“The wicked freely parade and prance about while evil is praised throughout the land” (Psalm 12:8).
Photo: Shane Idleman
Almost a year ago, I wrote an article with a similar title when the so-called Reproductive Health Act passed in New York with thunderous applause in the state Senate chamber. I could not believe what I was reading: People actually applauded the slaughtering of children. Was I having a dream . . . a nightmare? Was this real?
Regardless of your political views, we should all be heartbroken at the state of our nation today. For example, by supporting certain candidates, many are cheering that healthy 9-month-old babies can be removed limb-by-limb. You may say, “But I’m not cheering abortion.” If you support those who support it, you are — let that sink in.
You’re also cheering that children can be influenced by transgenderism and be encouraged to change their sex (which is not possible by the way). Cheering that Congress will attempt to remove all male pronouns. The list of insanity that you’re supporting is endless.
Granted, these issues have been in America for years, but there is a huge difference between a politician who encourages perversion and murder, and one who fights against it. And I’m getting very frustrated at those who say, “But the Republicans haven’t done much to stop abortion either.” The reason is that adversaries in the House and Senate have fought for abortion rights. The enemy of our soul has done a great job preventing the shutting down of abortion mills and silencing churches via silent pastors. The view that Republicans haven’t done much is really just an excuse and a straw man argument.
I’m not writing this from a political party standpoint — I’m writing this from a God-fearing standpoint. When human life is devalued, atrocities such as the Holocaust, slavery, sex-trafficking, and abortion occur.God help us when we ignore our calling to confront evil. But how did we get here and what can we do?
The Church Must Be Revived
As I said in my recent sermon and article, both titled, The Great Reset of the Church: In the same way that Jesus warned the lukewarm church in Laodicea, He warns us today: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot . . . So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”(See Revelation 3:15-17.)
I believe that the church in America resembles the Laodicean church more than at any other time in our history. Sadly, conviction is replaced with complacency, and God’s glory is often replaced with gimmicks and marketing ploys. Just look at the top sermons viewed on social media today. The preachers are motivational speakers, not voices “crying in the wilderness.” It’s about being bigger and better instead of holier and humble.
Like many today, the Laodiceans thought that they were in the center of God’s will. They were large, wealthy, and involved in the community. They looked at numbers, but Jesus looked at the heart and said that they were “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” His strong words were meant to convict and challenge, not coddle and comfort. In order to confront the massive cultural shift mentioned above, the church must be revived: “Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?” (Psalm 85:6).
Two Primary Areas of Ungodly Influence
How did we get here? A deathlike, deep slumber, has overtaken the church and God has allowed the complete breakdown of society. The beacon of light has faded, the salt has lost its savor, and the message of the cross has been edited out of most sermons. We have lost our fervor for the truth. Consider the following and how they may have played a role in where we are today — applauding murder and perversion:
The media is influencing the church. The politically correct police are on high alert. You can mention God as long as you don’t mention His absolute truth. You can mention Jesus as long as He was just a good teacher. And you can embrace religion as long as it’s all-inclusive. Pastors are required to be politically correct rather than biblically correct to be accepted. The trend in churches is to be welcoming, but primarily affirming. Sermons are designed to tickle the ear but not convict the heart. God help us.
Additionally, many Christians enjoy programs about the occult, vampires, witches, zombies, illicit sex, and other perversions of the truth. A Christian should not be entertained by darkness. If we are, our heart needs spiritual resuscitation. “If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace” (Romans 8:6).
The church cannot be political . . . unless it’s “politically correct.”I’m often reminded of God’s words to Jeremiah, “I have not sent these pastors but they ran. I have not spoken to them but they spoke. But had they truly stood in My counsel, they would have turned the people from their evil ways” (paraphrasing Jeremiah 23:21). I agree with Leonard Ravenhill here: “We need more prophets in our pulpits and less puppets.” God uses true prophetic voices to confront and convict.
I make no apologies for the controversial content of this article. When we fail to confront, we confirm. When we fail to confront destructive ideas and philosophies, we are, in essence, confirming them. To state the obvious, we become part of the problem. We cannot change what we will not confront.
As I often say, This battle is for the very soul of our nation. It’s our choice — stand or fall. Watch the video on defending the faith here.
Wallace Henley, former Senior Associate Pastor of 2nd Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. | Photo by Scott Belin
Against the backdrop of current events — especially the increasingly frenzied preoccupation with the “reset” of the global order — a sometimes puzzling statement of Jesus becomes clearer: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been treated violently, and violent men take it by force.” (Matthew 11:12 NASB)
The Message paraphrase brings out an important nuance: “For a long time now people have tried to force themselves into God’s Kingdom.”
We are living through an era when people under secular banners are trying to force the coming of the benefits of Christ’s Kingdom and conformity to its high values of love, equality, respect for those unlike us, and caring for the disenfranchised and victims of discrimination.
What’s wrong with this? The answer: Without Christ and the Holy Spirit it is fleshly striving that deteriorates into judgmentalism, legalism, and terrorism.
The violence sparked by agitators, the “cancellation” of resistant people and institutions, the passion of destroyers to kill and maim in the name of their self-sanctified causes we have seen before, many times in history.
This we do not need again.
It is not revolution we need, but transformation. Revolution is force from outside-in, and transitory, requiring armies of czars to sustain it. Few phenomena reveal this as glaringly as the 18th century French Revolution, or China’s 1960s Red Guard movement.
Transformation, however, works from inward to outward. “Conversion,” an inner change of heart, is vital to the movement Christ brings to the world. It is wrought neither by sword nor czar, but by the continuing work of the Holy Spirit within the person. For radical transformation we must have the whole of the Trinity: The heart of the Father, the mind of the Son, and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
Hardly anyone understood this better than Salvation Army founder William Booth, who spoke prophetically in the 19th century when he said,
The chief danger that confronts the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, heaven without hell.
There may be much disagreement about a reset to a globalist vision and policy initiatives, but General Booth described a “reset” that is urgently needed.
In Part 1of this series on the radical church we noted that the word “radical” refers to “roots.” Thus, the reset needed now in churches everywhere is back to their New Testament roots and recovery of their true identity.
I use here the term, “churches” rather than the “The Church” to stress the importance of locality in God’s vision for His gathered people. In the Old Testament God instructs Moses in the construction of the Ark of the Covenant and calls the lid the “Mercy Seat.” “There I will meet with you,” says the Lord. (Exodus 25:22, emphasis added)
God is omnipresent but humans are limited to the strictures of time and space. Therefore, the Omnipresent One must establish a localized point spatially and temporally where He can interact with beings bound to the local. Centuries later the Lord will show Solomon how to construct and order the Temple, and tells him, “I have consecrated this house which you have built, by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there always.” (1 Kings 9:3 NLT)
But Nebuchadnezzar destroys the Temple in 587 BC, it is rebuilt under Herod and dedicated in 164 BC, then demolished under Roman leaders Titus and Pompey in 70 AD.
Where, then, are God’s eyes and heart focused now?
Jesus Christ is born into the world as the Focal Point for God’s engagement with His creation and the beings made in His image that He sovereignly places there. Jesus Christ is the continuation of the Temple ministry. He is the “There” where humans trapped in locality can meet and interact with the Most High God.
Jesus Himself says as much when He is chastised by religious authorities for cleansing the Temple. “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up,”He says. “
What?” they ask in surprise. “It took us forty-six years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days?”
“But when Jesus said, ‘this temple’, He meant His own body,” explains John 2:21-22 (NLT and paraphrase).
Suddenly John 1:14 jumps into view: “The Word became flesh and dwelt (‘tabernacled,’ or ‘pitched His tent’) among us.” And as God’s intense holiness and glory were manifested in the Holy of Holies within the Temple, so, says John, “and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John had also witnessed Christ’s transfiguration, when the outer shell of His human body was temporarily dimmed so that His core disciples could see Him as He really was and is, in the full splendor of His Being.
Jesus Christ is the continuing “meeting place” between God and humans, the “locality” during His incarnation where God’s eyes and heart are continually focused.
Now Jesus’s statement to Simon Peter at Caesarea Philippi becomes clearer, when He gives to the church represented in Peter and all others who make the confession, “You are the Christ (the Messiah), the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16)
The “keys” signify the authority given to Christ’s church to stand against the powers of “Hades,” or Hell. This is a transmission of the same authority that had been localized in the Jerusalem Temple, then localized in the incarnate Christ, then localized and globalized in the worldwide church.
Therefore, churches now must undergo a reset that begins with the ontological and proceeds to the functional.
A woman wears a protective mask as she passes a church on February 8, 2020, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. The number of those who have died from the Wuhan coronavirus, known as 2019-nCoV, in China climbed to 724. | Getty Images
Though religious persecution in China and India is expected to increase in 2021, exposure to the Bible is increasing in North Korea, the world’s most repressive country, according to the annual Persecution Trends survey from Release International.
In its latest report, RI, an international Christian watchdog organization for persecuted Christians worldwide, said that persecution is “thriving” in China and will likely increase in the new year. RI cited the recent passage of tough new laws controlling religion, the shuttering of numerous churches, and the increasing number of registered churches forced to install CCTV cameras and put up posters proclaiming communist ideals and beliefs.
However, the Chinese Communist Party has “bought the silence of the international community” through increased dependence on trade, it said.
“The government of President Xi Jinping is increasing its ‘clean up’ of anything that does not advance the communist agenda. They appear to believe that they can achieve this by systematic opposition,” the group warned.
Corroborating other reports, RI said that China has been exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to tighten restrictions on underground believers. Earlier this year, it was reported that amid the outbreak, impoverished Christian villagers in China were ordered to renounce their faith and replace displays of Jesus with portraits of Chairman Mao and President Xi or risk losing their welfare benefits.
“The Chinese government is trying every way to take advantage of the virus by increasing the crackdown against Christian churches,” said RI partner Bob Fu, of ChinaAid. “It has accelerated particular campaigns, such as the forced removal of crosses.”
The group also predicted that in India, intolerance toward Christians and other religious minorities will continue to grow during 2021, largely due to growing Hindu nationalism. RI noted that incidents targeting Indian Christians have risen steeply since 2014, when Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power. It cited statistics revealing Christians suffered 225 incidents of religiously motivated violence during the first 10 months of 2020, compared to 218 incidents in the same period in 2019. Many of these attacks were by vigilante mobs.
In September 2020, Hindu extremists incited mobs of up to 3,000 people to attack Christians in three villages in Chhattisgarh state.
Thomas Schirrmacher, the newly-appointed head of The World Evangelical Alliance, which represents over 600 million evangelical Christians worldwide, previously told The Christian Post that Hindu supremacism is the driver of much of the persecution in that country.
“Elections are won by the prime minister with this topic: ‘India is for the Hindus,’ and suddenly Muslims and Christians find themselves in a country that clearly wants to get rid of them,” he said. “They promote the idea that an Indian by nature is a Hindu. So if he is not a Hindu, he has been stolen, and must be re-converted.”
“This idea was not on the market 10 years ago, and has led to an increase in discrimination and killings of Indian Christians and other minorities,” he said, adding that Christians in Western countries must “speak up” for those persecuted for their faith.
The report was part of RI’s annual Persecution Trends Survey, which was published in the recent edition of Release International’s Voice magazine. In addition to China and India, RI predicted Malaysia, Iran, Pakistan, Egypt and Nigeria will also face increased persecution in the coming year. Interestingly, the group said that RI partners have been able to double their distribution of Bibles to Christians in North Korea throughout 2020, despite COVID restrictions. According to Open Doors USA, North Korea is ranked No. 1 on its list of countries where it’s most difficult for Christians to live.
“This has been the most creative year we have witnessed in the underground church to date,” the group said. A previous report found that the percentage of North Korean citizens who are exposed to the Bible is steadily increasing every year despite extreme persecution.
Before 2000, only 16 people claimed to have seen a Bible. After 2000, up to 559 North Korean defectors said they had “seen a Bible,” even though religious literature is banned in the isolated country.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers a speech in front of the National Museum during Hungary’s National Day celebrations on March 15, 2019 in Budapest, Hungary. Hungary’s National Day celebrations commemorate the 1848 Hungarian Revolution against the Habsburg monarchy. | Laszlo Balogh/Getty Images
The eastern European nation of Hungary has passed a constitutional amendment that will preserve the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
The Ninth Amendment to the Fundamental Law of Hungary, the country’s equivalent of a constitution, was passed in Parliament last week by a margin of 134-45. The amendment, which was backed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, will amend Section L paragraph (1) of the Fundamental Law to read: “Hungary protects the institution of marriage as the association between a man and a woman and the family as the basis for the survival of a nation. The foundation of the family is marriage and the parent-child relationship. The mother is a woman, the father is a man.”
“The main rule is that only married couples can adopt a child, that is, a man and woman who are married,” said Justice Minister Judit Varga, Reuters reported.
Varga, who sent the amendment to Parliament last month, said it will also work to provide “all children with an education based on the values of the Christian culture of Hungary and guarantees the undisturbed development of the child according to their gender at birth,” Hungary Today noted.
“The Fundamental Law of Hungary is a living framework that expresses the will of the nation, the form in which we want to live,” Varga wrote in the justification section of the bill. “However, the ‘modern’ set of ideas that make all traditional values, including the two sexes, relative is a growing concern.”
“The constant threat to the natural laws of the forms and content of human communities, to the concepts arising from the order of Creation that harmonize with them and ensure the survival of communities, and, in some cases, the attempt to formulate them with a content contrary to the original raises doubts as to whether the interests, rights and well-being of future generations can be protected along the lines of the values of the Fundamental Law,” she added.
The passage of the Ninth Amendment comes less than a year after Parliament voted in favor of a measure that defines gender as “biological sex based on primary sex characteristics and chromosomes.” Like the measure preserving the traditional definition of sex, the Ninth Amendment faced strong pushback from LGBT advocacy groups.
“This is a dark day for Hungary’s LGBTQ community and a dark day for human rights,”said David Vig, director of Amnesty Hungary. “These discriminatory, homophobic and transphobic new laws — rushed through under the cover of the coronavirus pandemic — are just the latest attack on LGBTQ people by Hungarian authorities.”
The government of Hungary, led by Orban, has worked to uphold the influence of Christianity on its laws and culture as much of the rest of Europe continues to become more secular. Orban previously described Christianity as “Europe’s last hope.”
Hungary was one of the 31 other countries that joined the U.S. in signing the Geneva Consensus Declaration, which asserts that “there is no international right to abortion.” Rather than rely on immigration to counteract the country’s declining birth rates, the Hungarian government implemented pro-family policies designed to incentivize people to have children.
The United States tried and failed to pass the Marriage Protection Amendment, which would have enshrined the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman into the U.S. Constitution, in 2006. At the time, several states had passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage in response to a Massachusetts Supreme Court decision finding a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
Less than a decade later, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the constitutional amendments, declaring that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right in the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision. Of the 29 countries that have legalized same-sex marriage, more than half of them are in Europe.
Many churches across the U.S. are scrambling in the wake of COVID-19 because they’ve focused solely on worship instead of other aspects of ministry, Pastor Rick Warren of the California-based Saddleback Church has said.
“COVID revealed a fundamental weakness in the Church,” the pastor recently told Relevant magazine in an interview. “Most churches only have one purpose: worship. And if you take worship away, you’ve got nothing. They’re in a hurry to get back to worship because that’s all they’ve got.”
But the 20,000-member Saddleback Church is built not on one purpose, but on five,” Warren explained.
“You take one circle out, we’ve still got four other circles. We’ve got ministry going on. We’ve got mission going on. We’ve got fellowship going on. We’ve got discipleship going on. Those all stand on their own.”
As a result, removing worship didn’t shut the church down, The Purpose Driven Life author contended. In fact, Saddleback’s seen over 16,000 people come to Christ since March — and is continuing to see about 80 new conversions a day.
“We’re in revival,” he said.
When the pandemic first hit, Saddleback’s leadership “looked around and made a list of all the different problems that COVID was creating,” and then met those needs.
“For instance, the first one was food,” Warren said, adding that Saddleback partnered with every school district in Orange County to develop “food pantry pop-ups.” Now, the church is the largest food distributor in Southern California,” having served over 3.5 million pounds of food to over 300,000 families.
“We teach our people that every member of the church is a minister,” Warren said. “Everybody’s a missionary too. You’re a witness. Those people already know how to share their faith. When people would pull up they’d talk to them about the Lord.”
“Of those 16,000 people who have come to Christ, over 12,000 of them have come through personal, one-on-one witnessing by my members. Not led to Christ by my sermons. By one-on-one evangelizing.”
Though California’s strict limits on church attendance during the pandemic have angered churches across the state, Warren stressed that he doesn’t believe places of worship are being discriminated against.
“They might have a discrimination case if theaters weren’t closed, football games weren’t closed … But they are,” he added. “We’re not being discriminated against. This is a safety issue. Regal Cinemas closed down 650 theaters. Disney laid off 28,000 people. We’re not being discriminated against.”
Suggesting that “some churches are willing to gamble the health of their people,” Warren said he is not.
“The good shepherd prays for his sheep, cares for his sheep. One day I will be responsible. I don’t want to be a super-spreader. I’m not doing this out of fear; I’m doing this out of love. You wear a mask for love your neighbors, yourself.”
Researcher Warren Bird, president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, previously told The Christian Post that as the COVID-19 pandemic fades away, the churches that “do small groups well” will most likely be “stronger” than those that do not.
“In light of the pandemic, so much of church health today depends on a vibrant, small group system underneath the big gatherings, whether they’re in person or online,” he said.
“Much like in the pandemic, the churches that are most threatened are those with preexisting health conditions,” Bird explained. “The churches that are going to have the hardest time re-surfacing will be ones that depended solely on the Sunday morning gathering. They will have a hard time re-gathering, rebuilding momentum, and reestablishing their mission as a church.”
As many as one in five churches could permanently close due to shutdowns stemming from the pandemic, David Kinnaman, president of the prominent Christian research organization Barna Group, recently said.
As time passes, Kinnaman said that “we’ll look back at this pandemic as a fundamental change to the way Americans” handled church attendance.
Exponential CEO Todd Wilson recently said that “what is church” is “going to become “one of the key questions coming out of COVID,” as the digital way many are currently worshiping is “more of a missionary impulse for evangelism.”
“Personally, I’m predicting it’s going to become more of a debate, not less, as we move into the future,” he said. “It seems like the new normal is going to involve greater digital than pre-COVID. … All of a sudden, churches are going to think about, ‘Why do I even have a physical building? Why do I need it? Why not be completely digital?’”
“At some point, we’ve got to go through that question of, ‘What, physically, is church?”
Christian mourners at the burial site of the Rev. Alubara Audu who was killed by jihadist herdsmen at Buda, Kajuru in Kaduna state, Nigeria, in September 2020. | Emeka Umeagbalasi
When radical Islamists murder Christians in Nigeria, the government lists their deaths as having other causes, according to new report released by Nigeria’sInternational Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law. The newly-released report indicates that deaths which the Nigerian government describes as random banditry or inter-tribal violence, actually result from radical Islamists attacking Christians, said Intersociety leader and founder Emeka Umeagbalasi.
Since 2009, 34,400 Christians have been murdered by radical Islamists, with 2,200 slain in the last year, the report says. Radical Muslims have also killed an estimated 20,000 moderate Muslims.
” … the most dangerous dimension to radical Islamism in Nigeria is its secret rise and spread and clandestine control of state power through Fulani Jihadism. In other words, the Nigerian Government’s major local and foreign policy direction, in clandestine practice, is ‘Fulani Jihadism’ — a policy pursued with utter alacrity and through different colors and disguises including pro-jihadist or radical Islamic policies and conducts. To cover up these, the present Nigerian government has also created an international machinery of falsehood and propaganda with well-funded or oiled international lobbying campaigns targeted at misinforming and misleading key and strategic international legislative, diplomatic and democratic institutions or bodies especially the EU, U.S., U.K. and Australia and their Parliaments; the Commonwealth and the U.N. and other internationally respected state and non-state actors,” the report states, in part.
“What the government here is doing is mapping out strategies. [It’s] a kind of script that’s given to media, local media and what have you,” Umeagbalasi said.
According to Umeagbalasi, Nigeria’s government tells media that Fulani tribe herdsmen travel south fleeing desertification and kill during conflicts with local farmers. The truth is that Fulani tribesmen travel south because they are radical Islamists looking for Christians to kill.They don’t attack Muslim villages, and traditional cattle-grazing methods don’t support enough cows to justify fatal conflicts with farmers.
The Nigerian government hides these attacks because it supports radical Islamists, Umeagbalasi asserted. President Muhammadu Buhari is a Muslim. He is also a member of the Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, which supports radical Islamic tribesmen, he added.
“Buhari sets aside the Constitution. He makes appointments without recourse to the Constitution,” Umeagbalasi continued. “In the Constitution, it is forbidden for the government to have a state religion. The Constitution made it clear that the composition of the armed forces of Nigeria should reflect regional or religious balancing, but the president is not listening to that.”
Instead, Buhari stacks the government with Muslims in positions of high authority, the Intersociety report said. Since Buhari’s 2015 election, Muslims have occupied 32 of the most important 39 positions in politics, security, lawmaking and the judiciary, even though Nigeria has even numbers of Muslims and Christians.
In June, five of Nigeria’s major Islamic groups made an alliance with each other to rise up against Christians. The killings of Christians in Nigeria aren’t random acts of violence, but a calculated attempt to conquer Nigeria for Islam, Umeagbalasi claims.
“The country is being taken over by the caliphate,” he said. “When they are done in the north, they will now come to the south.”
In response to the rise in attacks, Nigeria’s government has done little or nothing, the report says. They consistently under-report casualties of Christians. Sometimes, the government buries murdered Christians using Muslim funeral rites in an attempt to convince the world that Christians aren’t under attack.
“The Government of Nigeria clandestinely will direct the Army Commander or Commissioner of Police in charge of the incident area to organize a press conference denying the killing or linking it falsely to another cause such as ‘attack by bandits’ or ‘rival communal violence’ or ‘killing associated with kingship/chieftaincy/intra communal violence’ or ‘reprisal violence’ or ‘cult-related killing,’ or ‘killing arising from armed robbery and kidnapping,’ or ‘road accidents,’” the report reads.
Rather than sending the military or police to defeat heavily armed terrorists, the Nigerian government orders its forces to stand down and retreat if fired on, said Umeagbalasi. In some cases, the Nigerian Army allegedly participate in the killing of Christians. Some Christians in the Army told him that commanders who tell their soldiers to fight terrorists get transferred to assignments where they can’t make the country safer.
“There is a security code given to Nigerian armies not to shoot or arrest Fulani hitmen,” Umeagbalasi said. “Christian Army leaders drew my attention to it. The soldiers said there was an instruction from the president [that] nobody should shoot. If you are under attack, you should retreat.”
Andrew Brunson speaks at a U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom hearing on religious freedom issues in Turkey at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., on June 27, 2019. | The Christian Post
American pastor Andrew Brunson, who was imprisoned for his faith in Turkey for two years, predicted that persecution of Christians in the United States will intensify due to “hostility toward people who embrace Jesus Christ and His teaching.”
“The pressures that we’re seeing in our country now are going to increase, and one of these pressures is going to be hostility toward people who embrace Jesus Christ and His teaching, who are not ashamed to stand for Him,” Brunson said during a virtual event, called “Global Prayer for U.S. Election Integrity.”
“On my return to the U.S. just over two years ago, for the first time in my life … most of my life I’ve been focused overseas … I really, I have an urgency for this country, for the United States, and not just with this election,” continued Brunson, a Christian missionary who lived in Turkey for more than 20 years. “It’s not precipitated by this election, but it has been growing in me these last two years.”
He said his concern is that “we’re not ready for this pressure,” and warned that “not being prepared is very, very dangerous on a number of levels.”
“Whoever ends up prevailing in this election, I believe that persecution is still coming and it’s coming quickly and it’s coming soon. So if President Trump prevails, it will delay persecution at a government level, but this will not keep us from the hostility that’s rising in our society toward followers of Jesus,” he warned. “And I want to mention here that Jesus was the most loving, kind person in history, and yet He was called evil and people are not going to just disagree with us.
“They will say that we are evil and they will justify everything they do to us because they will paint us as evil people. What is heavy on my heart is that we need to prepare ourselves to prepare our own hearts.”
Pastor Brunson, who was taken into custody by Turkish officials along with his wife, Norine, in October 2016, said he thinks “one of the purposes God had for me in my imprisonment was that I learned perseverance at a deeper level again and again and again, as I was repeatedly broken and finally He rebuilt me.”
He added that helping prepare others to persevere was also one of the purposes.
The Facebook event was part of a series of special live prayer events for election integrity and against election fraud, the organizers said.
In Turkey, Norine was released soon after, but Brunson was thrown in prison, accused of plotting to overthrow Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. Following two years in detention, Brunson was released last October after the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the country.
Brunson shared details about his imprisonment in Turkey, revealing he experienced a crisis of faith while in detention. “I was actually very afraid,” he admitted. “The issue, actually, is what we do when we’re afraid. There are things to be afraid of.”
The pastor also warned in March that being a Christian in the U.S. might soon come with great personal risk with the culture becoming increasingly “hostile” to believers.
“There is a price to following Jesus. There is a price in other countries. We hear about that. But increasingly, I think that there will be a price to be paid here,” he told hundreds gathered at the National Religious Broadcasters Christian Media Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, at the time.
“It is normal to be afraid. The issue is, will you stand in spite of your fear? Will you remain faithful? In the end, people are going to pay a price for the sake of the Gospel. Overseas, yes, but also here … there is a cost to following Jesus.”
Pastor John MacArthur announced during the Shepherd’s Conference held earlier this month that next year’s conference will include a summit on biblical inerrancy. Photo taken March 7, 2014. | Grace Community Church
Grace Community Church Pastor John MacArthur has warned that today’s world is “perfectly suited for the Antichrist to come” amid the chaos and “lawlessness” stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
MacArthur, whose Sun Valley, California-based church has repeatedly sparred with authorities over COVID-19 worship restrictions, said on Sunday that world governments “have done something that’s never been done in human history” by making the pandemic issue and the response “global.”
“Now we are a global world. And that is a setup that we’ve been waiting for through redemptive history since the Lord promised that there would come, in the future, an Antichrist who would have a global government,” the 81-year-old pastor said.
“We literally have such power over people globally that we can shut them down so they can’t function,” he said.
“This suits the world of Antichrist. As you look at the book of Revelation, there’s the mark of the beast, the number, and if you don’t have that, you don’t buy, you don’t sell, you don’t exist. Everything about you, they know — the people who have access to all your data. They know all of it. You can go out of existence virtually any moment [and] somebody decides that. This is the kind of world that appears to be perfectly suited for the Antichrist to come, bring a certain amount of peace, [and] the world falls at his feet.”
MacArthur, who also runs a syndicated Christian teaching radio and television program, described the Antichrist as the “instrument of Satan,” adding: “And of course, all hell breaks loose, and in that time of the Great Tribulation, God’s judgment comes, at the end of which Christ returns.”
The pastor said that while he’s not predicting that “the Lord is coming soon,” the unrest seen today reflect those prophesied in Scripture.
“The Bible says in the End Times there will be lawlessness. And there is lawlessness [today] and an escalating lawlessness and an effort to create more lawlessness by taking restraints away,” he said. “This is a world that could find itself in such absolute chaos that the right satanic leader who promises to fix everything could be given the title of king of the world. That Antichrist, aided by the false prophet, is what we see in the book of Revelation.
“We have the kind of weaponry that could destroy a third of the population, a fourth of the population, as you see in the book of Revelation,” he continued. “We have the kind of technology that can literally erase people out of existence. So, it’s just up to us to be sure that we’re looking at the signs of the times.”
MacArthur and his megachurch have made headlines in recent months after the church decided to resume in-person services in violation of California’s ongoing public health and court orders.
“I’ve been here 50 years; the church is 63 years old, and this church has never had any kind of mandate from the government to close,” MacArthur said in an interview with Billy Hallowell in August. “So when they came up with this mandate it seemed to be so rare and so unusual that we were listening.”
Upon hearing dire predictions about the death toll, MacArthur said it was “enough to make anybody with common sense” pause and take steps to ensure no one was endangered. The church initially moved to a live stream model and closed down in-person services — but within a few weeks, MacArthur said parishioners started showing up again.
Despite facing the prospect of fines and the threat of jail time as a result of his refusal to comply with coronavirus regulations, MacArthur has maintained that it’s the church’s biblical responsibility to stay open and hold worship services.
“Of course, my biblical hero apart from the Lord Jesus Christ is the Apostle Paul,” MacArthur said in September. “And when he went into a town he didn’t ask what the hotel was like. He asked what the jail was like because he knew that’s where he was going to spend his time.”
“So I don’t mind being a little apostolic — if they want to tuck me into jail, I’m open for a jail ministry,” he continued. “I’ve done a lot of other ministries and haven’t had the opportunity to do that one. So bring it on.”
Churches across the U.S. have grappled with how to operate amid ever-changing circumstances presented by state government lockdowns in response to COVID-19.
Ed Young, founding and senior pastor of Fellowship Church, told The Christian Post that the spiritual ramifications of refusing to meet outweigh the hype of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Look at our culture. There is so much going on right now spiritually, especially among young people facing depression, anxiety, and attempting suicide,” Young, who leads the evangelical megachurch in Grapevine, Texas, said. “I have counted the cost of not opening our church versus opening, and I believe that risk and faith go hand in hand. It’s critical to reopen churches.”
But Christian geneticist and U.S. National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins recently advised most churches to postpone in-person services due to COVID-19 until at least summer 2021, when most Americans are expected to have had the opportunity to get vaccinated.
“I know people are tired of hearing these messages and having to be acting upon them, but the virus does not care that we are tired. The virus is having a wonderful time right now spreading through this country, taking advantage of circumstances where people have let their guard go down. We need to be just absolutely rigorously adherent to things that we know work. But they don’t work unless everybody actually sticks to them faithfully without exception,” Collins said.
“Churches gathering in person is a source of considerable concern and has certainly been an instance where superspreading has happened and could happen again. So I think most churches really ought to be advised, if they are not already doing so, to go to remote, virtual kinds of services. That’s the way I’m having my experiences as a churchgoer,” he said.
The Supreme Court’s ruling last Wednesday against discriminatory targeting of religious groups with COVID-19 restrictions marked a significant victory in the ongoing battle to preserve religious liberty. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, hostile stakeholders in public office have assaulted the first freedom through superciliously labeling religious services “nonessential.” Christians in much of the country now find themselves in the demeaning and intolerable position of being allowed to worship only in the manner and on terms dictated by politically motivated governors.
Respecting authorities’ claims about an unknown disease made sense early in the outbreak, but now after better scientific information shows many initial fears are false. Yet politicians refuse to come clean while ignoring their own rules forbidding us from fulfilling our Christian duties. So it is time for us once again to assert that church is the most essential activity, period. Instead of valiantly fighting in the vanguard, however, many religious leaders have quickly retreated.
It is one thing for a church leader to prayerfully consider the individual needs of his church, striving to maintain unity among members in disagreements, protecting the health of the vulnerable, and offering stability amid uncertainty. It is quite another for shepherds to forsake the assembling of their flocks and enable the propaganda that congregating freely to worship God is selfish and “could kill grandma.” This unbiblical stance also overlooks the hypocrites in public office and the media who don’t even play by their own silly rules and ignore the data, for much lesser purposes than the health of our souls.
Many such religious leaders are neglecting the soul-saving mission of the church. The notion that being a good Christian requires indefinite cessation of communal worship — and for Catholics, the suspension of the sacraments — to prevent the spread of illness is a falsehood that has confused the faithful and undermined religious freedom.
Supreme Court Upholds Religious Liberty
In the case brought by the Orthodox Jewish group Agudath Israel of America and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Supreme Court held that “the restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty.” In a concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch posed a pertinent rhetorical question: “Who knew that public health would so perfectly align with secular convenience?”
Gorsuch held that “the only explanation for treating religious places differently seems to be a judgment that what happens there just isn’t as ‘essential’ as what happens in secular spaces.” He warned that “in too many places, for far too long, our first freedom has fallen on deaf ears.”
For several months now, elected officials and many church leaders around the country have flagrantly ignored religious liberty. States such as California, Oregon, and Washington have witnessed a new wave of post-election crackdowns on religious services. In San Diego County, churches are currently prohibited from holding indoor services. Meanwhile, a San Diego court just issued a temporary order exempting coronavirus restrictions from applying to a strip club, ruling that such entertainment constitutes “constitutionally protected speech.”
In Oregon, new restrictions limit faith-based gatherings to a maximum of 25 people regardless of church size but allow businesses to continue operating at a reduced percentage of their total capacity. Archbishop of Portland Alexander Sample rightly argued that allowing a measly 25 worshipers in a cathedral that can seat 1,000 isn’t data-driven and doesn’t make sense.
The Church Is Essential
I expressed concern back in May about politicians labeling religious services “nonessential” and allowing the state to determine on what terms churches can hold services. At that time, Washington bishops effectively thumbed their noses at President Trump for declaring that state governments should allow houses of worship to reopen.
The bishops instead hitched their wagon to Gov. Jay Inslee’s rogue horse. Hence six months down the road, Inslee again targeted Washington churches as part of his latest round of arbitrary fiats. Church capacity is reduced to 25 percent, and congregational and choral singing is prohibited.
Meanwhile, the very authorities who tut-tut and wag fingers clearly don’t adhere to or believe in the merits of their own nonsense rules. Sanctimonious public officeholders have lectured us about keeping business closed, taking unemployment on the chin, staying home, and wearing masks while they visit salons, attend private dinners, and jet off out of state for holidays with family. The duplicity of notorious mask shamers such as CNN’s Chris Cuomo and White House correspondents Kaitlan Collins and Jonathan Karl has similarly been on display.
The hypocrisy is not limited to the secular sphere. Pope Francis condemned peaceful lockdown protests despite the World Health Organization’s warning against using lockdowns as the primary means of controlling the virus. Francis believes that closing churches, businesses, and schools, and forcing people out of work are all “necessary for people’s protection.” He has even canceled public celebration of Christmas liturgies at the Vatican.
Yet Francis didn’t appear particularly worried about Wuhan virus transmission when, free from any semblance of social distancing and masks, he enjoyed a cozy chat about poverty and social justice with a group of handsomely paid NBA players and fellow pals of the Chinese Communist Party. Evidently, on protecting the freedom to assemble, to provide for one’s family, and even to freely worship, government-imposed restrictions are non-negotiable, but when it’s about racial and economic politics, the holy grail of neo-Marxists, lockdowns are a suggestion only.
Against this backdrop, Christians should be prepared for the usual suspects in public office and the press, facilitated by an array of religious leaders, to crack down on Christmas celebrations. We will no doubt hear more of the “we do this not out of fear but out of love” mantra. Given, however, that the survival rate is 94.6 percent for those 70 years and older and between 99.5-99.997 percent for those 69 and younger, rapid breakthroughs in therapeutics have been announced, three reportedly effective vaccines are on the way, and government authorities are flouting their own restrictions, the “love thy neighbor”lecture is becoming as tedious as it is false.
Christians Need Church to Obey God’s Commands
The Gospels tell us the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. We cannot fulfill the second greatest commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves if that love is not solidly founded in an encounter with God. This means gathering with the faithful in sung praise and thanksgiving, as we read in Psalms and was the custom from the earliest church, as well as explicitly commanded in scripture.
The Greek word for church, “ekklesia,” comes from the Old Testament and originally referred to the assembly of the people of Israel. When St. Paul first used the term, he intended it as the new community of believers in Christ. This “ekklesia” is not a human association borne of common interests and beliefs but a summoning by God himself.
For Catholics, the encounter with God is achieved even more profoundly through the sacrament of the Eucharist. Jesus is literally and wholly present — body and blood, soul and divinity — under the appearances of consecrated bread and wine. Whatever way you look at it, religious services are essential, and church leaders should say so.
Religious leaders must get their priorities straight. No doubt, pastors are genuinely concerned for the health of the most vulnerable in their communities and trying to accommodate the confusion and fears of their congregants. Some must feel their hands are tied by unsupportive leadership. Still others, I suspect, find themselves effectively cornered by congregants whose political indoctrination runs deeper than their catechesis.
Nevertheless, the role of preachers is to win souls for Christ, not to protect us or themselves from physical infirmity. St. Paul urges a return to God through Christ and cautions against domination by earthly pleasures and preoccupations. In other words, if, as St. Ambrose of Milan taught, we have a wound to heal, Christ is the doctor; if we are parched by fever, he is the spring; if we fear death, he is life; and if we are in darkness, he is light.
After a dismal year, and in sober anticipation of Joe Biden’s threatened “dark winter,” it is more important than ever for Christians to unite in praise of the Light that shines in the darkness and which the darkness has never put out. We should demand that our religious leaders mark the Nativity with fitting pomp and ceremony and refuse to support churches whose pastors spread or cower behind the lie that the celebration of Christmas is nonessential.
ABOUT TYHE AUTHOR:
Carina Benton is a native Australian living in Washington state. She is a practicing Catholic and has taught for many years in Catholic and Christian schools. She is a mother of two young children.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un attends a welcoming ceremony and review an honor guard at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on March 1, 2019. | MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP via Getty Images
The percentage of North Korean citizens who are exposed to the Bible is steadily increasing every year despite extreme persecution, according to a new report that investigates and analyzes the conditions of religious freedom in the Hermit Kingdom.
The annual White Paper on Religious Freedom in North Korea from The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights found that the number of North Koreans who responded that “they have an experience of seeing the Bible” increased by 4% each year since 2000.
Before 2000, only 16 people claimed to have seen a Bible. After 2000, up to 559 North Korean defectors said they had “seen a Bible,” even though religious literature is banned in the isolated country.
Despite limited data, NKDB began its survey on religious persecution in 2007. For this year’s survey, the group collected information from 1,234 people and 1,411 cases of religious persecution. The latest report found that the number of respondents who testified on the ban of religious activities remained the same between 2007 and 2020.
When asked about the level of punishment for religious activities in the country, 46.7% of the respondents answered they have to go to prison camps. About 38.6% of respondents said that they did not know about punishments since they knew nothing about religion.
According to the Center, religious persecution has increased after leader Kim Jong Un issued an order in April 2014 to “arrest people who had contacts with Christianity.” Since then, security forces have actively searched for religious adherents — even in inner China. Employees of the National Security Department, Reconnaissance General Bureau, and the Embassy in China are mobilized to arrest people who have contacted Christianity, the report says.
The report also shared testimonies of several North Korean defectors. One defector who lives in South Korea recounted the story of an unidentified acquaintance who was killed for her Christian faith.
“When we were living [in North Korea], we did not know she was practicing religion. However, when I came back home, I heard she was killed,” the defector recounted.
“When I asked why she died, I was told she was arrested alone whereas the whole family left the town as they were practicing religion. I heard she was suffering and prayed until the point she died. She believed in Christianity. I heard she believed in God. She was investigated in the provincial political security department, and I heard they hit her until she shed excrement. I heard they dried her out to death as not giving her a drop of water. I heard she died after suffering like a dog.”
The NKDB report corroborates previous accounts of the religious freedom restrictions in North Korea, which is ranked as the worst persecutor of Christians in the world on Open Door USA’s World Watch List.
A recent report from the London-based Korea Future Initiative identified more than 200 Christians punished for crimes, including religious practice, religious activities in China, possessing religious items, contact with religious persons, attending a place of worship, and sharing religious beliefs. In several cases, prisoners found with a Bible or religious pamphlets were executed by a firing squad, while others were locked in electrified cages and fed watery soup. Others were executed for smuggling Bible pages into the country from China for North Koreans to make prayer books. In one instance, a victim found in possession of a Bible was publicly executed in front of over 1,000 people. The victim was tied to a wooden stake and executed by an MPS firing squad. One witness told KFI, “I saw the flesh fall off. That is how close I was.”
Torture techniques in North Korea
Another man, who had converted to Christianity, was allegedly forced into a metal cage that was just 3 feet high and 4 feet wide.
“There were steel bars on all four-sides that were heated with electricity,” he told KFI. “Usually prisoners lasted only three or four hours in the cage, but I sat there for 12 hours and prayed. I kept praying to God to save me.”
The man eventually soiled himself and passed out before being beaten by guards, leaving him with severe injuries.
Pastor Eric Foley of Voice of the Martyrs Korea, who is awaiting charges for launching Bible balloons into North Korea, said that despite the crackdown on religion, “God is finding ways to get Bibles into North Korea.”
“We’re amazed at the avenues He’s opening,” he said. “Please pray that continues. Pray that God is glorified.”
Christian leader facing charges for launching Bibles into North Korea asks for prayers
People look toward the north through a barbed-wire fence near the militarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, December 21, 2017. | Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji
Pastor Eric Foley of Voice of the Martyrs Korea has asked the international community of believers to pray as he awaits charges for launching Bible balloons into North Korea. Last week, South Korean police recommended that prosecutors charge Foley, who has launched balloons carrying Bibles into North Korea for the last 15 years, on three counts, Mission Network News reports.
“One [count] is related to the violation of an inter-Korean exchange law. [This] is a law that regulates commerce between North and South Korea; anything you might be trying to sell from South Korea to North Korea would need to be pre-approved by the government,” Foley explained.
The second charge relates to national security. “These are laws designed for natural disaster management,” Foley said, “but now they’re being related to balloon launching with a charge that our activity created a national threat to Korea.”
Finally, “the third charge that will come out is one related to the use of high-pressure gas,” Foley added.
In June, South Korean police began cracking down on balloon launches following threats from North Korea. The announcement came after Kim Yo Jong — sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — said balloon senders were “human scum” and threatened to scrap a no-hostility military pact and shut down the North-South liaison office, among other threats.
Since then, Foley, who has been sending the Gospel to North Korea as part of a promise he made to underground North Korean Christians in 2003, has faced increasing harassment for his work. World Magazine reports that in addition to investigating Foley for his work, they have blocked the pastor’s car from reaching the launch site and placed the Voice of the Martyrs Korea leaders’ homes and office under surveillance.
This summer, the Ministry of Unification began investigating 89 groups that address North Korean human rights issues or provide aid to defectors. Three groups, VOM Korea included, have received most of the authorities’ attention.
In July, the Ministry of Unification revoked the nongovernmental organization’s status of the other two groups — Fighters for a Free North Korea and Kuen Saem — claiming they are “seriously hindering the unification policy of the government.”
“We are the only ones that do Bibles,” Foley told MNN. “The other two launchers do flyers that are primarily focused on news events, and too often can be a political commentary on the situation in North Korea because North Korean defectors run both those organizations.”
While two of the groups mentioned above face additional charges related to embezzlement and mismanagement of donations, “we’re not charged with anything related to donations or fraud,” Foley said.
“We’re making a testimony that Christian organizations are different than political organizations. We act differently. We show respect for authority; we follow a higher standard in our current accounting practices.”
Foley explained that police recommending the charges “guarantees” that he will be charged, adding: “it’s just a question of when. Could be tomorrow, could be next week, could be next month; we don’t know.”
“Our case asks, ‘[Should] launching Bible balloons, which has been legal up until this point in time, be considered illegal not just going forward, but related to past launches?” Foley said.
“For 15 years, we’ve had a good relationship with the authorities. We’ve had police, military, even the intelligence services present at all of our launches. This year in a couple of launches, I asked the police, ‘is this illegal?’ And the police responded, ‘well, no, you just can’t do it here in this location,’” he continued.
VOM Korea has so far sent 600,000 Bibles into North Korea by balloon and other methods. World Magazine notes that the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights found that in 2000, nearly 0% of North Koreans said they’d seen a Bible. However, just 16 years later, the number had risen to 8%.
As he awaits charges, Foley has asked Christians to pray that despite the crackdown, the Gospel will continue to reach those in the hermit kingdom, which is ranked as the worst persecutor of Christians in the world on Open Doors USA’s World Watch List.
“The prayer that God will bring glory to His name is already being met; people see that there’s something different about Christians,” he said. “The other prayer is that God would use each of the Bibles that we have for His purpose.’
“God is finding ways to get Bibles into North Korea. We’re amazed at the avenues He’s opening. Please pray that continues. Pray that God is glorified.”
BELOW ARE ACTUAL PICTURES OF NORTH KOREA TORTURE USED ON CHRISTIANS
The North Korean official is bending the fingers backwards until they break.
Pastor Rob McCoy speaks at Godspeak Calvary Chapel in California, Aug. 23, 2020. | YouTube/Godspeak Calvary Chapel
A new survey reveals that the American public is much more accepting of churches defying coronavirus lockdowns than they were when the pandemic first broke out in March.
Paul Djupe, an affiliated scholar with the Public Religion Research Institute, and Ryan Burge, a political science professor at Eastern Illinois University, collaborated on a survey asking 1,750 Americans for their views about the coronavirus pandemic in October. They had previously collaborated on a coronavirus-related survey in March, when they spoke to 3,100 Americans.
When asked if they agreed with the statement, “If the government told us to stop gathering in person for worship I would want my congregation to defy the order,”34% of respondents who participated in the October survey agreed (with 16% strongly agreeing). By contrast, 21.8% of Americans surveyed in March said that they agreed (with 10.7% strongly agreeing) with their congregation defying in-person worship restrictions.
Meanwhile, the share of Americans who disagreed with churches’ defiance of worship restrictions dropped significantly from March to October. In October, 39.1% of Americans disagreed (with 25.8% strongly disagreeing) with the defiance compared to 55.6% (with 36.4% strongly disagreeing) in March.
Those who strongly disagreed with churches’ defiance of in-person worship restrictions made up a plurality of the respondents in March but by October, a plurality of respondents (26.9%) said that they neither agreed nor disagreed with defiance of worship restrictions.
The survey also analyzed the responses to the question based on political party affiliation, finding that support for defiance of coronavirus worship restrictions had increased among all party identifiers. “Our data suggest defiance is growing across the board. Even strong Democrats are urging a more defiant stance, though the growth among Republicans is much greater,” Djupe and Burge wrote.
According to Djupe and Burge, another factor explains the increased support for churches defying worship restrictions: adherence to the prosperity gospel, which teaches that “religious belief is a quid pro quo, returning a wide range of benefits for believers, especially health and wealth.”
“Prosperity gospel belief is also linked to opposition to state health orders, and the connection is easy to see: if the church is the instrument of personal health, then shuttering the church is a direct threat to personal safety during a pandemic,” they said.
Data collected by the researchers show that the correlation between adherence to prosperity gospel beliefs and the opinion that churches should defy worship restrictions was even stronger in October than it was in March. They measured adherence to prosperity gospel beliefs using a “three question index.”
They attributed the increased support for lockdown defiance among prosperity gospel believers to “the messaging they are hearing from religious and political sources,” including Republican politicians who “continue to take a freedom-first approach.”
“Agreement with prosperity gospel views has grown about 3 percent since March,” they said.
Other findings show a drop in the percentage of adults who believe “the government should tell churches and houses of worship that they should stop meeting in person to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.” While 66.1% of Americans agreed with that in March, 56% said the same in October.
As the idea that churches should defy in-person worship restrictions has gained ground since March, the idea that “hysteria over the coronavirus is politically motivated” has become less popular. In October, 22.5% of Americans strongly rejected that idea, an increase from the 14% who strongly disagreed with that assessment in March. The share of Americans who either agree or strongly agree with the idea that hysteria over the coronavirus was politically motivated dropped from 42.5% in March to 40% in October.
In their analysis, Djupe and Burge offered two theories to explain Americans’ changes in views about the coronavirus over the past seven months. The first theory contended that “people are responding to an elite messaging that combines with unorthodox Christian beliefs to promote an individualistic, go-it-alone style response,” an idea that they argue is “widespread enough to spell doom to efforts to inspire collective action against the behaviors that are spreading the virus.”
Their other explanation rests on the premise that “Trump’s gross mismanagement of the pandemic soured Americans on Trump as well as on government efforts to curtail the pandemic, which, strangely enough, redounded to the benefit of Republicans opposed to state action.” They concluded that “a bit of both explanations are in play.”
After the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel of America sued, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Wednesday to temporarily block New York’s restrictions on houses of worship, saying that the rules “cannot be viewed as neutral” and appear to violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
Children play in front of a hotel damaged by mortar shelling, in Humera, Ethiopia, on November 22, 2020. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, announced military operations in Tigray on November 4, 2020, saying they came in response to attacks on federal army camps by the party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Hundreds have died in nearly three weeks of hostilities that analysts worry could draw in the broader Horn of Africa region, though Abiy has kept a lid on the details, cutting phone and internet connections in Tigray and restricting reporting. | AFP via Getty Images/Eduardo Soteras
A Christian human rights group is concerned about a recently launched Ethiopian military offensive that is suspected of committing war crimes against civilians. Earlier this month, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered the military to attack forces tied to the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front in response to an attack on a base.
Mervyn Thomas, founder of CSW, a Christian nonprofit that advocates for religious freedom around the world, said there were “persistent reports of violations which may amount to atrocity crimes” that may “necessitate an immediate international response.” Thomas was also concerned about the presence of refugees and soldiers in the region from neighboring Eritrea which gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 and is located east of the region.
“Pressure must be exerted to ensure an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of Eritrean troops, the opening of humanitarian corridors to assist refugees and civilians, and the immediate, independent verification and investigation of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he stated.
Thomas also called on Ethiopia to “ensure protection for refugees in accordance with international law” and also “to fulfil its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, as well as under the Rome Statute, which describes the targeting of civilians, including through deliberate starvation.”
“We urge Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to take immediate steps to de-escalate the conflict, ensuring full respect for the right to life and the fundamental freedoms of all Ethiopian citizens, regardless of ethnicity,” he added.
Last week, Babar Baloch of the United Nations Refugee Agency told the press at a briefing in Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, that over 33,000 Tigray residents had fled to the Sudan, located west of the region, as a result of the offensive.
“Refugees have told us they were going about their daily lives when fighting erupted suddenly. We have met teachers, nurses, office workers, farmers and students who were completely caught by surprise,”explained Baloch.
“Many fled with nothing except what they had with them and then had to walk for hours and cross a river to seek safety in Sudan.”
Baloch went on to note that there were also approximately 100,000 Eritrean refugees located in four camps in the region and that they were “very worried” about their safety.
“Eritrean refugees in Tigray were completely reliant on assistance, including food and water, before the conflict erupted, and there are major concerns that ongoing hostilities will drastically affect services in the camps,” continued Baloch.
“Rations were provided until the end of November, so it is increasingly critical for humanitarian workers to have access and for additional food to be distributed before refugees run out.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
In addition to being a reporter, Michael Gryboski has also had a novel released titled Memories of Lasting Shadows. For more information, click here.
While parents in general believe institutions serve their children well, many are worried the majority, like churches and schools, have been serving their daughters better than their sons under norms of gender equality, new research suggests. And the only institutions where at least white parents believe boys are served slightly better are sports and other clubs.
Data from the 2020 American Family Survey, released in September, show that a striking minority, just 36%, of parents believe churches are serving their sons well. This share is almost equal to the 33% who say the same about how the criminal justice system is serving their sons. A minority of parents also believe churches are serving their daughters well but that number is five percentage points higher at 41%.
Daughters were also shown as being better served by every other institution highlighted in the survey, including the education system and friend networks. The only exceptions were sports and other clubs, which some 42% of particularly white parents believe are serving their sons well compared to 37% who say the same about how they serve their daughters.
The latest American Family Survey, was conducted between July 3 and July 14 in a partnership between the Deseret News and Brigham Young University’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. The study explored several areas of family life, including relationships, economics, politics, health and culture. Market research and data analytics firm YouGov interviewed 3,251 respondents who were then matched down to a sample of 3,000 to produce a final dataset reflective of a sampling frame based on gender, age, race and education.
Surprising results
American Family Survey
Jeremy C. Pope, co-director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy and one of the lead investigators on the survey, told The Christian Post that he was particularly surprised by how poorly parents rated the church in serving their children, especially their sons.
“My first reaction to that institutions data was I was surprised churches didn’t do so well. I didn’t really think about this deeply ahead of time but I thought that churches would do a little bit better than they did,” he said.
“I was not surprised that the criminal justice system was low but to be honest, churches are kind of in there with the criminal justice system and that surprised me. In future years, we want to follow up on that because it suggests a bit of dissatisfaction in how churches in particular are serving sons.”
Pope, who is a father of three daughters, said he was also struck by the data showing almost all of the institutions underserving boys and he believes the push for gender equality could be “blinding us to problems with boys.”
“It’s striking to me that daughters tend to be served better by virtually all the institutions except for sports or other clubs and it is also striking to me that friend networks, which you wouldn’t necessarily think is fantastic, dramatically outperforming churches in terms of satisfaction with how it’s serving their kids,” he noted.
“I think within the norm of gender equality, that may be blinding us to problems with boys and problems facing boys that the public knows are out there but is sometimes reluctant to talk about because nobody wants to favor boys over girls.”
Pope further argued that what the data reveals is an increasing concern about the well-being of boys and he doesn’t believe the concern is misplaced.
“I have three daughters. I don’t worry a ton about them. They are great young women,” he said.
“The thing that I think this survey highlights this year about gender is that increasingly I see signs that society is concerned about boys. I have a feeling that that concern is not misplaced. I think we should be concerned about how our sons are doing, what their prospects are in life. And it probably means that parents and maybe more as a society [need to think] about what it is we need to do to make the environment for sons hospitable to them, helpful, what sort of skills do they need to acquire? What sort of expectations should we be setting for them because it does look to me that there is some sort of dissatisfaction out there with how our sons as a society are growing up.”
The largest disparity between how parents believe institutions serve their sons and daughters was reflected in the education system where 63% of parents said it served their daughters well but only 55% said the same about their sons.
A small experiment
Pope and his colleagues noted in their report on the survey that to gauge the overall concern about boys and girls among respondents, they conducted an experiment where some were questioned only about their worries over girls, while others were asked about boys. Another group of respondents were asked about both boys and girls.
Parents who were only asked to think about their worries about girls responded with concern only 30% of the time. The group asked about both girls and boys responded with concern almost equally — 35% for girls and 36% for boys.
When respondents were asked only about boys, however, the level of concern shot up to 45%.
“This experiment highlights something key about society and it is a topic we plan to follow up on in future years. When the public is simply asked about boys and girls they tend to follow an ethic of equality. They will claim to have similar levels of worry about both genders. However, when only asked about girls the percentage of the public with concerns shrinks a bit and when only asked about boys the percentage of the public with concerns grows substantially,” the report on the survey said.
“What is the best way to characterize these results? Are people concealing concerns when asked about boys or girls? We doubt it. Our assumption would be that each of the responses is genuine it’s just that people do harbor some latent concerns about boys that come out when asked the question in a slightly different way. There is, probably, more concern about boys and young men in our current society but it can be masked by norms of gender equality,” the report added.
‘Absolutely accurate’
Michael Gurian of the Gurian Institute talks about brain science. | Gurian Institute
Michael Gurian, a social philosopher, family therapist and corporate consultant, called the AFS findings “absolutely accurate” in an interview with CP.
As a social philosopher, Gurian pioneered efforts to bring neurobiology and brain research into homes, schools, corporations and public policy. He has provided information on the educational needs of boys and girls to the White House and briefed members of the 114th Congress on the boy crisis in America.
“We’ve found this for more than 30 years. These findings are absolutely accurate and would corroborate what a number of us have been looking at for decades,” Gurian said.
He explained that systems in institutions like schools and churches reflect the overwhelming influence of women who populate them.
“These systems are set up more toward female brains in a number of ways. One is to a great extent they are populated by females. The women are great people but they think like women,” Gurian said, noting that training, which his institute has done successfully overtime, has helped address these disparities in both schools and churches.
“Without training, they (female teachers) walk into systems and their behavioral expectations for boys. When you add on boys of color, black and brown boys, then that’s a different data set; … the stats are even worse than for white boys. Even when you take race out of it and [look at] just boys, it’s kind of grim,” he explained.
“Not that they’re malicious, it’s just that they are women who think like women and teach to the behavioral academic and even spiritual expectations of females and so it’s kind of gradual, taking place over a period of decades. Of course, 100 years ago, churches and schools were much more male so we wouldn’t make this argument but in the last number of decades,” a transition has happened, he said.
While the AFS data reflect a frustration parents have with the way institutions have been underserving their sons, the Gurian Institute has successfully help hundreds of schools, churches and other institutions address the disparity with many success stories on their website.
“Since we began this program a year ago, Oak Hill School has seen positive improvements in academic achievement and school culture, and with increased teacher effectiveness and student engagement,” wrote Peter M. Schroeder, a principal at Oak Hill School in Missouri, 2019. “We believe that being designated a ‘Gurian Model School’ will help us maintain our competitive edge in the St. Louis marketplace as an independent, Catholic school. Our work with the Gurian Institute has helped us adapt our already powerful teaching model to provide excellence in our academic program-for both girls and boys.”
Gurian said, “For those people who say ‘well, we know there’s this problem but nothing is happening,’ what I always say is there are organizations that solve this problem. The schools that use the Gurian Institute’s research framework, they have solved this problem. They don’t have these issues anymore. So it’s really important to say to people that solutions exist. And if they are feeling paralyzed, they don’t have to feel paralyzed.”
David Murrow, who started Church for Men, an organization that helps congregations reconnect with men and boys, in 2005 around the same time he released his book, Why Men Hate Going to Church, believes the key to help churches better respond to the needs of boys and men could lie in the creation of more gender neutral churches.
“I hear stories all the time from churches that buy 10, 15 copies of the book for their elders and leaders and there are a lot of churches that are implementing more man-friendly programming, boy-friendly things for young men. I think one of the secrets to the growth of the megachurches has been their ability to gender neutralize their worship spaces and create an environment where men walk in and feel like this is something for them and not just something for their grandmother,” Murrow told CP.
“The typical church in America is about 80 to 90 people. It’s what I call a grandma church. There is a lot of older members and the ladies of the church decorate the sanctuary with quilts and flowers and ribbons and lace doilies and the Sunday school rooms look like something out of a kindergarten classroom,” he explained.
“They’ve got construction paper and yarn. It’s a very feminine space that they create and there’s a lot of talk of nurture and relationships. And then the ministry opportunities, the volunteer opportunities typically revolve around female roles — caring for the sick, preparing meals for potluck dinners.
“The whole enterprise is pitched towards a middle-aged or older woman with an empty nest who wants to spend time with kids. So men, particularly young men, come into those little family churches, they see the décor, they see the opportunities and they find nothing for themselves. One of the things the megachurches did is they intentionally focused on young men and particularly these would be men with young families,” Murrow said.
Two megachurches Murrow said that have done a great job in appealing to men are Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, and Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, founded by Bill Hybels.
Warren reportedly designed his church based on his own door-to-door survey of 500 residents. He found that his target audience was “Saddleback Sam,” a prototypical yuppie who believes in God but has not attended church since childhood. The “Sams” told him they weren’t going to church because sermons were boring, people were aloof, childcare was a problem and pastors were too interested in money.
“They had a mythical parishioner named Saddleback Sam. I mean they went straight for this guy. He was a guy who represented all the values of Southern California — he’s overextended in time and credit. God is OK but he’s not interested in church or religion,” Murrow said.
Willow Creek’s target was a “mythical parishioner named Unchurched Harry,” Murrow noted.
“They were focusing on that guy because they realized something. When you attract the man of the family you tend to get the rest of the family on the deal. And so they made their churches not macho, they didn’t turn their church into a monster truck rally or anything like that. All they had to do was sort of take out the cues that were saying to men this is something for your wife and kids and really engage the men on a heart level,” he said. “And then growth took care of itself and that’s really been the secret of the megachurches. It’s their ability to attract and retain men and in the process retain the entire family.”
Of the estimated 344,894 churches in the United States, only about 1,750 of them are classified as megachurches with 2,000 or more members.
Murrow said about 15 years ago, his own church in Alaska got rid of the old model of Sunday School and rebranded it Adventure Land in an approach that involves more movement with male teachers leading boys and female teachers leading girls and they have seen a lot of success.
“This model has been very successful in reaching young men. The tragedy comes when we move into junior high and high school ministry,” he said, which involves a lot of singing to Jesus, which boys don’t like.
The power of fathers
Citing research such as The Demographic Characteristics of the Linguistic and Religious Groups in Switzerland, which reviewed the results of a 1994 survey of Swiss religious practice, Murrow also argued that the most effective way for parents to lead the spiritual life of their children is through their own personal witness. The study also highlighted the outsized influence of a father in the transference of faith to the next generation.
In that study, for families where neither parent attended church, only 4% of their children ended up attending church regularly. Some 15% went on to become irregular attendees while more than 80% did not attend at all.
When the mother attended church in families but the father did not, some 2% went on to attend church regularly, 37% attended irregularly and 61% not at all. When both parents attended church regularly, 33% of their children when on to do the same regularly, 41% irregularly and 26% did not attend at all.
In homes where the father was a regular church attendee and the mother’s attendance was irregular, the study found that 38% of the children went on to regularly attend church, 44% attended irregularly and 18% did not attend at all. The results showed that fathers who attend church more faithfully influences more faithful church attendance in their children.
“There is really nothing to compare with it. We can have all the youth groups, the retreats, … the praise and worship extravaganzas and all those things help,” Murrow said. ”But the one thing that towers above all other factors in a child’s decision to follow Christ as a young adult is whether his father was following Christ. And so that would be the most effective thing a church could do is to equip fathers to be witnesses to their children.”
He urged believers who are concerned about the way their church is serving their sons to try to engage their leaders under the guidance of the Holy Spirit as conversations about these issues can be delicate.
Making a cultural shift to help boys
Tim Wright, pastor of Community of Grace Lutheran Church in Peoria, Arizona, who authored Searching for Tom Sawyer and created a rite of passage for boys with Gurian called Following Jesus: Heroic Quest for Boys, said he was inspired to become an advocate for boys by Murrow’s book, Why Men Hate Going to Church.
“I read the book and I was so challenged by it that I invited David to Arizona to speak,” he told CP.
“He spoke for eight minutes and he was holding eggs in his hand. And his sermon was about boys and the disconnect of boys from the faith. And he kept dropping eggs and he said ‘now in the eight minutes I’ve been speaking, these eggs represent the number of boys who left the church.’ And so I did some quick research and found that the statistic is anywhere from 70 to 90% of all boys who leave the Christian church in their teens and 20s and most won’t come back and that really got my attention,” he said.
He eventually learned about Gurian and his use of brain science research to talk about boys and girls and how they learn.
“I hired him as a consultant and we became such good friends that we moved away from a consulting relationship and we became partners in creating different products for people,” he explained.
He argued that society needs to stop functioning as if girls are still behind educationally. While that may have been the case decades ago, Wright said, it is no longer true.
“Back in the 1960s we recognized educationally that our girls were behind our boys in part because of the feminist movement, in part because we were looking over all these different experiences with our daughters and seeing them fall behind. The whole country, metaphorically speaking, came together and said ‘we’ve gotta fight for our girls and get them caught up in school.’ The federal government at that time committed $100 million to helping our girls get caught up,” he explained.
“And here’s what happened. The great news — I raised a daughter, I’ve got two granddaughters; I’m all pro-girls and we want to make that clear and Michael had two daughters — in 1982, girls not only caught up to boys but they flew right by them. And now in 2020 our boys are behind and they are behind significantly our girls in every area of education from pre-school to graduate school,” except for perhaps STEM, Wright noted.
“The problem is that we still think culturally, we have so ingrained in us that our girls are behind … that when they caught up and passed boys we still live with the old story that our girls are behind, our boys are OK. And because of that, we tend not to see our boys. They become invisible,” he said.
“The challenge in terms of advocating for boys is we still sort of believe boys are doing OK when they are not. They are dramatically behind, not just in education but they are falling behind emotionally. They are falling behind economically. In almost every area of life, boys and men are doing worse,” Wright added.
Pointing to the disparities in how girls and boys are being served by institutions in the AFS research, Wright said he believes it’s this disconnect that, for example, is causing families to rank sports clubs as better institutions for boys over churches.
“We have gone far more to the female brain than the male brain in our churches, in our schools and that’s why sports are doing so well. And really, sports have become the new religion for men and for boys. I see that in my own family with my son and his kids. They are far more engaged with sports than they are with church because sports is movement, it’s teamwork oftentimes, but it’s also character building,” he said.
“It’s not always ‘aww, you’re just great because you’re great.’ It’s ‘hey, that was a great play, you missed that one; you let the team down’ and it starts to forge character,” he explained.
“We’re afraid of that for some reason. And what’s happening now is our boys tune out from things like school or church and if they don’t have good men or even good women who are both building up their character and calling them out when they’re not being boys of character, the boys sort of just check out or they make it up on their own.
“Most of our culture will never say this but increasingly in a world where feminine values have become the benchmark, boys and men are feeling left out. We can’t articulate our feelings the same way and if we want to articulate our feelings, they are not the right kinds of feelings.”
When asked what would happen if churches and schools were able to collectively make the cultural shift to better serve men and boys, Murrow said he believes it could be seismic.
“A lot of the dysfunction in our culture comes from poorly socialized men. There are more men in jails, men are more likely to commit suicide, more likely to commit crimes and this is not just the United States, this is the world over. And this goes back to thousands of years. The great question of every society is how do we socialize and harness the power of men to social good and not toward mayhem,” he told CP.
“My background is in anthropology so the first thing they teach you is the whole purpose of society is to socialize men. So if we had a church and we had schools that were more successful in engaging men, I think the result would be a kinder, more loving society. It would be a fairer society and it would be … a lot less family distress, way fewer men falling through the cracks,” he said, noting that women would also be able to find more suitable men to marry.
“Study after study shows that when men embrace religion in general, they tend to be more kind and considerate. They are less likely to gamble and drink to excess. A host of anti-social and negative behaviors fall away when they become engaged in the church and that’s the sociological reason for creating an environment where men and boys feel more welcome. And they feel like it’s something for them and not just something for women.”
Tutors assist students with schoolwork at the Restart Learning Center, a distance learning center set up by the Los Angeles Dream Center, a faith-based nonprofit organization based in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, 2020. | Los Angeles Dream Center
As the pandemic has forced many of America’s public schools to begin the school year with remote learning, several churches and faith-based groups nationwide have opened their doors to students who don’t have internet access at home or whose parents can’t stay home with them. Among those institutions are 14 Houston-based churches belonging to the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church that partnered with the Houston Independent School District to serve as distance learning centers.
The distance-learning centers were attended by hundreds of children before the school district’s return to in-person learning in late October. The eighth-largest school district in the United States, with the help of the UMC conference, birthed the “Sanctuaries of Learning” program to aid approximately 500 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. The program helped the students navigate the waters of virtual learning, a new experience for most K-12 students in the U.S.
“They lived in the neighborhood, they registered through the school, they called the school to save a place, … [and] their parents were notified about it,” said Rev. Jill Daniel, an elder in the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Although the program concluded in mid-October when the school district resumed in-person learning, the program’s impact can be felt nationwide as some school districts have not yet returned to in-person classes.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Shannon Martin, director of communications for the Texas Annual Conference, explained that their regional church body “birthed this program.”
“But then as people started hearing about it … it started catching on across the country. So there are people all over the country doing this,” she said. “Other people have adopted the same name, Sanctuaries of Learning. We certainly did not copyright it. We wanted people to use it and certainly utilize the same model of working with school districts. Once there’s a good model, we want other churches and other people to be able to follow along with … the same model because it’s worked.”
Daniel said the conference started receiving calls from all over the U.S., specifically recalling phone calls from New York City, California, Colorado, Oklahoma, the Carolinas and elsewhere in Texas. They asked: “What can we do to make this happen?”
“We probably had … well over 120 or so Zoom meetings with people all over the United States and we walked a little closer with some of them,” she explained. “And it’s been amazing to just watch God doing this very new thing and blessing it so mightily.”
The pastor predicted that the establishment of the Sanctuaries of Learning program would lead to a “rebirth” of neighborhood churches because “during quarantine, we had all this time where … our churches have been that mission depot in the neighborhood, where we’ve had food distributed and people have done dinners for their neighbors and checked on one another.”
While schools in Houston have returned to in-person learning, schools in California’s Los Angeles Unified School District are not likely to return to in-person learning before January. This week, the district released data based on 10-week interim assessments showing that poor grades surged in the district’s lower-income communities.
In addition to churches, faith-based organizations have also worked to set up distance learning centers.
The faith-based nonprofit Los Angeles Dream Center established the Restart Learning Center, a “safe, socially distanced outdoor learning environment” in the parking lot of its Echo Park campus. The parking lot contains a solar panel shed that shields against heat and precipitation.
Like the Sanctuaries of Learning in Texas, the Restart Learning Center draws in students residing within walking distance of the surrounding neighborhood. Participants include attendees of both public and private schools. The Restart Learning Center operates five days a week from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The center is free of charge.
“This will all be executed in an effort to support parents, work schedules and schooling, to cheerlead kids and to provide them a safe place and motivation center,” Matthew Barnett, pastor of the Los Angeles Dream Center, told CP.
Barnett explained that about 80 children each day attend the learning center along with a “rotating group” of students that come and go. According to Barnett, the lockdowns in Los Angeles have had an adverse impact on “the poorest of the poor.”
“I don’t think maybe people understand how much of a gap has been left between those that are in need and those who have,” he surmised.
“We had to supply more than half of the 80 kids learning tablets with our own money,” he continued. “I would say 75% of the kids get them from us.” The remainder of students use school-issued computers, he added.
How Sanctuaries of Learning came to be
Students gather outside as members of the Houston Texans visit a Sanctuaries of Learning campus in Houston, Texas on Houston Texans’ Founder’s Day. The Sanctuaries of Learning were distance learning centers set up by the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church for children in Houston, Texas, 2020. | Jill Daniel
Daniel, who serves as director of a Texas Annual Conference initiative called “We Love All God’s Children,” explained how the Sanctuaries of Learning program came about. The initiative aims to “change the trajectory of the lives of children from birth through the end of elementary school.” It also aims to help families in underserved areas through a holistic approach that includes discipleship and early education.
“We work with all 683 United Methodist Churches in the Texas Annual Conference,” she said.
“We Love All God’s Children” has worked to set up UMC Children Centers, which the elder described as “state-of-the-art early childhood centers.” Several United Methodist Children Centers were planned to open in 2020. But because of the coronavirus pandemic, they couldn’t open this year.
“We immediately shifted from doing what we had been doing to [figuring out] how can we help our churches … in this new crazy time,” she said.
“And so one of the things I tried to keep in mind was that … my ministry area focuses on underserved children. And so it would be the children who I focus on who were not going to have access to technology, who didn’t have Wi-Fi in their house.”
Over the summer, the pastor said she began praying and trying to figure out how churches could join together to help the public school systems since it was looking very likely schools would return for the 2020-2021 school year virtually.
“And so I worked on a proposal. I went to one of our district superintendents, who’s the district superintendent over the … Central South District — that’s all the United Methodist churches within Beltway 8 in Houston,” she said. “And I pitched that idea to him. And he said, ‘I’ll tell you what … let my churches be the guinea pigs.’”
After the bishop approved her idea in early June, Daniel reached out to Dr. Grenita Lathan, the interim superintendent of the Houston Independent School District. However, she did not hear back from her right away. At the end of July, Daniel received an e-mail from Lathan, who said that she would announce the district’s plans for reopening later that week and asked if she wanted to meet with her.
“I know now that the reason she never responded was because she had no idea what Houston ISD was going to do,” Daniel explained.
“She kind of took the reins on our Zoom meeting. She wanted to join with us. She wanted to make use of all the United Methodist churches that she could that are near a neighborhood elementary school.”
District sent support staff to churches
According to Daniel, the churches needed people to oversee the safety of the students while teachers taught live from their classrooms.
“We just needed people to oversee the safety of the kids, to help if one of them has trouble logging on or that sort of thing,” the UMC elder explained.
Daniel said that the school district sent support staff to assist students at all distance-learning campuses.
“Those were people they were paying already, like cafeteria workers or bus drivers,” the reverend explained. “They were paying them but they didn’t have any work to do.”
In addition to deploying support staff, the school district also provided breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack to all of the children participating in the program. The school district also provided personal protective equipment and a “cleaning crew that came in every afternoon” to clean the churches.
“They even came before we ever started and did a deep clean to start with. And then they also came every night and did it,” she recalled.
Daniel was amazed at what the school district provided.
“We never dreamed of that or imagined that,” she said. “If we didn’t have enough bandwidth, they brought boosters over so that everything would be good for the kids. They also sent their safety team and their property management teams around all of our churches.”
Also, the Houston Independent School District even added the churches to its liability insurance.
The Sanctuaries of Learning program was paid for in part by coronavirus relief that the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church received. Each church that participated in the Sanctuaries of Learning program received a $1,000 check.
“We were so thankful to be able to provide a safe, healthy, affirming Christian environment, positive environment for those kids to be in,” Daniel said.
Every Friday was “fun Friday” for students participating in the Sanctuaries of Learning program. Daniel told CP that on Houston Texans’ Founder’s Day, Oct. 6, the football team came out to some of the churches. Daniel recalled one cheerleader reading a book to all the kids in that school. All the children received a free T-shirt.
“One fun Friday, we had ice cream sundaes and we gave … each child a whole library from the Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation,” Daniel stated. “Each child had 25 books on their reading label to save and to take home.”
The Sanctuaries of Learning program did not come without challenges.
On the second day of school, a student at one of the campuses tested positive for coronavirus. This forced the campus to close down and anyone who worked closely with the infected student had to quarantine. For the remainder of the program, no one at any of the Sanctuaries of Learning campuses tested positive for coronavirus, however.
Daniel described the Sanctuaries of Learning program as a “game-changer for our children.”
“It’s a game-changer for mama or for daddy or for whoever is raising that child who doesn’t have to be worried every day about whether they’re safe and how and whether they’re going to get … what they need at school,” she said.
While in-person schooling has resumed in the Houston Independent School District and other large school districts nationwide, the Sanctuaries of Learning program is ready to restart should the district decide to move to online learning again.
No end to remote learning in sight for Los Angeles
A tutor assists a student at the Restart Learning Center, a distance learning center set up at the Los Angeles Dream Center, a faith-based nonprofit based in the Echo Park Neighborhood of Los Angeles, 2020. | Los Angeles Dream Center
Barnett explained that the Los Angeles Dream Center has the resources to continue operating the Restart Learning Center for the remainder of the semester. But he is “terrified of the fact that [remote learning] could go on for a whole year.”
“With the teachers afraid to go back and the union battles that are going on, this thing, I fear it will be the whole year long,” he said. “So that’s going to really test our ability to keep it going. But we’re going to give it a try.”
The Restart Learning Center program provides one tutor for every three students.
“The best thing about it is that they have somebody who’s a cheerleader next to them, pulling for them to succeed and celebrating their accomplishment,” Barnett stated. “So I think that’s the … most important thing.”
He assured that tutors are there “every step of the way” to help students with whatever questions they may have.
Barnett estimated the cost of running the center is about $300 per month per student. It costs about “$20,000 a month to operate all these stations and school.”
“We’ve invested a lot of money that we really expect not to get back,” the pastor explained. “We just did it in a labor of love. … If people want to support, they can. … It’s been a kind of a missions work for us and it’s almost like we just started helping people and we’re trying to catch up.”
The Vatican has agreed to allow the Communist Party to control the leadership of the church, thereby destroying the Church for many underground Catholics in China, and around the world who had hoped to see the Vatican use their authority and power to apply pressure to end Communist control instead of submitting to it.
This announcement comes at the same time the Pope has announced his support of Same gender Marriage.
Cardinal Jospeh Zen blasted the Vatican’s deal with communist China, calling it a “step toward the annihilation” of China’s underground churches who resist the state.
“In fact, the deal is a major step toward the annihilation of the real Church in China,” Zen wrote.
Zen argued that Pope Francis is sympathetic toward communists because he is sympathetic toward the poor and, in Francis’s native Argentina, care for the poor is conflated with communism, given South America’s history of the rich and the military systematically oppressing the poor. This, Zen said, has led Francis to view communists with not only sympathybut optimism.
According to the Hong Kong Free Press it is a disaster for China:
A secretive 2018 agreement between Beijing and the Vatican was renewed Thursday, despite strident US condemnation and warnings from underground Chinese priests loyal to Rome that they have only become more marginalized since it was signed. The deal allows both Beijing and the Holy See a say in appointing bishops in an attempt to close a schism in China’s 12-million-strong Catholic community.
Washington had put intense pressure on the Vatican to scrap the agreement, saying it has failed to shield Chinese Catholics from persecution.
“After friendly consultations,” both sides agreed to the extension “for two years”, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters on Thursday.
“The two sides will maintain close communication and consultation, and continue to push forward the process of improving relations.”
The Communist Party is officially atheist and exercises strict control over all recognized religious institutions, including vetting sermons.
The New York Times reported, ” The Vatican said that it had extended an agreement with Beijing over the appointment of bishops in China, weeks after the U.S. secretary of state traveled to the Vatican on an unsuccessful mission to kill it.”
Jimmy Lai, who has been persecuted for journalism in Hong Kong, wrote on Twitter:
But Zen wasn’t able to convince Francais to move away from Communism. Johnathon Chen from the Wall Street Journal wrote about Zen and said, “@CardJosephZen criticized the Pope for ignoring Beijing’s clampdown on freedoms after failing to get a meeting Francis in Rome last month. The Holy See is closing both eyes on all the injustices that the Communist Party inflicts on the Chinese people.”
“The Vatican renewed its controversial power-sharing agreement with Beijing on Thursday—not that it thinks the deal has gone all that well. Says the Vatican’s secretary of state: The results haven’t “been particularly brilliant,” Chen wrote.
In an extraordinary sign of dissatisfaction, one Chinese former underground bishop, Vincent Guo Xijin, submitted his resignation to Pope Francis, telling his flock that he wasn’t “in step with the times” and didn’t wish to be an “obstacle to progress,” he said.
“On the other hand, millions of Chinese were able to follow Pope Francis’ morning masses on WeChat this year as the Vatican streamed daily events during Italy’s coronavirus lockdown—a sign of progress,” wrote @francescosisci, an Italian Preist living in Beijing.
The Official statement follows:
China and the Vatican announced almost simultaneously that they will extend the “experimental implementation phase”of their agreement regarding the appointment of bishops.
In a press release, the Holy See praises the two parties’ “good communication and cooperation”and expresses its intention to “pursue an open and constructive dialogue for the benefit of the life of the Catholic Church and the good of Chinese people.”
The United States government had pressured the Vatican not to renew the agreement, to which the Holy See responded thatit wasn’t a political agreement, but one of “ecclesiastical and pastoral value.”
The Vatican acknowledges that the agreement does not address other important matters, but focuses only on the appointment of new bishops. It’s part of the politics of small steps that Card. Pietro Parolin described.
CARD. PIETRO PAROLIN
Secretary of State, Vatican
September 30, 2020
“Our way of doing politics is about taking small steps. We believe that every result—even if it isn’t striking, even if it isn’t eye-catching, even if, at first, perhaps it seems to not yield big results—is however, a step forward, toward the affirmation also of greater religious freedom.”
FRANCESCO SISCI
China’s People’s University
“It’s not a diplomatic agreement because the Vatican hasn’t recognized Beijing, and neither does Beijing seem to want that. It knows that a diplomatic agreement would further isolate Taiwan, and that Taiwan could then become nervous and react dangerously. I think the Holy See’s strategy is very wise and prudent. It doesn’t yield, and at the same time, it seeks to maintain the ties that sustain this complicated relationship.”
The content of the agreement is not public. In two years, it has allowed for the appointment of only two new Chinese bishops in communion with the pope, despite the fact that there are about 50 vacant dioceses. That’s why instead of renewing or solidifying the agreement, the Vatican has decided to extend only the experimental phase.
The next two years will help determine whether or not this agreement allows Chinese Catholics to have bishops in communion with the pope.The Vatican and China’s diplomatic ties had been non-existent since Mao rose to power in 1950 and began repressing all religions.
Kari is an ex-Community Organizer who writes about Voter Engagement, Cultural Marxism and Campaigns. She has been a grassroots volunteer with the GOP, on and off for 18 years. She is a Homeschool Mom in North Carolina and loves Photojournalism and Citizen Journalism.
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Top Stories •Amy Coney Barrett: Roe v. Wade is Not a “Super-Precedent” That Can’t be Overturned • Judge Amy Coney Barrett: “I’m Committed to the Rule of Law” •“Impressive!” Asked to Show Her Notes, Amy Coney Barrett Holds Up a Blank Notepad •Washington Post Attacks Amy Coney Barrett’s Children, Accuses Them of Spreading COVID
More Pro-Life News •Amy Coney Barrett Hints That Roe v. Wade Could be Overturned •There is NO Pro-Life Case for Voting for Pro-Abortion Joe Biden for President • Amy Coney Barrett: Justice Antonin Scalia is My “Mentor,” I’m an “Originalist” Like Him •CNN Slams Amy Coney Barrett, Complains She Will “Undo Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Legacy” • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
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Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett says she doesn’t consider the Roe v. Wade decision that allowed abortion on demand a “super-precedent” that can’t be overturned.
Apparently no criticism is off limits to leftists who want to stop Amy Coney Barrett from being confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, not even her young children.
Democrat U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein pressed Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett about her views on abortion Tuesday during the second day of her confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
A new group called Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden resoundingly failed to make a case for why Christians should vote for the pro-abortion Democrat, two national news outlet editorial boards responded this week.
If there is any former member of the nation’s highest court that pro-life Americans would want a Supreme Court nominee to emulate, it would likely be Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
THE VIRGIN MARY SPEAKS TO AMERICA: “Come to Me, all mothers who weep for their children. Come to Me and I will solace you, and you will find great comfort with Me.” – Blessed Virgin Mary – Join in Our Lady’s 50th Anniversary Vigil, September 26 to 28, 2020. Priests go free, domestic air, hotels, meals. Buses available in various states. For info www.smwa.org or call 609-654-0245 or 609-206-2963. For a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary write to St. Michael’s World Apostolate, PO Box 514, Bayside, NY 11361 (ADVERTISEMENT)
Top Stories •Judge Amy Coney Barrett: “I Believe in the Power of Prayer.” Thank You for “Praying for Me” • Senate Democrats Trash Amy Coney Barrett: The Right to Kill Babies in Abortions “is at Stake” •Catholic Bishop Asks Joe Biden: How Will You Explain Supporting Abortions to God? •Biden Considering Andrew Cuomo for Attorney General Despite Killing 15,000 Nursing Home Residents
More Pro-Life News •Joy Behar: Amy Barrett Supporters are Racists, Sexists. They Have a “Male White Panic” •Senator Slams Democrats’ Attacks on Amy Coney Barrett’s Christian Faith: It’s “Demeaning to Women” • Planned Parenthood CEO: Amy Coney Barrett is a “Vocal Threat” to Abortion •Feminists Trash Amy Coney Barrett’s Large Family: She Has a “Clown Car Vagina” • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
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Democrat senators backed by the pro-abortion movement blasted U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett as a threat to Roe v. Wade on Monday during her Senate confirmation hearing.
Monday on The View, the co-hosts panicked in predicting Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett would outlaw abortion and gay marriage and also defended Democratic attacks on her faith.
Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst called attacks on Amy Coney Barrett “demeaning to women” during the first day of Barrett’s confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill.
THE VIRGIN MARY SPEAKS TO AMERICA: “Come to Me, all mothers who weep for their children. Come to Me and I will solace you, and you will find great comfort with Me.” – Blessed Virgin Mary – Join in Our Lady’s 50th Anniversary Vigil, September 26 to 28, 2020. Priests go free, domestic air, hotels, meals. Buses available in various states. For info www.smwa.org or call 609-654-0245 or 609-206-2963. For a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary write to St. Michael’s World Apostolate, PO Box 514, Bayside, NY 11361 (ADVERTISEMENT)
Top Stories •Vice President Mike Pence: “I’m Pro-Life, I Don’t Apologize for It” •Kamala Harris Refuses to Say if She’d Pack Supreme Court With Liberal Judges •CNN Host Chris Cuomo Wants to “Choke” and “Punch” Tucker Carlson •The View Hopes President Trump Dies So Nancy Pelosi Can Become President •Abortion Activist Jane Fonda Calls Coronavirus “God’s Gift to the Left”
More Pro-Life News •Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Support Legalizing Abortions Up to Birth Nationwide •Democrats Oppose Amy Coney Barrett Because She Once Called Abortions “Barbaric” •Joe Biden Will Force Americans to Fund Abortions and Planned Parenthood •Planned Parenthood Calls Kamala Harris a “Champion” for Killing Babies in Abortions • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
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During tonight’s presidential debate with Kamala Harris, Vice President Mike Pence was not backing down in any way, shape or form, from his pro-life position against killing babies in abortions.
Just like Joe Biden in the first presidential debate, Kamala Harris refused to say whether or not she would pack the Supreme Court with activist judges.
During the usual handoff banter between Chris “Fredo” Cuomo (PrimeTime) and Don Lemon (CNN Tonight) on Tuesday, the former flashed his penchant for physical violence when he said he wanted to “choke” and “punch” his critics at the Fox News Channel.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined the hosts of The View Wednesday to celebrate Joy Behar’s birthday by floating nasty conspiracies about President Trump and morbidly fantasize about needing to move down the line of succession.
In the face of overwhelming facts to the contrary, five prominent “fact checkers” are claiming that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don’t support legalizing abortion up until birth.
Senate Democrats are trying to cast doubt on Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s character because she is a devout Catholic who believes that killing unborn babies in abortions is “barbaric.”
THE VIRGIN MARY SPEAKS TO AMERICA: “Come to Me, all mothers who weep for their children. Come to Me and I will solace you, and you will find great comfort with Me.” – Blessed Virgin Mary – Join in Our Lady’s 50th Anniversary Vigil, September 26 to 28, 2020. Priests go free, domestic air, hotels, meals. Buses available in various states. For info www.smwa.org or call 609-654-0245 or 609-206-2963. For a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary write to St. Michael’s World Apostolate, PO Box 514, Bayside, NY 11361 (ADVERTISEMENT)
Top Stories •Joe Biden Says “I am the Democratic Party.” It Supports Killing Babies in Abortions Up to Birth •Chelsea Clinton Opposes Amy Coney Barrett Because She Supported Pro-Life Laws •Joe Biden Supports Abortions Up to Birth During Debate: “Roe v. Wade is at Stake” •Joy Behar Wants Moderator To Hit Trump With Taser Every Time He Interrupts Biden
More Pro-Life News •Joe Biden Wants Abortion Any Time, Anywhere, Under Any Circumstances •Pro-Abortion Groups Spending Millions Trying to Defeat Amy Coney Barrett •Amy Coney Barrett Open to Overturning Roe v. Wade Because Precedent Isn’t Forever •President Trump is Ending Liberal Domination of Federal Courts • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
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Chelsea Clinton slammed Amy Coney Barrett as a potential disaster on the U.S. Supreme Court because she supports laws that would protect unborn babies from abortion.
During last night’s presidential debate, Democrat nominee Joe Biden supported the Supreme Court decision that allowed virtually unlimited abortions up to birth.
Joy Behar said Wednesday that she would like to see the next debate moderator hit President Donald Trump with a taser every time he tried to interrupt Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
I have long since given up pretending I understand the long-term impact of presidential debates, particularly the first of three, which took place last night in Cleveland, Ohio.
Our system of government and the liberty it provides are compromised when judges decide cases based on their own personal views and political beliefs rather than the law.
THE VIRGIN MARY SPEAKS TO AMERICA: “Come to Me, all mothers who weep for their children. Come to Me and I will solace you, and you will find great comfort with Me.” – Blessed Virgin Mary – Join in Our Lady’s 50th Anniversary Vigil, September 26 to 28, 2020. Priests go free, domestic air, hotels, meals. Buses available in various states. For info www.smwa.org or call 609-654-0245 or 609-206-2963. For a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary write to St. Michael’s World Apostolate, PO Box 514, Bayside, NY 11361 (ADVERTISEMENT)
Top Stories •Biden Refuses to Say if He’d Pack Supreme Court With Liberal Judges: “I Won’t Answer the Question” •Joe Biden Flubs During Debate, Says “I’m Not Opposed” to Amy Coney Barrett’s Nomination •Catholic Cardinal Says Joe Biden Shouldn’t Receive Communion Because He’s Pro-Abortion •Biden Campaign Refuses to Allow Inspection of Electronic Ear Pieces During Tonight’s Debate
More Pro-Life News •Planned Parenthood Opposes Amy Coney Barrett: She’s an “Insult to RBG’s Legacy” •Amy Coney Barrett Destroys the Feminist Claim That You Need Abortion to Have a Career •Abortion Activist Punches Pro-Life Woman Holding Sign Supporting Amy Coney Barrett •Feminists Hate Amy Coney Barrett Because She Didn’t Abort Her Kids to Have a Career • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
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Catholic Cardinal Raymond Burke said Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden should not receive Holy Communion because of his long record of supporting abortion on demand.
Liberal groups are warning that Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett will severely restrict reproductive freedoms, strip health care access arguing that the vacancy shouldn’t be filled until after the next inauguration.
The discussion/debate/argument over the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court would be high stakes even if we considered only (if confirmed) she would replace an icon of the pro-abortion left.
A young pro-life leader was hit in the face Sunday during a protest against the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, Students for Life Action said this week.
THE VIRGIN MARY SPEAKS TO AMERICA: “Come to Me, all mothers who weep for their children. Come to Me and I will solace you, and you will find great comfort with Me.” – Blessed Virgin Mary – Join in Our Lady’s 50th Anniversary Vigil, September 26 to 28, 2020. Priests go free, domestic air, hotels, meals. Buses available in various states. For info www.smwa.org or call 609-654-0245 or 609-206-2963. For a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary write to St. Michael’s World Apostolate, PO Box 514, Bayside, NY 11361 (ADVERTISEMENT)
Top Stories •Planned Parenthood Opposes Amy Coney Barrett: “It’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Seat, We Demand a No Vote” •Media Attacks Amy Comey Barrett’s Kids: She’s a “White Colonizer” for Adopting Black Children •Liberals Attack Amy Barrett’s Children, Claim Her Kids Were Illegally Adopted •Catholic Bishop: “It is Not Possible to be a Catholic in Good Standing and Support Abortion”
More Pro-Life News •Kamala Harris Opposes Judge Amy Coney Barrett: She Will be a Threat to Abortion •Judge Amy Coney Barrett Blasted Democrats After They Trashed Her Christian Faith •Liberal Media Calls Joe Biden a “Devout” Catholic, Attacks Amy Coney Barrett’s Christian Faith •Catholic Archbishop: Vote Pro-Life, Nothing More Important Than the “Basic Right — to Live” • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
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The political arm of Planned Parenthood is urging supporters to demand that the U.S. Senate oppose the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
The media’s favorite race hustling professor and author Ibram X. Kendi tweeted out a vile attack against Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett and her family this past weekend.
If you thought liberals scraped the bottom of the barrel with their attacks on Justice Brett Kavanaugh, I’m very sorry to inform you that you were wrong.
THE VIRGIN MARY SPEAKS TO AMERICA: “Come to Me, all mothers who weep for their children. Come to Me and I will solace you, and you will find great comfort with Me.” – Blessed Virgin Mary – Join in Our Lady’s 50th Anniversary Vigil, September 26 to 28, 2020. Priests go free, domestic air, hotels, meals. Buses available in various states. For info www.smwa.org or call 609-654-0245 or 609-206-2963. For a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary write to St. Michael’s World Apostolate, PO Box 514, Bayside, NY 11361 (ADVERTISEMENT)
Top Stories •President Trump Will Nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett to Replace Ginsburg on Supreme Court •Amy Barrett Believes Life Begins at Conception, Questions Roe’s “Judicial Fiat” of “Abortion on Demand” •Sarah Palin to Lisa Murkowski: Vote for Trump’s SCOTUS Nominee or I May Run Against You •Pro-Abortion Alabama Senator Doug Jones Refuses to Support Trump’s Nominee
More Pro-Life News •Pro-Life Professor: Amy Barrett is an “Unbelievable Mom” Who Respects the Constitution •Liberal Media is Trashing Amy Barrett’s Christian Faith, And It’s About to Get Worse •President Trump Expands Pro-Life Policy Protecting Americans From Funding Abortions •Joe Biden Tries to Get Catholics to Vote for Him, But He Supports Abortions Up to Birth • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
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President Donald Trump is expected to nominate federal appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace pro-abortion Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who recently passed away, according to multiple media reporting citing a senior White House official.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin criticized fellow GOP member Sen. Lisa Murkowski in a video posted to her Instagram Wednesday, seemingly threatening to run against her in 2022.
Pro-Abortion Alabama Senator Doug Jones announced today that he will not vote for any Supreme Court nominee put forward by President Donald Trump until after the November elections.
With President Trump scheduled to announce his Supreme Court nominee by the end of the week, the Left’s opposition playbook for the prospective nominee is being opened for all to see.
Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden is promoting himself as a devout Catholic and all-around nice guy as he attempts to win over Catholic voters.
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Top Stories •Abortion Activist Nancy Pelosi Receives Communion Despite Violating Church Teachings •Senate Approves Six More Trump Judges, Including Pro-Life Judges Who Want Roe Overturned •Nancy Pelosi Teams With Catholic Nuns to Try to Fool Christians Into Voting for Joe Biden •Biden Campaign Downplays Abortion, Killing 62 Million Babies Is Just Another “Issue”
More Pro-Life News •CNN Says “Make America Great Again” is Trump’s “Racist Insult” Because He Hates Blacks •Charges Dropped Against Pastor for Holding Church Services in Defiance of Democrat Lockdown •Black American Says: If Black Lives Matter, Talk About Black Babies Killed in Abortions •Sandra Merritt Appeals $2 Million Judgement Against Her for Exposing Planned Parenthood • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
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Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will join progressive nuns on a virtual tour to persuade Catholic voters to vote for 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Joe Biden’s campaign is desperately trying to reel in Christian voters because it knows the majority of Americans are pro-life and most will not support a presidential candidate who supports abortions up to birth.
Black Americans are speaking out against Black Lives Matter and challenging the movement to advocate for the unborn black babies who are killed in abortions.
Liberty Counsel has filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals of the verdict in the multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit against Sandra Merritt for her undercover investigation of Planned Parenthood’s trafficking of human baby body parts.
THE VIRGIN MARY SPEAKS TO AMERICA: “Come to Me, all mothers who weep for their children. Come to Me and I will solace you, and you will find great comfort with Me.” – Blessed Virgin Mary – Join in Our Lady’s 50th Anniversary Vigil, September 26 to 28, 2020. Priests go free, domestic air, hotels, meals. Buses available in various states. For info www.smwa.org or call 609-654-0245 or 609-206-2963. For a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary write to St. Michael’s World Apostolate, PO Box 514, Bayside, NY 11361 (ADVERTISEMENT)
Top Stories •Jill Biden Says “Vote for Science,” But She Doesn’t Think Unborn Babies are Human Beings •Catholic Bishop Claims Catholics Can Vote for Pro-Abortion Joe Biden “in Good Conscience” •President Trump’s Son: My Father Will Never Stop Fighting for Religious Freedom •Joe Biden’s Campaign Slogan “Build Back Better” is a Mantra Used By Radical Pro-Abortion Groups
More Pro-Life News •Catholics for Biden Co-Chair is Trying to Put David Daleiden in Prison for Exposing Planned Parenthood •Netflix Cancellation Rate Jumps 8 Times Higher Than Average After “Cuties” Show Airs •Joe Biden Endorses Congressional Candidate Who Called Straight Women “Breeders” •Lifelong Democrat Official Becomes Republican Because Democrats are Radically Pro-Abortion • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
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Jill Biden, the wife of Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden, urged Americans to “vote for science” Tuesday as if to imply that President Donald Trump opposes everything scientific.
Catholic Cardinal Joseph Tobin is facing criticism for saying voters can support Joe Biden “in good conscience” despite the pro-abortion Democrat’s radical pro-abortion stance.
Joe Biden is surrounding himself with powerful politicians who are trying to jail pro-life advocates for exposing wrongdoing in the abortion industry and force churches to pay for elective abortions.
Score one for the good guys.The good guys are people who think you can discuss the ramifications of sexualizing young children without, ya know, sexualizing young children.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden endorsed Michigan congressional nominee Jon Hoadley Wednesday despite remarks Hoadley made in 2004 and 2005, calling women “breeders.”
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Top Stories •President Donald Trump Expands Executive Order Defunding International Planned Parenthood •Jim Caviezel Blasts Democrats: They Think Abortions are Essential But Churches are Not •CNN Says Trump Voters are Stupid, Don’t Care About Americans Dying From Coronavirus •President Trump Slams Joe Biden on Abortion: “He Supports Baby Execution”
More Pro-Life News •Trump Doing 21% Better With Hispanics in 2020, Latinos Will Help Him Defeat Joe Biden •Pro-Lifers Protest “Catholics for Biden” Event: “He Believes in Abortion. That is Not Catholic” •Catholic Bishop: We Need to Stop Abortion Like We Stopped Slavery •Liberal Media Defends “Cuties,” Say Critics of Netflix Show are Just “Afraid of Child Sexuality” • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
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On Saturday evening’s CNN Newsroom, host Ana Cabrera colluded with former Republican strategist Rick Wilson and senior political analyst Kirsten Powers to hurl hatred and venom towards President Trump and his supporters.
Pro-life advocates in Pennsylvania protested a “Catholics4Biden” event recently, calling out the Democrat presidential candidate for supporting abortion on demand and promising to force taxpayers to fund it.
A Catholic bishop in Malta encouraged Christians to end the human rights abuse of abortion just as they did slavery Sunday during a special service in remembrance of unborn babies who have been killed in abortions.
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Top Stories •President Trump Releases List of Potential Supreme Court Nominees Filled With Pro-Life Rock Stars •Pro-Life Groups Praise Trump’s New Supreme Court List: “He’s the Best Pro-Life President Ever” •Trump’s Decision to Defund International Planned Parenthood Cost Abortion Biz Over $100 Million •Congressman Calls for Ousting Nancy Pelosi: “It’s Past Time for Her to Leave”
More Pro-Life News •Catholic Bishop Slams Joe Biden’s False Catholicism: He Says He’s “Faithful” But Supports Abortion •MSNBC Can’t Believe Latinos Support Trump: Why are They Not Buying Our Lies? •Vaccine Company Sanofi-Pasteur Stops Using Aborted Baby Parts to Make Polio Vaccine •Churches Will Hold Funeral Services for Unborn Babies Killed in Abortions • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
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Leading pro-life groups are praising President Donald Trump’s list that he released today of possible Supreme Court nominees and they are very excited about the kind of potential SCOTUS justices.
A Texas bishop publicly endorsed a video over the weekend that told Catholics to reject the Democratic Party because of its radical pro-abortion stance.
HPro-life Congressman Andy Biggs urged lawmakers Monday to kick out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her divisive “elitism” and “power against the powerless.”
A Kentucky Catholic bishop criticized Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden on Wednesday for avoiding talking about unborn babies when he quotes Pope Francis.
MSNBC Live host Stephanie Ruhle was shocked and dismayed Wednesday morning by a NBC/Marist poll showing President Trump beating Biden in Florida with Latino voters.
Saturday, Sept. 12 is the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children, a day set aside to remember the millions of unborn babies who have been killed in abortions.
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Top Stories •Jim Caviezel Slams the “Barbarism of Abortion.” Killing Babies is “Immoral and Wrong” •Catholic Bishop Says Catholics Can’t Vote Pro-Abortion Democrats: “Heed This Message!” •Disney Threatened to Boycott Pro-Life Georgia But It’s Fine With China Killing Babies in Abortion •Andrew Cuomo Blames President Trump for Coronavirus Killing Thousands of New Yorkers
More Pro-Life News •President Trump and Joe Biden are Tied In Florida, Trump Leads Among Hispanics •Pro-Life Group Backs President Trump: “He is a Proven Champion for Life” •BLM Activists Vandalize Church’s Sign Saying “Unborn Lives Matter” •Vice President Mike Pence Condemns Abortion: “Every Life Matters” • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
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A Texas bishop publicly endorsed a video over the weekend that told Catholics to reject the Democratic Party because of its radical pro-abortion stance.
Disney is facing criticism for filming where China’s Uighurs are alleged being interned more than a year after CEO Bob Iger suggested the company might be forced to cut ties with Georgia after the state passed an anti-abortion law.
The Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in June striking down a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics is proof of what’s at stake with the federal judiciary, Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday in remarks at a pro-life event.
THE VIRGIN MARY SPEAKS TO AMERICA: “Come to Me, all mothers who weep for their children. Come to Me and I will solace you, and you will find great comfort with Me.” – Blessed Virgin Mary – Join in Our Lady’s 50th Anniversary Vigil, September 26 to 28, 2020. Priests go free, domestic air, hotels, meals. Buses available in various states. For info www.smwa.org or call 609-654-0245 or 609-206-2963. For a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary write to St. Michael’s World Apostolate, PO Box 514, Bayside, NY 11361 (ADVERTISEMENT)
Top Stories •Catholic Bishop: Christian Voters “Cannot Support Candidates Who Will Advance Abortion” •Trump Admin Tells UN: There is Absolutely No Right to Kill Babies in Abortions •Nancy Pelosi Will Force Americans to Fund Abortions if Joe Biden Wins •Bishop Says Catholic Politicians Can’t Support Abortion. Joe Biden Should Pay Attention
More Pro-Life News •Feminist Defends Killing Babies in Abortions: “I’ve Witnessed at Least 20,” It’s No Big Deal •Joe Biden Supports Abortion, But President Trump Stands for Babies’ Right to Live •What Biden and Harris Stand For is Horrifying: Ripping Babies Limb From Limb in Abortions •Grammy Winner Kacey Musgraves: Anyone Voting for Trump is Committing an “Act of Violence” • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
Catholic Archbishop Samuel Aquila urged Americans to “embrace the Gospel of Life” last week after the conclusion of the Republican and Democrat national conventions.
The Trump administration criticized the United Nations again this summer for trying to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to push its pro-abortion agenda.
Democrat leaders plan to force American taxpayers to pay for the killing of unborn babies in elective abortions if they win majorities in the U.S. House and Senate in November.
Catholic Church leaders are becoming increasingly vocal in their insistence that Catholic politicians stop supporting the legalized killing of human beings in abortions and euthanasia.
THE VIRGIN MARY SPEAKS TO AMERICA: “Come to Me, all mothers who weep for their children. Come to Me and I will solace you, and you will find great comfort with Me.” – Blessed Virgin Mary – Join in Our Lady’s 50th Anniversary Vigil, September 26 to 28, 2020. Priests go free, domestic air, hotels, meals. Buses available in various states. For info www.smwa.org or call 609-654-0245 or 609-206-2963. For a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary write to St. Michael’s World Apostolate, PO Box 514, Bayside, NY 11361 (ADVERTISEMENT)
Top Stories •Pennsylvania Pro-Life Group Endorses President Trump: “A Tireless Champion for Babies” •University of Notre Dame President Slams Lou Holtz for Saying Joe Biden is “Catholic in Name Only” •Catholic Cardinal Rebukes Priest for Endorsing Pro-Abortion Joe Biden: He’s Violating Church Teaching •Joe Biden Would Roll Back Every Single Pro-Life Gain Made Under President Trump
More Pro-Life News •Kamala Harris Supports Abortions Up to Birth, But Snopes Tries to Hide Her Extremism •President Trump Was Right: Joe Biden Supports Abortions Up to Birth •Ben Carson: Abortion is “Racist” and Abortions Kill Black Babies at a Higher Rate •President Trump: You Can’t Have “Empathy for the Vulnerable” and Support Abortion • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
Lou Holtz, a former University of Notre Dame football coach, faced criticism from the university Thursday for saying Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden is “Catholic in name only.”
Cardinal Sean O’Malley said respect for every human life is “of the highest priority” for the Catholic Church after a priest in his diocese publicly endorsed pro-abortion Democrat Joe Biden.
Politicians are notorious for avoiding direct answers about their most controversial positions — ones that have the backing of big-money special interest groups but not of most Americans.
Two widely-regarded fact checkers used nonsensical arguments to claim that President Donald Trump is wrong about Joe Biden and the Democratic Party supporting abortions up to birth.
For pro-lifers, there was one overarching “takeaway,” that threw into stark relief the fundamental difference between the two men—pro-life President Trump and pro-abortion former Vice President Joe Biden—who would lead our nation beginning in 2021.
THE VIRGIN MARY SPEAKS TO AMERICA: “Come to Me, all mothers who weep for their children. Come to Me and I will solace you, and you will find great comfort with Me.” – Blessed Virgin Mary – Join in Our Lady’s 50th Anniversary Vigil, September 26 to 28, 2020. Priests go free, domestic air, hotels, meals. Buses available in various states. For info www.smwa.org or call 609-654-0245 or 609-206-2963. For a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary write to St. Michael’s World Apostolate, PO Box 514, Bayside, NY 11361 (ADVERTISEMENT)
Top Stories •President Trump Fights for Pro-Life Rule to Stop Killing More Babies in Abortions •Liberal Media Trashes Pro-Life Senator Tim Scott, Calls Him “Trump’s Coon Squad” •Abby Johnson Tells GOP Convention the Reality of Abortion: The Baby “Fought Back, Desperate to Move” •Nick Sandmann Slams Liberal Media “War Machine” That Doesn’t Care About “Truth”
More Pro-Life News •Joe Biden is Such a “Devout” Christian He’ll Force Catholic Nuns to Pay for Abortions •President Trump May Pull Off Another Upset, Here are The Reasons Why •Chen Guangcheng, Who Exposed Brutal Forced Abortions in China, Will Speak at GOP Convention •Trump Investigating Andrew Cuomo, Democrat Governors Who Killed Nursing Home Patient • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
President Donald Trump’s administration is fighting back against powerful abortion advocacy groups’ attempts to weaken safety regulations that protect mothers and unborn babies from dangerous at-home abortions.
Pro-life activist Abby Johnson discussed her experience working at Planned Parenthood at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night, saying that her experiences with the nation’s largest abortion provider are why she advocates “so passionately for life.”
Nicholas Sandmann, the pro-life Kentucky teenager who was smeared by the mainstream media in 2019, gave a powerful speech urging news outlets to return to fair and unbiased coverage Tuesday at the Republican National Convention.
Why? Simply because unlike pro-abortion Joe Biden, whose poll ratings received no “bounce” from last week’s clunker of a Democrat National Convention, there is every reason to believe President Trump will benefit, and perhaps a lot, from the GOP convention.
Chen Guangcheng, the human rights advocate who escaped China after years of human rights abuses against him following his expose of massive forced abortion campaigns,will speak at the Republican convention.
The Justice Department’s civil rights division will request data from the governors of four states, including New York and Michigan, as part of a preliminary investigation into whether nursing home policies implemented there caused spikes in coronavirus fatalities.
THE VIRGIN MARY SPEAKS TO AMERICA: “Come to Me, all mothers who weep for their children. Come to Me and I will solace you, and you will find great comfort with Me.” – Blessed Virgin Mary – Join in Our Lady’s 50th Anniversary Vigil, September 26 to 28, 2020. Priests go free, domestic air, hotels, meals. Buses available in various states. For info www.smwa.org or call 609-654-0245 or 609-206-2963. For a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary write to St. Michael’s World Apostolate, PO Box 514, Bayside, NY 11361 (ADVERTISEMENT)
Top Stories •Kamala Harris: “We Must Keep Fighting to Defend” Killing Babies in Abortions Up to Birth •Republicans Officially Nominate Pro-Life President Donald Trump for Re-Election •New Biden Ad Calls for “Healing America.” You Can’t Heal America by Killing Babies •Planned Parenthood Leaders Admit Under Oath to Killing Babies in Illegal Partial-Birth Abortions
More Pro-Life News •You Can’t Call Joe Biden a “Devout Catholic” When He Supports Abortions Up to Birth •Kamala Harris: It’s a “Distraction” to Point Out My Previous Attacks on Joe Biden •ABC Trashes Pro-Life Teen Nicholas Sandmann Before He Speaks at Republican Convention •Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the Most Anti-Catholic Ticket in History • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
The Center for Medical Progress released horrific new video footage today showing Planned Parenthood leaders admitting to killing babies in illegal partial-birth abortions to obtain their body parts for sale for grisly research.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris said Sunday that her attacks on Joe Biden during the 2020 primary race are a “distraction from what we need to accomplish.”
Minutes before the kickoff of the Republican National Convention, ABC revealed they were taking notes from CNN and MSNBC on how to continue smearing former Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann and the St. Louis McCloskeys, both slated to speak this week.
Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden is trying to appeal to Catholic voters by touting himself as a devout Catholic who believes in loving “your neighbor as yourself” and protecting “the least of these.”
THE VIRGIN MARY SPEAKS TO AMERICA: “Come to Me, all mothers who weep for their children. Come to Me and I will solace you, and you will find great comfort with Me.” – Blessed Virgin Mary – Join in Our Lady’s 50th Anniversary Vigil, September 26 to 28, 2020. Priests go free, domestic air, hotels, meals. Buses available in various states. For info www.smwa.org or call 609-654-0245 or 609-206-2963. For a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary write to St. Michael’s World Apostolate, PO Box 514, Bayside, NY 11361 (ADVERTISEMENT)
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LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Monday, August 24, 2020
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Top Stories •Kamala Harris: “We Must Keep Fighting to Defend” Killing Babies in Abortions Up to Birth •Republicans Officially Nominate Pro-Life President Donald Trump for Re-Election •New Biden Ad Calls for “Healing America.” You Can’t Heal America by Killing Babies •Planned Parenthood Leaders Admit Under Oath to Killing Babies in Illegal Partial-Birth Abortions
More Pro-Life News •You Can’t Call Joe Biden a “Devout Catholic” When He Supports Abortions Up to Birth •Kamala Harris: It’s a “Distraction” to Point Out My Previous Attacks on Joe Biden •ABC Trashes Pro-Life Teen Nicholas Sandmann Before He Speaks at Republican Convention •Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the Most Anti-Catholic Ticket in History • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
The Center for Medical Progress released horrific new video footage today showing Planned Parenthood leaders admitting to killing babies in illegal partial-birth abortions to obtain their body parts for sale for grisly research.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris said Sunday that her attacks on Joe Biden during the 2020 primary race are a “distraction from what we need to accomplish.”
Minutes before the kickoff of the Republican National Convention, ABC revealed they were taking notes from CNN and MSNBC on how to continue smearing former Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann and the St. Louis McCloskeys, both slated to speak this week.
Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden is trying to appeal to Catholic voters by touting himself as a devout Catholic who believes in loving “your neighbor as yourself” and protecting “the least of these.”
THE VIRGIN MARY SPEAKS TO AMERICA: “Come to Me, all mothers who weep for their children. Come to Me and I will solace you, and you will find great comfort with Me.” – Blessed Virgin Mary – Join in Our Lady’s 50th Anniversary Vigil, September 26 to 28, 2020. Priests go free, domestic air, hotels, meals. Buses available in various states. For info www.smwa.org or call 609-654-0245 or 609-206-2963. For a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary write to St. Michael’s World Apostolate, PO Box 514, Bayside, NY 11361 (ADVERTISEMENT)
Top Stories •Kamala Harris: It’s an “Injustice” if Women Can’t Kill Their Babies in Abortions •Nancy Pelosi: Killing Babies in Abortions “Unleashes the Power of Women” •Barack Obama Blames Americans Dying From Coronavirus on Trump, “He Made Stuff Up” •Democrat Party Approves Platform Supporting Abortions Up to Birth at Taxpayer Expense
More Pro-Life News •Catholic Nun Speaking at Democrat Convention Refuses to Condemn Abortion •Joe Biden Would be the Most Pro-Abortion President in History •Court Rules Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church Can Hold Indoor Worship Service •Trump’s Policies Against Abortion Funding, Aborted Baby Part Research Have Been Successful • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
A Catholic nun who is scheduled to pray at the Democratic National Convention refused to agree to help end legalized abortion in an interview with a leading Catholic publication Wednesday.
As the last day of the Democratic National Convention opens, the Democratic Party’s nominee for President, Joe Biden, will take the stage and accept the party’s nomination.
The Los Angeles County Superior Court announced on August 20, 2020, that there is no court order prohibiting Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church from holding indoor worship services.
The government issued two reports Tuesday evaluating the Trump administration’s pro-life policies that curb taxpayer funding for abortion-related matters here and abroad.
THE VIRGIN MARY SPEAKS TO AMERICA: “Come to Me, all mothers who weep for their children. Come to Me and I will solace you, and you will find great comfort with Me.” – Blessed Virgin Mary – Join in Our Lady’s 50th Anniversary Vigil, September 26 to 28, 2020. Priests go free, domestic air, hotels, meals. Buses available in various states. For info www.smwa.org or call 609-654-0245 or 609-206-2963. For a free rose petal blessed by Jesus and Mary write to St. Michael’s World Apostolate, PO Box 514, Bayside, NY 11361 (ADVERTISEMENT)
Top Stories •Democrat Party’s Convention Theme is “We the People,” But It Kills Millions People in Abortions •Woman Who Survived Abortion Endorses Trump: “He’s Accomplished So Much” for Unborn Babies •Nebraska Governor Signs Bill Banning Dismemberment Abortions Tearing Babies Limb From Limb •Catholic Priest, Nun Will Pray at Democrat Convention Despite Party Supporting Abortion
More Pro-Life News •Pro-Abortion Groups Excited Joe Biden Would Force Americans to Fund Abortions •Janice Dean Slams Andrew Cuomo: “Elder Care Homes Were Turned Into Death Camps” •The Liberal Media is Desperate to Anoint Pro-Abortion Joe Biden and Kamala Harris •Joe Biden Appears to Support Socialized Medicine, “Free” Government-Run Health Care • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
As the Democratic National Convention begins, the Democratic Party’s theme for the evening is “We the People,” but the party has grossly failed to protect the most vulnerable among us and, instead, has become the party of abortion.
