Archive for month: October, 2015

Forty members of Congress have signed what the American Pastors Network  says is a “despicable” letter to Ukraine Parliament leaders, urging them to include same-sex protections into Ukraine’s new constitution.

“We write today to urge you to ensure that as legal and constitutional reforms advance in Ukraine, the principles of equality and non-discrimination in human rights and state protection become firmly entrenched in Ukrainian law,” the letter began. “We support the enjoyment of constitutionally protected rights of all Ukrainian citizens without discrimination.” (Read the full text of the letter on the APN website.)

The letter goes on to say that the 40 members of Congress who signed the letter “applaud the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of ‘gender, race, skin color, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or other opinion’ … However, the draft does not explicitly ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.  This is a prime opportunity to send a message that violence and discrimination against LGBTI people is not acceptable.”

APN President Sam Rohrer says the letter confirms earlier reports by the Obama administration and supportive members of Congress, as they have repeatedly elevated the LGBT agenda as a matter of premier foreign policy. This recurring effort to leverage other sovereign nations to embrace the LGBT agenda as equal to fundamental God-given natural rights is arrogant and misdirected, Rohrer said.

The letter also brings up serious questions, Rohrer added, including: 1) Do these Congressional members and this Administration even care how other nations are viewing the U.S. when it attempts to leverage policies that are not biblical and have significant consequences?; and 2) Do they even care what God thinks of the U.S. urging the acceptance of the LGBT agenda by an entire country and will He stand idly by?

“This arrogant and audacious letter sent to leaders in the Ukraine from 40 members of the American Congress is a sad commentary on how far our own leaders have fallen from the biblical and constitutional tenets on which this country was founded,” Rohrer said. “This is especially damaging at a time when Ukraine leaders and pastors are desperately trying to rebuild a nation based on the principles of biblical truth and natural law that undergird the American Constitution. Activists who are trying to push the LGBT agenda not only violate their constitutional oath, which does not recognize such concepts, but also inappropriately intrude into the cultural positions held by most other nations against such recognition. This latest effort to infringe on the efforts of Ukraine to fashion a constitution on the ideals that once made America great is not only objectionable but immoral.”

Rohrer, along with pastor Dale Armstrong, APN’s International Director, who has helped orchestrate APN’s on-the-ground involvement in the Ukraine over the past year, has been working with Ukraine leaders and pastors for many months, fulfilling a request to help them become reenergized in their mission and zeal to bring biblical and constitutional government to Ukraine.

Late last week, Rohrer returned from another trip to Ukraine, where he continued to meet with pastors, leaders and key political figures on the essential elements regarding the formulation of a new constitution.

APN was first invited to a June 2014 International Leadership Summit in Ukraine by Bishop Valery Reshetinsky, who also serves as the Chairman of the Ukrainian Interchurch Council that represents 20 different evangelical denominations. During the initial summit with more than 100 in attendance, Ukrainian pastoral and elected leaders learned about the principles that made America great. Also attending that summit were key government officials from the executive and legislative branches, including top advisers and heads of government agencies and departments. Since those initial events, Rohrer and other APNleaders have been invited back to Ukraine multiple times.

“For years, the people of Ukraine have struggled with government instability, economic setbacks and personal crises,” said Armstrong. “Yet, amid that strife, are men and women who understand that the only way to establish a truly free and prosperous nation is by building a nation based on the foundation of God’s Word and His eternal truth. It has been both eye-opening and sobering to see that even as many in America reject this truth, Ukrainians are making sacrifices in pursuit of it.”

Rohrer continued that Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly confirmed their desire to establish a righteous government free of corruption and bribery, and one that would recognize and protect the basic and inalienable rights granted by God.

To read the entire text of the letter to Volodymyr Gruysman, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, or the parliament of Ukraine, as well as the 40 members of Congress who signed the letter, visit APN’s web site.