New Mexico Christian Photographer Taken Before Human Rights Commission for Refusing To Photograph Homosexual Commitment Ceremony

New Mexico’s Ministers of Satan

Urgent Policy Memo!!!

From: Scrofandus, Secretary to His Infernal Majesty

To: Project Administration Team, United States of America

Re: Tactics

Demons, Imps, Afreets, and Divels of PAT-USA:

His Infernal Majesty has noted your zeal, and your considerable success so far, in the de-Christianizing of the U.S.A. He has, however, instructed me to remind you that there is an
overarching strategic principle that must never be ignored, no matter how good the tactical situation looks in the short run. As our master delights in quoting the enemy�s Scripture for his own purposes, I refer you to the words of that porch-climber, Paul of Tarsus: �[F]or Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness�� (II Corinthians 11:14-15).

We didn�t get where we are today by presenting ourselves to the American people as leering hobgoblins. They only listen to us when we are perceived as ministers of righteousness! Let me call your attention to a single case as an example of tactical
heavy-handedness that could undo all we have achieved so far. The Human Rights Division of New Mexico is currently prosecuting a mom-and-pop photography business, Elane Photography, for declining to take pictures of a lesbian commitment ceremony. Mr. and Mrs. Huguenin, the owners and operators of this small business, will be, at the very least, financially ruined if the division rules against them.

 

It goes without saying that we here in Hell endorse and encourage lesbian
commitment ceremonies and every other aspect of the gay rights movement: after all, we created it. If it weren�t for our efforts, there would be no gay rights movement. But how have we made all our progress? By tirelessly presenting sodomites as a poor, oppressed, put-upon, loveable minority persecuted by an intolerant, tyrannical, religiously bigoted majority�that�s how! Now, thanks to your heavy-handed tactics, the shoe is on the other foot. Our people are now the intolerant, bullying, bigoted tyrants, coming down like
sixteen tons on this poor, defenseless married couple and their pitifully tiny business.

His Infernal Majesty is not amused.

 

You have morphed downtrodden gays into the steamroller of Big Sodomy, arrogantly crushing all the little people in its path. Instead of ministers of righteousness, our servants at the New Mexico Human Rights Division are unmasked as bureaucratic bullies. There is a time and a place for brute force; we can all agree to that. But in the long run, brute force must inevitably fail. The Third Reich was wonderful while it lasted, but where is it now? His
Infernal Majesty has asked me to remind you that we don�t march people into Hell at gunpoint. They must go there of their own free will, rejoicing, singing, patting themselves on the back because they think they are going to Heaven. There must be no doubt in their minds that when they serve us, they are doing the right thing.

 

But you have now made room for such a doubt. You know that mortals, and Americans more than most, always rally to the underdog. The gays�status as victims is their most precious resource, and you are squandering it! His Infernal Majesty strongly desires that the gay rights movement should succeed, and thus estrange America from The Enemy Above. He has asked me to remind you that if you cannot implement this program, Hell is full of devils who can and will. On my own, I take this opportunity to remind you that a few millennia in the Lake of Fire is a marvelous aid to concentration: but I must not be heavy-handed.Please try to stay with the program!

 

(c) Lee Duigon Lee Duigon is a Christian free-lance writer whose work can be seen regularly at www.chalcedon.edu. Copyright� MichNews.com. All Rights Reserved.

Here is another link: Christian Photographer Hauled before Commission for Refusing Same-Sex Job By John Jalsevac

New Mexico, January 30, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The case of a Christian photographer who refused to photograph a same-sex “commitment ceremony”, was heard before the New Mexico Human Rights Division on Monday.

A same-sex couple asked Elaine Huguenin, co-owner with her husband of Elane Photography, to photograph a “commitment ceremony” that the two women wanted to hold. Huguenin declined because her Christian beliefs are in conflict with the message communicated by the ceremony.

The same-sex couple filed a complaint with the New Mexico Human Rights Division, which is now trying Elane Photography under state antidiscrimination laws for sexual orientation discrimination.

The Alliance Defense fund (ADF), a legal alliance that is dedicated to defending and protecting religious freedom, sanctity of life, marriage, and family, is currently defending Elane Photography.

“On Monday we defended Elane Photography in court, saying basically that no person should be required to help others advance a message that they disagree with,” ADF Senior Counsel and Senior Vice-President of the Office of Strategic Initiatives, Jordan Lorence, told LifeSiteNews in an interview today. “That’s a basic First Amendment principle. The
government is punishing Elaine photography for refusing to take photos which obviously advance the messages sent by the same-sex ceremony - that marriage can be defined as two women or two men.”

In their complaint the homosexual couple has sought for an injunction against Elane Photography that will forbid them from ever again refusing to photograph a same-sex ceremony. They have also requested attorney’s fees.

“Depending on how far up the ladder this goes of appeal that could be a lot of money,” said Lorence. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Lorence said that the ADF is framing its case in a similar fashion to the 1995 Supreme Court “Hurley” Case. “In the Boston St. Patrick’s
Day Parade case the US Supreme Court said that the State of Massachusetts could not punish a privately run parade because it refused to allow a homosexual advocacy group in to carry banners and signs in the parade. They said that would be compelled speech,
ordering the parade organizers to help promote a message they do not want to promote. To apply the discrimination law that way violates freedom of speech. We are making a similar kind of argument in this case.”

Lorence said that this current case is demonstrative of a “tremendous threat” facing those with traditional views on marriage and family.

“I think that this is a tremendous threat to First Amendment rights. Those who are advocating for same-sex marriage and for rights based upon sexual orientation keep arguing, ‘We are not going to apply these against churches. We are going to protect people’s right of conscience. We are all about diversity and pluralism.’”

But, in practice, says Lorence, “Business owners with traditional views or church owners with traditional definitions of marriage are now vulnerable for lawsuits under these nondiscrimination laws. There are 20 states that have these laws where they ban sexual orientation discrimination. Most of the major cities in the United States also have these kinds of ordinances. So these are a big threat, as the
federal government debates whether to make this a blanket nationwide law.

“We see that these [non-discrimination laws] are not rectifying some unjust discrimination, but being used to punish those who speak out in favor of traditional marriage and sexual restraint,” he concluded.

Lorence said that the ADF is “cautiously optimistic that the commission will do the right thing.” If the New Mexico Commission, however, decides against Elane Photography, Lorence said that the ADF would appeal the decision all the way up to the US Supreme Court if necessary.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Catholic Activist “Banned for life” From Publicly Criticizing Homosexuality
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/dec/07121306.html

Christian Political Party before Human Rights Commission for Speaking Against Homosexuality
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/nov/07112706.html

Alberta Human Rights Tribunal Rules Against Christian Pastor Boissoin
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/dec/07120306.html

Alberta Christian Pastor Hauled Before Human Rights Tribunal for Letter to Editor on Homosexuality
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/05090204.html

U.S. Christian Camp Loses Tax-Exempt Status over Same-Sex Civil-Union Ceremony
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/sep/07091902.html

Methodist Camp Meeting Association Sues New Jersey for Civil Union Investigation
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/aug/07081501.html

Lesbian Couple Files Complaint against Church for Refusing Civil Union Ceremony
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jul/07071011.html

Human Rights Complaint Filed Against Catholic Bishop for Defence of Traditional Marriage
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/mar/05033001.html

Homosexuals Seek to Shut Down Canadian Pro-Family Websites
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06073106.html

CHRISTIAN COUPLE FORCED TO SHUT DOWN B&B FOR REFUSING HOMOSEXUAL COUPLE
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2001/may/01052302.html

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Family Of Colorado Church Shooter Visits New Life Church

Link to Original World Net Daily Article. New Life Church Pastor Brady Boyd calls it a “Jesus moment” and describes a meeting of the families of church shooter Matthew Murray and victims Stephanie Works, 18, and Rachael Works, 16, as “the greatest testimony of forgiveness I’ve ever seen.”

It was a meeting he had suggested between Ron and Loretta Murray, whose son, Matthew, shot and killed the Works sisters in an attack on New Life Church in December, and the sisters’ parents, David and Marie Works.

As WND reported earlier, weeks before Murray armed himself with enough weaponry and ammunition to kill hundreds and staged attacks on a Youth With A Mission ministry center in the Denver metro area and then on New Life Church in Colorado Springs, he boasted in an e-mail that he had discovered and practiced the teachings of controversial British occultist Aleister Crowley, called during his lifetime “the wickedest man in the world.”

But his beliefs clearly departed from family teachings, as the Murray family members said thanks “to God, these remarkable families and their pastors and churches, healing and reconciliation have begun.”

Boyd said he was praying about the situation during the Christmas holidays, and decided to contact Matthew Murray’s parents to see if they wanted to come to the church campus, see the location where the attack happened, and grieve for the loss of their son, who committed suicide after being shot by a volunteer security patrol team member. “I called them and asked, would you like to come to the New Life campus and see the place where your son passed away,” Boyd told his congregation over the weekend. “When someone’s gone through a tragedy, it’s very important to see the place where it happened.”

He said the Murrays had been wanting exactly that, but didn’t want to “invade” the church still recovering from the attack.

Boyd then arranged for the Murrays to meet not only the Works family, but also Jeanne Assam, the volunteer security guard who confronted Matthew Murray as he was entering the mega-church complex where several thousand people were leaving a worship service, and shot at him when he refused to put down his weapon. The coroner later determined he actually died of self-inflicted wound.

“It was very emotional. They just wept and cried and we prayed for them and hugged them,” Boyd said. “What the enemy has meant for harm, turned into a moment of forgiveness and redemption.”

Matthew Murray, 24, killed two staff members at the WYAM center in Arvada in the early morning hours of Dec. 9, then posted some writings online, and then traveled to Colorado Springs to shoot the sisters in the church parking lot. He was loaded with weaponry and ammunition and heading toward the church sanctuary when Assam confronted and stopped him.

Philip Crouse, 24, from Alaska, was killed by an armed attacker while responding to a request for help by a lone individual at the Arvada, Colo., base of Youth With A Mission

The Murrays earlier met with the families of Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24, who died at the YWAM center.

Boyd said he retraced Matthew Murray’s steps for the family, from the place where he parked his car to the point inside the building where he killed himself.

In a statement after the meeting, the Murrays expressed their continuing sorrow over the deaths.

“Words cannot adequately express our deep, deep gratitude to David and Marie Works, Pastor Brady Boyd, Jeanne Assam, and the entire New Life Church family. God is good and our entire experience last Thursday was filled with His loving and healing presence,” they said. “We also want to once again express our appreciation for the Johnson and Crouse families for receiving us in love last month together with everyone at Youth With A Mission and the New Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada.

“The depth of our sorrow and our grief is greater than we can possibly describe. But with thanks to God, these remarkable families and their pastors and churches, healing and reconciliation have begun,” the Murray statement said. “We are committed to finding a way to move forward in the service of The Lord and our community.”

When the Murrays met Assam, “the Murrays released her from any guilt or remorse over what she had had to do,” Boyd said.

Boyd told his congregation that such forgiveness and reconciliation is “rare in most cultures and religions.”

“What happened was Jesus Christ on display,” he said.

According to reports from authorities, found in Matthew Murray’s bedroom were items including information about YWAM as well as New Life Church, dozens of doses of a drug used to treat anxiety disorders, a pamphlet called “Fall of America,” ammunition and another gun, and a pamphlet from The Rosicrucian Order, an ancient group that stresses mysticism.

A tabulation of church shootings, or those closely related to a church setting, was done by Gary Cass, chairman of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, and include 10 such attacks over the last four years, including Murray’s two attacks, revealing that such incidents are on the rise.

“Churches used to be sanctuaries that were regarded as sacred, now all church leaders must be prepared to effectively defend themselves and use deadly force if necessary to protect their congregations from violent acts,” Cass said.

“Self-defense is not just a right, but a Christian duty. Jesus told his followers, ‘if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one,’” said Cass. “Christians are not to be a soft target for the hateful and deranged. Church leaders have a duty not to allow a crazed gunman to come and shoot up their congregation. Thank God for security officer Jeanne Assam and for New Life Church’s security preparations.”

WND has reported on the disturbing rantings Murray apparently left on several websites before – and even between – the attacks, including those reported by National Terror Alert, which documented a series of postings by “nghtmrchld26,” which said, “You Christians brought this on yourselves � All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you … as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world.”

“It is a sad reality of our times, but Christians must take up arms to protect themselves at church,” said Cass. He cited the postings by Murray, including the following:

“I’m coming for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the @#%$ teeth and I WILL shoot to kill. �,” a statement also attributed to Murray’s Internet postings.

“Matthew Murray was obviously a very troubled young man, but unfortunately he is not the only one,” Cass said.

The pastor behind the Good Fight website, which documents reports from rock stars themselves of their encounters with the occult and satanic influences through their experiences with rock music, says he believes an e-mail he got weeks earlier was from Murray, and indicated trouble.

Pastor Joe Schimmel told WND he recalled the October e-mail when he read the postings, included in WND stories, attributed to Murray. He said he thinks it’s important for people to know what the attacker himself was feeling and thinking prior to his homicidal attack, especially since he’s been described in the media as a homeschooled student from a religious family.

The e-mail, although it came from a man who identified himself as “Brian,” most probably was from Murray, Schimmel says, because of long list of similarities. The e-mail notes the writer has “studied and practiced the teachings of Aleister Crowley/Thelema/The Golden Dawn, Qabbalah, H.P. Blavatsky/Theosophy, Manly P. Hall, Alice Bailey, and others.”

Crowley, who lived during the late 1800s and first half of the 1900s, was a bisexual, drug-addicted occultist practitioner and author who almost reveled in the media description of him as “the wickedest man in the world.”

During a court case in the 1930s, Crowley was described by a judge as dreadful. “I thought that everything which was vicious and bad had been produced at one time or another before me,” the judge concluded. “I have learned in this case that we can always learn something more � I have never heard such dreadful, horrible, blasphemous and abominable stuff as that which has been produced by [Crowley.]“

Crowley also founded Thelema, a religious belief that was drawn from his book, “Liber Al Vel Legis,” or Book of the Law, which gives only two commands: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law” and “Love is the law, love under will.”

Crowley espoused a wide range of occultist activities and practices, and one of his compatriots reportedly died from drinking the blood of a cat during one ceremonial episode, according to documents on Crowley’s life. Many believe Crowley was a forerunner to Anton LeVay, who formalized his beliefs in “The Satanic Bible” and established the Church of Satan.

While Crowley dabbled in the occult, magic, trances, drugs, sex and blood rituals, Schimmel told WND the writer apparently had sold his soul to another devil: rock music.

The e-mail attributed to Matthew Murray noted that “music is a very powerful thing,” and then continued with writings that appeared to have been assembled in the form of an article titled, “My Secret Drug Addiction”:

I have a powerful addiction to a powerful drug that most people in my life don’t know about. � I have found this drug to truly be a force to be reckoned with. This drug can completely alter blood pressure, heart rate, brainwave patterns and other bodily functions. � This drug will completely control a person’s mind, what thought’s (sic) they think and their emotions and how they feel. I found that this drug has the power to completely alter a person’s religious beliefs, their morality, and their values and their entire lifestyle. � I found this drug to be a powerful driving force and easy gateway into a world of sex, other drugs, rebellion, homosexuality, alcoholism and many other dark things. � The drug � is commonly known in our culture as � Rock Music.

Church shootings on rise in U.S. Gunman boasted of following ‘wickedest man in the world’ Attacker’s diatribe copied Columbine killer Hero guard: ‘It was me, the gunman, and God’ Church shooter was kicked out “The grave danger of ‘gun-free zones’ Thugs find it more difficult if populace is armed

So The War Between Church And State Begins With Fred Phelps

I will forgo the usual routine of prefacing my comments with a discussion as to whether the behavior of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church was wrong; there are plenty of places where you can go find that. Instead, I will deal with this fact: since Westboro Baptist Church almost certainly does not have $10.9 million they will have to close. As such, this is the first time to my knowledge that the state is causing the doors of a church that has not been found to be in violation of any laws down. Rather, they received a $2.9 million judgment against them for invasion of privacy (despite the fact that the funeral was a public event in a public place) and an $8 million dollar judgment for causing emotional distress.

It is quite difficult to say what is worse. The $2.9 million invasion of privacy judgment that was a clear rejection of the actual facts of the case, the $8 million judgment for emotional distress caused by free speech in a public forum, or the stated aim of the plaintiffs “But Albert Snyder’s lawyer urged the jury to ensure the damages were high enough to stop the church campaigning” was granted. Keep in mind: the defendants were not found guilty of libel, slander, defamation, or trespassing. They incurred this verdict by making legal speech in a legal manner, and the sole purpose of this verdict was to prevent them from making legal speech in a legal manner again. Whatever you may think of Fred Phelps and his congregation, they are not the criminals here. The criminals are the jury that brought this verdict and the judge that failed to vacate it. If the state enforces this judgment, it will effectively nullify the First Amendment protections of free speech and freedom of religion and set a powerful precedent. As such, it is Fred Phelps’ church today but your church tomorrow.

Any church that preaches that homosexuality is a sin can be found guilty of causing emotional distress to homosexuals, and even facilitating the spread of AIDS. Any church that preaches against the genocide of abortion can be found guilty of inciting violence against the abortion mills and its employees, or even the mental anguish caused by the theoretical threat of increased violence. And any church that preaches against unjust government action can be labeled subversive.

Make no mistake, it is a perfect test case, so perfect that one would think that Phelps was some sort of a plant, though I sincerely doubt it to be the case. Phelps chose the funerals of the untimely dead, the most emotionally charged environment imaginable, as his forum. He went after homosexuality to enrage the left. He went after soldiers killed in combat to enrage the right. As a result, a law restricting such conduct was speedily passed without any opposition. The ACLU did not want to come down on the side of a homosexuality opponent, the ACLJ (owned by Pat Robertson) did not want to come down on the side of one who would grieve the families of dead soldiers. For both sides, protecting their own bases, their own constituencies, took priority over taking up an unpopular cause to defend rights from a government that hates righteousness. Such is almost certainly the reason why no prominent pastor, preacher, or theologian was able to muster a defense. When such people feel the heavy hand of the state pressing against their necks for the crime of offending Islam or Judaism by insisting that salvation is only through Jesus Christ, they will wish that they had not chosen the path of silent forbearance.

Finally, I wish to deal with part of Fred Phelp’s theology. He states that we are losing on the battlefield in Iraq because this nation promotes and celebrates homosexuality. Why not? First off, I realize that we are not Old Testament Israel. But the entire religious right movement is based on the fiction that we are, that we are a Christian nation founded by God to be the light among nations, the shining city on the hill. So let us adhere to their false theology in order to further convict the religious right sorts that were silent on this issue. Did not God punish Old Testament Israel, the elect nation that He founded, for their sins by not only allowing casualties and lost battles, but actually fighting for the enemy? Why should America be any different? Christian right, you cannot employ your false theology when it helps your fund