The Sons of Sodom Clambering Around Delaney’s Door

An incredible incident that occurs in real life is sometimes described as, "It was like a scene from a movie!"

What has happened since Eamon Delaney put pen to paper for 'The Sunday Independent' (an article published on 30 October 2011) has a distinct resemblance to an infamous event narrated in the Bible.

The biblical parallel is found in Genesis 19:4-9:

"But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, 'Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.'
6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
7 And said, 'I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
9 And they said, 'Stand back.' And they said again, 'This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door."

The written article that precipitated this recent aggression from 'the sons of Sodom' appeared under the heading: ‘Loud And Proud Gays Want To Take Over Rest Of Society.’

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/loud-and-proud-gays-want-to-take-over-rest-of-society-2920975.html

In his article Eamon Delaney argued that the gay rights agenda is overreaching by seeking, for example, a right to marry, to adopt children, and to intimidate opponents into silence.

He stated his view that, “like many, I've recently begun to get impatient with the endless trumpeting of gay 'identity', and the growing appetite for more and more rights and privileges.”

And explained: “Increasingly, it seems as if the homosexual community has forgotten that it is the minority” with its demands for gay marriage, adoption, children’s birth certificates falsified to show two ‘mothers’ or two ‘fathers’ ... .

This one column resulted in an immediate firestorm being directed towards him by incensed homosexuals. Delaney’s column went viral on the internet, recording a stratospheric 13,000 electronic shares - a truly astounding number - and attracting over 500 comments within the space of a week, the vast majority of them adverse.

The homosexual ‘troopers’ then proceeded to glory in the intensity of their firepower.

‘Gaelick,’ a blog maintained by lesbians, took its readers on a conducted tour of the counter articles that lashed vitriol and vile abuse at Delaney’s door. In a topic it hosted on 2 November, ‘It’s the Eamon Delaney round-up!’ a catalogue is provided of authors who pumped out venomous sentences from their keyboards against Delaney:

• Paul Bowler’s blog, which considered Delaney’s column a “truly pernicious” article;

• Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin’s post denounced Delaney’s views as “discriminatory bile”;

• Rachel Barry, Education Officer at Trinity College Students’ Union, made her feelings known in ‘The University Times,’ branding Delaney’s article as a “homophobic diatribe” that was “contradictory, archaic and mostly inaccurate.”

• Rebekah Murphy also fired her riposte ... .

‘Gaelick’ gleefully continued, citing names, linking to and summarising what they said. The writer then enthused over attacks on Delaney’s views that had emanated from other countries:

“Even the LGBT Liberal Democrats in Northern Ireland entered the debate ...

And there’s more: London lesbians are non-plussed into the bargain ...

But there’s even more: From Scotland, James Whyte gives auld Eamon what for ...

Wait! It gets better, still: Eamon Delaney’s stupidity has managed to reach the poor, unsuspecting people of North America ... .”

So, there you have it: a solitary column of mild criticism of gay aggression is sufficient to mobilise multitudes of militant homosexuals, from the British Isles to America.

If this is not moral intimidation, nothing is.

And if we consider the fact that Ireland is in a country which did not even legalise sodomy until 1995, it is disturbing to realise that a mere sixteen years later and righteousness cannot even raise its voice, just like Lot in Sodom.

As the more physical parallel in Genesis 19:4-9 describes: “This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.”


___________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, over in America ...

The sons of Sodom in a decidedly more literal manner ‘pressed sore’ upon a couple of American evangelists who distributed Gospel tracts and preached at Chicago’s ‘Gay Pride’ parade on Sunday, 26 June 2011.

One of those preachers relates the story:

"I went to the parade armed with 500+ tracts and my camera. My prayer was for God to show me what He wanted me to do. Before the parade I passed out some tracts. At the parade I took lots of pictures and video, and passed out a few tracts. The sidewalk and area behind the barriers was packed.

After the parade there was a steady flow of crowd traffic so I started passing out the ‘I Was Gay’ tracts [the testimony of former homosexual Steve Bennett]. I did this for about an hour, and passed out about 300. Many ended up on the sidewalk.

I experienced every form of mockery you could imagine, but only from one or two at a time at the most. At one point two lesbians were circling me and warning others not to take my tracts. One tore up a tract and threw it at me. Another knocked the tracts out of my hand.

Overall the response was excellent. For every negative there had to be at least three positives — those who came up from behind me when I was turned a different direction to ask for a tract, and many who seemed desperate for some kind of hope as they took the tracts. I saw one or two people bend over to pick up the tracts off the sidewalk.

Several engaged me in serious conversation; there were several opportunities to lay out the gospel. Others just wanted to argue and prove I was wrong.

One man came up and asked what I was doing. I explained I was offering good news for homosexuals by the gospel of Christ and I laid out the gospel for him. I asked if he believed it. He said, “Yes,” and asked if he could join me. He said it was better for him to work with someone and that another person with whom he had teamed up with did not work out.

I stopped, removed my hat and we prayed together, acknowledging that God’s Word would never return void.

He proceeded to unroll a big banner and to strap it to a pole with bungee cords. It was a telescoping pole, and suddenly he lifted the banner up into the sky another 6 feet. It was huge.

He started preaching from a format I had learned called the ‘Way of the Master,’ a series with Ray Comfort. This stresses the importance of preaching Law before Grace.

Joe’s approach was loving, clear and direct — a model presentation of the Gospel, beginning with the law and the reality that we have all sinned.

The mood of the place changed suddenly.

First a small crowd gathered around us. Joe continued preaching and the crowd grew in size.

Then several things started happening all at once.

First, I remember a bright lady coming up to me and started telling me that what we were doing was wrong. Gays can’t help being who they are; that’s the way God made them; when you call their actions sin you are condemning them. She had the air of a Pharisee — I suspect in hindsight she was a pastor from one of the churches that defends homosexuality as good.

While talking to her, several things began to occur.

First, I remember the most sinister laughter, mocking and jeering I have ever heard. The crowd despised Joe’s preaching. People from the crowd were yelling out at us and moving closer to us. Someone from a balcony up above us threw some kind of bottle — I think it was plastic – and hit Joe on his left shoulder. Another man came up and tried to light the banner with his cigarette lighter. While trying to do this someone sprayed beer on both of us and another man poured beer on Joe. At about this point it crossed my mind that we might just be casting our pearls before swine.

I also remembered one point when people were taking pictures of the humiliation they were trying to impose [on us]. One guy stuck up his middle finger in front of the banner and I held up the tract next to him so that would be in the picture as well.

Then one of the men got behind Joe and started to make sexual gestures like he wanted to ... [sodomise him]. Then He reached for Joe’s trousers to try to take them off.

At this point I abandoned my conversation with the lady to pull the man away from Joe. It was at about that time that someone knocked the tracts out of my hand. Some one else tried to take the pole and banner away from Joe, and I told him to be strong.

At this point it turned into a wrestling match for the banner. The crowd had evolved into a mob. Several hands were grasping the pole supporting the banner. Then those who did not want us there began pulling the banner and us with it into a recessed area or an alley.

At this point I called 911 … I couldn’t remember where we were, just that we were just north of Belmont. Within a minute or so the police were there and shortly thereafter there were 20-40 police.

... We thanked the senior officer for his help. I told him, “Sometimes God sends His angels to help us; sometimes He sends the police.” He chuckled, we shook hands, and we left on good terms.

The mob clearly ruled the police at this point; our free speech rights were trampled. But that was a peripheral issue for us at this time. Joe’s passion and concern, which he also expressed to the police, was that those who had mistreated him were going to hell; that was his motivation for wanting to continue preaching to a hostile mob.

It was well past my time to reconnect with [other Americans For Truth volunteers] and I felt my time for evangelizing was finished. The thought of evangelizing to assert my free speech rights never occurred to me, and it is, at best, a twisted motive for evangelizing.

Joe and I walked a couple blocks until he had to go a different direction. I thanked him for letting me share in the experience we had there and I hugged him. Suffering together for the Gospel creates a bond that is not easily broken.

This is my story."

Dan Musick

Evidently - and tragically - we are getting ever closer to Genesis 19:4-9 territory.