A California pro-family leader laments a committee’s passage of a first-ever bill in the state that would ban “gay”-to-straight counseling.

California Democrats passed SB 1172 in the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday on a 3-1 vote. The bill now heads to the Senate floor. The legislation would restrict therapists from providing sexual orientation-change counseling, even if patients are seeking such help. The bill would also ban sexual orientation-change efforts (SOCE) for minors and would require a consent form for adults. Under the measure, professionals who continue SOCE would be penalized.

Patricia Thompson, area director for Central California with Concerned Women for America, says parental rights have been violated. “We need to give our parents the freedom to minister to their children and get help for them,” she tells OneNewsnow. “It’s just a sad, sad situation.”

Adults who are seeking help from counselors in addressing sexual orientation issues must sign a release form that suggests such counseling is potentially dangerous.

“It’s not right, as far as I’m concerned,” Thompson remarks. “These people need help and want to get out of that — I don’t understand their thinking on that.”

The bill’s author, Democratic Senator Ted Lieu, argued that such treatments can cause depression and may lead to suicide. Countering that argument is Randy Thomasson with SaveCalifornia.com, who has warned that implementation of SB 1172 will “depress and harm struggling children instead of giving them a chance at freedom.”

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Calif. against pro-heterosexual counseling?
Becky Yeh – OneNewsNow California correspondent – 5/3/2012 3:40:00 AM

A legal group is calling a proposed California bill “one of the most outrageous, speech-chilling bills we have ever seen.”

Senate Bill 1172, which would remove the ability of psychologists, therapists, and counselors to aid clients with sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE), has passed its first committee hearing. Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) says SB 1172 requires a new consent form for adults, which contains statements about sexual orientation that many counselors would dispute — and professionals who continue SOCE would be penalized under the measure.

“It not only gives stark penalties and liabilities against counselors and psychologists attempting to assist adults wanting or asking for therapy regarding sexual orientation issues, but it outright bans and prohibits anyone under the age of 18 to have any pro-heterosexual counseling or therapy when they are struggling with their sexual orientation,” Dacus summarizes. ”Worse yet is if parents are caught being non-supportive of their child’s perception of homosexuality in any way, then that is deemed abuse by parents under this statute and grounds for the government to permanently take that child from their parents.”

That is because sexually-confused youth who experience “family rejection … face especially serious health risks” — according to SB 1172. So the bill flatly bans SOCE for minors, despite the wishes of the parents or the patients.

But PJI points out that the measure craftily leaves out transgender people, “because backers believe gender is changeable, but sexual orientation is not.” The legal group is asking Californians to contact their state senators and voice opposition to SB 1172.

Dacus adds: “I can honestly say this is one of the most outrageous, speech-chilling bills we have ever seen in California — and that’s saying a lot.” His firm accounts that the measure blames those who believe change is possible for “gay suicides, gild, substance abuse, relationship problems, and a host of other ills.”

According to PJI, even the California Psychological Association, which normally embraces LGBT rights, is opposed to the current form of SB 1172.

What is a Christian? A Christian is someone who has put his or her faith in Jesus Christ, and Christ alone, as Savior and Lord and God. And according to the apostle Paul, a Christian is someone who has turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God (see Acts 26:18).

I think that because we have a lot of anemic, shallow preaching today, we also have a generation of people who think they are Christians but really are not. These are people who have been told to believe, but they never have been told to repent. They have been promised heaven, but they never have been warned of hell. They have been told that God wants them to be happy, but they never have heard that God wants them to be holy. I wonder whether a lot of these people even know what the genuine gospel message is. I read recently that 7 in 10 American adults have no clue what John 3:16 means. And barely one-third of all adults know the meaning of the term, “the gospel.”

It is not for me to decide who is a Christian and who is not. That is ultimately up to God. But what we don’t need more of today are sort-of Christians. What we need are no-doubt Christians—people about whom you could say, “There is no doubt in my mind that person is a follower of Jesus Christ.” The fact is, what is considered as Christianity by many today would not even qualify as such in the first century.

That is where you come in. God wants you to share the gospel and make disciples in your own sphere of influence. This is what the early church did, and the world was a different place because of it.

When things are going smoothly in your life, you might not find it hard to believe that God is good. But if life takes a bad turn and something devastating happens, you might ask, “How could a good God allow this?” If you know that kind of pain, then you can empathize with Daniel.

Across the pages of Scripture that detail Daniel’s life from teenager to old man, you can write, “Sovereignty at work.” God was directing his life whether he saw it at the time or not.

Do you know his story? One bright day in Jerusalem when Daniel was just a teenager, he was captured as a POW and was ripped away from everything warm and familiar. Daniel’s enemies were working a cruel strategy. They singled out the best young people—the all-American teenagers voted MVP and “Most Likely to Succeed” and brought them to their capital city near modern-day Kuwait. Their plan was to brainwash these kids with their culture and make them leaders. Daniel was given a foreign name, Belteshazzar, forced to learn a new language, and was given a new diet.

Had Daniel decided what God was like by looking at his circumstances, he would have become a disillusioned, confused, angry young man. Kidnapped from his homeland, forced into slavery, most likely castrated to become a eunuch in the palace, Daniel’s eyes were still on God. Don’t gloss over these facts like they’re from some made-for-TV movie. This story is true in every detail. Imagine the suffering connected with his circumstances, yet Daniel went through the fire—successfully. This certainly gives us hope that we can make it through the firestorm, too.

No doubt a situation comes to mind right now from either your past or your present. You may wonder how a God of love could have allowed some painful, wrong injustice. Yet, I would bet on the fact that you’ve not come full circle yet. There will be a day when you will look back and see how God’s sovereign hand was at work. Truth is, He is in the center of the situation that troubles your heart right now. He’s right in the middle of it.

Just because you can’t see Him, doesn’t mean He isn’t there. Look for Him, trust Him—He is at work.

James MacDonald

Do you have any empty pews where you worship? How do you explain that? When was the last time you ordered more chairs or started another service? Why are people skipping church?

Well, it’s not because of Jesus for sure, would you agree? And it’s not because of the Bible, right? It’s because of Christians and because people’s experience with Christianity is so negative. People have turned Christianity into a religion. Jesus’ parable above is about this exact condition. Read it again and compare the two prayers. Which one do you think most resembles a prayer you might hear at your church on any given weekend? Which one represents faith and which one represents religion?

I want to share with you five decisions that will free us from religion:

1. Refuse to bind others with manmade rules. Rules beyond God’s always hurt more people than they help. Any rules pursued as a way to gain merit with God or salvation are wasted effort, sure to fail. The Pharisee was smug with his religious system; oblivious to God’s rejection.
2. Reject externals as a spiritual yardstick. The Pharisee judged a fellow sinner to make himself look better, but he actually distanced himself from God.
3. Review your walk or your relationship with God and beware of the dangers of form without function. We may fool others with external appearances, but God knows our hearts.
4. Return to the basics of examination and confession. In a world that abhors personal responsibility, God welcomes those who know themselves as sinners and entrust themselves to God’s grace and mercy.
5. Renew your pursuit of personal humility. Humility isn’t a look or appearance; it’s action. Humility chooses Christ’s way over my way. Humility says to God, “Your will, Lord, not mine.”

The Pharisee in Jesus’ parable rejected each of these wise decisions; the tax-collector practiced them. What will be your condition the next time you come home from church?

Almighty Father, I am that tax collector. And yet I confess that sometimes I’ve acted like that Pharisee. Forgive me for judging others by standards I couldn’t live up to for a moment. Forgive me for thinking I could do something to make You accept me. Thank You for reminding me again and again that only when I see myself clearly as a sinner can I then receive Your mercy. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

James MacDonald – Senior Pastor – Harvest Bible Chapel

The Logical Thing to Do

A half-hearted commitment to God is illogical. Paul wrote to the believers at Rome, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is yourreasonable service” (Romans 12:1, emphasis added). He was effectively saying, “This is the logical thing to do.”

It is like trying to get into the water at the beginning of summer. The air temperature is hot, but the water is cold. So you go in slowly and get up to your knees, and then you start to recoil. It would be better to either dive in and get wet, or just get out of the water.

That is how a lot of believers are. They have an attitude that says, “Well, I am kind of in, but I am not totally in. And I am a little bit out. I am just not sure.” It is a miserable no-man’s-land.

Jesus said, “If the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men” (Matthew 5:13).

It is sort of like cola that has gone flat. What good is uncarbonated cola? Or what good is a low-fat, decaf latte?

But that is how a lot of believers are. They are uncarbonated Christians and decaf disciples. Jesus hates half-heartedness. He said to the church of Laodicea, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:15–16).

As you grow older, your commitment should grow stronger. You should be more committed to Christ at 57 than you were at 17. So make a commitment to Him—and stand by it.

It’s not something you might expect to hear from a school principal, but Jeffrey Wick of Bowling Green, Virginia, says the public school system is helping to destroy the country’s foundation.

Wick is now offering his thoughts in his new book Public Education: The Final Solution in the Conquest of America’s Ideals.

“I think we’re at a state in our country where we are on that precipice, as a lot of us believe, and part of the reason we’re in this problem is what the public schools do,” says Wick. “It’s not necessarily what the teachers are doing, but it’s the philosophy that’s guiding the system.”

Wick’s desire is to encourage the nation to return to its greatness — “which is its Christian foundation, freedom that we were founded upon, sacrifice, hard work, rugged individualism and all those traits that our founders based our Constitution and our nation upon,” he explains.

Wick says in order for the U.S. to be transformed from the great country that it is into a socialistic type of nation where people are dependent on government, the family, the Christian faith, and patriotism have to be attacked.

“As the first two are destroyed, that creates a void,” the principal says, “and I think the government steps in and tries to take that role. They try to become parent, the school system is encouraged to be the center of the community, to provide all of these services.”

He suggests a few examples — dinner service, and not just to low-income students, as well as health and wellness programs or family life materials. When this happens, Wick says schools are taking authority from parents, but in some cases, parents are giving up their authority willingly.

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ATTACKED WEEKLY:

• Our Christian heritage, U.S. Constitution, and your family!

These attacks originate from within our own borders!

• Instigated by liberals, atheists, and relativists
• Open agenda to promote socialism
• Promoted in the media and pop culture

Do you realize the PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM’s role in destroying our foundation?

• It teaches 49.3 million students (89%)
• It indoctrinates children in liberalism, socialism, and government dependence
• It promotes weakness
• It attacks Christianity, family, and patriotism

Public Education: The “Final Solution” in the Conquest of America’s Ideals

• Exposes the socialist agenda of the public schools under the guise of “helping children”
• Explains how dependence on government begins in schools
• Illustrates this 235-year war against America
• Compares modern America to The Republic by Plato
• Outlines America’s journey from receiving God’s blessings to facing His wrath

Find out more…

“I don’t know”

“this guy with a mustache?”

“I think he was a communist”

“an actor or someone?”

” I have never heard of him”

“the Holocaust didn’t happen”

“Christianity is a nice religion but lets let it die out”

“Would you kill Hitlers mom while she was pregnant with him?”

“The heaviest blow that ever struck humanity was the coming of Christianity

http://agendadocumentary.com

When Idaho Legislator Curtis Bowers wrote a “letter to the editor” about the drastic changes in America’s culture, it became the feature story on the evening news, people protested at the Capitol, and for weeks the local newspapers were filled with responses. He realized then… he’d hit on something. Ask almost anyone and you’ll hear, “Communism is dead! The Berlin Wall came down.” Thought the word communism isn’t used anymore, this film will show the ideas behind it are alive and well. Join Bowers for a fascinating look at the people and groups that have successfully targeted America’s morality and freedom in their effort to grind America down. It’s a well documented AGENDA