THE CHURCH MILITANT
Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
DALLAS, Texas —A blasphemous Baptist minister in
Texas known for his book “The Queering of an American Evangelical” says
that he supports polyamorous—or plural—relationships and believes that
God Himself is polyamorous.
“The Holy Trinity is a polyamorous relationship,” Jeff Hood, who
holds a doctorate with a focus in “queer theology” from Brite Divinity
School and who was ordained at a church within the Southern Baptist
Convention, asserted during a recent Patheos interview with Chuck McKnight.
“You can’t talk about the level of intimacy and ecstasy that these
three beings are constantly experiencing without defining their
relationship in such a way,” he claimed. “Their love has always been and
will always be a shared phenomenon. In the Holy Trinity, love is never
denied. We should spend our lives making sure that the love of
polyamorous individuals is never denied and always protected. The Holy
Trinity demands it.”
Hood has stated before on his website that he believes that “the
disciples and Jesus were involved in some sort of polyamorous
relationship.”
In August, he told Jennifer Martin of Splinter that he thinks polyamorous relationships reflect the Trinity.
“Not only is polyamory a positive thing, I think it’s a holy thing,”
Hood opined. “I think it mimics the personhood of God. Different
relationships can show us different things, and I think polyamory can
show us what the Trinity looks like.”
Hood has also outlined that he believes that because “love is love,”
polyamorous relationships should be supported just like same-sex
relationships.
“While there could be many explanations of the polyamorous God, the
one that matters the most is this: God dwells within the oppressed and
marginalized (Matthew 25). Polyamorous folks are constantly oppressed
and marginalized,” he told McKnight. “God is polyamorous, and if we want
to get saved than we have to figure out a way to become connected to
polyamory.”
Hood acknowledged during the interview that his views are rejected by
many Christians, who he called “church [expletives] that have no
knowledge of God.”
“Do these people sound like they know anything about
love? [Expletive] no. I ain’t listening to a [expletive] word they say,”
he said. “I know who I’m listening to. I hear the voice of God, ‘I am
the way, the truth and the life. No one can can love Me and condemn
polyamory, for I am polyamorous.'”
Hood’s views on the subject have been met with mixed reaction.
“God explicitly condones polygamy and the whole Bride of Christ is polygamous,” one commenter wrote.
“Plural unity within the Trinity is not polyamory,” another stated.
“What people want to do is their business; however, if you feel the need
to justify it scripturally, at least be less sloppy when you try.
Otherwise you’re just preaching to the choir, so to speak.”
“Jeff Hood is clearly biblically ignorant. His so-called knowledge of God comes from Satan,” a third wrote.
Trans Scouts: Boy Scouts Transition To Brave New World Schools, Boy Scouts and other foundational American institutions, have
been taken over by social engineers like Rex Tillerson. The latest shoe
to drop, admitting girls to the Boy Scouts, follows Tillerson embrace of
homosexual scouts, then homosexual scout leaders.
The Boy Scouts of America announced on Wednesday
that girls will soon be allowed to become Cub Scouts and to earn the
coveted rank of Eagle Scout, the organization’s highest honor.
“We believe it is critical to evolve how our programs meet the needs
of families interested in positive and lifelong experiences for their
children,” said Michael Surbaugh, chief executive of the Boy Scouts. The scouting board of directors voted unanimously to make the
historic change in an organization that has been primarily for boys
since its founding more than 100 years ago.
Starting next year, young girls can join Cub Scout units, known as
dens. Local scouting organizations can choose to have dens for girls and
dens for boys. "Cub Scout dens will be single-gender — all boys or all
girls," the organization said in a statement. A separate program for older girls will be
available in 2019, the Boy Scouts said, enabling them to earn the rank
of Eagle Scout. The Boy Scouts said the moves reflect the
changing nature of American life, adding to the appeal of a scouting
program that can serve the entire family. BSA said it commissioned two nationwide surveys that showed parents not
involved in scouting had high interest in getting their daughters signed
up for both Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.
Girls are now part of four scouting programs — Venturing and Sea Scouting, geared toward outdoor activities; Exploring,
a career-oriented mentoring program; and STEM, focusing on science and
math. But those programs have not offered a path to Eagle Scout for
girls.
Earlier this year, the National Organization
for Women urged the Boy Scouts to admit girls to the entire program,
supporting the efforts of a New York teenager, Sydney Ireland, to attain
the rank of Eagle Scout, as her older brother did.
"I just want to do what the Boy Scouts do —
earn the merit badges and earn the Eagle Award," she told NBC News. "The
Girl Scouts is a great organization, but it's just not the program that
I want to be part of. I think girls should just have the opportunity to
be a member of any organization they want regardless of gender."
In the past, the Girl Scouts have been cool to
the idea of admitting girls into the Boy Scouts, citing research that
showed many girls learn best in an all-female environment.
"We are unparalleled in our ability to build
great female leaders who contribute to society at every level," said
Andrea Bastiani Archibald, a psychologist who helps guide the Girl
Scouts.
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republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) announced October 11 that it will
acquiesce to “requests” that it allow females into its ranks, welcoming
girls into its Cub Scout program (traditionally for younger-aged boys)
and offering “a Scouting program for older girls that will enable them
to advance and earn the highest rank of Eagle Scout,” according to a BSA
press release.
In a statement, the BSA’s CEO Michael Surbaugh insisted that the move
“is true to the BSA’s mission and core values outlined in the Scout
Oath and Law. The values of Scouting — trustworthy, loyal, helpful,
kind, brave, and reverent, for example — are important for both young
men and women.” He added that it was necessary for the BSA to change
“how our programs meet the needs of families interested in positive and
lifelong experiences for their children. We strive to bring what our
organization does best — developing character and leadership for young
people — to as many families and youth as possible as we help shape the
next generation of leaders.”
The organization explained that beginning in 2018, parents will have
the option to enroll a daughter into Cub Scouts, with existing packs
choosing to establish a new girl “pack,” establish a pack that consists
of separate girl “dens” and boy dens, or remain an all-boy pack. The
organization emphasized that “Cub Scout dens will be single-gender — all
boys or all girls.”
Similarly, by 2019 the Boy Scouts will establish a program for older
girls that will allow them to go through the traditionally all-boy
program and even earn the coveted “Eagle Scout” rank — a singularly
prestigious honor that over the past century has been bestowed upon such
notable men as astronaut Neil Armstrong, President Gerald Ford,
adventurer Steve Fossett, film director Michael Moore, former Texas
Governor Rick Perry, General William Westmoreland, and Wisconsin
Governor Scott Walker, to name just a few.
The latest move is consistent with a conspicuous cultural cave-in the
BSA has suffered over the past several years. While for over a century
the Boy Scouts steadfastly maintained a policy against immoral behavior
and lifestyles, in 2014 BSA officials announced that the organization
would allow boys who self-identify as homosexual to join its ranks.
And while it had faced a high-profile scandal that revealed decades of the abuse
of boys by scout leaders, in 2015 the organization announced that it
would allow openly homosexual adults to serve as scout leaders. The Associated Press reported that the latest BSA policy change “was
hailed by Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout who played an active role in
pressuring the BSA to end its ban on gays. However, he urged the Boy
Scouts to take one more step and end its exclusion of atheists and
non-believers who do not profess a 'duty to God.'”
However, many others have responded to the BSA cultural cave-in by
ending their involvement in the Boy Scout program and putting their boys
into alternative programs such as Trail Life USA,
which states that its mission is “to guide generations of courageous
young men to honor God, lead with integrity, serve others, and
experience outdoor adventure.” Among those criticizing the latest BSA policy change is the
leadership of the Girl Scouts USA (GSUSA), which understandably fears
that the welcoming of girls into Boy Scouts will result in fewer girls
joining GSUSA. But it is also ironic, since the Girl Scouts’ own cultural slide from traditional values has also led to many parents choosing alternative youth programs such as American Heritage Girls. Lisa Margosian, chief customer officer for GSUSA, said that her
organization was “blindsided” by the BSA announcement. “We’ve had 105
years of supporting girls and a girl-only safe space,” Margosian said.
“So much of a girl’s life is a life where she is in a coed environment,
and we have so much research and data that suggests that girls really
thrive in an environment where they can experiment, take risk, and
stretch themselves in the company of other girls.” In August GSUSA President Kathy Hopinkah Hannan sent a letter to BSA
President Randall Stephenson accusing his organization of trying to
recruit girls into the BSA at the expense of the Girls Scouts. “I
formally request that your organization stay focused on serving the 90
percent of American boys not currently participating in Boy Scouts ...
and not consider expanding to recruit girls,” Hopinkah wrote in her
missive.
Hannan wrote that “despite offering to engage in a constructive,
collaborative sharing process, we were disappointed in the lack of
transparency as we learned that you are surreptitiously testing the
appeal of a girls' offering to millennial parents.” She also accused BSA
leaders of making “disparaging and untrue remarks about Girl Scout
programming,” and making “subtle implications about the weakness of Girl
Scouts' long term market strength.” The New York Times quoted one longtime Boy Scout Leader,
Joseph Carballo, whose two sons are Eagle Scouts, as saying that girls
have no place in Boy Scouts. “Boys and girls should have separate
organizations for activities,” he said. “There is an organization for
girls. It’s called the Girl Scouts.” Similarly, Bob Adelmann, an Eagle Scout and longtime writer for the The New American,
decried the Boy Scouts' continued slide into cultural compromise. “The
Boy Scouts was at one time in our nation an esteemed and worthy
organization because of its commitment to helping form generations of
boys into solid and dependable young men,” he recalled. “Now it has
become little more than a sad footnote in history, known more for
compromise than commitment to the boys and families it claims to serve.
The welcoming of girls into its ranks is one more predictable step on
its way to irrelevance.”
In a deeply controversial survey given to school children across the
country, federal authorities improperly solicit information about
everything from the sexual and drug habits of children to home and
family life. Dubbed the “National Youth Risk Behavior Survey”,