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Darkness to Light - Vol. XVII, No. 4

Darkness to Light
Volume XVII, Number 4
2019

Presented by Darkness to Light Website
Director: Gary F. Zeolla

In This Issue

New Email Service

Pride Month: Latest Co-opt by LGBTQ Movement

New on my Fitness and Politics Websites

New Email Service

If you are receiving this newsletter but had previously unsubscribed from it, my sincerest apologies. But due to changes in the policies of my old email service, I needed to change my email newsletter service. I was with Mail Chimp, but now I am using Send in Blue. When I exported my contacts from Mail Chimp, they appear to have included the addresses of those who had previously unsubscribed from this mailing list. I have no way of knowing which addressed those were. Therefore, when I imported the mailing list to Send in Blue, it might have included those addresses. As such, if you still do not wish to receive this newsletter, you will need to unsubscribe again. You can do so by clicking here. Again, my apologies.

For all others, you are currently registered to receive the Darkness to Light newsletter. This newsletter is published about every other month, usually during the first week of odd-numbered months. To unsubscribe, use the link at the bottom of this newsletter. To subscribe to my FitTips for One and All newsletter, click here. It is published every other month, usually during the first week of even-numbered months. However, this issue of this newsletter is being sent out a bit early due to the timely nature of the main article, so that it is published while it is still June.

God’s Sex Plan: Volume Two: What the New Testament Teaches About Human Sexuality - Many issues are discussed in this book that are related to sex, including but not limited to: monogamy, marital sex, polygamy, incest, homosexuality, premarital sex (fornication), extramarital sex (adultery), celibacy, transsexualism, reproduction, infertility, contraception, abortion, sexual harassment and assault, masturbation, pornography, gender roles, and school and other mass shootings (yes, those are related to this topic).

Pride Month

Latest Co-opt by the LGBTQ Movement

By Gary F. Zeolla

Co-opt. verb. The definition of co-opt means to take something, especially some kind of power, that wasn’t originally yours or that wasn’t originally supposed to go to you.

The LGBTQ movement has co-opted one word or thing after another, in order to change the attitude of the general population towards their their sinful behaviors, culminating in a month-long celebration of sin. The behaviors indicated by their acronym have moved from being recognized for what they are, sinful, to being tolerated, to being protected, to being accepted and approved of, to now being celebrated by the general population. This article will explore all of these points.

Notes:

LGBTQ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual/ Transgender, Questioning. Each of these terms will be discussed in this article.

Documentation for the claims and statements made in this article are found at the end of this article or in this writer’s two volume set God’s Sex Plan.

Unless otherwise indicated, all definitions from Your Dictionary. Love To Know Corporation.

“Gay”

Gay. Adjective. The definition of gay is someone or something bright or happy.

The word “gay” also originally meant “lighthearted and carefree” (Oxford). But the word was co-opted by the homosexual community as an alternative to derogatory terms that were often used for homosexuals.

Such derogatory terms should not be used. Similarly, homosexuals should not be mistreated in any way. And originally, that is all the homosexual movement wanted, to be tolerated, so as not to be mistreated. And such is a good thing. But that does not mean their behaviors need to be accepted. But once toleration was achieved, homosexuals pushed things further by demanding their behaviors be considered acceptable and approved of by all, and the word “gay” was one way to make that additional movement. But instead of the word gay, the accurate designation of “homosexual” should be used for “people who are sexually attracted to individuals who are the same sex.”

But why use the word “gay?” It is used due to the original connotations that it had. It makes it sound like engaging in homosexual sex is “carefree,” and those who engage in it are “happy.” However, such is not true.

The Bible is clear that homosexual sex is a sin, while anal sex (which is how male homosexuals usually have sex) is one of the most dangerous sexual behaviors a person can engage in. That is one reason the Bible so strongly condemns it. It has also been shown that those raised by homosexuals do not fare near as well as those raised by intact heterosexual married couples, so “happy” is not an accurate way to describe what the homosexual movement is doing to society.

But the use of the word gay become the standard way of referring to those who engage in homosexual sex, so as to lessen the negative aspects of homosexual sex itself and to hide the damage it does to the family unit and thus to society at large. Instead, the word gay is used in order to make the behavior appear acceptable.

By doing so, it makes it now impossible to use the word gay with its original meaning. That is why we all feel weird when we sing Deck the Halls at Christmastime, when we get to the third line, “don we now our gay apparel.” Or before the Kentucky Derby every year, Kentucky’s state song My Old Kentucky Home is sung by the entire crowd of usually over 100,000 people. They start out singing loudly, but then the singing gets much quieter during the second line, “Tis summer, the people are gay,” as it is just too strange to sing such now.

Rest of LGBTQ

The word “gay” was originally used for homosexuals of either sex, but “now often used specifically of male homosexuals.” Meanwhile, the word lesbian “is defined as a homosexual woman, or a woman who is sexually attracted to other women.”

In this case, the word lesbian was coined just for female homosexuals, in order to distinguish them from male homosexuals. In a way, that is a good thing, as it made the word an accurate description without any positive or negative connotations to it. The same should have been done for male homosexuals, but again, the word gay was used instead to gain acceptance.

The word “bisexual” can have two meanings, “The definition of a bisexual is a person who has both male and female organs or is sexually attracted to both men and women.” The first of these is a very rare physical congenital abnormality, while the latter refers to a person’s “orientation.” The problem is, these are two very different situations, so the word is not very specific.

Next is the “T” in the acronym. This letter can refer to transsexual or transgender. But these terms are not the same, as gender and sex are not the same. The word “sex” refers to the biological sex organs a person possesses, while “gender” refers to culturally based roles typically assigned to each sex, though often challenged. This distinction between “sex” and “gender” leads to a distinction between the words “transsexual” and “transgender.”

A transsexual is someone who was born a biological male but who underwent a sex change operation and is receiving hormone treatments, so that the person now has the sex organs of a female. Although still having the internal “plumbing” and DNA of a male, the person is now said to be considered a female due to having the external female organ. The same would be the case if a person was born a woman then underwent procedures to become a male.

A transgender, however, is someone who was born a biological male and who still has the sex organ of a male, but the person “identifies” as a female. The person thus dresses and acts like a female, though still being biological a male. The same would be true for a person who was born a female and still has the female sex organ but now identifies as a male.

There is thus a clear distinction between the two. But this distinction is often ignored when it comes to women’s sports. And that can cause problems when it comes to transgender males who “identify” as females engaging in woman’s sports.

There have been a few well-published cases and many more less-publicized ones of men who are still biological males but who identify as women competing in women’s sports. To no one’s surprise, they often win their events, sometimes by a wide margin, and often break records in the process. By doing so, they are cheating real women out of victories and raising the records so high that no real woman can ever hope to break them.

In a recent case, a male high school track athlete took next to last in his state’s hurdle championships competing as a male in 2018. But then he began identifying as a female, and this year (2019), he competed as a female at the same event and won easily, by over 1-1/2 seconds. That is a wide margin for a 110-meter race (Trib). This is just one of several cases of males who identify as females dominating female track and field events (Daily Caller).

The problem here goes back to separating the idea of “sex” from “gender.” The Bible knows no such distinction. It simply teaches, “the One having made [them] from [the] beginning made them male and female” (Jesus in Matthew 19:4 quoting Gen 1:26).

There is no hint in Genesis or by Jesus that there is a distinction between sex and gender. Other than the very rare physical abnormality of a person being born with both sex organs, a person is born either male or female. But by abandoning that clear and simple distinction, we have come to the point that women’s sports could be destroyed, as more and more males who are not successful as male athletes begin to enter and dominate female sports.

But it gets even worse. People suffering from gender dysphoria need psychological help, not hormones and sex change operations. The result of this lack of psychological help ended in tragedy when a girl who was transitioning to a male was one of two students who conducted a recent school shooting. The other shooter was a Christian and Trump hating liberal boy.

As one of the shooters’ fellow-students put it, “They’re both struggling with mental health issues.” But they never got the mental help they needed. Instead, the girl with gender dysphoria got hormones, and the Christian/ Trump-hating boy got supported in his hatred by the hate-Trump/ hate-Christians media. But these points were brushed over by most news outlets (Life Site).

Meanwhile, those who cry out against this movement are demeaned as being “transphobes.” That term (along with the term “homophobe”), were invented as derogatory terms for those who disagree with the LGBTQ movement, thus protecting these behaviors from dissenting voices. This is to turnthe tables from using derogatory terms for homosexuals to using derogatory terms for those who think such behaviors are unnatural and sinful. Neither use of derogatory terms is appropriate.

Finally, the letter “Q” in LGBTQ refers to “questioning.” This is a catch-all phrase for anyone who does not have the normal male for female or female for male feelings. But we cannot call their feelings abnormal. They’re just “questioning.” That makes it sound acceptable and normal to think that your sex organs should not determine your sexual orientation or gender.

But in fact, those who have such unnatural feelings have deep rooted mental or psychological disorders that are not solved by them being coddled in their “questioning.” And cutting off perfectly healthy body parts does not solve the underlying psychological problems either. Yet accepting their orientations or new gender identities is now expected but all, rather than giving them the psychological and spiritual help they actually need.

The Rainbow

¹²And the Lord God said to Noah, “This [is] the sign of the covenant which I give between Me and you* and between every living soul [fig., creature] which is with you* into generations [fig., for eternal generations]. ¹³I set My [rain]bow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴And it will be, in the gathering of clouds [by] Me upon the earth, My [rain]bow will be seen in the cloud. ¹⁵And I will be reminded of My covenant, which is between Me and you* and between every living soul in all flesh, and there will no longer be the water for a cataclysmic flood, so as to blot out all flesh. ¹⁶And My [rain]bow will be in the cloud, and I will see [it] to be reminded [of] the eternal covenant between Me and between every living soul in all flesh, which is upon the earth.” ¹⁷And God said to Noah, “This [is] the sign of the covenant, which I made between Me and between all flesh, which is upon the earth” (Genesis 9:12-17).

The rainbow was originally the symbol of God’s covenant with all of humanity, made with Noah after the cataclysmic flood described in the Bible in Genesis 6-9. But today, most do not believe in the historicity of that cataclysmic flood. That is bad enough, but now the rainbow has been subtly transformed into a symbol of the LGBTQ movement.

This co-opting of the rainbow is to take a symbol that should apply to all people and to restrict it to the symbol of just a tiny percentage of people. As with the word gay, it has now gotten to the point that no one can draw or display a rainbow or even a multi-colored image without it being taken as a symbol of the sinful behaviors indicated by the LGBTQ acronym. That is sad, as the rainbow is a beautiful object that should be able to be used by all people, as it was originally intended for all people. But that very beauty and applicability to all people is why the LGBTQ people co-opted it, so as to try to transfer that beauty and acceptance to the behaviors in their movement.

An example of the rainbow being co-opted was seen during the 2018 Winter Olympics. During the halfpipe ski competition, one of the commentators made reference to one of the male competitor’s “boyfriend.” The camera then showed his parents, and they were holding up a rainbow flag. But it was not just a rainbow but a corrupted American flag. It had the normal blue banner with white stars, but instead of red and white stripes, it had rainbow stripes.

“Pride”

Pride. Noun. Pride is the state of holding one’s self or another in high esteem.

This is yet another case of a word that used to be used for all people being co-opted by the LGBTQ movement to such a degree it can no longer be used except for that movement. For instance, the following is how the Pittsburgh Penguins game on March 5, 2018 was described on the Penguins’ official website:

Tonight, the Pens are celebrating inclusion and diversity in the sport of hockey with “Hockey Is For Everyone Night.” Among the many events taking place will be players using rainbow colored Pride tape on their sticks in warmup, which will be auctioned off with proceeds benefiting “You Can Play,” an organization that promotes safety and inclusion for LGBTQ athletes, coaches and fans.

Note, all it says is “Pride tape” not “Gay Pride tape” or “LGBTQ Pride tape.” It is just assumed that by “Pride” and rainbow colors, people will know what kind of pride is meant. The Pittsburgh Pirates also have a Pride Night. And it is called just that, Pride Night, not Gay Pride Night or LGBTQ Pride Night. The point is, a few years ago, the Pirates’ slogan was, “Pride, Passion, Pirates.” But they will never be able to use that slogan again, as it would make it sound like the whole team is made up of LGBTQ people.

But what are the LGBTQ people proud of? Sinful behaviors. That is the fact that is being hidden by the co-opting of the word “pride.”

Pride Month

The Pirates’ “Pride Night” used to occur in early June. That is when “Pride Week” used to be. But now, rather than just a week to “celebrate” the LGBTQ movement, they have expanded it to all of June. In fact, June is now known as “Pride Month.” And here in Pittsburgh, it always includes a parade. But when the news media reports about the month and its parade, they just say, “Pride Month” and “Pride Parade.” Again, that word has been so co-opted, it is assumed by “pride” is meant pride in LGBTQ behaviors, rather than the myriad of other things someone could be prideful of.

In that Pride Parade, many of the participants are dressed in the gaudiest manner possible, including men as women and women as men decked out in the most outlandish manner imaginable, with it all considered perfectly normal.

But more to the point of this section is now an entire month has been co-opted by the LGBTQ movement. That’s one-twelfth of the year that is celebrating behaviors that are followed by a tiny fraction of the population.

What makes it truly said is that June used to be noted for Father’s Day and Flag Day. Celebrating fathers is a good thing. But the LGBTQ movement is adding to the destruction of the role of fathers in our society, and that destruction is having devastating consequences.

Most mass shooters, for instance, were raised without fathers. All of those mass deaths we have seen in recent years could have been avoided if it were not for the current view that fathers are optional, not really necessary for the raising of children.

Divorce and premarital sex, with the resultant out of wedlock pregnancies, used to be the two main reasons children end up being raised without fathers. That is one reason the Bible condemns both divorce and fornication, as God designed humanity in such a way that children need both parents, a mother and a father, for proper development. But now, with the confusion of gender being promoted by the LGBTQ movement, we also have children being raised by two men or by two women and thus lacking the opposite sex parent. But everyone is expected to go along with this distortion of the family unit and this co-opting of the entire month of June.

Moving from acceptance to celebration of the LGBTQ movement, the LGBTQ movement demanded that the LGBTQ flag be displayed at US embassies around the world right alongside the US flag during Pride Month. President Trump rightly denied that request, as the US flag is a symbol that represents all Americans. That is why we celebrate it on Flag Day. However, the LGBTQ flag represents just a tiny fraction of the population. However, “Despite reporting from NBC News that all requests to fly the rainbow flag at U.S. embassies and diplomatic missions were denied by the Trump administration this year, several have hoisted rainbow flags” (On Top).

Moreover, my very blue city of Pittsburgh is doing all it can to celebrate Pride Month. Along with having the largest Pride Parade in the country and our sports teams having nights dedicated to the LGBTQ movement, the entire Pittsburgh Police Department is displaying rainbow decals on their police cars and on their uniforms for the entire month of June. All of this is gleefully promoted by the local media (radio, TV, newspapers, and Internet), with never a dissenting voice to be heard. But it is fact a month-long celebration of sin.

LGBTQ Takeover of America

In-between working on this article, I was listening to the Pirates game, and I heard that the Pirates’ “Pride Night” will be on July 7^th this year (2019). That extends Pride Month one week, so that it now engulfs Independence Day. I’m guessing rainbow fireworks will be next.

Then all we need to do is to elect homosexual “Mayor Pete” (Peter Buttigieg) as President next year (or any of the other radical Democratic Presidential candidates), and the LGBTQ takeover of American will be complete. That will ensure the wrath of God will be coming down on this formerly Christian nation.

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people, [upon] the ones suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. …

²⁶Because of this, God gave them over to dishonorable, lustful passions, for even their females exchanged the natural use for the [use] against nature, ²⁷and likewise also the males having left the natural use of the female were inflamed in their craving for one another; males with males committing shameful behavior and receiving back in themselves the requital which was fitting [for] their deception [or, perversion]….

³²who having known the regulation [or just judgment] of God, that the ones practicing such things are deserving of death, not only are doing them, but they are also approving of the ones practicing [them] (Romans 1:18,26,27,32).

Conclusion

The co-opting of the entire month of June is the most recent step in moving the USA from not just tolerating LGBTQ behaviors (which is proper), to not just protecting them, to not just accepting and approving of them, but to celebrating them.

We are all expected to quietly go along with al of this, or we will be vilified, as that is part of the protection these sinful behaviors now enjoin. But they are in fact just that, sinful. And all of the word games and co-opting of words, objects, and months will not change that fact.

This does not mean we should go back to discriminating against or vilifying those who engage in such behaviors. They should be treated with the same dignity all people deserve, as being created in the image of God. But Christians cannot accept their behaviors as normal, and we definitely should not be celebrating them. We should be reaching out to those caught up and deceived by this movement, leading them to Christ, who can forgive them of their sins and deliver them from these sinful and destructive lifestyles.

⁹You* know that unrighteous [persons] will not inherit [the] kingdom of God, do you* not? Stop being led astray [fig., being deceived]; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor passive partners in male-male sex [or, effeminate men], nor active partners in male-male sex, ¹⁰nor covetous [persons], nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor slanderers [or, abusive persons], nor swindlers will inherit [the] kingdom of God. [cp. 1Tim 1:8-10]

¹¹And these some [of] you* were! [or, And such were some of you*!] But you* yourselves were washed [fig., purified], but you* were sanctified, but you* were justified [or, declared righteous] in the name of the Lord Jesus and in [or, by] the Spirit of our God! (1Corinthians 6:9-11).

References:

The preceding article was adapted from various sections in the writer’s two volume set God’s Sex Plan. Those books discuss each of the behaviors represented by the acronym LGBTQ in depth, looking at relevant Biblical and scientific data in regard to these behaviors. Thus, in addition to the items listed below, see those books for documentation for statements and claims made in this article. These two volumes also discuss many other aspects of human sexuality, like premarital sex (fornication), adultery, birth control, abortion, population growth, and many more such issues.

Bible Quotes.

Definitions:

Unless otherwise indicated, all definitions from Your Dictionary. Love To Know Corporation.

Other:

Standard References, plus.

Christmas Carols Lyrics. Deck the Halls.

Daily Caller. Male Runners Continue Dominating Girls’ High School Track In Connecticut.

Kentucky Derby. Lyrics to ‘My Old Kentucky Home’.

Life Site. Colorado shooting suspects are gender-confused girl and boy who hated Christians, Trump.

On Top Magazine. Despite Rejected Requests From Trump Admin, Some US Embassies Fly Rainbow Flag.

Penguins official website. Game Preview: Pens-Flames.

Trib Live. Transgender woman who last year competed as a man wins NCAA track championship.

New on Fitness for One and All Website

Below are new articles on my fitness website that have been posted since the last issue of this newsletter was published.

2in2x2 Trinity Powerlifting Training Strategy: 2019 Trinity #1, Stage One has been completed with all of my workouts for the first half of my current Training Plan.

2x2 Trinity Powerlifting Training Strategy: 2019 Trinity #1, Stage Two will record the second half of my Training Plan, leading up to, God-willing, my next contest.
6/16/19

Genetic Diets and Fitness Plans: Are They Ready for Prime Time? is a new article.
6/1/19

Due to adding SSL security to my websites, the videos I’ve been posting no longer work. Consequently, I will no longer be posting my workout videos. But I will continue to post my workout logs, sans the videos.
5/19/19.

New on Biblical and Constitutional Politics Website

Below are new articles on my politics website that have been posted since the last issue of this newsletter was published.

Debate with a Liberal is a new page with an audio file of my appearance on the In Perspective talk show mentioned below.
6/15/19

I will be appearing on the In Perspective talk show at 6:00 pm today (6/14). I will be debating with a liberal (Peter Altschul) about President Trump. The main issue that set up this debate was Peter’s claim on a previous episode that Donald Trump is a racist and an “immoral” person. I emailed the show afterwards refuting those claims. The host suggested the two of us have a debate.

To listen to the show and to participate, call 712-775-8984, and use pass code 514295. The show will last about one hour.

I previously appeared on In Perspective. In that appearance, I mainly talked about my Christian Darkness to Light ministry. To listen to a MP3 of that episode, click here:

Hopefully, I will be able to post a MP3 from this episode afterwards as well.
6/14/19

The Witch Hunt is Over; The Real Investigation Begins is a new article.
5/12/19

God’s Sex Plan
Volume One
What the Old Testament Teaches About Human Sexuality

Also by Gary F. Zeolla:

Zeolla.org is the personal website for Gary F. Zeolla.
Author of Christian and of fitness books, Web sites, and newsletters,
and a top ranked and multi-record holding powerlifter.

Fitness for One and All website and FitTips for One and All newsletter.
“Helping people to attain their health, fitness, and performance goals,
with an emphasis on powerlifting.”

Biblical and Constitutional Politics
“Political articles and commentary from a conservative Christian and politically conservative perspective”

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6/25/19