* SEXPO OUTREACH – "Who will rise up for Me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for Me against the workers of iniquity?" Psalm 94:16

When a "Sexpo" was advertised to take place in the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) for the second year in a row, the Christian Action Network launched a campaign to expose and oppose this. Through a vigorous letters to the editor campaign and complaints sent to the Advertising Standards Authority, letters to Acting Mayor Grant Haskin, many phone calls, e-mailings and radio programmes, Taryn Hodgson and Dr. Peter Hammond alerted Christians in Cape Town and sought to mobilise opposition to this outrageous event.

By God's grace, the heavy downpour of rain stopped for most of the duration of the placard demonstration.

Newspapers reported how outraged citizens had defaced a lewd Sexpo billboard on the N2 near the Cape Town airport. Other streetlight Sexpo posters were torn down or had pro-family stickers placed on them. All over town bumper stickers declared: Real men don’t use porn; Pornography ruins a mind, and other pro-family slogans in Afrikaans and Xhosa.

In answer to prayer, this year Sexpo organisers were not allowed to have lewd images on their streetlight posters. Last year, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that Sexpo advertisements used in Durban were unacceptable because they reinforce a stereotype that women, especially provocatively dressed women, primarily serve as 'eye-candy' and should only be regarded as valuable for their sexual potential" and that "the only area of her body focused on effectively reduces her to a sexual object."

On Friday 15 May the Christian Action Network held a placard protest, prayer vigil, literature distribution and personal evangelism outreach at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Demonstrators held placards declaring: Porn exploits women; Porn is the theory – rape is the practice; Pornography fuels crime; Women are not objects; Sexpo = gateway to perversion; Child sexual offenders have ALL used child pornography; Women need protection and respect – ban porn! Execute rapists! and "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36.

In addition to the placard protest and prayer vigil, missionaries of Waymakers and Frontline Fellowship engaged in vigorous literature distribution and personal evangelism of customers entering and exiting the Sexpo and journalists reporting on the protest.

The placard protest attracted much media attention - with news coverage on SABC and e-TV news. Photographs and prominent articles were published in Die Burger and The Weekend Argus. Radio KFM and Radio Tygerberg came and conducted spot interviews with protestors and evangelists at the CTICC. Taryn conducted a total of 15 interviews with the media, and continues to receive invitations from magazines to deal with the subject.

The protestors and evangelists came under some pressure from the CTICC security officials who insisted that they move away from the main entrance to the CTICC. We informed them that we most certainly had a constitutional right to freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the right to protest. They insisted that we were not allowed to be near the entrance. Taryn reminded them that if there are under 15 people (by that stage some of the protesters had split up) then it cannot be considered an official "gathering" according to the Regulation of Gatherings Act. We pointed out that in fact no one was trespassing inside the Convention Centre. We reminded the police that distribution of Gospel literature falls under freedom of religion, and is a constitutional right.

By God’s grace, many hundreds of leaflets warning of the dangers of porn addiction (and giving the Biblical solutions) and Gospel tracts were handed to Sexpo visitors and many evangelistic conversations resulted.

Gail Gregoriades from Livingstone Fellowship spent over 20 minutes sharing her testimony and answering questions and objections about Christianity with a tourist from Switzerland. He left saying he will seriously think about making a commitment to Christ.

After being interviewed by a reporter, Brendon Schafer from Frontline Fellowship asked the reporter if he could ask her a few questions, most importantly, "Where will you spend eternity?"

Pinelands Baptist Church was allowed by the Sexpo organisers to have a free stall inside the event. They handed out copies of the Biblical book "Songs of Songs" and distributed flyers inviting couples to a marriage enrichment course run at their church. Several couples who visited the Sexpo signed up for the course.

"Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." Ephesians 5:11

Contact Africa Christian Action for "How Tos" on asking your local shop manager to remove smutty magazines, complaining to the Advertising Standards Authority and Film and Publications Board, holding outreaches and demonstrations outside porn shops and strip clubs and other resources to help you get your congregation involved in the fight against pornography and prostitution.

* CAUGHT TRYING TO FLUSH ABORTED BABY DOWN TOILET - An angry mob is baying for the blood of a woman who allegedly tried to flush her eight-month-old foetus down a toilet at the Pinetown taxi rank.

It was the efforts of a toilet supervisor Flomina Hlophe that saved the life of the 30- year-old woman from KwaShembe in Cleremont.
Hlophe called police to the scene. Police are investigating whether the foetus of a baby boy was alive at the time of the incident, which happened just after 8am.
Hlophe said when the suspect arrived, there was something strange about her.
"She was walking slowly as if she was sick and carried a plastic bag. Her feet were swollen and there were some blood stains on her legs.
"She entered the toilet and locked herself inside," said Hlophe.
She said when the woman took longer than usual to come out from the toilet, she knocked on the door.
"She said she was still urinating and then I saw blood on the floor and started banging the door, demanding that she opens," Hlophe said.
"When she finally opened the door, blood was all over the toilet.

"We suspected she had committed an abortion and then asked her where the baby was.
"She pointed into the plastic bag. Then other people became angry and wanted to beat her up.
"Some said she should be killed because she had committed murder.
"I asked her to open the plastic bag and then saw the baby covered in blood inside."

The woman told them she had gone to a local traditional healer who gave her some medicine to do an abortion the previous day.
Apparently while she was in the taxi from home to town the "foetus came out and she jumped off the taxi and wrapped it with her jersey and was about to throw him into the toilet when she was caught".
Hlophe then called the police who came to the scene to rescue the woman from the angry crowd.
She was taken to a local police station where she was detained.
Hlophe said a similar incident happened last year when she also found a foetus in the toilets.

Pinetown police spokesperson Inspector Solomon Mbele confirmed the incident.
He said the "traumatised" woman was expected to appear in court today or on Monday.
(Sowetan, 15 May 2009) (to index)

* GOVERNMENT TO FORCE GAY YOUTH WORKERS ON CHURCH, UK - The Government says its new Equality Bill will force churches to accept practising homosexuals or transsexuals in youth worker posts and other similar roles.

Equalities minister Maria Eagle said religious believers should push ‘gay rights’ in their communities, but in the meantime the state would do it.
The move has been met with a strong response from Christian groups who have accused the Government of secular intolerance against the church.

The Bill dramatically narrows exemptions in sexual orientation employment laws which protect the religious liberty of churches and other faith groups.

Under the current law, religious groups can restrict posts to Christians whose private conduct is consistent with the Bible’s teaching on sexual ethics. These posts must be for the purposes of organised religion, which could include jobs like a youth worker.

But under the Equality Bill the Government is specifying that this protection can only apply to posts that mainly involve leading worship or explaining doctrine.
At the weekend, Government equalities minister Maria Eagle said that "while the state would not intervene in narrowly ritual or doctrinal matters" it would tell churches what to do in other areas.
(The Christian Institute, 20 May 2009) (to index)

* PEDOPHILE RINGLEADER WAS TOP ADVISOR TO SCOTTISH GOV’T ON HOMOSEXUALITY AND CHILDREN - A ringleader of a pedophile ring unveiled in Scotland was a top advisor to the Scottish Executive on homosexual issues regarding children, reports the Daily Mail.

LifeSiteNews.com reported Monday that James Rennie, the 38-year-old chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland, was found guilty this month of molesting for four years an infant - beginning when the infant was 3-months-old - whom friends left with Rennie to babysit.

Rennie, who resigned from his position at LGBT Youth following his arrest late last year, lobbied for homosexual issues in the Scottish parliament, and has visited with the Prime Minister of England as "the Executive's most important and influential adviser on gay issues affecting children," according to the Daily Mail.

Among other issues, the group lobbied for adoption to homosexual couples under Rennie's leadership.

Rennie and fellow homosexual activist Neil Strachan, who was found guilty of assaulting an 18-month-old boy he was babysitting on New Year's Eve 2005, are facing maximum sentences of life in prison as the ringleaders of an extensive network of pedophiles.

The two men shared victims and images of the abuse with six other men found guilty in the bust. The group was found guilty last week of over 50 charges, including sex attacks on children, conspiring to abuse children, and possessing and distributing child pornography.
(LifeSiteNews.com, 14 May 2009) (to index)

* PARENTS FIGHT HOMOSEXUAL INDOCTRINATION OF KINDERGARTENERS - A California school district seems intent on teaching pre-school children to accept the homosexual lifestyle.

The Alameda Unified School District announced it was considering a supplemental curriculum to eradicate "homophobia" in kindergarten children. Brad Dacus, founder of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), said the meeting room for the public session earlier this week was overcrowded with angry parents.

"Nowhere at anytime did it give any protection for children being bullied because of their faith, their religion, their size, their race, ethnicity," he points out. "It is only going to give this special anti-bullying protection for homosexuals and transsexuals."

Dacus said an attorney from PJI spoke before the board meeting. "And [the attorney] made it very clear that this is an abridgement and an affront to the neutral role that school districts are supposed to play in respecting the rights of parents and not to engage in such overt and open indoctrination and mandatory acceptance of such controversial, immoral lifestyles," he concludes.

Parents cannot opt out their children from the curriculum. Dacus says it is important to remember that the children are kindergarten age, and many cannot even write their names -- yet they are being taught that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle.
(OneNewsNow.com, 16 May 2009) (to index)

* HELP FREE GAO ZHISHENG – On September 12, 2007, Christian human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng wrote an open letter to the U.S. Congress exposing the brutality of the Communist Party, including the persecution of house church Christians.

Soon after, Gao was kidnapped by Chinese government authorities and tortured for 58 days. Officials threatened to kill him if he ever exposed the details of his torture. Gao Zhisheng refused to be intimidated into silence -- he continued to speak out about human rights abuses by China's ruling Party. Determined to silence him, government officials kidnapped him again on February 4, 2009.

Gao Zhisheng has been repeatedly kidnapped, arrested, imprisoned and tortured by Chinese authorities, because he has defended the persecuted and has been an unyielding voice for justice in the Chinese courts.

ChinaAid together with Mr. Gao's wife and children are deeply concerned about Mr. Gao, and reports from inside China indicate he is experiencing severe torture.

Copies of the "Free Gao" petition with all signatures will be printed and delivered to the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. and the U.S. State Department and will continue until Gao Zhisheng is released.

The contents of the petition reads as follows:

"To the Attention of: Chinese Ambassador Mr. Zhou Wenzhong

Dear Sir:

We are aware that Chinese authorities have detained Christian attorney Gao Zhisheng since February 4, 2009. He was at the home of relatives in his hometown in Shaanxi province when more than a dozen Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers forcibly took him away. He is being held at an undisclosed location.

Gao Zhisheng is a 2008 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Chinese army veteran and prominent Christian attorney. He cares deeply for the nation of China, and is a loyal citizen. Since 2005, Gao has been repeatedly kidnapped, arrested, imprisoned and tortured by Chinese authorities for his work defending those persecuted for their faith. He, his wife and two children have been monitored and tormented by authorities for more than two years.

We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned about Gao Zhisheng's welfare and why he is being detained. This act of arbitrary detention itself is in violation of Chinese law.

We are praying for the leaders of China and formally request that you release Gao Zhisheng immediately. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter."
(Voice of the Martyrs at freegao.com, 31 May 2009) (to index)