Post by Guadalupe on Feb 26, 2019 9:07:06 GMT -5
The United Methodist Church is on the brink of breaking apart. The homosexualists are trying to force acceptance of their "lifestyle" onto the Methodist Church. They did this with the Presbyterians, the Universalists, the Episcopalians and now the Methodists. How did they infiltrate? The article below is an inside look at how the homosexual practitioners of this abomination strategize and destroy the theology of a denomination. We must learn how they're doing this to avoid further destruction.
LGBTQ UMC Agenda: Organized, Strategic, Funded and Powerful
Rev. Dr. Lee D. Cary served 25 years as a United Methodist pastor in Northern Illinois and North Texas. He holds a Masters in Theology (’74) and a Doctor of Sacred Theology (’79) from the UMC’s Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.
Rev. Dr. Philip W. McLarty has served 24 years as a UMC pastor, and 22 years as a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA). He holds a Masters in Theology (’74) and a Doctor of Ministry (’81) from the UMC’s Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, Texas. Today, as a retired Presbyterian minister, he pastors two United Methodist congregations in rural Arkansas.
On December 2, 2018, Bishop William Love of the Albany Diocese of the Episcopal Church (TEC) announced in a Pastoral Letter that he would not abide by a new TEC provision banning Bishops from prohibiting their Priests from conducting same sex marriages. [Editor’s note: you can read about Love’s subsequent partial inhibition from ministry by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry here]
He stated: “The Episcopal Church and Western Society have been hijacked by the ‘Gay Rights Agenda’ which is very well organized, very strategic, very well financed, and very powerful.”
How does Bishop Love’s letter, with its scathing accusation of the LGBTQ Agenda, apply to the United Methodist Church today?
Strategy: Early Release of the LGBTQ Agenda Strategy
The LGBTQ agenda is laid out, point by point, in an essay by Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen (pen name: Erastes Phil) entitled, “The Overhauling of Straight America” published in November, 1987 in Guide Magazine. An April 2014 Christian Post article referred to this essay as “The Most Influential Essay You’ve Never Heard Of.” Kirk and Madsen expanded it into a 1989 book entitled, “After the Ball – How America will conquer its fear and hatred of Gays in the 1990s.”
Here is how the essay began:
“The first order of business is desensitization of the American public concerning gays and gay rights. To desensitize the public is to help it view homosexuality with indifference instead of with keen emotion… f only you can get them to think that it is just another thing, with a shrug of their shoulders, then your battle for legal and social rights is virtually won… A large-scale media campaign will be required in order to change the image of gays in America.” {snip}
“While public opinion is one primary source of mainstream values, religious authority is the other. When conservative churches condemn gays, there are only two things we can do to confound the homophobia of true believers. First, we can use talk to muddy the moral waters. This means publicizing support for gays by more moderate churches, raising theological objections of our own about conservative interpretations of biblical teachings, and exposing hatred and inconsistency. Second, we can undermine the moral authority of homophobic churches by portraying them as antiquated backwaters, badly out of step with the times and with the latest findings of psychology. Against the mighty pull of institutional Religion one must set the mightier draw of Science & Public Opinion (the shield and sword of that accursed ‘secular humanism’). Such an unholy alliance has worked well against churches before, on such topics as divorce and abortion.” {snip}
“In any campaign to win over the public, gays must be cast as victims in need of protection so that straights will be inclined by reflex to assume the role of protector… Now, there are two different messages about the Gay Victim that are worth communicating. First, the mainstream should be told that gays are victims of fate, in the sense that most never had a choice to accept or reject their sexual preference… The second message would portray gays as victims of society.”
Tactics: LGBTQ’s Escalating Demonstrations at General Conferences 2000-2016
An October 25, 2018 article posted on the Canada Free Press describes how, “Activists within the United Methodist Church (UMC), America’s second largest Protestant denomination, are using the tactics of the American political Left to leverage a major change in their church.”
Those tactics include:
“(A.) Labels as propaganda
The label ‘One Church Plan’ conveys a spirit of wholeness and unity—the absence of division. All for one, and one for all. “Progressive,” a word applied to the advocates of the One Church Plan, implies forward looking, advancing into the future, moving ahead into a brave new world.
The label ‘Traditional Plan” suggests fixed, routine, and outdated. The church blue hairs. When ‘progressive’ is juxtaposed against ‘traditional’ it promotes the One Church Plan as open-minded, modern, contemporary, versus what is old, stale and close-minded.”
“(B.) Protest demonstrations as opinion-impact theatre”
The article includes a series of General Conference (GC) LGBTQ protest photos from 2000-2016. In the photo below, the Rev. Will Green lies on the floor of the 2016 General Conference in Portland with his hands and feet bound to protest the denomination’s policies on human sexuality. Delegates returning from lunch pass by protestors on the floor and lining the entry to the meeting.
“(C.) Escalate violations to test boundaries and challenge enforcement
Instances of violations of the UMC’s Book of Discipline concerning the ordination of homosexual clergy, and clergy conducting same sex marriage ceremonies are on the rise. They are largely ignored by the hierarchy, and worn as a badge of honor by the violators.”
The most publicized example of testing the boundaries of the UMC’s stated beliefs is the election of Bishop Karen Oliveto as the first openly lesbian bishop in The United Methodist Church.
Finances: Foundation grants to the LGBTQ UMC campaign
In any campaign, money translates into power. Below are grants from three foundations supporting the LGBTQ Agenda through the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN). The RMN describes itself as “the largest group of United Methodists in support of full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Christians.”
Based on publicly available IRS Form 990s from recent years, the RMN received grants from the:
Arcus Foundation: “We partner with experts and advocates for change to ensure that LGBTQ people and our fellow apes thrive in a world where social and environmental justice are a reality.” From 2007-2018, the RMN received Arcus grants totaling $2,302,000. (In 2010, Arcus granted the Church Divinity School of the Pacific $404,351 “to develop official rites for the blessing of same-gender relationships within the Episcopal Church.” In 2017, Arcus granted the Pacific School of Religion (PSR) $140,000 between two grants for programming related to religious-based advocacy and activism, after giving PSR grants totaling $260,000 from 2011-2016. Karen Oliveto graduated from PSR in 1983 and later served as its Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.) Former RMN Executive Director Troy Plummer was quoted in 2012 saying, “We have been able to consider projects that we would have never considered before the funding from the Arcus Foundation. And they were intentionally strategic in wanting to build capacity of our organization, and that was very helpful, and it continues to be helpful in doing so.” (In 2011 Arcus also granted $240,000 to the Methodist Federation for Social Action “to advance the full inclusion of LGBT people of faith within the United Methodist Church [UMC] through a coalition of progressive justice organizations working within the UMC.”)
National Gay & Lesbian Task Force: “Advances full freedom, justice and equality for LGBTQ people.” The Task Force granted the RMN $750,000 between 2008-2015. Of that total, $500,000 was regranted monies originally from the Evelyn & Walter Hass Jr. Fund.
Evelyn & Walter Hass Jr. Fund: “Works in partnership to build a just and compassionate society where all people have the opportunity to live, work and raise their families with dignity.” The Hass, Jr. Fund directly granted the RMN $95,000 in 2017.
We can document $3,147,000 in grants to the RMN from three pro-LGBTQ Agenda foundations in recent years. But, what is the total amount of all grants since the organization’s Affirmation Meeting in September 1983?
Conclusion
So, does Episcopal Bishop Love’s letter, with its scathing accusation of the LGBTQ Agenda, apply to the United Methodist Church today?
His are strong words. Hijacking refers to instances where a well-organized, strategic and well-financed minority usurps the will of the majority to promote its own self-serving agenda.
In the February General Conference in St. Louis, will the LGBTQ Agenda usurp the will of the majority of 12.3 million United Methodists worldwide, whose faith is rooted in Scripture and Tradition, if a majority of the delegates vote to adopt the LGBTQ Agenda in the One Church Plan?
link
LGBTQ UMC Agenda: Organized, Strategic, Funded and Powerful
Rev. Dr. Lee D. Cary served 25 years as a United Methodist pastor in Northern Illinois and North Texas. He holds a Masters in Theology (’74) and a Doctor of Sacred Theology (’79) from the UMC’s Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.
Rev. Dr. Philip W. McLarty has served 24 years as a UMC pastor, and 22 years as a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA). He holds a Masters in Theology (’74) and a Doctor of Ministry (’81) from the UMC’s Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, Texas. Today, as a retired Presbyterian minister, he pastors two United Methodist congregations in rural Arkansas.
On December 2, 2018, Bishop William Love of the Albany Diocese of the Episcopal Church (TEC) announced in a Pastoral Letter that he would not abide by a new TEC provision banning Bishops from prohibiting their Priests from conducting same sex marriages. [Editor’s note: you can read about Love’s subsequent partial inhibition from ministry by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry here]
He stated: “The Episcopal Church and Western Society have been hijacked by the ‘Gay Rights Agenda’ which is very well organized, very strategic, very well financed, and very powerful.”
How does Bishop Love’s letter, with its scathing accusation of the LGBTQ Agenda, apply to the United Methodist Church today?
Strategy: Early Release of the LGBTQ Agenda Strategy
The LGBTQ agenda is laid out, point by point, in an essay by Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen (pen name: Erastes Phil) entitled, “The Overhauling of Straight America” published in November, 1987 in Guide Magazine. An April 2014 Christian Post article referred to this essay as “The Most Influential Essay You’ve Never Heard Of.” Kirk and Madsen expanded it into a 1989 book entitled, “After the Ball – How America will conquer its fear and hatred of Gays in the 1990s.”
Here is how the essay began:
“The first order of business is desensitization of the American public concerning gays and gay rights. To desensitize the public is to help it view homosexuality with indifference instead of with keen emotion… f only you can get them to think that it is just another thing, with a shrug of their shoulders, then your battle for legal and social rights is virtually won… A large-scale media campaign will be required in order to change the image of gays in America.” {snip}
“While public opinion is one primary source of mainstream values, religious authority is the other. When conservative churches condemn gays, there are only two things we can do to confound the homophobia of true believers. First, we can use talk to muddy the moral waters. This means publicizing support for gays by more moderate churches, raising theological objections of our own about conservative interpretations of biblical teachings, and exposing hatred and inconsistency. Second, we can undermine the moral authority of homophobic churches by portraying them as antiquated backwaters, badly out of step with the times and with the latest findings of psychology. Against the mighty pull of institutional Religion one must set the mightier draw of Science & Public Opinion (the shield and sword of that accursed ‘secular humanism’). Such an unholy alliance has worked well against churches before, on such topics as divorce and abortion.” {snip}
“In any campaign to win over the public, gays must be cast as victims in need of protection so that straights will be inclined by reflex to assume the role of protector… Now, there are two different messages about the Gay Victim that are worth communicating. First, the mainstream should be told that gays are victims of fate, in the sense that most never had a choice to accept or reject their sexual preference… The second message would portray gays as victims of society.”
Tactics: LGBTQ’s Escalating Demonstrations at General Conferences 2000-2016
An October 25, 2018 article posted on the Canada Free Press describes how, “Activists within the United Methodist Church (UMC), America’s second largest Protestant denomination, are using the tactics of the American political Left to leverage a major change in their church.”
Those tactics include:
“(A.) Labels as propaganda
The label ‘One Church Plan’ conveys a spirit of wholeness and unity—the absence of division. All for one, and one for all. “Progressive,” a word applied to the advocates of the One Church Plan, implies forward looking, advancing into the future, moving ahead into a brave new world.
The label ‘Traditional Plan” suggests fixed, routine, and outdated. The church blue hairs. When ‘progressive’ is juxtaposed against ‘traditional’ it promotes the One Church Plan as open-minded, modern, contemporary, versus what is old, stale and close-minded.”
“(B.) Protest demonstrations as opinion-impact theatre”
The article includes a series of General Conference (GC) LGBTQ protest photos from 2000-2016. In the photo below, the Rev. Will Green lies on the floor of the 2016 General Conference in Portland with his hands and feet bound to protest the denomination’s policies on human sexuality. Delegates returning from lunch pass by protestors on the floor and lining the entry to the meeting.
“(C.) Escalate violations to test boundaries and challenge enforcement
Instances of violations of the UMC’s Book of Discipline concerning the ordination of homosexual clergy, and clergy conducting same sex marriage ceremonies are on the rise. They are largely ignored by the hierarchy, and worn as a badge of honor by the violators.”
The most publicized example of testing the boundaries of the UMC’s stated beliefs is the election of Bishop Karen Oliveto as the first openly lesbian bishop in The United Methodist Church.
Finances: Foundation grants to the LGBTQ UMC campaign
In any campaign, money translates into power. Below are grants from three foundations supporting the LGBTQ Agenda through the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN). The RMN describes itself as “the largest group of United Methodists in support of full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Christians.”
Based on publicly available IRS Form 990s from recent years, the RMN received grants from the:
Arcus Foundation: “We partner with experts and advocates for change to ensure that LGBTQ people and our fellow apes thrive in a world where social and environmental justice are a reality.” From 2007-2018, the RMN received Arcus grants totaling $2,302,000. (In 2010, Arcus granted the Church Divinity School of the Pacific $404,351 “to develop official rites for the blessing of same-gender relationships within the Episcopal Church.” In 2017, Arcus granted the Pacific School of Religion (PSR) $140,000 between two grants for programming related to religious-based advocacy and activism, after giving PSR grants totaling $260,000 from 2011-2016. Karen Oliveto graduated from PSR in 1983 and later served as its Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.) Former RMN Executive Director Troy Plummer was quoted in 2012 saying, “We have been able to consider projects that we would have never considered before the funding from the Arcus Foundation. And they were intentionally strategic in wanting to build capacity of our organization, and that was very helpful, and it continues to be helpful in doing so.” (In 2011 Arcus also granted $240,000 to the Methodist Federation for Social Action “to advance the full inclusion of LGBT people of faith within the United Methodist Church [UMC] through a coalition of progressive justice organizations working within the UMC.”)
National Gay & Lesbian Task Force: “Advances full freedom, justice and equality for LGBTQ people.” The Task Force granted the RMN $750,000 between 2008-2015. Of that total, $500,000 was regranted monies originally from the Evelyn & Walter Hass Jr. Fund.
Evelyn & Walter Hass Jr. Fund: “Works in partnership to build a just and compassionate society where all people have the opportunity to live, work and raise their families with dignity.” The Hass, Jr. Fund directly granted the RMN $95,000 in 2017.
We can document $3,147,000 in grants to the RMN from three pro-LGBTQ Agenda foundations in recent years. But, what is the total amount of all grants since the organization’s Affirmation Meeting in September 1983?
Conclusion
So, does Episcopal Bishop Love’s letter, with its scathing accusation of the LGBTQ Agenda, apply to the United Methodist Church today?
His are strong words. Hijacking refers to instances where a well-organized, strategic and well-financed minority usurps the will of the majority to promote its own self-serving agenda.
In the February General Conference in St. Louis, will the LGBTQ Agenda usurp the will of the majority of 12.3 million United Methodists worldwide, whose faith is rooted in Scripture and Tradition, if a majority of the delegates vote to adopt the LGBTQ Agenda in the One Church Plan?
link