Athletes from around the globe are converging on Chicago for Gay Games VII. But they will not be alone. Also in attendance will be ex-gays to share their message.

The Truth and Love Offensive will be headed up by Peter LaBarbera, president of Illinois Family Institute. Peter has joyously shared his views on gay employment:

Alan Colmes: Should somebody be denied a job simply because they are gay?

Peter Labarbera: Well, Alan, If you believe that homosexuality is a wrong and a changeable behavior, it’s called freedom. You should have the right to make a decision…

has unusual hobbies

He also visits sex clubs and S/M bans in his native Washington, D.C., to gather material for his seven-year,old newsletter, “Lambda Report.”

And a persecution complex

Peter LaBarbera with the Illinois Family Institute says it is apparent that homosexuals have come out of the closet — but that they want to push Christians into the closet.

Peter has also organized three former homosexuals to come to Chicago.

Linda Jernigan

“We have three former homosexuals who will be coming to our Truth and Love Offensive,” LaBarbera notes. “One is Linda Jernigan, a former lesbian who was in the lifestyle for 19 years and now … has a website called ‘RescuingHomosexuals.org.'”

Here’s a little sample of what Linda has to say about her life:

These traumatic events opened the door for satan to bind me with his demonic spirit of rejection early-on in my life. This demonic spirit of rejection ultimately manifested as homosexuality.

And, speaking in third person, about her book:

Rescuing homosexuals in the House of God was birthed by God and given to Evangelist Linda Jernigan to bridge the gap between the homosexual and the church with truth, and in the spirit of God‘s love. This book is laced with divine wisdom and direction, and loaded with many personal experiences and testimonies of Evangelist Linda Jernigan during her nineteen battle with homosexuality.

God inspired Evangelist Linda Jernigan with direct bible based points for the homosexual, to rescue the homosexual from their bondage.

One ex-gay who get’s her wisdom to fight the demons of Satan directly from God himself isn’t enough. We also get

James Hartline

Also lined up, LaBarbera says, is James Hartline, whom the IFI spokesman describes as “a wonderful former homosexual who is rooting out the corruption in the gay community in San Diego,”…

In addition to his efforts to deny a gay man a funeral (which resulted in much embarrassment to San Diego’s bishop Robert Brom), Hartline has been very vocal about the uniqueness of his conversion

My eyes were closed, and the mist came before my vision and these lights began to flash. It was so real that I got scared and opened my eyes and began to rebuke the devil! I was hyperventilating. I closed my eyes and it was still there. A being came out of this mist toward me. I put my head down, and he put this thing on my head and held my hand out and something that felt like a sword went in it. My hand began to move and my mouth was opened and something was put in my mouth. I heard these words like they were imprinted upon me: “I am preparing you to do battle for me in the last days.”

his own importance

“I am on an important assignment from the Lord in San Diego, California that is going to change this nation. After coming out of over 30 years in homosexuality, and paying the price to be a chosen servant of the Lord, God is raising me up to cause the dismantling of the spirit of homosexuality off of our city and the nation.”

His status as a prophet

“In these last days, there is a major move of God that is going to sweep through homosexual communities around the nation. Great prophets of God will be birthed in this move of the Holy Spirit. James Hartline has firmly planted his feet in the midst of the starting point for that mighty move of God: San Diego, California.”

and (you might want to read all of this if you have any interest in the rantings of the delusional)

In March of 1999, I began to have the first of over 100 dreams from the Lord. The dreams have been revelatory, showing me what is coming. I had hundreds of demons who were possessing me and that’s what hindered me from coming to God.

And his expectations from God

I am also believing that the Lord will heal me completely from AIDS.

And

God has told me that I am going to be healed of this disease. The purpose behind that is, when I am healed, the case is going to be so well-documented that it will send shock waves throughout the medical community. I believe God will use me to preach the gospel and one of the platforms for me to preach from will be my healing from HIV.

Having read Hartline’s rants and gadfly efforts, I am convinced that the man is no longer sane, if indeed he ever was.

Greg Quinlan

and Greg Quinlan, “a former gay man who runs the Pro-Family Network in Ohio.”

Quinlan has shared his opinions about enacting special laws to exclude gay people from adopting

“Now that we have defined what marriage is, we need to take that further and say children deserve to be in that relationship,” Greg Quinlan, a conservative activist, told USA Today.

His views on the simplicity of reorientation

“Remember Scripture, ‘Such were some of you.’ It is a changeable
behavior.”

And lobbied the Ohio legislature on gay marriage by calling homosexuality both a disorder and a lifestyle

Homosexuality is a Gender Identity Disorder. A disorder can be put into order when an individual wants to order his or her life according to the Manufacturer’s design.

The State of Ohio must not become an enabler of this disorder. The policy of the State of Ohio should be to help those willing to be helped, not promote a lifestyle choice that is now and is historically a self-destructive dead end.

It would be difficult to identify a wackier set of loonies and anti-gay lobbiests to represent the ex-gay ministry if you made that your sole criteria. But not content with his insanity sideshow, LaBarbera also is bringing in a Who’s Who of Hate:

* Robert Gagnon, author of “The Bible and Homosexual Practice,” speaking on, “Is proud homosexuality compatible with Christianity?” [Sunday, July 16 at 10:30 AM at Uptown Baptist Church]

* Janice Couture, whose daughter is a practicing lesbian: “How to love your gay or lesbian child without loving their behavior”;

* Linda Harvey of Mission America, speaking on, “How the gay movement endangers and corrupts children”;

* Rev. Al Cleveland, an African American minister, on “Why homosexuality is not a civil rights issue”;

* Tim Graham of the Media Research Center, on pro-homosexual media bias; and

* Dr. John Diggs, on the health risks of homosexual behavior.

All of these people have an established history of anti-gay activism and none have demonstrated any of Christ’s love in the effort. Diggs, for example, makes the lose-20-years claim. Harvey is known for outlandish claims such as “people who have homosexual desires can decide that heterosexual sex is preferable” and “He may have developed a liking for homosexual sex, but that’s just a matter of taste, not biology.” Cleveland has given us “To compare the civil rights movement to so-called homosexual ‘marriage’ is to commit civil rights heresy.”

I think we can pretty clearly deduce who LaBarbera’s message is for. Contrary to his claim, he’s not there to tell “homosexuals there is freedom in Christ.” LeBarbera, his loonies and his haters will be there to share a message of condemnation, oppression, and civil punishment that he wishes on those who do not follow his beliefs. His desire is not compassion to those he believes are lost but rather to stir up the emotions of those who fear and hate gay people.

There will not be any Truth or Love evident in LaBarbera’s efforts, but you can count on an Offensive.

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