Bryan Fischer
California pro-homosexual bill will ban the Bible
By Bryan Fischer
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Host of "Focal Point" on American Family Radio, 1-3pm CT, M-F www.afr.net
I have maintained from the beginning that the battle between homosexuality and religious liberty is a zero-sum game. Somebody wins and somebody loses. Every advance of the homosexual agenda comes at the expense of religious liberty.
It would be nice to think we could all get along, but the reality is we can't. You and I might be prepared to let them live their lives as they choose, but they are not about to return the favor. The homosexual lobby will not rest until they have silenced the last voice of sexual normalcy and punished the last surviving Christian.
Their aim is the same as that of the Roman emperor Diocletian, who struck a medal that celebrated "The name of Christians being extinguished." Not content with that, he erected a pillar in Spain to congratulate himself "for having everywhere abolished the superstition of Christ."
Lest you think I exaggerate the contemporary dangers posed by the gay movement, I point you to California as Exhibit A. California has a Democratic supermajority in both houses of the state legislature, and all of its statewide offices are held by Democrats. In other words, there is literally nothing conservatives can do to stop the regressive agenda in the Golden State. California is a picture of what the left wants the entire United States of America to become. If they have their way, we all one day will look just like it.
California is showing us the end game of modern liberalism, and it's not pretty. We as Christian conservatives believe that God has designed sex to be exclusively a matter between a husband and wife. We believe there are just two genders, or sexes, and that gender is assigned by God at the moment of conception. We believe that man is a free moral agent and that therefore sexual expression is a matter of choice. Our adversaries on the other side of the battle lines believe none of those things.
The California Assembly has passed a new bill, Assembly Bill 2943, which will ban the sale of the Bible. Yes, you read that exactly right. The sale of the Bible is about to be made illegal in the state of California. And the vote wasn't even close – the bill passed 50-18. It heads to the Senate next, where it will certainly be approved, and then to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk, where he is certain to sign it.
This bill would make it illegal to engage in "a transaction intended to result or that results in the sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer" that "advertise, offer to engage in, or do engage in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual."
These "change efforts" are then defined as "any practices that seek to change an individual's sexual orientation. This includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex." (Emphasis added throughout.)
The Bible is a book, or a "good" to use the language of the bill, that clearly teaches that with God's help homosexual behavior can be changed, and sexual energy can be re-oriented, or re-directed, toward biblically sanctioned relationships. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:9-13, "Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."
As Travis Weber of the Center for Religious Liberty writes,
Moreover, those bound by this bill include any "association" or "other group" – "however organized," and are prohibited from selling "goods" which are defined as anything "tangible" and used "primarily for personal, family, or household purposes." This would include a prohibition on groups of people selling books or materials to other people for their own use which express the biblical and Christian position on unrepentant homosexual conduct. This could very likely include Christians selling other Christians counseling books on LGBT-related issues, and there is no reason why it can't be construed to include a church bookstore offering these books, and even the Bible itself.
Church father Athanasius stood fearlessly and alone for biblical truth in the 4th century. He was once told, "Athanasius, the whole world is against you." To which he replied, "Then Athanasius is against the whole world." The world is soon going to need an entire host of men with the same spirit. Let's pray that they may be found.
© Bryan Fischer
April 25, 2018
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Host of "Focal Point" on American Family Radio, 1-3pm CT, M-F www.afr.net
I have maintained from the beginning that the battle between homosexuality and religious liberty is a zero-sum game. Somebody wins and somebody loses. Every advance of the homosexual agenda comes at the expense of religious liberty.
It would be nice to think we could all get along, but the reality is we can't. You and I might be prepared to let them live their lives as they choose, but they are not about to return the favor. The homosexual lobby will not rest until they have silenced the last voice of sexual normalcy and punished the last surviving Christian.
Their aim is the same as that of the Roman emperor Diocletian, who struck a medal that celebrated "The name of Christians being extinguished." Not content with that, he erected a pillar in Spain to congratulate himself "for having everywhere abolished the superstition of Christ."
Lest you think I exaggerate the contemporary dangers posed by the gay movement, I point you to California as Exhibit A. California has a Democratic supermajority in both houses of the state legislature, and all of its statewide offices are held by Democrats. In other words, there is literally nothing conservatives can do to stop the regressive agenda in the Golden State. California is a picture of what the left wants the entire United States of America to become. If they have their way, we all one day will look just like it.
California is showing us the end game of modern liberalism, and it's not pretty. We as Christian conservatives believe that God has designed sex to be exclusively a matter between a husband and wife. We believe there are just two genders, or sexes, and that gender is assigned by God at the moment of conception. We believe that man is a free moral agent and that therefore sexual expression is a matter of choice. Our adversaries on the other side of the battle lines believe none of those things.
The California Assembly has passed a new bill, Assembly Bill 2943, which will ban the sale of the Bible. Yes, you read that exactly right. The sale of the Bible is about to be made illegal in the state of California. And the vote wasn't even close – the bill passed 50-18. It heads to the Senate next, where it will certainly be approved, and then to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk, where he is certain to sign it.
This bill would make it illegal to engage in "a transaction intended to result or that results in the sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer" that "advertise, offer to engage in, or do engage in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual."
These "change efforts" are then defined as "any practices that seek to change an individual's sexual orientation. This includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex." (Emphasis added throughout.)
The Bible is a book, or a "good" to use the language of the bill, that clearly teaches that with God's help homosexual behavior can be changed, and sexual energy can be re-oriented, or re-directed, toward biblically sanctioned relationships. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:9-13, "Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."
As Travis Weber of the Center for Religious Liberty writes,
Moreover, those bound by this bill include any "association" or "other group" – "however organized," and are prohibited from selling "goods" which are defined as anything "tangible" and used "primarily for personal, family, or household purposes." This would include a prohibition on groups of people selling books or materials to other people for their own use which express the biblical and Christian position on unrepentant homosexual conduct. This could very likely include Christians selling other Christians counseling books on LGBT-related issues, and there is no reason why it can't be construed to include a church bookstore offering these books, and even the Bible itself.
Church father Athanasius stood fearlessly and alone for biblical truth in the 4th century. He was once told, "Athanasius, the whole world is against you." To which he replied, "Then Athanasius is against the whole world." The world is soon going to need an entire host of men with the same spirit. Let's pray that they may be found.
© Bryan Fischer
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