CANBERRA

Fliday 18th FebmalJ';

Early in the moming we caught a
litde bi-planefromNewcastle back to
Sydney. There we were to connect
. with a 9:40 a.m. flight to Canberra,
the nation's capital. Unbeknown to
us, ilie cOlll1ecting flight had been
canceled by ilie airline and we landed
tOO late to catch the only otber
moming flight to Canberra. DOID1a
was scheduled to speak to a group of
ministers' wives at 1:30 p.m. , and I
was scheduled for a radio program at
the same time. By 10:30
a.m. a driver was
recruited by Fred's
office and, after
retrieving our luggage,
we set out on t he
three-hour car trip.
Canberra is situated
inland from Sydney and
me drive through the
countryside was
beautiful. Of course we
arrived late. The ladies
waited for Donna, but 1
missed the radio
program. After DOl1?a's meeting we
were taken on a short tour of me
capital and dlen on to a Christian
radio station where we taped a couple
of programs to be aired at a later date.
We had dinnerwidl our hosts, the
Casley-Smiths, at dleir beautiful home
-- and then on to the evening rally.
The meeting was well attended, and
me people were qUite responsive.
There Donna met "Vickie" -- a former
lesbian who praised God that now
she was a Christian. She was
concerned about ministering to her
brother who was still caughtup in me
gay lifestyle. Vickie was particularly
encouraged widl our message dlat
Christ came lO save homosexuals as
much as any other repentant sinner.
Saturday 19th Febmm-y:
At 10:10 a.m. we departed
Canberra, and the s1.;\le of New South
Wales, bound for Melboume, the
capital of Vic lOria, on dlesoutheastem
tip of Lhe Australian mainland.
MELBOURNE
We reached the Melbourne airport
at 11 :00 a.m. , where we were
scheduled for a press conference at
11:30 a.m. No press showed up --
after all, who cares about a couple of
Yanks? It certainly made sense to us,
anyway. So we took off for our
12: 30 p.m. clergy and church
workers' luncheon at a large local
church. After speaking there, we
went to our afternoon/evening
location at anod1er church for a
two-hour teaching seminar starting
at 4:00 p.m.; late aftemoon "tea"
around 6:00 p.rn.; and then another
two-hour program starting at 7:30
that evening. A popul ar T.V. show,
"Four Comers" (a documentary-style
"20/20" format), was working on a
program about the genetic!biological
basis of homosexuality. They filmed
our entire evening presentation and
10 'I' THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon q' February, 1995
then intelviewed me afterward on
ilie theory. My response was iliat
despi te our genes we are responsible
for our conduct. E"'en if it were
somehow proven that homosexuality
is genetically and biologically caused,
that will not relieve us of responsibility
for our actions. Homosexuality is an
action -- a chosen b ehavim.
(Alcoholism has supposedly been
linked to genes: but that doesn't
excuse the drunk driver's
irresponsible conduct, nor does it
endorse "safe-alcoholic dlinking.")
The Word of God treaLS us like human
beings, accountable for
our actiOns. Thus we
are liable LO civil or
eccl esias tical
punishment when those
actions are wrong --
whatever our environ-
ment, up-bringing,
biology, or genes may
be.
The crew was
courteous, butwe knew
iliat mel' would not be
interested in a gospel
slant for their show. At
the end of me ,I questioned
the reporter about his relationship to
Christ. He appeared embarrassed or
nonplussed wim me "direct assault"
of my questi.on. He replied mat he
was not a Christian but that he had
once seriously considered it --
whatever that means!
Sl/.nday 20th FebmalY:
I preached in d1e mOrningworship
service of the Dingley Union Church
outside Melbourne. Donna and 1
gave a two-hour seminar in the
afternoon, a halfhour Christian radio
program, and then another two-hour
meeting in a charismatic church that
evening. Not a bad schedule -- except
that we had to travel 60 to 100 miles
between each venue! In terms of
speaking engagements plus travel
time, this day stands out in our minds
as tlle most strenuous of the entire
trip. We covered a lot of ground tllat
day! We anived back at our guest
home by about 1:30a.m. -- completely
exhausted! Thankfully, we had all
day Monday off, and our host, Spero
Katos, graciously turned his home
over to us for tlle day. It was to be our
only full day off until we returned to
Sydney two weeks later!
TASlI1ANIA
Tllesday 2211d F ebmaJY:
We flew from Melbourne to
Tasmania -- Australia's island state
off its soumeast coast. Hobart, tlle
capital city, sits right on the bay and,
especially in the morning, the cool
fog rolls in from me ocean -- just lilze
San Francisco. Sydney reminded us
most of San Francisco because of its
cosmopolitan flavor, but Hobart
reminded us of San Francisco because
of me topography. We stayed with a
delightful family, tlle Hopsons, in a
house built into a hillside overlooking
me Bay.
Firstwe spoke at a ladies' luncheon
and men to a mid-aftemoon ministers'
meeting, both at S1. John's
Presbyterian Church. We went to
our host home for an hour or so of
rest, and men we were delivered to
tlle Tasmanian Parliament House.
There we had dinner with a very
gracious and energetic parlia-
mentarian from the Legislative
Council (tlle state senate) and two of
his colleagues. They were eager for
information about me progress of tlle
gay agenda in San Francisco.
Tasmania is me only Australian state
mat still outlaws sodomy, and these
men touted me fact that their state
was me only one still holding to
traditional morality. (To date,
Tasmania still holds this position,
even y ~ o u h the Australian federal
government has drawn up legislation
to override Tasmania's sodomy laws,
the Tasmanian parliament has been
interrupted by gay activist
demonstrators, and the United
Nations Human Rights Committee
has called upon Tasmania to repeal
their sodomy Jaws. (San Francisco
Examiner, Sept. 11, 1994, "Even U.N.
ruling hasn't helped Tasmanian gays:
Ausu-alians divided on island'srefusal
to change its laws."))
Our dinner host was fascinated
with our book becanse he could see
tha t w ha t has happene.d in San
Francisco (and is rapidly happening
all across America) cleatly lies ahead
for his state and country. But his use
of our book to influence his peers was
definitely more of im ,emphasis on
our "sensational" experiences than
tlle message of tlle gospel in meeting
the challenge of tlle gal' agenda. After
dinner, as he introduced us to other
parliamentalians around the dining
room, he'd say, "This is me couple
from San Francisco that was
firebombed by the gays!", or "The
gays tried to burn their' house down!",
or " ... they barely escaped with their
lives!", etc., etc., etc. His description
became more graphic and
bloodthirsty as he ushered us from
table to table. The Prime Minister of
Tasmania left dIe dining room just
before we got to his table, and it's a
good thing too -- no tellirlg how
many more near-deadl experiences
we might have had by the time we got
to him!
Parliament went back into session,
and we returned to St. Jolms [or our
evening meeting. A small group of
homosexuals demonstrated outside
the entrance, carrying rather
innocuous signs. Theywere there [or
the media coverage more than
anything, and they left just after the
meeting began. A crew from dle local
ABC station filmed most of the
program. We never saw that report
aired, but at least tbe T.V. crew heard
the gospel that night. Again, our
primary goal is to give the gospel --
wbatever the circumstance.
Wednesday 23rd Februa1)':
Phil Hopson drove us from Hoban
in the SOU11l, up the entiR length of
the beautiful Tasmanian countryside
to Launceston on tlle north end of me
island. In the aftemoon we had a
small but velY important meeting
with TASALERT: a group of
Christians who were endeavoring to
counter 11le gay movement in their
area. The meeting was a velyinformal
group discussion-type format -- just
the thirlg we like the most. As talk
began, we soon realized mat mere
was a difference of opinion wimin the
group over how to approach me issue
of the gay agenda: Should meir
approach be from a Chlistian political
perspective, or from a strictly secular
political perspective? All but one
member of the group had more or
less adopted the secular approach--
d1esame leave-Chlist-out-of-itnotion
dlat's so prevalent among Christians
in the United States. Themajorityfelt
that bringing Christ into me political
arena would make it impossible to
appeal to dle broad base of society.
One lone dissenter, David Fly, held
out for the dominion of Christ over
all areas o[ creation -- including
politics. But standing alone left him
a bit unsure, and perhaps questiOning
his position in relation to dle others.
We were so thankful to be able to
address dlis issue, for it's just tlle
dilemma we have faced since being
thrust into the Christian/political
arena 15 years ago. Of course we
February, 1995 'I' THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~ 11
agreed with David. Christ shall have
dominion over all of His creation.
One thing we've learned most
forcefully over the years is thaL in the
area of politics the Christian's ultimate
goal is not to win elections -- it is LD
win CluisLi ][ our primary political
objective is La elections, we arc
lost before we begin. Our goal in
politics, as in every area of life ,ought
we presented our story, the
consequences of the gay agenda, and
the dangers associated with the
passage of anti-vililkatiun/gay rights
laws. We urged the lawmakers ane!
pastors to oppose such laws on the
basis of a distinctly Cllristian morality.
Morality for morality's sake only
brings death, we told them, while
morality for Christ's sake brings life--
did an illlewiewwith another RHEMA
radio station, then a quick dinner
before our 7:30 evening presentation.
us, there were fonner
homosexuals in the audience and
afterwards they expressed their
apprecimion for our message.
We returned to our host home
and straight to bed. We had an early
stan [or Perth the next morning.
La be first to win Christ--
then if we win the
election, praise ule Lord.
Donna and I have an
advantage in ministering
LD groups such as this:
. Our goal in politics;, .
PERTH
Sat.urday 26th
February:
. as in every area .t;Jf
Ab ... Perth, Western
Australia, what a
beautiful corner of God's
creation! We arrived at
8:25 a.m., and were met
at the airport by one of
our hosts, and a vivacious
little lady in a wheelchair.
our "Call to
Not only do we speak
from a biblical theological
perspective, but from an
experiential point of view
also.
. life. ought to be first
then. if
... wew;n theeJectiolt!1
Ourmeetingulatnight
was packed out Our
p.raisethe l.ord.. . ...
friend from parliament was there,
and David chaired the meeting.
Afterwards as we said goodbye, David
expressed his appreciation to us [or
encouraging him La hold fast his
commitment to Christ in the political
arena. And whether he knew it or
not, his stand had encouraged us as
welL
We stayed the night in LaunceSlon
and the next moming left Tasmania
for Adelaide, the capital of South
Australia.
ADELAIDE
Tll1ll"Sday 24th Febl1laI)':
We arrived around 9:15 a.l11. Our
10:00 a.m media conference and
LOO p.m. clergymen's luncheon had
been canceled, andsowe went directly
LD our guest home. Our hosts, Trevor
and Dee, were an Aussie/ American
couple and they made us feel right al
home. At 4:30 p.m. that aflel1l00n
we met with legislators and church
leaders at Parliament House. Again,
to nations as well as individuals.
"Righteousness exalts a nation, but
sin is a reproach to any people."
(Prov. 14:34) We had no indication
as to the effect of our message on the
parliamentarians but, again, we were
not there to win legislators but to win
Christ. Our calling is to speak for
Christ -- a great privilege especially
when addressing liis ministers for
righteousness. (Rom. 13)
Our 7:30 meeting that evening
was well-attended.
FJiday 25th Febl1'aJ)':
Wespokeata lO:OOa.m. Women's
Coffee Morningat the local chapter of
the WCTU (Women's Christian
Temperance Union), and at] :00 p.111.
to students at the Adelaide College of
Ministries -- a Christian Bible SchooL
Talking to students in a lecture/
discussion format is my favorite type
uf speaking engagement. I was in my
element, and Donna sat back and let
me enjoy myself. At 3:00 p.111. we
12 i' THE COUNSEL of ChaJccdoll l' February, 1995
Australia" contact in Perth, was a
victim of polio and had been confined
to the wheelchair since the age ofl6.
But we were soon to find out that not
much could stop her, and that we
might just have a harder time keeping
up with her than she with us! As we
got into our host's car, Marj
maneuvered her wheelchair into a
chariot-like motorcycle, donned her
helmet, and sped off down the street
ahead of us.
We had wonderful fellowship with
many Christians in Perth. Our host
and hostess, Gerard and Madeleine
Goiran, were originally from France,
anel so we learned a FrenchJAussie
accenr. Oust when we had begun to
master straight Aussie!) They and
their three children made us
completely comfortable, and being of
a similar reformed theological
persuasion made for good discussion.
SlIllday 27th Febmmy:
J preached in a Church of Christ
morning worship service -- w e a ~ n g
our story into the message. That
afternoon we had a meeting with a
group of fanner homosexuals from
an organization called Homosexuals
Anonymous (I-l.A.). We felt at first
that these men were a bit leery of us
-- and understandably so. Former
homosexuals who have conkssed
Christ and received His forgiveness,
do not always experience that
forgiveness and acceptance from the
Christian community at large. To
many Christians the homosexual
lifestyle is only a subject for mockery
and/or"limp-wristed"jokes, and not
for ministry. The Christian
community is guilty of
"homophobia" -- at least in some
sense of the word. All too often
when a man or woman repents of
this sinful lifestyle, other Christians
will not let them not be bomosexual
any more -- having, to some degree,
hought the gay agenda's "orientation"
propaganda that teaches "once
one ... always one." If we tmly
understood the depth of our own
sinfnl state apart hom the saving
work of Christ, our attitnde would
quickly change from "I thank you,
God that lam not like other men, ... "
to "God ,have mercy on me, a sinner."
(Luke 18:11-13)
It was indeed a plivilege to meet
with these men. I t is always a
highlight of any of our trips to meet
former homosexuals who have been
cleansed by the blood of Christ.
There is much to be learned from
them. Sometimes it seems that they
have a deeper grasp of their own
sinfulness and thus a greater
appreciation for tbe magnitude of
God's grace inlheir lives. It's a keen
reminder that we are all but
"sinner Is} saved by grace."
Monday 28th February:
The .. day began with a 9:30 a.m.
interview by a popular, but
controversial radio personality. We
were told that he could be very
aggressive and liked to "go on the
attack" with many of his guests.
And even though he was a
conservative and opposed to the gay
agenda, we were warned that he
would most likely be antagonistic
toward Christianity. Tbis actually
made us more excited about doing
t.he interview. Sometimes it's more
fun to do this kind of an interview
because there's no hedging what
you say -- no coloring of opinions or
compromising positions. All baniers
are down and you just go at it!
As the show began; Donna and I
could tell this was exactly the course
the interview would follow, so we
both just let loose. I'm afraid we
baSically ganged up on him -- in a
nice way, of course! I told him that
we were opposed to the gay agenda,
and homosexuality in particular,
because it is a matter of sin; and that
we are all sinners (including him) in
need of Christ's saving work "Not
me!" he retorted, 'Tm not a sinner!
You can call anyone else you want a
sinner -- but don't call me a sinner!"
As aggressive an interviewer as he
was, however, we soon found his
Achilles' heel: He could interrupt,
disagree with, or challenge me, but
he couldn't quite bring himself to do
the same to Donna -- especially when
she, as the wife and mother, told
about firebombings, death threats,
children's lives at stake, etc. He was
nonplussed, not knowing what to
do with her -- rather like a twist of
Proverbs: the fool in his folly meeting
the bear robbed of her cubs!
The halfhourpassed quickly .. .for
us. I again had the opportunity to
call him into repentance and faith in
Christ; wbich, of course, he rejected
outright. (Whatsha]] it profit a man
if he's a political conservative and
loses his own sou] in the eml.)
The meeting that evening was
the only one of the entire tour held
in a reformecl church. (The reformed
witness is frail in Australia and they
have few Biblescbools.) The church
was packed out! Bill, tIlt: leader of
H.A., had been asked to give a
testimony of his conversion and a
presentation of their organization at
the encl of the meeting. All the men
we met with the day before were in
the audience (plus a few more from
the group), and it was indeed
marvelous for the audience to see
these testimonies to God's grace.
"And such were some oj you; but you
were washed, but. you were sanctified,
but you were justified in the name oj the
Lord]csus ChJist, and in the SpiJit oj
our God." (I Cor. 6:11)
for any n ~ w or Bift.
suhoc:riplion of $'25
to The Counsel of
Chalcedon we will
send you Dr. Chas.
NcIlhenny's book
When the Wicked
&eize a City. Please
mention t11is oHer
witb your Bift..
February, 1995 'I' THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 'I' 13