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Matthew was born on December 1, 1976 in Casper, Wyoming. He went to school in Casper until his junior year, at which time, he moved to Saudi Arabia. He finished his American schooling in Switzerland. In both of his schools, he was known as easy to talk to and was everybody’s friend. Eventually, he went to college back in Wyoming.

Then came October 7, 1998. That night, just after 12 a.m., two men kidnapped Matthew and took him out to the middle of nowhere. They tied him up on a fence and proceeded to beat him almost to death. Then, the two men decided to just go, leaving Matthew out in the cold, left to die. About 18 hours later, he was discovered by a man on a bicycle. Matthew was beaten so bad, the bicyclist mistook him for a scarecrow. Matthew died five days later at 12:53 in the morning.

You may be wondering why people could kill a person who was kind and admired by almost everyone he came in contact with, and the answer is sad but simple: Matthew Shepard was a homosexual.

Too often in this country, people judge others before they get to know them. They look at some of their actions and they make assumptions. One of the groups that this happens to most is the homosexual. It appears that our Love Your Neighbor As Yourself command hasn’t applied to this group of individuals.

Christians say that homosexuality is a sin, and in fact practicing homosexuality is against what God has commanded. It is quite clear in Leviticus 18:22, which says, “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”

Christians also have this belief that there is a gay agenda, which includes many things that go against Christianity. A lot of times, this obvious disdain for the homosexual lifestyle turns violent, as was the case with Matthew.

Is There a Homosexual Agenda?

Many people think that homosexuals are out on a rampage, trying to destroy everything good about Christian marriages. Others think that they are recruiting our children to join in their gay festivities. Still more think that they are just trying to tick off all the Christians, as with the infamous No on Proposition 8. Is there really an organized agenda? Well, yes there is. The Homosexual Agenda was created by Hunter Madsen and Marshall Kirk. These two men proclaimed an agenda in 1989 in a book titled After the Ball. Their “strategy” is stated as such:

• Talk about “gays” and “gayness” as loudly and often as possible
• Portray “gays” as victims, not aggressive challengers
• Give homosexual protectors a “just” cause
• Make “gays” look good
• Make the “victimizers” look bad
• Solicit funds: get corporate America and major foundations to financially support the homosexual cause.

Hunter and Madsen believe “The principle…is simple: almost all behavior begins to look normal if you are exposed to it long enough at close quarters and among your acquaintances.”

So in a nutshell, the entire purpose of the homosexual agenda is simply to force Americans to accept homosexual behavior as normal.

How Does the Homosexual Agenda Affect us Today?

Although only approximately one to two percent of the population practices a gay lifestyle, almost half of the population is okay with gay marriage, an increase of nearly ten percent over two years, from 2004 to 2006. This is all part of the agenda that the homosexuals have set forth. As a proof of their blatant attempts to sway public opinion, look at the television shows of modern society.

A popular comedy, “Modern Family,” introduces a gay couple that has ended up being favorites on the show. ABC portrays them as being very kind and loving towards a new baby girl they adopted from Vietnam. In one of the episodes, the show displays a judgmental father who is not comfortable with his son’s gayness. He openly derides his son for this flaw and often bashes on gays. By doing this, the homosexual community is subliminally showing us that gays are victims and should be more accepted.

Another popular show that has openly supported homosexuality is “Parks and Recreation.” In the first episode of the second season, the main character performs a marriage of two male penguins. Then, a Christian organization tells the main character to annul the “wedding” or else resign. The show portrayed the Christian representative as a cruel, hating, homophobic, zealot. It goes on to show homosexuals as victims, not sinners.

On a more invasive level, homosexuality is also being taught to young children in schools, in an attempt to make the homosexual lifestyle look okay, even appealing, to young students. In Queens, NY, a chancellor of a school introduced the so-called “Rainbow Curriculum,” which included curriculum introducing two very pro-gay books, Heather has two Mommies and Daddy’s Roommate.

And books are not the only venue for preaching the homosexual message to our children. According to Carmen Pate, Vice President of Concerned Women of America, the video It’s Elementary, “is a training tool for breaking down a child’s natural resistance to homosexuality,”

What does God Think?

Of course for believers, it all comes down to what God thinks about homosexuality. The scriptures are clear that the homosexual lifestyle is not what God had intended for his creation.
Passages in the Bible make that clear:

• In I Corinthians 6:9-10, we read, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (NIV)
• Matthew 19:4-5 reads “‘Haven’t you read,’ Jesus replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and two will become one flesh.’” (NIV)
• Romans 1:24-27 reads “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the Truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” (NIV)

Although those trapped in this lifestyle would like to argue that it is God who made them gay, believers acknowledge that the God who has created the universe is also the one who has set down laws that promise the best for mankind. King David expressed it this way in Psalm 119, “Righteous are you, O LORD, and your laws are right.”

What is the Christian Response to Homosexuality?

Now that we know that God did not make a provision for the homosexual lifestyle in his great plan, how are Christians supposed to respond to those who have chosen to practice this lifestyle? How do we reach out to them with the love of Christ?

One man knows that answer first-hand. Dennis has experienced both sides of that struggle. After reaching adolescence, Dennis reached out to the church regarding his homosexual thoughts. The pastor responded, “Just pray.”

“I felt like I was going to have to figure this out on my own without the church’s help.”

This lack of direction sent Dennis down a dark path, expressing his sexuality with other men, one of which was a Christian missionary. Today as a believer in Christ, who has turned away from that lifestyle, Dennis believes this is not how the church should handle these kinds of situations. And since God calls Christians to love our neighbors as ourselves, that might mean reaching out, along with others, to help those who struggle. Dennis gave these suggestions to reaching out to a lost brother or sister trapped in the homosexual lifestyle:

1. Listen. Don’t jump in and start telling them all the verses. Many want to deal with it. If Christians seem like they have all the answers, the homosexual will shut down.
2. Find out what they want to do? Are they committed to changing?
3. Spend time with them and don’t let them feel like they are a project. Don’t major in this one area of their life, there is more to them. They have talents and gifts too; this is just one broken area.

Winning the War

So does that mean that we need to ignore the attacks on heterosexual marriage? Craig Osten, author of The Homosexual Agenda, believes, “It is vital for Christians to understand the homosexual agenda and how it threatens many personal and religious freedoms. If Christians sit back and surrender, giving those involved in homosexual behavior everything they think they want, those trapped in homosexual behavior will never be able to hear and respond to Christ’s redemptive love for him or her.

“Christians need to be a consistent witness and friend to those practicing homosexual behavior. However, despite the need for us to demonstrate love and be a strong witness, we cannot compromise the Gospel and people’s need for repentance.”

Churches can play a big part in helping the homosexual give up that destructive lifestyle, although as Dennis would attest, the temptation to sin is always there. Dennis explained the hope he finds in Christ by practicing Centering. “Centering means to move to center,” says Dennis. “You can’t think about two things at the same time. I sing songs and hymns; I talk to the Lord. You can’t think those (bad) thoughts when you are thinking about something else. For me temptation is a call to worship. I decide who I will worship.”