Posted on 08/21/2006 1:20:58 PM PDT by James Hartline
(JHR) The Bible talks about a great apostasy that will occur in the last days before the anti-christ is revealed. In the second book of Thessalonians it states:
"Don't be fooled by what they say. For the coming of the Lord will not occur until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed -- the one who brings destruction." (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
One major Christian organization is now demonstrating that the great falling away, known in most Christian churches as the great apostasy, is well underway. Traditional Values Coalition (http://www.traditionalvalues.org/about.php) claims as its organizational slogan, "Empowering People Of Faith Through Knowledge." Founded in 1980 by the Reverend Lou Sheldon, TVC claims to be the largest non-denominational grassroots church lobby in America. Rev. Sheldon and his group claim on their website to speak on behalf of 43,000 churches in America, emphasizing "the restoration of values needed to maintain strong, unified families, focusing on issues such as religious liberties, marriage, the right to life, the homosexual agenda, pornography, family tax relief and education."
A bombshell was dropped this week during the California State Republican Convention when it was reported in the press that a longtime Sheldon staffer is now working for the reelection of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of the biggest anti-christian supporters of homosexuality and abortion in the American government. Hypocrisy and betrayal are not strong enough terms to describe Sheldon and his staffer's great sellout of the cause of Christ on this matter. Only the term apostasy will do.
Hints of Rev. Sheldon's betrayal of the cause of Christ really began to unfold in 2005 when he began fawning over Governor Schwarzenegger's appointment of lesbian abortion activist Susan Kennedy as the governor's Chief of Staff (http://www.365gay.com/Newscon05/11/113005california.htm). In a move that reinforced Schwazenegger's rabid support of the radical gay agenda, Kennedy, who lives with her lesbian sex partner, was chosen by the governor to become the most powerful gay activist in his administration. The outspoken lesbian activist and former Executive Director of the California Democratic Party, also gained a notorious reputation as the former Executive Director of the California Abortion Rights Action League. Sheldon, in a February, 2006 interview with the Sacramento Bee, said of Susan Kennedy:
"What I'm hearing about Susan Kennedy is that she's committed to the reelection of the governor and his policies. Maybe, providentially, a Democrat in the administration is going to be a blessing in disguise."
Sheldon's comments about Kennedy, who lives with the lesbian sex partner she joined together with in a commitment ceremony in Hawaii in 1999 (http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?2005/11/30/1), sparked temporary outrage among Christian Conservatives at the time.
Sheldon's soft pedaling on Kennedy would seem to run counter to the regular press relseases that the outspoken minister publishes regarding his stand against the radical gay agenda. Why would Sheldon build an organization that stands against homosexuality and abortion, but then compromise that same stand when dealing with the Republican Party and the liberal anti-christian governor of California? Perhaps money may play a pivotal role in Sheldon's fluctuating position on morality. According to Guidestar (www.guidestar.com), the website that posts the IRS filings for Sheldon's various ministries, the Traditional Values Coalition had income exceeding $6.3 million for the year 2004. While marketing his organization to Christians based upon stands popular with regular churchgoers, Sheldon must gain success in the political arena to maintain credibility with the media and ministry supporters. Whatever the reason, compromising the clear teachings of Christ, is not just bad theology on Sheldon's part, but just adds fuel to the fire among those in the secular arena who claim that ministers are "just a bunch of money hungry scoundrels, using the Bible for illgotten gain."
According to the San Francicso Chronicle, Schwarzenegger and the California GOP are now engaged in a major campaign effort to pull in Christian Conservatives for the 2006 election. Sheldon has fallen in line to join that effort. Truly, it is one of the great manipulations in the modern political culture war. To understand how degrading Sheldon's betrayal is, one must be reminded of legislation that Gov. Schwarzenegger has signed into law since being in office. Schwarzenegger has signed into law eight pieces of legislation in the last two years which grant special rights to homosexuals, while degrading the meaning of traditional family in California. One of these bills, SB1234, attacked Christian values by declaring speech, including preaching against homosexuality, a hate crime, if the hearer of said speech fears violence as a result of said speech.
Another bill that Schwarzenegger signed, SB1313, removed volunteers at Planned Parenthood as mandatory reporters of sex crimes against children, when young girls come in for abortions. This makes it much easier for the leading abortion provider to perform abortions on little girls without anyone ever reporting the rape or molestation. And of course, there was Schwarzenegger's major fundraiser last month for the state Log Cabin Republicans, an extremist, anti-christian homosexual group (http://online.logcabin.org/). During his speech to the gay activist group, Schwarzenegger stated:
" In a rousing speech, Schwarzenegger declared that he was “committed to being a Governor for all Californians” and was “proud to stand side by side with Log Cabin in their work to offer basic fairness for gay and lesbian citizens.”
The Log Cabin Republicans for their part, have declared that the "radical right" (referring to Christian Conservatives) are the last remaining obstacle to gays and lesbians achieving full equality in America (http://www.logcabinsacramento.org/why.htm). Imagine, the Log Cabin Republicans view Christians opposed to homosexuality as an "obstacle" and the governor is proud to stand side by side with them.
Schwarzenegger's successful promotion and passage of Prop. 71 in 2004 was perhaps, the biggest attack by the governor on pro-lifers in his long love affair with the abortion industry. Prop. 71 is the horrific initiative passed two years ago which authorizes the taxpayers to spend a total of $6 billion in public bonds on an embryonic stem cell research conglomerate.
It seems that the Rev. Lou Sheldon has granted himself temporary amnesia on all of Schwarzenegger's homosexual and abortion activism. It would also seem that the amnesia is spreading to his staff as well. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Ben Lopez, the Traditional Values Coalition's state lobbyist, has taken a temporary leave of absence from the ministry so that he can work directly for the Schwarzenegger reelection campaign (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/08/21/BAGGCKM69G1.DTL&type=politics).
According to the Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-arnold18aug18,1,2511072.story?coll=la-headlines-california, Lopez and Anna Bryson are heading up the coaltion for Schwarzenegger's Victory '06 effort. The two will be meeting with roughly 200 ministers in the Sacramento area this week to drum up support among evangelicals for Schwarzenegger's relection. It is hard to imagine a more grotesque misuse of Christianity in the political arena. Lopez, armed with years of data from Christian ministries he has access to from the TVC, will now harness that information to help reelect one of the greatest threats to Christian values in America: Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Speaking to the Chronicle last week from the Republican Convention, Sheldon told the paper:
"...the doors of (Schwarzenegger's) staff had been opened to evangelicals -- and Sheldon said, 'we're working hard to turn out our base for the November election.'
The Chronicle verifed that the Republican Party had hired Sheldon's staffer Ben Lopez, a move calculated to support the governor's reelection. The Chronicle further revealed this about Sheldon and Lopez:
"Both Lopez and Sheldon, armed with grassroots contacts and donors whom Republican insiders say are priceless in political organizing, have used their clout and contacts to lobby legislators in numerous political fights on family values and evangelical issues. Sheldon has been described as a Republican point man often tapped by Washington insiders, from presidential adviser Karl Rove and Republican National Committee Chair Ken Mehlman to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, to advise on evangelical outreach."
Earlier this year, Christians from around California expressed outrage that the Governor continued to promote his acceptance of the radical homosexual agenda by issuing his annual Gay Pride proclamation on his official state letterhead (www.capride.org/proc_arnold06.pdf). Lou Sheldon has made a living off of attacking politicians like Schwarzenegger for supporting the homosexual movement. In fact, in 2003 Sheldon blasted Schwarzenegger for his promotion of homosexuality and abortion, stating in one of his routine press releases:
(http://traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=1109) Rev. Sheldon was most recently quoted in The Wall Street Journal (August 13, 2003), on Schwarzenegger's run for Gray Davis' post. According to Rev. Sheldon, "We feel that the long-range damage of letting him [Schwarzenegger] define what is a Republican and what is a conservative, and trying to tie it to Ronald Reagan, is just ludicrous. I just can't stand by and let it happen."
It is clear that Rev. Sheldon is now taking all of the database on Christians that he has gathered over the years via his public campaigns against homosexuality and turning it over to the California Republican Party to access for the reelection of a governor that has destroyed the Christian moral foundation of the state of California. Sheldon's betrayal to the cause of Christ is one of great modern portrayals of Judas in church history and the long term effect on Christian credibility is overwhelming and devastating.
How many of your blogs on the same thing are you going to post? We get it!
Oh, for pete's sake! Apostacy, indeed! This is not news...it's more like...we...nonsense!
"Hypocrisy and betrayal are not strong enough terms to describe Sheldon and his staffer's great sellout of the cause of Christ on this matter. Only the term apostasy will do."
I'd toss in a-holes of the first water. TVC got my email address a few years ago, how I know not, and spammed me mercilessly with their crap. Finally had to change my email to shake them. They're shameless and deaf.
Well, now you can go to Mr. Hartline's blog and donate there. I'm sure he doesn't keep any mailing lists.
Who wrote this, again?
Fred Mertz?
Jack Chick, maybe? ;)
His profile suggests he does, indeed, maintain a *shudder* mailing list.
Lou Sheldon isn't a big enough blip on the radar screen to qualify as an "apostate."
"Jack Chick, maybe? ;)
"
Well, I haven't seen his positions on evolution or the Roman Catholic Church, so I can't be sure. Will Hartline condemn the Death Cookie? Does he believe that man walked with dinosaurs? These are the questions we must have answered.
>>These are the questions we must have answered.
He hasn't got time for all that rubbish. The place of man in the universe? Creation? What is important in life is what Arnold Schwarzeneggar thinks about gay people. Nothing else matters.
Is it just me, or have there been more then the usual number of charismatic oddball Christian-types with vanity posts around this place of late?
"Is it just me, or have there been more then the usual number of charismatic oddball Christian-types with vanity posts around this place of late?"
I don't know. Could be. I'll watch for them. A lot of that stuff gets bumped over to Religion or Bloggers before I see it, I guess.
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