[1]WICHITA, Kan. (BP)–Homosexuals are to blame, not Christians, for the rising tide of protest confronting Big Brothers Big Sisters’ new national policy embracing homosexuals as mentors of youth and children, Kansas pastor Terry Fox noted in sermon addressing the issue for a second consecutive week.
Fox continued to call Immanuel Baptist Church in Wichita to action in his Aug. 25 sermon, while also challenging corporate America’s support of the homosexual agenda and warning of the wrath of God on the nation’s moral decline.
Chief among Fox’s suggestions to the Wichita congregation:
— call the local Big Brothers Big Sisters — described by The Wichita Eagle as the largest BBBS chapter in the nation, with more than 6,400 children enrolled in its services — to protest the new national policy.
— write to the management of The Wichita Eagle to object to its stance in favor of the Big Brothers Big Sisters’ policy and the newspaper’s assertions in criticizing Christians who have protested the policy.
Fox noted that the local BBBS chapter — Big Brothers Big Sisters of Segwick County — has the option “to literally break away from the national organization,” according to BBBS policies.
[2]“That is what we’re recommending they do,” Fox said.
To those who fear the local BBBS chapter would lose corporate financing, Fox replied, “I believe if they would do what is right … they would be shocked and amazed how God would bless them with the money they need and the mentors who would step to the plate.”
Concerning United Way funding of the local BBBS chapter, Fox said he and several others from the church had met with local United Way leaders. “They were very respectful to us … and I appreciate United Way doing that,” Fox said.
“I would ask you to hold your judgment on United Way,” Fox said. “We need to give them time” as they deliberate over the church’s concerns.
Fox said three recommendations have been made to United Way:
— Offer a negative-designation option to United Way contributors who no longer want to provide financial support to the local Big Brothers Big Sisters.
— Defund the local BBBS chapter.
— Discontinue any local United Way funding forwarded to the national BBBS organization.
The local boards of United Way and Big Brothers Big Sisters are “made up of good people, people who love kids,” Fox said. “But sometimes, guys, sometimes, ladies, … you’ve got to take a stand, and sometimes leadership requires tough decisions.”
Fox took note of criticisms leveled against his stance in a Wichita Eagle editorial and by one of the newspaper’s columnists — that children would be harmed by Christians abandoning the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization.
“Don’t you blame the Christians for this, don’t you blame Southern Baptists for this … you blame the homosexuals,” Fox said.
“They’re the ones who stepped into this and caused all the problems,” he said, referencing the policy permitting homosexual and lesbian mentors to youth and children, which was mandated nationally July 1.
“Put the blame,” Fox said, “where it goes.”
Fox recounted an observation a pastor from Nashville, Tenn., shared with him: No longer are homosexuals demanding just to be tolerated. Now they want to change the society.
“And how are they going to do that? Through the children and through the youth and through public schools, the universities, Hollywood,” Fox said, noting that he is “frankly sick and tired of having this issue crammed down our throats … from every angle.”
Corporate America, Fox added, also has become a key component of the homosexual agenda.
“Corporate America has continued to become more and more liberal for a long time” and gotten “a free ride” from public scrutiny, Fox said.
“Unfortunately, corporate America has not paid any attention to the Christian people for a long time. Corporate America has added these [homosexual partners benefits] diversity policies. They’ve used their money as well as their influence to promote the homosexual agenda, as much as Hollywood has. It’s like they’ve been working together to bring this agenda about. …
“We’re going to stand up to corporate America,” Fox declared. “These millions and millions of dollars they’re giving to keep killing babies and to keep promoting the homosexual agenda, they’re fixing to be held more accountable than ever.”
Fox told the congregation he does not know at the moment what specific steps can be quickly and effectively taken, but, alluding to the wave of scandals rocking corporate America, he asked, “Could it be that Almighty God is knocking on the door of corporate America? And saying, ‘Excuse me just a second, I have something to say.'”
While U.S. culture has become accustomed to debates about homosexuality, Fox said what makes the Big Brothers Big Sister different “is here we’re talking about homosexuality and children. … That makes a huge difference.
“I do not believe it is ever in the best interests of a child to allow someone who has a perverse lifestyle according to the Word of God to work with children,” Fox said. “[E]ven if you took the Scriptures out of the debate, you would think common sense would tell you this is about the most foolish thing anybody could allow to happen. …
“Yes, heterosexuals do commit pedophilia, and that’s tragic,” Fox said. “But … think about the common sense issue here. How many of us, if we had a 12-year-old girl who we needed to mentor, would want a 17- or 18-year-old boy to be the mentor?
“Even Big Brothers and Big Sisters have policies that would keep that from happening.
“And you know why? Not based on the Bible, but common sense.”
Not all homosexuals are pedophiles, Fox said, but the BBBS policy is tragic because it “gives the opportunity for pedophilia to take place.”
“I just cannot believe that these national organizations are not using even decency and common sense” by permitting homosexuals to mentor children and youth, Fox said. “Common sense would tell you this isn’t the right thing to do. …
“Homosexuality even goes against nature. It’s unnatural behavior,” Fox said, voicing dismay that anybody “would even want to stand up and argue about something perverse and defend it. … It goes against the very way that you’re made.”
And, from a biblical standpoint, Fox said, homosexuality “slaps at the very face of God. … It is perversion, according to the Word of God. It may not be to the world, but it is to God.”
Fox said he has asked reporters a question — “and I can’t get them to answer me; they keep telling me it’s their job to ask the questions and me to answer” — “but I keep asking them, ‘How far is far enough?'”
Society continues to cave in on the unfolding homosexual agenda, he said. “Now we’re crossing over the line where we’re saying we’re going to turn our kids loose with homosexuals.
“The question is, How far are we going to go?” Fox said. “How long will it be before it gets totally out of control?”
Recounting that a local TV reporter said Big Brothers Big Sisters had incurred the wrath of a Baptist preacher, Fox noted, “Bringing on the wrath of a Baptist preacher is not a whole lot to worry about, but … what is to worry about is to bring on the wrath of God upon you.
“And what this nation had better understand and had better stop forgetting is that we serve an awesome God and a God who has the power and ability to judge us. … The same God who sent the flood and destroyed this world is the same God who’s trying to speak … to this nation.”
Homosexuality in the Bible “is never put in a positive light,” Fox said. “It has always brought the judgment of God.”
If homosexuals gain greater and greater access to children and youth, and if, for example, the phrase “one nation under God” can be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, Fox asked, “[W]hat is going to happen except the judgment of God on this nation? What can you expect God to do?”
Fox acknowledged that “there are those out there who cannot wait for us to be gone, the church and the trouble that it causes” by standing for righteousness.
“We’re going one of these days,” Fox said about the rapture. “And when we’re gone someday, you can have this mess. And then the homosexuals can run this whole world if they want to.
“But until then, we’re going to stand up for what’s right.”
To those who accuse Southern Baptists of being “hate people” and “people who want to tear down and destroy,” Fox noted, “That’s not us at all. In fact, we’ve said it over and over again — we’re not talking about people, we’re talking about issues today. There’s a difference.
“I want everybody who’s involved in homosexuality to be set free from it. … I can’t imagine the bondage that must go with that kind of lifestyle.”
Fox said Immanuel Baptist Church has received calls and e-mails from 27 states in support of its stance.
“Yes, we’re hearing from the other side,” he added. “We’re getting all kinds of hateful stuff, hateful calls, e-mails, comments, pornography sent through the mail.”
The “opportunity to stand up for this book [the Bible] is the greatest privilege in the world,” Fox said. “It’s amazing what can happen just with the influence of one church taking a stand.”
While some might say, “We expected that reaction from the Midwest,” Fox countered, “I pray that we will always be known as solid, light of the earth [and] salt of the earth people in the Midwest, and I’m not ashamed to be part of the Midwest.” When an organization or a branch of government “mandates that we allow homosexuals to have access to our children, they need to know that we’re not going to stand for it in Middle America, in Wichita, Kan.,” Fox said.
If the local Big Brothers Big Sisters continues to permit homosexual volunteers, Fox said, “then we’re going to offer some alternative. … And it could be long overdue, but it could be the body of Christ needs to step up and build some of these [types of] organizations.
“If these organizations want the competition of the church, it may be coming.
“If I were a part of these organizations,” he added, “it would be a pretty scary thought to think about all the good and godly people who are fixing to walk away from these organizations.
“Who’s the real loser in this situation? The kids.”
–30–