned:

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

Many of those statements apply to those who wish to win the 2020 US Presidential election (from whatever political party).

As far as religion goes, Robert (Beto) O’Rourke was raised Roman Catholic.–a church that also officially, for now at least, does not support homosexual marriage.

We continue to see rises in promoting immorality.

The USA will be eliminated as a nation towards the beginning of the Great Tribulation (watch also our sermon video The Bible, the USA, and the King of the West) and whoever wins in 2020 will be a factor in its destruction.

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 11th, 2019 at 7:00 am and is filed under Religious News.

• Judge Strikes Down California’s Same-Sex Marriage Ban
• St. Patrick’s Day going gay?
• Russian Orthodox and LCG on Homosexuality
• Israeli educator endorses ‘gay conversion’ therapy and then gets denounced
• Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear issued an executive order Wednesday that bans ‘conversion therapy’ & 158 in US House of Representatives vote against bill to deport illegal immigrants who commit sex crimes
• Russia takes a positive step against the worldwide homosexual agenda
• UK expects to ban ‘gay conversion therapy’: Is there a basis to allow it?
• Vladimir Putin wants to cleanse Russia of homosexuality
• Ignoring the Bible, France legalizes homosexual marriage
• UN’s ‘expert’ of its Human Rights Council states religions must change to accept LGBT agenda