Benham Bros. say they almost agreed to stop talking about their faith to save HGTV show

David and Jason Benham, the hosts of the now-canceled reality TV program "Flip it Forward" on HGTV, recently recounted that they almost promised the network to stop talking about their Christian beliefs on political issues in an attempt to save their show.

The brothers, whose show was supposed to premiere in the fall of 2014, was canceled after LGBT activists pressured the network not to air the show over their beliefs on marriage and sexuality.

On Saturday, the twins gave a speech at the annual Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, where they encouraged the attendees to take a courageous stand for the Christian principles that are the "bedrock" of family and society even though they might face extreme opposition to it.

At the summit, hosted by the Iowa-based social conservative organization The Family Leader and its president Bob Vander Plaats, David quoted the late chaplain Elton Trueblood, who prophesied prior to his death in 1994 that in the year 2000, Christians will be "a conscious minority surrounded by an arrogant militant paganism." He said that the prediction made by the former Harvard and Standford University chaplain was "spot on."

In 2012, the Benhams hosted a rally in Charlotte in favor of an amendment being considered in their home state of North Carolina that would define marriage only as a union between one man and one woman.

David recounted that it was at that time when Right Wing Watch, a far-left media outlet run by the liberal nonprofit group People for the American Way, ran an article that helped spread the word to the LGBT activist community about their stance on marriage.

Jason noted that the article was published about three months before HGTV made an offer for a six-episode series. When HGTV attorneys found out about the Right Wing Watch article, the brothers were asked whether they were "anti-gay."

He said that he and David wanted to use the show to help bring a revival and make "disciples of the nation."

"If God gets our name out there, that is what we are going to do and I didn't want to lose this platform," Jason said, according to The Christian Post.

Jason recounted that he felt a voice tell him, "You better be careful how you answer this. If you don't answer this the right way, you are going to lose this platform."

He then told the production assistant that he and his brother are not "anti-anything" but "pro-Jesus, which means we are pro-Bible."

Jason narrated that there was no contact from HGTV two weeks after the phone call so they prayed and drafted an email in an attempt to save the show.

In the email, the brothers stated their beliefs and said that they will "never going to back off of them." However, the twins promised to keep quiet about their beliefs when they represent the network in public.

Before sending the email to HGTV, Jason said that they sent the draft to a trusted spiritual mentor who scolded them for saying they will keep quiet about their beliefs.

Jason said that they repented of their "man-pleasing spirit" after being scolded by their mentor.

He explained that God had to "break us and show us that the secret to courage is first recognizing your inner coward and then allowing the Holy Spirit to unleash your inner lion."

"Right now is the time for us to stand up and share these things and it is going to take boldness. But that is a difficult thing often times because we have discovered that courage is contagious. But you know what else is? Cowardice is contagious too," Jason Benham asserted.

"So, when you got one pastor that won't speak on anything, you've got several others that might not and several others and then the congregation. All of sudden, we are not speaking out on these things," he added.