Benham Bros: Darkness 'Looming' as Sexual Perversion Escalates; Millennials Must 'Resist'
Conservative Christian brothers and activists Jason and David Benham have warned of the "darkness" looming over society and urged millennials to stand firm against "cultural winds" as sexual perversion continues to sweep the nation.
"When we look at the cultural context, darkness is looming on the global scene, and the pace is incredibly fast," David Benham told The Christian Post during an interview in Nashville, Tennessee, at the National Religious Broadcasters' convention last month. "Two years ago, we weren't dealing with the gender issues we're dealing with now."
The brothers pointed out that in their hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina (the "rhinestone on the buckle of the Bible belt"), schools are utilizing a purple cartoon "gender unicorn" to teach children about sexuality and barring teachers from making any reference to gender.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"The gender unicorn is teaching kids to ask two questions: 'Who do you go to bed with? And 'Who do you go to bed as?'" David explained. "That's sexual orientation and gender identity. If you don't know who you go to bed with, then try it out both ways and see which you prefer. This is the nonsense that's getting pushed aggressively."
Jason Benham acknowledged that in recent years, there have been some "encouraging moves" from a policy standpoint, pointing specifically to the appointment of conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"But we are still seeing the florists and the cake bakers and the photographers who are being forced to participate in the gay pride marches and gay weddings," he said. "Planned Parenthood is still getting taxpayer money, abortion is still happening. The re-definition of gender and boys and girls is still being pushed on our kids."
In a culture obsessed with political correctness, the Benhams are calling on the millennial generation to "reach out and resist" being dictated to by the winds of cultural change.
"Dive deep in the Word of God, and then be willing to stand for your faith," David said. "Don't believe the lies. The winds are going to shift and change. What they're arguing and screaming about today is going to be different tomorrow. The anchor is your relationship with Jesus Christ. Reach out to all individuals with compassion, but resist all agendas with courage."
"That's really what love is," he added. "Millennials need to understand the true definition of love. In Romans 12, love rejoices not in evil but delights in the truth. Matthew 5:11 Jesus said, 'Blessed are you when men persecute you and falsely accuse you.' So when you receive criticism for believing in marriage or the rights of the unborn, you're actually being blessed."
Jason encouraged millennials to approach a relationship with the Lord the same way they would approach their relationship with a spouse.
"If you heard someone bad mouthing your husband you wouldn't just sit quietly. No, you'd stick up for him," he said. "So if they're stomping on God's truth, which means that they're stomping on Him, why would I not say anything? That would be communicating something very devastating to God Himself — that I care more about myself than Him."
The brothers penned their latest book, Miracle in Shreveport: A Memoir of Baseball, Fatherhood, and the Stadium that Launched a Dream, to remind the "discouraged" faith community that God is still at work amid darkness.
"The problem isn't the presence of darkness, it's the absence of light," David told CP. "When you don't see God's hand working behind the scenes and focus on today's culture, you feel despair. But when you know that God is there, that He is faithful, that you can trust Him, and your goal is to be faithful so that your faith intersects with God' faithfulness, you'll see an absolute miracle in your life."
Jason added: "We're hoping that, when people close this book, they'll realize either in their personal lives or when they're looking out into the culture and seeing it's so dark, they can trust that God is doing something amazing. We hope they'll say, 'I have no clue what He's doing, but I totally trust Him.'"
The Benham brothers are no strangers to receiving criticism for their beliefs; in 2014, the twins were famously fired from the HGTV series "Flip It Forward" before it ever aired because of their Biblical views regarding abortion and homosexuality.
Four years later, the backlash hasn't stopped.
"Cosmo, Slate, Huffington Post, Right Wing Watch — all those types of media outlets won't leave us alone," Jason said. "We actually had some production companies — two different ones — reach out to us and put together a pilot and then take it to networks, and networks have kicked back and said, 'If the Benhams are a part of it, we don't want it.'"
"It's very interesting and it all goes back to that situation with HGTV," he continued. "So it has nothing to do with what we've said or believe or how we live our lives, it has everything to do with the narrative that's been framed around us. We are big targets for them and they just want to keep us as quiet as possible."
Still, the continued opposition doesn't necessarily bother them, Jason said, contending that "if you're over the target, you're gonna take some bullets."
"That's exactly where we need to be," he said. "Speaking the truth, speaking it in love, and hopefully our lives are lining up with it, doing it with a smile on our face, and you can't stop it."
