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The months-old battle between conservatives and radical gay-rights advocates in Houston, Texas, has taken a new draconian twist this week. Before we get to the latest, here's a little background.
American Family Association's One News Now reported the following:
"Mayor Annise Parker and two homosexual city council members pushed through a non-discrimination ordinance that protects homosexual men and lesbians. The proposed 'bathroom bill' ordinance passed 11-6 in May despite vocal opposition by the Houston community, which was led by local churches and their pastors." (Read here)
The Houston Chronicle reported opponents of the ordinance launched a petition drive that generated more than 50,000 signatures - triple the 17,269 needed to place a referendum on the ballot. However, in August, City Attorney David Feldman invalidated the petition's pages citing "irregularities," effectively ending the citizen-led effort by killing the possibility of the referendum making the November ballot.
Next, opponents of the bathroom bill filed a lawsuit; the city's attorneys responded by issuing subpoenas against several key pastors who were part of a coalition of some 400 Houston-area churches that opposed the ordinance. The city is demanding that select pastors now turn over any and all communications - including sermons - that dealt with homosexuality, gender identity, or Annise Parker herself! Just let that sink in for a second and then ask, "What country is this, anyway?"
I'm desperately trying to avoid making the obvious statements such as "Houston, we have a problem" and "Your papers please" (stated as Sergeant Schultz would have on "Hogan's Heroes"). However, the city of Houston indeed has a problem and the recent mayoral-directed actions are reminiscent of those the Nazis would have employed.
On Wednesday, The Daily Jot's Bill Wilson wrote, "Once again, those who have a nationwide anti-bully campaign are the bullies. Notwithstanding, this threat to religious freedom simply should be squashed immediately by the pastors refusing to comply based on their 1st Amendment rights." (Read here)
Todd Starnes of Fox News reported on the Texas battle today (read here) and included quotes from the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins saying that pastors around the nation should rally around the Houston ministers.
"The state is breaching the wall of separation between church and state," Perkins told Starnes. 'Pastors need to step forward and challenge this across the country. I'd like to see literally thousands of pastors after they read this story begin to challenge government authorities - to dare them to come into their churches and demand their sermons."
Perkins further called the actions by Houston's mayor "obscene" and said they "should not be tolerated. This is a shot across the bow of the church."
Commentator and radio host, Dr. Michael Brown, commented, "I urge every pastor in the city of Houston to address the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism this Sunday, announcing this for the entire world to hear but at the same time, refusing to obey the unrighteous decree of Mayor Parker's office to turn your sermons over for government scrutiny." (Read here)
Attorney Christina Holcomb of the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom said, "The city's subpoena of sermons and other pastoral communications is both needless and unprecedented. The city council and its attorneys are engaging in an inquisition designed to stifle any critique of its actions." Todd Starnes reported, "ADF, a nationally-known law firm specializing in religious liberty cases, is representing five Houston pastors. They filed a motion in Harris County court to stop the subpoenas, arguing they are 'overbroad, unduly burdensome, harassing, and vexatious.'" The Alliance Defending Freedom is also the group who has spearheaded the movement known as "Pulpit Freedom Sunday."
With the majority of this article being written yesterday (Wednesday, October 15) I can tell you that Mayor Parker and Houston's City Attorney, David Feldman are experiencing the intense heat of national exposure. Today, Parker and Feldman are doing everything possible to walk back their previous actions and words blaming pro bono attorneys hired to handle the case for the inflammatory wording of the subpoenas. Furthermore, with their plan igniting a firestorm they obviously never anticipated, the Mayor and City Attorney claimed today that they were in the dark about the exact actions taken against the local pastors on the city's behalf until the affair made national news in the last two days! Of course, the facts dictate otherwise. (Click here to watch video as Mayor Parker trys to evade answering a reporters question by attempting to immediately hand it off to Mr. Feldman.)
A Silver Texas Lining?
As troubling as all of this is, Mayor Parker may have actually done the Bible-believing Church in America a monumental favor of far greater significance than can be estimated right now. This is a great opportunity for us to address one of the paramount cultural issues facing us today. As Pastor Jack Hibbs told me yesterday, "She has handed us a great opportunity to shine the light." The question now remains, will we shine it? The recent waffling track record of some in the American Church doesn't make this a slam dunk. Would your pastor unabashedly stand for truth or run for the shadows, hoping not to be recognized?
Our "Understanding The Times" radio producer, Larry Kutzler, blogged (read here), "Sorry pastors, but many of you have lost your heart, and your courage, you are more concerned about building some kind of kingdom here on earth that represents you, and your skills as a leader. Who cares if you have a mega church, if you never teach them about being faithful unto death to the Kingdom of God?"
Kutzler went on to say "You cannot face a world like ours with a passive, no contest attitude, or you will be swallowed up in the cycle of irrelevance and worthlessness. Give me the liberty to preach Jesus, and let me stand for the truth of the Kingdom that is to come, or give me death."
Todd Starnes concluded his report by stating, "We can no longer remain silent. We must stand together - because one day - the government might come for your pastor." He's right. We need only to look to Germany in the 1930's for an example of what happens when silence rules the ministers' mouths.
It's Up To Us
In my new DVD "The State of the Church - 2014" I conclude that the gay agenda is one of the two most formidable challenges facing the American Church both now and in the days ahead. In "The State of the Church" I point out that the power of the gay lobby is making homosexuality acceptable, normal, and untouchable. They are very focused and are using every means available, including the power of government, media, educators/schools, Hollywood, music, and sports to bully the Church into submission. It is no longer 'live and let live.' Now, the homosexual left is demanding more than silence from the Church. They are insisting upon agreement and promotion from Christians so that their aberrant lifestyle can be validated and pronounced as 'normal.' If we refuse, we'll be painted as bigots and worse. In essence, the choice is between the gay agenda and the Gospel.
I also pointed out that waiting to fight this battle at a later time will prove to be a most fatal decision. Why? Because the sheer numbers of Bible-believing Christians willing to pronounce homosexuality as the Bible states is shrinking each day. The Christian Post reported extremely troubling information on July 11 this past summer (read here), stating that many polls show Millennials (generally defined as those ages 18 to mid-30s) are the most supportive of redefining marriage to include same-sex couples. A recent Public Religion Research Institute poll had their support at 69 percent, the highest of any age group. This is why it is absolutely vital that we stand on biblical values here and now, not just to win the battle over Houston, but to be able to express the truth and turn the hearts of as many Millennial-aged Christians as possible. They need to be reminded that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was not a fluke or a fairy tale. If it was, then Jesus was incorrect to speak of two desert cities as He did, His ability to eternally save was a sham, and we are following but a lie.
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