KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After initially pulling an advertisement featuring two women kissing at a same-sex “wedding,” the Hallmark channel announced on Sunday that it was reinstating the commercial and vowed “to better represent the LGBTQ community across our portfolio of brands.” The announcement has ignited a call to boycott Hallmark, with a petition advising the channel that it “will lose viewers if you cave to the LBGTQ agenda.”

“The Crown Media team has been agonizing over this decision as we’ve seen the hurt it has unintentionally caused. Said simply, they believe this was the wrong decision,” Crown Media, which owns both the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Cards, Inc., said in a statement. “We are an inclusive company and have a track record to prove it. We have LGBTQ greeting cards and feature LGBTQ couples in commercials.”

The group One Million Moms had recently launched a petition asking Hallmark to reconsider its airing of a Zola wedding planning advertisement that showed two women locking lips. It also reached out to Crown Media Family Networks CEO Bill Abbott, who advised that the advertisement was an “error.”

Hallmark later told the Associated Press that the commercial was pulled because it posed a “distraction” to the company’s work and that wanted to refrain from causing controversy.

“The debate surrounding these commercials on all sides was distracting from the purpose of our network, which is to provide entertainment value,” Molly Biwer, senior vice president for public affairs and communications, said in a statement.

But some high-profile homosexual advocates soon expressed objection over Hallmark’s move.

“Isn’t it almost 2020? @hallmarkchannel, @billabbottHC … what are you thinking? Please explain. We’re all ears,” tweeted talk show host and lesbian Ellen DeGeneres.

“Shame on @hallmarkchannel! Put the commercials back!” also wrote Star Trek actor William Shatner. “@1milmoms has 4K followers. I have 2.5 million and my friends have more. Who are you going to listen to? They are NOT a majority here. Both me and my followers watch your shows, do they? #loveislove Do the right thing.”

On Sunday, Hallmark announced on its corporate website that it was not only reinstating the ads, but would work with the homosexual advocacy organization GLAAD to make the channel more inclusive of homosexuals.

“Hallmark is, and always has been, committed to diversity and inclusion – both in our workplace as well as the products and experiences we create,” it said. “It is never Hallmark’s intention to be divisive or generate controversy.”

“Hallmark will be working with GLAAD to better represent the LGBTQ community across our portfolio of brands,” the company continued. “The Hallmark Channel will be reaching out to Zola to reestablish our partnership and reinstate the commercials.”

One Million Moms has now called for a boycott of the Hallmark Channel, initiating a second petition that again urges the company to reconsider.

“So many people feel betrayed because this is one of the very last channels that families could go to and not be bombarded with politically correct commercials and LGBTQ agenda,” it opined. “Family entertainment is not the outlet in which to be politically correct by forcing tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality – a sinful lifestyle that Scripture clearly deems as wrong.”

“The culture war, better yet the war for the soul of man, is definitely heating up,” the organization remarked. “1MM will keep fighting because souls are at stake.”

According to reports, Hallmark Cards, Inc. began selling homosexual-themed greeting cards over a decade ago, which likewise resulted in push-back from Christian groups.

The company defends its homosexual themed cards on its website, writing, “Hallmark is proud to be an ally of the LGBTQ community. … Hallmark has gay and lesbian wedding cards, including wedding shower cards, cards with two grooms, and cards for two brides. You’ll also find the cutest new baby congratulations cards for two daddies and two mommies. … Maybe someone you know is needs some extra encouragement with coming out or transitioning — we’ve got you covered for these moments, too.”

As previously reported, while the common argument among those who identify as homosexual is that they were “born that way,” the Bible teaches that all men are in the exact same predicament: All are born with the Adamic sin nature and are therefore “by nature the children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3), having various inherent inclinations that are contrary to the law and will of God and being utterly incapable of changing by themselves (Job 14:4).

It is why Jesus came: to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21) and that they might be “saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9) — taking out of the way for those who are saved both the penalty for, and the power of, sin.

Jesus outlined in John 3:5-7 that men must be regenerated by the second birth, and be transformed from being in Adam to being in Christ, or they cannot see the kingdom of Heaven.

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.'”

This work of the Holy Spirit is known in Christianity as the doctrine of regeneration.

Romans 8:3-8 also explains the dichotomy of flesh and Spirit, “God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”

“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

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