exvigilare

Ah, I didn't know. Thanks to John for setting me straight. I wrote earlier today about "Reverend" Troy R. Perry, from the Metropolitan churches. Duh, no wonder he's acting the way he is - the Metropolitan Community Church is "one of the largest growing networks of homosexual churches worldwide catering to the 'gay, lesbian and transgendered communities.' In 2003, the MCC's website claims it will have over 70,000 members spanning 17 countries." I should have guessed. These "alternative" religions are popping up everywhere now, so it's hard to keep track. Let me enlighten you:

Many homosexual men and women who have left the church claimed MCC churches around the country were nothing more than "gay pick up joints" and "all the gay sex you want" ... all in the name of Christ.

Some of the advertising for events at the "church":

It will be a wild demonstration-lecture and no actual fisting will be done on the premises, but a videotape will supply the missing visuals. Join us at the MCC Church Hall...

Travis has been presenting this excellent introduction to SM (Sado-Masochism) for several years now. It has proven very effective and well received at all of the "Human Sexuality" college classes he has presented it to...

Bring your Leather, or toys, cleaned & ready to sell, trade, swap, or give to that someone special. This will be happening inside the meeting hall, the MCC has asked us NOT TO speak too loudly, or display or show off things out in the patio area, or anywhere in public view. ANYONE breaking the rules will be asked to leave, period. Please remember that there are other events that happen at MCC while we are there, & that this is a church.

I don't recommend that you read the article - I've only included the link for documentation purposes. These are the people showing up at San Fransisco city hall demanding to be "married." Is this the kind of society that we have become? Someone please tell me this is an abberation. I repeat, call this what you will, but DO NOT CALL IT HOLY!

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Let me make sure I understand what's going on with yesterday's "National Freedom to Marry Day," specifically in California. As the AP reported it:

"In an open challenge to California law, city authorities performed scores of same-sex weddings Thursday and issued a stack of marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples."

Let me translate: San Francisco's new mayor Gavin Newsom not only broke the law himself, but encouraged other city and state employees to do the same. Hmm, sounds like the kind of boss we would all like to have. go ahead, break the law. If we get in trouble over this, we'll just sue the state!

"Today a barrier to true justice has been removed," said Newsom.

Um, no. You just broke the law. Not only civil law, but of all that is right. Get over yourself.

In San Francisco, city officials tried to keep the first marriage - between longtime lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon, 79, and Del Martin, 83 - confidential so they could complete it before any court intervention.

San Francisco officials insisted the licenses are legally binding and would immediately confer new benefits in everything from health coverage to funeral arrangements.

Of all places, at least Beverly Hills had the common sense to refuse to give out marriage licenses.

Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Churches, is the first openly gay member of the Los Angeles Human Rights Commission and a past delegate to the White House Conference on Hate Crimes.

Perry said he and his partner Phillip Ray DeBlieck had a "Holy Union Ceremony" in the United States, and were legally married in Canada last July. "The only difference in our relationship between everybody else's in California is our sex," he said.

Well, duh, you moron. That would be the part that makes it illegal and immoral. Call this sham of a "marital" relationship whatever you want (as, apparently, you will) but DO NOT CALL IT HOLY. Of all people, this church founder should at least own a bible, don't you think? Read it, idiot.

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This is way, way too good not to pass on. Do you know the Bud Light commercials saluting real American heros? These are hilarious. But that's not what I want you to read. Tuning Spork has given it a go, as well. This is what you should read. And this. Welcome to the world of Munuvia.

No, I don't have Beal, I'm just preoccupied.

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This is bound to piss off my Muslim readers. Um, that presumes that there are any Muslim readers of my site. Doubtful. Anyway, this came to me via email:

Here's one that will curl your toes.

Last month I attended my annual training session
that's required for maintaining my state prison security clearance.
During the training session there was a presentation by three speakers
representing the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Muslim faiths who
explained their belief systems.

I was particularly interested in what the Islamic Imam had to say.

The Imam gave a great presentation of the basics
of Islam, complete with a video. After the presentations, time was
provided for questions and answers.

When it was my turn, I directed my question to the
Imam and asked:
"Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand
that most Imams and clerics of Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy
war] against the infidels of the world. And, that by killing an
infidel, which is a command to all Muslims, they are assured of a
place in heaven. If that's the case, can you give me the definition of
an infidel?"
There was no disagreement with my statements and
without hesitation he replied, "Nonbelievers!"

I responded, "So, let me make sure I have this straight. All followers
of Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who
is not of your faith so they can go to Heaven. Is that correct?"

The expression on his face changed from one of
authority and command to that of a little boy who had just gotten caught
with his hand in the cookie jar. He sheepishly replied, "Yes."

I then stated, "Well, sir, I have a real problem trying to imagine
Pope John Paul commanding all Catholics to kill
those of your faith or Pat Robertson or Dr. Stanley ordering Protestants
to do the same in order to go to Heaven!"

The Imam was speechless.

I continued, "I also have problem with being your friend when you and
your brother clerics are telling your followers to kill me. Let me ask
you a question. Would you rather have your Allah who tells you to kill
me in order to go to Heaven or my Jesus who tells me to love you
because I am going to Heaven and He wants you to be with me?"

You could have heard a pin drop as the Imam hung his head in shame.

Chuck Colson once told me something that has
sustained me these 20 years of prison ministry.

He said to me, "Rick, remember that the truth will prevail." And it will!

* Senders words: I think everyone in the US should
be required to read this. The author, Rick Mathes, is a well known
prison ministry leader.

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I promised to tell you about the wedding, so here goes. The rehearsal was rough - one of those things where the wedding planner bugged out and sent his assistant, so the bride was freaking out. The battle between the assistant wedding planner and the maid of honor meant that the rehearsal lasted about, oh, 4 years longer than it should have. How much fuss can be given about whether the groomsmen are in a perfectly straight line? Interminable. At least I got to play enough to work out the fingering on the recessional. Yikes.

In addition to my piccolo trumpet processional and recessional, there was a nice sung version of the Lord's Prayer and a male solo written by my buddy Terry (who also happened to play organ on the ceremony). Lots of music, which was appropriate because most of the wedding party were performers (or ex-performers, as the case may be). Good thing, too, since the pastor completely blew by the Lord's Prayer. The singers were stuck at the lecturn for what probably seemed like hours to them. The pastor was finally cued, the girls sang (lovely it were), straight into the solo (with a nice bit of faking at the end), and nobody in the congregation was any the wiser. That's what I miss about performing - everyone knows something will go wrong at some point, so no one gets shaken when it does.

The actual service was a tear-jerker, as well. The bride cried during the vows, which was perfect. The groom's mother was as proud as could be and smiling nonstop all day. Really just a perfect wedding, I thought. The reception - even perfecter! I gave a speech, and didn't even screw it up! I did forget my joke about Amway, though. Oh well. Everyone had a great time. Emma was a hit dancing with her newest best friend, Tania. The best was when she put her hands down on the dance floor so she could unashamedly shake her booty at its highest! I'm sure we'll have photos of that for future blackmail use.

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Wedding later, too much to do. Catching up on a week's worth of reading of all of my favorite blogs should take about, um, a week or so. On your mark, get set...

Scrappleface sheds light on Kerry's own AWOL (humor)

Democrat National Committee (DNC) chairman Terry McAuliffe today said that presidential candidates John F. Kerry and John Edwards have gone AWOL from the Senate, missing almost every Senate vote in the past three months, and perhaps longer.

Power Line has a real war hero who has been reading about Kerry.

Now comes before us that Prick.

The Fraters boys have a nice new look (face it, they needed it) and the Elder is singing the Pianoman.

Blog us a post, you're the blogger man
Blog us a post tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a butchery
And man you're Fiskin's so tight

Joe Carter has been keeping track of North Dakota's abortion ban (read it all - you'll have to poke back a bit)

What South Dakota lacks in population (the state has fewer people than the city of Indianapolis) it more than makes up for in audacity. While some state legislatures squabble over such issues as redistricting, South Dakota has decided to take on a bigger issue -- they’ve decided to outlaw abortion.

Joshua takes on Tom Friedman, again.

Tom Friedman is at his smarmy worst again. His Feb. 5th column in the NY Times ("A Rude Awakening") betrays his ongoing, perverse sense of reality that is impossible to reconcile with the rather notorious facts on the ground.

Whew, that should be enough to get you going. I'm now going to write my final project for Research Principles, due in a mere 8 hours. Don't bother me.

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We're back, and thanks for your prayers. The Bride was lovely, the Groom handsome. Tracey and Emma great. A good time had by all, I think.

The drive down was not so nice. The drive across Kansas is miserable on a good day, but Wednesday was not a good day. Good chunks of it were taken at 30 mph with about 100 feet visibility. It usually takes 13 hours to get from Denver to Branson - it took 17 this time around. Not in one go, of course. We managed to get to Junction City, KS on Wednesday night and treated ourselves to Holiday Inn. No sir, no motels for our little road crew. We thought we had outrun the monstrous part of the storm, but weren't aware that Kansas was having dueling storms. The one coming up from the south was even worse.

Junction City to Branson took us 8 hours on Thursday. For comparison, on the drive back the same distance took us about 5 and a half hours. We didn't see a break in the weather until about an hour north of Springfield. A miserable drive altogether. Even worse than the day before.

We're all in desperate need of sleep tonight. I'll tell you about the wedding tomorrow...

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