THE PENDING LEGISLATION CALLED THE EQUALITY ACT PLACES LGBTQ “RIGHTS” AT ODDS WITH RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, CONVICTION AND PERSONAL CONSCIENCE YET NO REAL STAND WAS TAKEN AGAINST IT BY EVANGELCIAL LEADERS. MANY WORKED TO SOFTEN CONVICTIONAL RESISTANCE TO IT BY PUSHING SOGI AND “INCLUSION”.

Rev Thomas Littleton

2/25/2021

You might be a bystander in the world of LGBTQ rights but no one lives in a realm unaffected by it. For people who identify as LGBTQ, the idea of the “full equality” giving sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) federal /legal/ Constitutional protections as a civil right on par with race, religion, and gender- this pending legislation appears to be reason to celebrate. However if all concerned with human rights were to look honestly at the global origins and rippling effects of this bold new frontier which redefines what it means to be human … we would all be VERY AFFRAID.

REALITY AWAITS

Americans in particular cannot grasp the immediate and long range impact on personal Constitutional rights, health care, religious liberty, freedom of speech etc. But all should find suspect the motives of progressives who are pushing this sweeping legislation. For the LGBTQ community “buyers remorse” certainly awaits.

SOGI -THE ILLOGICAL LEGAL UNREALITY

Sexual Orientation makes the case that people are born with unchanging sexual orientation toward heterosexual or homosexual or something along the LGB spectrum even though their is no proof of a gay gene. S.O. is “inborn and does not change”.

At the Same time – Gender Identity asserts that biological gender is separate from identity and therefore G.I. is fluid/ non binary and a person experiencing “Gender Dysphoria ” needs to be able to reconcile their physical presentation or public identity with their subjective feelings about their gender. This includes choosing their preferred personal pronouns and even legal government identifications to include subjective and even changing gender identities.

Non Discrimination law is then being -defined- fixed-practiced and enforced around SOGI via Equality Act legislation once it becomes part of the language of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

THINK ON THAT !

No one wins and EVERYONE loses when progressive global governments are empowered to redefine humanity /human rights/ and enforce false science and subjective identity. But this is where we are in human history.

LGBTQ/ SOGI ORIGINS

The Yogyakarta Principles

“In 2006, in response to well-documented patterns of abuse, a distinguished group of international human rights experts met in Yogyakarta, Indonesia to outline a set of international principles relating to sexual orientation and gender identity. The result was the Yogyakarta Principles: a universal guide to human rights which affirm binding international legal standards with which all States must comply. They promise a different future where all people born free and equal in dignity and rights can fulfil that precious birthright.”

WHO WINS?

Malthusians and human exterminators!

In the realm of human rights and civil rights – no set of goals has ever offered to turn all established metrics and standards on their heads more that the pro LGBTQ “Equality Act”. The combined legal narrative of a fixed “Sexual Orientation” (SO) and fluidification of biological gender into subjective/ non- binary “Gender Identity ” makes for some of the most sweeping efforts in human history to draft binding legal and nondiscrimination laws at the Constitutional level based upon unproven science and subjective feelings.

THE MISGUIDED CHURCH RESPONSE

PREACHING CHANGE AND INCLUSION WHILE FORSAKING BIBLICAL HOPE FOR TRANSFORMATION

EVANGELICAL CHANGE EFFORTS-SOFTENING UP RESISTANCE ,PREACHING INCLUSION FOR DECADES.

NOTE: True Christians do not “hate gay people ” or deny science. Christians understand that the issue of “orientation” is at the heart of human need. We are all oriented to sin, including sexual sin as defined by the Bible. We all need hope and help and change in our orientation toward sin. That hope and transformation comes through Repentance and Faith in the death and rising from the dead of Jesus. Holding faithful to this hope for all people is at the core of Christian faith. It really is this simple. We can all be changed and restored to fellowship with the God who made us and enabled by His grace to live as He made us to live with the future hope of eternity in His presence. That is the Gospel. Changed Lives and Freedom from Sin, setting captives FREE is Jesus mission.

2nd Corinthians 5

¹⁷ “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. ¹⁸ Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

JESUS DOES NOT CHANGE BUT THE CHURCH IS ATTEMPTING TO

Undeniably homosexual “inclusion” in Christian faith has been a decades long effort by activist in denominations and churches. Entire movements have pushed through the agenda of inclusion and without fail those movements have declined. Activist organizations like the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) have moved from attacking the church and Christian conviction like WITH their 2007 campaign “For the Bible Tells Me So” – to outright organized seduction in the 2014 “Project One America” (POA) complete with a carefully crafted “Christian Conversation Guide”

BUT activism from outside the church has not been the only effort underway.

Evangelical leaders like Tim Keller and D. A. Carson adopted the SOGI ideology for their politically progressive , theologically emergent movement called The Gospel Coalition (TGC) in 2010.

By Fall of 2014 Southern Baptist leaders Albert Mohler and Russell Moore (who are part of Kellers TGC) promoted a national conference apologizing for “being wrong about sexual orientation” and welcomed activist from HRC and dozens of other activist organizations to attend AND the have private meetings with Baptist leaders behind closed doors.

(NOTE :This writer met with HRC leaders bringing $8.5 million in our state with POA to offer reasoned resistance to the movement that Christian faith should not be subjected to forced compliance with cultural social change movements and massive outside funding. This author remains in a posture that activism and modern psychological trends do not alter the Word of God and cannot be allowed to remove the hope of the Gospel for all people in what the bible and human history has proven to be harmful to society, faith and family and destructive, sexual bondage and temptation. and that God alone has the right by creation to decide human, including sexual norms. This is the position of Biblical Christians and the idea of forced compliance to new sexual norms is a danger to all people.)

TGC CAMPAIGN

The Evangelical Leaders of TGC began full on campaigns to alter the churches posture despite the COST of losing the clear HOPE of transformation offered by the Cross / the blood of Christ through forgiveness and transformation made to ALL SINNERS. Instead TGC adopted the change posture toward and promoting SOGI.

“THE GOSPEL COALITION MARKETS -SOGI THE LATEST VERBIAGE ON SEXUALITY”

THE GOSPEL COALITION MARKETS -SOGI THE LATEST VERBIAGE ON SEXUALITY

TGC and Southern Baptist ERLC began having contrived conversations of their own and filling conferences and publications with Activist pushing SOGI/ Same Sex Attraction/ Inclusion / Welcoming / and LGBTQ Christian identities. Baptist and TGC affiliated seminaries began producing credentialed activist launching entire LGBTQ Christian movements like Revoice. TGC hired its own LGBTQ editors including Sam Allberry and Rosiaria Butterfield ( a specialist in Gender/ Queer/ Feminine Theory and Theology) all of whom preached the “Hospitality/ Inclusion/ Welcoming ” message. Allberry’s group Living Out, with the help of Tim and Kathy Keller even produced and launched an “Audit for LGBTQ Inclusion ” in their 2018 London Conference for conservative evangelical churches and TGC / Baptist churches of Mark Dever and 9 MARKS introduced the “Audit” in the US by November 2018.

REVOICE MOVEMENT WAS BEING BIRTHED AT BAPTIST SBTS AND LAUNCHED BY 2017

REVOICE LEADERS WELCOMED IN 2017 BY DAVID UTH HOST OF BAPTIST PASTORS CONFERENCE 2020

LIVING OUT CHURCH INCLUSON AUDIT

Tim Keller’s LGBTQI+ Inclusion Audit for Your Church: Do You Measure Up?

BAPTIST ERLC HELD CONFERENCES AND PROMOTED MATERIALS TO PROMOTE THE INCLUSIVE CHURCH AS THE REDEFINED FAMILY.

ERLC FAMILY CONFERENCE REDEFINES FAMILY AS THE INCLUSIVE CHURCH

ERLC IN WINTER 2020 USED THE REVOICE FOUNDERS BOOK IN A PARENTS GUIDE FOR CHILDREN ON GENDER ISSUES

RUSSELL MOORE’S ERLC FINALLY OWNS REVOICE-PROMOTING IT’S FOUNDER’S BOOK IN “PARENTS GUIDE TO GENDER”.

THE LEGISLATIVE END GAME

THE LEGISLATION ” THE EQUALITY ACT” CAN BE VIEWED HERE

https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hr5/BILLS-117hr5ih.

ALSO NOTE: So Called Reparative Therapy and sexual recovery counseling ministries will be made illegal by this legislation. Counseling people to view LGBTQ activity and desire as sinful or to be repented of ,though repentance of all biblically inordinate desire and activities is the Christian norm….will be illegal and considered “harmful”. Counseling gender confused children to seek to submit to God and reconcile with their God given gender will be illegal and deemed “harmful”. Family will be redefined. And the progressive sexual agenda launched and promoted by Kinsey / Rockefeller /the APA and Planned Parenthood will move to the next frontiers -lowering or eliminating the age of consent and pedophilia.

HOW IT READS “A BILL”
“To prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender
identity, and sexual orientation, and for other purposes.”

AGAIN – SOGI IS SELF CONTRADICTORY

The legal language of SOGI is in itself a contradiction because it seeks to go in two directions at once and assigns to sexuality a fixed and unchanging point of definition that that the Human Genome studies failed to produce. There is no “gay gene” YET Sexual Orientation, derived by the APA and other global partners from the determination to find an alternative to it, has replaced the need to identify genetic science. So the assertion is now the basis of the claim of Sexual Orientation.

Biological Gender is now separated from perceived “Gender Identity ” and we are left with subjective and fluid feelings described as dysphoria. So now not only is the confused and contradictory approach given legal language – the legal argument is now headed in the Equality Act to become equal with racial and ethnic identities and receive the full protections of the Constitution via addition to the 1964 Civil Rights Amendment and all other Federal non discrimination protections / laws/ and policies.

What comes next will be a difficult to anyone to fully predict but enforcement will no doubt seek to be immediate and intense. However the long road to realizing all that is being lost to every human in the human rights discussion will be less clear.

LGBTQ RIGHTS VS RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

Of concern to most Christians ,and rightly so, is the impact of the Equality Act on Religious Freedom and convictional living in the public square. Most Christians are not PERSONALLY against people who identify as LGBTQ but ARE against the normalization of any and all behaviors spoken to in God’s Word as sinful/ harmful/ self destructive. These include other sexual behaviors life fornication and adultery, rape and incest.

CONFUSION HAS BEEN REWARDED IN THE CHURCH BY SOME OF IT’S OWN.

The movement toward “Conversations” – “Welcoming Policies” – Understanding “Same Sex Attraction “- and promoting LGBTQ “Church Audits” and “Hospitality” have weakened resistance to the broader LGBTQ movement and goals ,including the Equality Act and left the church with perhaps even less understanding of what is at stake then even the LGBTQ activist have.

Leaders like Russell Moore and Albert Mohler of the conservative Southern Baptist and Tim Keller and Kevin DeYoung of once conservative Presbyterian and Reformed churches and denominational groups like the PCA have bought into the APA’s Sexual Orientation assertions as far back as 2010 .Also the Evangelical Laussane Movement did the same and even put forth multiple resources promoting the SSA narrative in 2010 as well. Ecumenical and theologically progressive /emergent groups like The Gospel Coalition have furthered the narratives and inclusion movement as a “social Change Effort” in the church. It has been very successful over the last decade plus of stealthy laboring.

THE BIG BIG PROBLEM – FEDERAL $$$$ IN CHURCH TREASURIES

NOTE: In a February 25th, 2021 Christianity Today article by globalist ecumenical/ Lausanne/ Leadership Network operative Ed Stetzer – Stetzer quotes long time NAE leader and LeadNet -co founder Leith Anderson on the concerns over the the Equality Act hindering government grant funding going into churches. Note also it is Leadership Network which controls Christianity Today and who sold the idea of Government funding and partnerships to the church via it’s stealthy influence among evangelical leadership for over 35 years.

The quote and concerns below PROVE that these “sales men”( STETZER / ANDERSON /OTHERS ) understand the DIRECT CONNECTION between the church and ministries participation in government funding which they sold the church and ministries for years and the need to be aligned with new pro LGBTQ political and cultural ” norms”. Yet these same leaders have shown no pause in selling both entrapments over the past decades. Now the crisis point is resting in the Congress and the Equality Act legislation.

“Swinging the Pendulum Too Far”

(From Christianity Today article )

“The Equality Act is the most significant threat to religious liberty in a generation”

“The Equality Act would have a significant impact on evangelical practice and mission in multiple contexts.”

“An article by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) stated in May 2019, “If the measure became law, many religious schools and charities would have to change their faith-based policies and practices, or face sanctions that could force them to close their doors.”

“At the time, NAE president Leith Anderson wrote a letter to congress arguing the following are likely outcomes if this becomes law:

Houses of worship and other religious spaces will be turned into places of “public accommodation”; Federal funds will be denied to thousands of houses of worship, schools and charities that currently receive them;…” 

$$$ FEDERAL DOLLARS FROM FAITH BASED PARTNERSHIPS AND COVID RELIEF BAILOUTS HAVE ENDED THE CHURCH ABILITY TO STAND FAITHFULLY.

More Faith based Grants are coming into the church under the Biden administration.

BEHOLD “TAX MONEY COMETH” AS EVANGELICAL SOCIAL JUSTICE AGENDA GETS IT’S VALENTINES.

COVID 19 PPP FUNDS- OVER $7.3 BILLION FLOODED INTO CHURCHES AND MINISTRIES IN ROUND ONE OF COVID BAILOUTS OF 2020

THE END OF CHURCH AS WE KNOW IT !

EQUALITY ACT DRAWS SPECIFIC ATTENTION TO ANY ENTITY GETTING GOVERNMENT FUNDING
PAGE 5 OF THE EQUALITY ACT -EXCERPT

“LGBTQ people and women face wide-10spread discrimination in employment and various services, including by entities that receive Federal financial assistance. Such discrimination A)is particularly troubling and inappropriate for programs and services funded wholly or in part by the Federal Government; (B) undermines national progress toward equal treatment regardless of sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity; and (C) is inconsistent with the constitutional principle of equal protection under the Four-tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States”

EQUALITY ACT EMPLAINER BY HERITAGE

Heritage Foundation resource “FACTS”

( NOTE : This author does not usually endorse the Heritage Foundation but these over view points are helpful on understanding the Equality Act. THEY ARE NOT COMPREHENSIVE AND IGNORE THE IN HOUSE ACTIVISM AND FUNDING ISSUES.)

From the Heritage link:

https://www.heritage.org/gender/report/11-myths-about-hr-5-the-equality-act-2021

Fact: The Equality Act—introduced as H.R. 5 in the House of Representatives on February 18, 2021—makes mainstream beliefs about marriage, as well as basic biological facts about sex differences, punishable under the law. 

Fact: The Equality Act guts the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and threatens constitutional freedoms by eliminating conscience protections from the Civil Rights Act. If enacted, H.R. 5 would force employers, medical professionals, educators, and religious organizations to allow men into women’s shelters, pay for or perform sex-change operations, and engage in speech that violates their consciences. Faith-based adoption and foster care agencies would be forced to violate their belief that every child deserves a mother and a father.

Fact: By expanding the definition of “public accommodations” under Title II of the Civil Rights Act to include “any establishment that provides a good, service, or program, including a store, shopping center, online retailer or service provider, salon, bank, gas station, food bank, service or care center, shelter, travel agency, or funeral parlor, or establishment that provides health care, accounting, or legal services,” many more individuals and establishments would, in fact, become liable to discrimination claims, including doctors who do not want to perform abortions.

Fact: H.R. 5 endangers unborn children. The Equality Act opens the door to taxpayer funding for elective abortions, which the vast majority of Americans oppose, regardless of political affiliation. The bill does not contain any conscience protections for those with moral or religious objections to paying for or performing abortions. 

It also takes away judicial relief by blocking claims based on the RFRA. The Equality Act expands the term “sex” to go far beyond the state of being male or female, and includes “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition.” 

Fact: The Equality Act’s changes to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act do not uphold Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments Act. Gender-identity policies will require biological males to be permitted to participate in female-only activities.

Fact: All single-sex spaces will be open to both sexes under the Equality Act. The Equality Act adds sexual orientation and gender identity rules to Title III of the Civil Rights Act on “public facilities” as well as to public accommodations (Title II) and federal funding (Title VI). This would create a nationwide transgender policy in single-sex facilities. 

Fact: By adding sexual orientation and gender-identity rules to the Civil Rights Act’s Title IV on “desegregation of public education,” the Equality Act could pave the way for K–12 federal courts to require sexual orientation and gender-identity curricula the same way they required black history curricula.

Fact: As a result of the expanding definition of public accommodations, as well as changing federal funding requirements, doctors (and counselors) could be punished for treating gender dysphoria according to their own best medical judgment. Even a referral to another doctor could be a violation of the Civil Rights Act.

Fact: The Equality Act’s politicization of medicine and education through gender ideology will undermine parental rights. Since most schools will be pressured to comply with sexual-orientation and gender-identity policies, parents will have limited educational choices for their children.

Fact: The Equality Act hurts vulnerable children by punishing faith-based adoption and foster-care agencies that believe that every child deserves both a mother and a father and that children’s bodies should not be irreversibly harmed by hormonal or surgical interventions due to gender dysphoria. Imposing this radical ideology on child-welfare providers will reduce the number of “forever families” for the more than 424,000 foster children in need of them. 

Fact: The Equality Act goes far beyond the Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock ruling. While Bostock invented a misguided theory of sex discrimination in employment law, it did not redefine “sex” to include sexual orientation and gender identity. But the Equality Act does. Bostock was limited to employment law; the Equality Act adds “sexual orientation and gender identity” to all of the nation’s civil rights laws.

NOTE: AGAIN – These outlines are helpful but not comprehensive .

FAIRNESS FOR ALL – AN ALTERNATIVE TO EQUALITY ACT?

EVANGELICALS JOINED MORMONS TO PUSH AN ALTERNATIVE LEGISLATION CALLED “FAIRNESS FOR ALL” BUT IT WAS IN FACT SUPPORTED BY THE SAME BILLIONAIRE FUNDING THE EQUALITY ACT WITH ONLY TOKEN PROTECTIONS FOR RELIGIOUS LIERTY.

RUSSELL MOORE’S FRIENDS AT &CAMPAIGN ALLY WITH PAUL SINGER & REVOICE FOR LGBTQ RIGHTS

The politics and funding behind Fairness For All ensured that it was only a stop over to the Equality Act if Democrats did not have the majority they now possess after the 2020 “elections”.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY PRESS CONFERENCE ON 2021 EQUALITY ACT.

In this weeks press conference to promote the Equality Act the response to questions about Fairness For All as a viable alternative was “Fairness is worse than doing nothing and only ensures discrimination”. That is the attitude of the legislators promoting EA when the question of Religious Exemptions and protections were raised. The statement that “all religious protections currently in place will remain in place” was meant to calm concerns and end the press questions on the issue. The facts to the level of endangerment to Religious Liberty by the Equality Act will play out quickly in the courts and federal and local agencies once it becomes law.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY REDEFINED THRU THE LENS OF ISLAMIC /LGBT RIGHTS

CONCLUSION

It is impossible to protect religious freedoms while redefining them through the lens of multiple ideologies antithetical to it -especially through things opposed to deeply held Christian /Biblical conviction and the Word of the Lord. Christians will likely soo have to decide if they will fear God or man…if they will bow the knee to the idols of Babylon of take their chances with God’s promises in the fires of the cultural and political furnace.

Daniel 3:

¹⁸ But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

Saved in Fiery Trial

¹⁹ Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. ²⁰ And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. ²¹ Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. ²² Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. ²³ And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

²⁴ Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”

They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”

²⁵ “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

MAKE NO MISTAKE, THE END GAME FOR THE “JUSTICE” MOVEMENT ON IMMIGRATION, RACE, GENDER, SEXUALITY AND PROGRESSIVE POLITICS IN THE CHURCH IS DRIVEN BY & TOWARD FAITH BASED PARTNERSHIPS- THE NEW ADMININSTRATION DELIVERS.

Rev Thomas Littleton

2/15/2021

HAPPY VALENTINES EVANGELICAL LEADERSHIP

The last 12 years or so the leadership of organizations like The Gospel Coalition and the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission have held convictional conservative Christians feet to the flames of the age old denomination and church destroying social gospel repackaged in some slick new narratives. Like a pigs snout sporting a golden earring ,these tired old errors were wrapped in a (usually) neo-reformed theological narrative in the name of “cultural engagement” “Christian” economics, Community development, and “Faith and Work” / “Theology of Vocation”. The packaging comes “inclusive and compassionate” bows on top.

Faith based Partnerships (FBP) have long been the goal of stealthy progressive organizations like Leadership Network and its operatives like Rick Warren (Purpose Driven) and Tim Keller (The Gospel Coalition). A new administration is ready to reward the successful push of the church toward the political left on key social issues. As the federal funding is poised to flood into the ministry coffers with the Biden administration’s new Valentine’s Day executive order, the real long game goals of the progressive politics and “theology” are clear and undeniable. The church has been primed to be the agent of social change and the hub of community services. The Obama administration created a FBP filled with activism and diversity which included the leaders of LGBTQ activist organizations like Human Rights Campaign and ARCUS along side Southern Baptist Executive Committee CEO Frank Page. Few church and ministry leaders have been able to resist. Never mind the historic dangers -past fraud- failures- cost to religious liberty- AND prohibitions to gospel ministry.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/02/14/fact-sheet-president-biden-reestablishes-the-white-house-office-of-faith-based-and-neighborhood-partnerships/

FROM THE WHITE HOUSE WEBSITE

FACT SHEET: President Biden Reestablishes the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

FEBRUARY 14, 2021 • STATEMENTS AND RELEASES

“Biden-Harris administration commits to promoting partnerships with faith-based and neighborhood organizations to help people in need; announces Melissa Rogers as Executive Director and Josh Dickson as Deputy Director“

“Today, President Biden is signing an executive order reestablishing the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which will promote partnerships with religious and secular organizations to better serve people in need. As our country grapples with a global pandemic, a severe economic downturn, the scourge of systemic racism, an escalating climate crisis and profound polarization, President Biden knows that civil society partnerships are essential to meeting such challenges.”

“Twenty years ago, President George W. Bush established the first White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. As President Bush said, government cannot be replaced by the efforts of religious and other community organizations, but government “can and should welcome [such organizations] as partners.” In 2009, the Obama-Biden administration continued this initiative, while also putting its own stamp on its name, practices, and policies. For example, this office helped prevent foreclosure amidst the housing crisis by sharing information with more than 50,000 faith-based and community stakeholders on mortgage refinancing and scam prevention; increase the number of summer meals served to kids for a total of more than 1.2 billion summer meals served; assist communities in responding to and recovering from disasters; and train diverse faith leaders on protecting their houses of worship.”

“At a time of great challenge and opportunity, the Biden-Harris administration is re-launching this bipartisan initiative. The Partnerships Office’s initial work will include collaborating with civil society to: address the COVID-19 pandemic and boost economic recovery; combat systemic racism; increase opportunity and mobility for historically disadvantaged communities; and strengthen pluralism. The office will also support agency partnerships that advance the United States Government’s diplomatic, international development, and humanitarian work around the world.  All of this work will be done in ways that respect cherished constitutional guarantees.”

“Leading the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will be Melissa Rogers, who will serve as the office’s Executive Director and as Senior Director for Faith and Public Policy in the White House Domestic Policy Council. Melissa has been a leader on these issues for decades, including serving from 2013-2017 as Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in the Obama-Biden Administration.”

“Josh Dickson, White House Senior Advisor for Public Engagement, will serve as the office’s Deputy Director. He will be a key interlocutor with faith communities and other stakeholders. Josh previously served as National Faith Engagement Director for Biden for President, and was Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Commerce during the Obama-Biden Administration. Trey Baker, who previously served as the National Director of African American Engagement for Biden for President and is currently a White House Senior Advisor for Public Engagement, will serve as the office’s liaison to Black communities, including Black faith communities. The Partnerships Office will work hand in hand with the wider White House Office of Public Engagement’s constituency outreach initiatives to engage and partner with stakeholders of all backgrounds and beliefs in its efforts to serve individuals and communities in need. The team will also work with closely with staff in agency Centers for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships to execute the objectives outlined in today’s executive order.”

“There are not Democrats or Republicans dying from this pandemic, or losing their jobs, going hungry and facing eviction in this economic crisis, or facing the sting of systemic racism or the brunt of the climate crisis,” said President Biden. “They are fellow human beings. They are fellow Americans. And this is not a nation that can, or will, simply stand by and watch the suffering around us. That is not who we are. That is not what faith calls us to be. That is why I’m reestablishing the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships to work with leaders of different faiths and backgrounds who are the frontlines of their communities in crisis and who can help us heal, unite, and rebuild. We still have many difficult nights to endure. But we will get through them together and with faith guiding us through the darkness and into the light.”

“The White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will be an essential part of the Biden-Harris administration’s plan to bring people of all backgrounds and beliefs together to meet our challenges, perfect our union, and restore the soul of our country. Specifically, the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will work with civil society partners to:”

Address the Covid-19 Pandemic and Boost Economic Recovery
“By working with diverse civil society organizations, the Partnerships Office will help more Americans get facts about COVID-19 and vaccinations, and support economic recovery efforts. Faith and community leaders are frequently anchors of their neighborhoods due to the services they provide and the trust and respect they command, enabling them to effectively reach the most vulnerable.”

Combat Systemic Racism
“The Partnerships Office will work closely with organizations and community leaders to tackle systemic racism and other forms of bias. Whether it is health, education, economic opportunity, housing, or the criminal justice system, racial and other disparities abound, and it will take an all-hands-on-deck effort to fix these problems. The Partnerships Office is committed to making equity a top priority and working with stakeholders from all beliefs and backgrounds in pursuit of a more just and equitable society.”

Increase Opportunity and Mobility for Historically Disadvantaged Communities
“The Biden-Harris administration has made a firm commitment to serving vulnerable communities and people in need, and the Partnerships Office will play an important role in this work. From supporting immigrants and welcoming refugees to addressing childhood hunger to helping minority-owned and rural small businesses grow and thrive, the Partnerships Office will focus much of its programmatic efforts on these key administration priorities.”

Advance International Development and Global Humanitarian Work
“U.S. agencies’ partnerships will also serve people around the world. Whether it is promoting child and maternal health or defusing conflicts, these partnerships are vital for the success and effectiveness of the United States’ diplomatic, international development, and global humanitarian work.”

Strengthen Pluralism and Respect Constitutional Guarantees
“A key commitment of the Partnerships Office is embracing pluralism. At its best, the United States is not only a country with remarkable peace across our religious differences, it is a nation where people of diverse faiths and beliefs regularly make common cause. When Methodists and Muslims, Buddhists and Baptists, Sikhs and Secular Humanists serve together, we strengthen one another and we strengthen America. As part of this commitment, the Partnerships Office will work to protect the right to practice faith without fear, implementing promises President-elect Biden made about safeguarding faith communities that are at risk of discrimination, harassment, and hate-based acts of violence and vandalism.”

“Fundamental to these goals is respecting our cherished guarantees of church-state separation and freedom for people of all faiths and none, as the executive order notes. The Partnerships Office, for example, will not prefer one faith over another or favor religious over secular organizations. Instead, it will work with every willing partner to promote the common good, including those who have differences with the Administration. As President Biden has repeatedly said, he will be president for all Americans. In addition to advancing collaborative efforts to serve people in need, the White House Partnerships Office will develop and coordinate the Administration’s policy agenda regarding faith-based and other community organizations.”

RUSSELL MOORE OF TGC AND ERLC PRESIDENT IS EXCITED ABOUT THE ANNOUNCEMENT

http://kentuckytoday.staging.communityq.com/stories/moore-welcomes-white-house-faith-based-office,30638?

“MOORE WELCOMES WHITE HOUSE FAITH BASED OFFICE “

“WASHINGTON (BP) – Southern Baptist ethics and religious freedom leader Russell Moore welcomed news that the latest presidential administration will also include an office to help faith-based organizations serve Americans in cooperation with the government.”

“President Biden established the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships by executive order Sunday (Feb. 14). The new president’s order came 20 years after President George W. Bush launched such a White House office in the second week of his first administration. Each president since then has also authorized a faith-based office in some form.”

“Moore had worked about a year ago with various scholars and leaders in an effort convened by the Brookings Institution “to think through the legacy and future of the work” of a faith-based office in the White House, he said in written comments.”

“Almost all of us agreed that the office is an important point of connection between the government and communities of faith that should exist and that the Faith-Based Office should be reinvigorated and led by those with clout in a presidential administration with credibility to the outside world,” said Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “I am grateful to see that President Biden is re-establishing this vital office.”

“The office will have the primary responsibility in the administration “for establishing policies, priorities, and objectives for the Federal Government’s comprehensive effort to enlist, equip, enable, empower, and expand the work” of both faith-based and secular organizations that serve their communities, according to Biden’s executive order. It will do so “while preserving our fundamental constitutional commitments guaranteeing the equal protection of the laws and the free exercise of religion and forbidding the establishment of religion,” the order said.”

“Initially, the office will partner with faith-based and other community-serving organizations to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, economic recovery, systemic racism, historically disadvantaged communities, pluralism and global development and humanitarian work, according to a White House fact sheet.”

BAPTIST PRESS COVERAGE

https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/moore-welcomes-white-house-faith-based-office/

“The White House also announced Josh Dickson will be deputy director of the faith-based office. Dickson served as national faith engagement director in Biden’s presidential campaign and directed the Department of Commerce’s Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships during the Obama administration. Trey Baker, who was the Biden campaign’s director of African American engagement, will serve as the faith-based office’s liaison to Black communities, including Black faith communities.”

“Rogers, whom Moore said he has worked with for years, “has more than earned her reputation across the political spectrum for her experience, intelligence, skill and integrity,” he said. “We will be engaging with the Office of Faith-Based Partnerships on a variety of issues where people of faith can serve the vulnerable in our communities.”

“Bush created the first such office in 2001, naming it the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives. He also established faith-based and community centers in five federal departments. The goal of Bush’s office was to remove barriers to religious and other organizations working with government to help the needy by enabling them to compete for federal funds to provide social services.”

SAD REALITY

In case with Russell Moore and other TGC / Baptist and conservative denominations leadership – this Valentine hook up is with one of the most pro abortion and pro left and anti- family administration in American history. Meanwhile these same leaders attacked and sought to undermine Christians support for and connection to one of (if not the) most pro-life administrations ever in former President Trump.

THINK ON THAT!

CONCLUSION

The exhausting push for redefining the GOSPEL as “social justice” and the decades long assault on the social and political convictions of conservative believers have now reached their end game. The payoff will be huge as the Faith Based Partnerships pick up where the Obama administration left off with Baptist and other leaders seated at the table with radical activist and progressive religious leaders of every flavor. If having the church become the primary partner with government and big business to deliver social services / healthcare/ community services / education/ equity to the public is GREAT in your thinking -then you should be excited. Unless of course you have a problem with a confirmed track record of fraud and failed programs and the continued impact of /and cost to the churches ability to minister the Gospel in the midst of programs where it is illegal to do so. Also if you are not bothered by the fact that the funding is adding to the nearly $30 trillion dollar (and growing) national debt ….then it is all rosy .Enjoy your Valentines present.

BUT

IF you are concerned with the theological and religious liberty impact and the deadly warnings of being unequally yoked with unbelievers then be assured-these things never end well. They never have and nothing has changed in God’s Word.

2 CORINTHIANS 6:

Be Holy

¹¹ O Corinthians! ^[c]We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. ¹² You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. ¹³ Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open.

¹⁴ Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what ^[d]fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what ^[e]communion has light with darkness? ¹⁵ And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you^[f] are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”

¹⁷ Therefore

“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”
¹⁸ “I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty.”