I am compelled to report on and analyze the LGBT Pride Month Reception held on June 29 in the East Room of the White House and hosted by President Obama.

The president began with the customary acknowledgements: "I've got a lot of friends in the room, but there are some people I want to especially acknowledge. First of all, somebody who helped ensure that we are in the White House, Steve Hildebrand." Steve Hildebrand was deputy national campaign director of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign; he is openly gay. After Hildebrand, the president introduced the following:

• John Q. Easton, Director of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, "the nation's engine for educational research, evaluation, assessment, and statistics," according to Timothy Knowles (Lessons Learned From the Chicago Public Schools, edweek.org). (I could not find any reference that said he is homosexual. However, it is telling that a leader in setting education policy for our schools would be at such an event.)
  
  
• Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay, non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop in a major Christian denomination (Episcopal Church). This led to a division in that Church. President Obama called him one of his "special friends" at the reception.
  
  
• Ambassador Michael Guest. Guest was a member of the Obama transition team and the first publicly gay man to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a U.S. Ambassador (Romania, 2001-2004).
  
  
• Ambassador Jim Hormel. Received a recess appointment as ambassador to Luxembourg in 1999 from President Clinton. (The James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Public Library is the gateway to collections documenting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) history and culture, with a special emphasis on the San Francisco Bay Area.
  
  
• Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown. She identifies as bisexual and is the highest-ranking bisexual politician in the United States. (First in line to be governor of Oregon.)
  
  

President Obama told these and many others from the LGBT community that we are making progress at overturning "unjust laws" and "unfair practices" against the LGBT community, and that he will be doing more to advance their cause.

The President referred to opponents of LGBT conduct as those who "still hold fast to worn arguments and old attitudes." Let's consider that for a moment.

First, who says opposition to homosexual lifestyle consists of worn arguments? Its proponents and defenders, of course. But that does not make it so. Heterosexual marriage has been the foundation and bedrock of the home since the beginning of time. "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:27) God created Eve from man's rib and brought her to the man, forming the first, and model of, marriage for humanity (Genesis 2:22-24). Jesus affirmed that "from the beginning" it was God's will that marriage between man and woman not be sundered by the whims of men's selfish lusts (Matthew 19:4-6).

Pray tell, what is worn out about the purity and exclusivity of marriage between man and woman as God ordained it? It is lustful men who have perverted what God instituted (Romans 1:24-27). From the adultery of taking multiple wives (Genesis 4:19), to the sin of taking other men's wives (Malachi 2:13-16), to the perversion of taking same-sex partners (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Jude 7) --all are violations of the undefiled marriage bed approved by God (Hebrews 13:4).

Pray tell, what is outdated (old) about the attitude that calls homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgender conduct what it really is--the sinful perversion of holiness? Only those who oppose the God-given directive of sanctification reject as old-fashioned God's restraints on sin. "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality." (1 Thessalonians 4:3) Do you believe it? If so, the president says you are holding fast to "worn arguments and old attitudes." But, the apostle Paul exposed the underlying problem of refusing to follow God's will on sexual purity: they are rejecting God Himself! "Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God ..." (1 Thessalonians 4:8). As President Obama and his guests celebrated LGBT behavior they exhibited their rejection of God and His will.

President Obama gave the LGBTs optimism for the future; he intends to advance their cause. One way of doing so, he said, was by passing hate crimes legislation. That present bill, if passed, would implicate religious teachers, who teach what we are teaching here, as instigators of hate crime. If someone reads this article and uses it as their motivation to commit a crime against gays, this author could be held criminally responsible. Now, let me be clear, I oppose violence against the LGBT community; such is itself a sin (Matthew 5:43-44). Attempting to silence objections to homosexuality with the threat of prison is a strong-arm tactic and an outrage against religious liberty and freedom of speech. We will obey God, rather than men, and continue to oppose the sins of LGBTs (Acts 5:29). "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge." (Acts 4:19)

Christians are obliged to "submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors ..." (1 Peter 2:13-14). Yet, we will obey God first. We will continue to urge sinners (and leaders who support them) to repent, "serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest He be angry, and you perish in the way." (Psalm 2:11-12)

Yes, President Obama has made good on the promises he made to the homosexual/lesbian community during his campaign for the highest office in our land. They are upset with him because they believe he is moving too slowly, and much of their agenda still isn't being advanced. The so-called hate-crimes bill did recently pass in the Senate. It was attached to the defense spending bill, which passed with little opposition. Time will tell how the government will enforce this new law. Needless to say, God's people must not allow the political discussions and the country's direction to move us away from the position God demands His children to pursue. His word is very clear on the subject.

Men have always tried to portray Christians as having radical, narrow-minded views. Many believe we hate the homosexual community. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We love them-we hate the sin in which they are engaged. The hope for those who practice this sexual orientation is the same as it is for any other sin-repent and stop sinning. Even if one believes he has homosexual desires (how he got these desires remains a debatable issue), he must reject them and live according to God's standards. Just as heterosexual people are tempted to commit adultery and fornication, and must control these sexual desires, so homosexuals must control their illicit urges. God has provided a "way of escape" for every sin, that we "may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Many believe that God will accept homosexuals who practice that sexual lifestyle. Go back and reread the Scripture passages-God will not accept that lifestyle, and those who continue to practice homosexuality will be lost eternally. I'm aware that such reasoning is not politically correct, but it is Biblically correct. One must give greater consideration to his eternal-not his physical-state. How could anyone believe that the physical state could bring more happiness than the eternal? (KMG)