Last Thursday Seattle, Mayor Ed Murray unveiled new rainbow crosswalks at several Capitol Hill intersections costing $66,000. The crosswalks are expected to last three to five years, but the city said it plans to maintain them for years to come.

On Friday in a long sought out victory for the gay rights movement the SCOTUS ruled that what God sees as an abomination the Constitution guarantees as a right. That evening the White House of the United States was illuminated in rainbow colors as an offense and cost to tax payers across the country.

Over the weekend businesses across the nation begin to show support for the LBGT community on social media. The Department of Education changes their picture to reflect their long time agenda.

Monday local judges and clerks across the nation stood and said they will not go against their deep-rooted conviction and conscience by issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. Some have resigned. Others brace for persecution.

On Tuesday the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that a Ten Commandments monument (paid for by private money) placed on State Capitol grounds must be removed because the Oklahoma Constitution bans the use of state property for the benefit of a religion.

Today….

What is happening in our country?

Let me submit that it is the same thing that has been happening for decades just now at an accelerated pace. Monday night I attended with many others from our community to an event to hear David Barton speak out on these issues. Below (posted with permission) is a summary of the event from two of my dear friends. Please take the time to read this. If the gay rights activists have not yet bombarded your local government they will. Christians need to be informed and prepared. It’s time to stand!

David Barton Encourages Fayetteville Activists – a Summary of Last Nights Meeting. Written by Angela Lathrum

David Barton, internationally known public speaker, author and historian, visited Fayetteville last night to encourage the grassroots effort to combat the effects of the radical sexual revolution on our local government.  Barton is the president of Wallbuilders, a pro-family organization, which holds a large private collection of original source American historical documents.  In the fall of 2014, Barton and others in Wallbuilders worked with activists in Fayetteville to repeal Ordinance 119, a dangerous law that forced business to allow members of either sex to enter both men and women’s bathrooms and locker rooms.  Now a new, but frustratingly similar, ordinance is on the September 8 ballot in Fayetteville.  Motivated to see a similar victory over Ordinance 5781, several hundred citizens gathered last night to hear what Barton had to say.

Many of those in attendance were encouraged to see such a prominent figure engage with citizens over a local issue.  The shift in culture, and the hijacking of Americans’ ethics, is impacting every level of society: our nation, our communities, and our individual consciences.  So, a call to action on the local level is crucial for a stand on a national level.  The Wallbuilders team aimed to rally support for the counter-initiative in local communities.

Barton drew some interesting parallels between the Genesis account of Lot’s confrontation with the culture of Sodom and today’s confrontation with the radical sexual revolution. Evil is not content with the position of “live and let live”.  It demands that we come and participate with it, just as the Sodomites sought Lot’s consent and participation in their assault on the visiting angels.  Barton presented nearly a dozen examples of cases around the country in which courts ruled that an individual did not have a right to act according to his own conscience, by not participating in objectionable activities.  Evil will have us participate, or seek to destroy us.

Just as Lot offered his virgin daughters to appease the Sodomites, Christians will often offer a compromise to appease those pushing their “progressive” cultural shift.  Churches have accommodated, families have looked the other way, schools have indoctrinated our youth in an effort to make them more “tolerant”.  Our compromises, have only strengthened the opposition.  Our middle ground is crumbling.

Evil is unappeased with compromise.  False accusations follow, usually without merit.  Lot was falsely accused of judging the men of Sodom.  “Bigot” and “discrimination” have been spewed at Christians who have tried to reserve their right to refuse service when it violated their conscience.  But radical sexual revolutionaries insist that love means tolerance and even affirmation.  God’s holy Word says otherwise.

False accusations will usually turn to meanness.  Similarly, Lot was nearly overtaken by the men of Sodom with whom he was trying to reason.  Undeniable, The Survey of Hostility to Religion in America documents acts of aggression and intolerance toward Christians each year.  It recounts many cases in which Christians are accused of persecution and bigotry, while the same and far worse is perpetrated against us.  Threats, coerciveness and down-right meanness are the arsenal of Evil.

Barton continued by quoting Charles Finney.  “God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics.”  Proverbs tells us that “A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the trusted stronghold.” (21:22)  As a historian, Barton likened the strategies of successful battles to the strategies that Christians need to use today in fighting the encroaching evil that would lay siege to our society and capture the minds of our children.   Christian political leaders must focus on the national strategy, and local leaders must engaged in the battle specifics, on the ground, in our local communities.  Defense is not a battle strategy, it is a time to pull back, regroup and prepare for the next offensive move.  And at every level, Christians need to be proactive, watching and seeking out faithful, tested, and humble leaders in our local businesses, churches and communities.

Wallbuilders made a clear call for religious leaders to take an active role in encouraging Christians to participate in the political process.  Pastors and ministry leaders can learn more about this strategy through the revitalized organization, National Black Robe Regiment, at  www.nationalblackroberegiment.com.

David Barton’s message was a clear message to stand.  We have turned over our country to immoral extremists, simply because they are louder.  Passivity has been our weakness.  Instead, Christians must be proactive and organized.  Satan has used lies and confusion to incite the lost.   Clearly, anyone who believes that there are 82 different sexual identities and orientations is deceived, confused, and lost.   Christians’ greatest weapon is faithfulness to truth and love.

Above all, the movement to restore America to its Christian heritage must be covered in prayer and carried out in love.  What the lost, confused and deceived members of our culture need most of all, is Jesus!  Thankfully, we know love does win in the end through the sacrificial blood of the cross.

To learn more about the Fayetteville ordinance that strips business owners of their right to act in accordance with their own conscience and how you can get involved in its repeal visit  www.repeal119.com.

In response my friend Deedra Branscum writes:

It was encouraging to see so many pastors and community leaders attending last night. I am always so encouraged as many of them are homeschool families/parents and I am so glad to be part of this community.  Another interesting and true perspective Barton gave was that Christians are too quick to give up a compromise and giving away things we should not -like Lot offering his virgin daughter-when we should not compromise and give things up at all. Lot was attempting to not go as far as they wanted to in having homosexual acts by giving his daughter but he shouldn’t have ever offered a compromise in the first place and we should not either.  The evil men Lot dealt with wanted forced participation and not ” live and let live ” and that is the same group we are facing in this battle today. They want to force Christians to participate by baking then a cake for their event etc.

David Barton and other speakers also referred to the Bentonville school policy issue we have been discussing and actively opposing. It is another piece to the puzzle in this culture war. Thanks for all the encouragement and support of friends in this community. It has been a time consuming and at times seemingly endless battle but we know who has the final word in the end.!! I pray God is pleased in all we do and say despite what naysayers may say from the peanut gallery. It has been a great group to work with and we have seen Christ shared and I believe God would be pleased at how this group had handled it.

There are also some encouraging stories of people who have turned from this lifestyle, repented and are now right were God wants them to be.  Those sweet testimonies encourage us too. There are several dimensions to this culture war. There are those that are militant to complete their agenda and silence Christians and further persecute them for disagreeing wanting to force participation in their activities and then there are those who are not militant about it.  Here is a link to the testimony of a man we have become friends with during this battle.   https://flames2fire.wordpress.com/jasons-testimony/ He has spoken at several of the board meetings. He lived a gay life with a partner 11 years and then turned his life over to Christ. He has an awesome testimony and now has a sweet wife and several children and they are expecting a baby soon!!

Keep praying and doing what you can because it will take prayer and action, not silence, to stop the indoctrination of children and encourage people towards Christ.  Love and Godspeed in all your endeavors for Christ!!

Friends, Now is the time to stand. In the words of Paul be followers of God, as dear children.  “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph 5:1-16) It’ time to stand!