Don Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association and organizer of the "Arlington Group," a coalition of pro-family groups promoting the week-long focus, says aggressive effort on behalf of the traditional view of marriage will abound this week as coalition leaders encourage U.S. citizens who support the biblical standard to become actively involved.

"We're asking our people to contact their congressmen and senators in support of the Federal Marriage Amendment, and we look forward to literally millions of people responding to that," Wildmon says.

Many pro-family leaders feel this effort to preserve what they consider to be the foundation of society may be the most important battle their movement has fought in several decades.

One of the leaders helping to promote this special week is Pastor Darryl Foster of Atlanta, Georgia. As a former homosexual who left that deadly way of life, Foster says he is well aware of the homosexual activists' agenda to redefine marriage to suit their lifestyle. But he contends that nothing the pro-homosexual movement can do will change the truth.

"Same-gender partners only represent two irreconcilable pieces of a broken picture. No matter how beautiful it may seem, it cannot reach the gold standard of God's original intent," Foster says.

The now-married pastor thanks God for his wife, and says he is truly grateful, because what he found in her could never be found in a man. Foster says it was the "ultimate man," Jesus Christ, who led him out of the homosexual lifestyle.

Foster's validation of traditional marriage is echoed by many other spokesmen and spokeswomen in the pro-family movement. As the nation continues its observance of Marriage Protection Week, noted author and pastor Elmer Towns, who along with his wife Ruth has written a number of Christian resources for strengthening the family, says it is vital for believers to take a stand for traditional marriage.

Dr. Towns is dean of the School of Religion at Liberty University. He encourages believers to be bold in their defense of biblical marriage because he feels it is a key stronghold the enemy has targeted in his plot "to attack everything whereby God exercises his influence."

According to Towns, God works through the Church, through Sunday schools, and many other avenues, but particularly through the family. "Satan knows that if he can get to the family, he can undermine all of society," he says.

Towns believes Satan is employing a widespread divide-and-conquer strategy, attempting to divide Christians from the Church, Christians from Christians, and even husbands from wives. "If he can divide, then he can conquer the world," the author says.

The Liberty University theologian and his wife and co-author have been married 50 years. They recently released a new book, a study guide for couples in all stages of their married life called Whom God Has Joined Together: How to Build a Lasting Marriage (Thomas Nelson, 2003).

Towns asserts that defending traditional marriage is essential to the future of America, and he finds it encouraging that the nation is observing Marriage Protection Week. However, he says it is important for Christians to take a stand for the biblical view of marriage throughout the entire year.

© 2003 AgapePress all rights reserved.

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