Christianity Under Attack in Academia

A federal court has ruled that Christian colleges and universities with traditional views on sexuality and marriage can continue to receive funding through Title IX, rejecting LGBT students’ efforts to strike down a religious exemption to federal discrimination law. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken in Oregon dismissed the case filed by a group of LGBT Christian college students and former students who sued the U.S. Department of Education for providing religious exemption to Title IX discrimination laws to Christian higher education institutions.

 Aiken concluded that plaintiffs failed to show that the original religious exemption granted by Congress decades ago for Title IX has a discriminatory purpose. “Plaintiffs have submitted no allegations of discriminatory motivation on the part of those enacting the religious exemption. To the contrary, Plaintiffs argue that when Congress enacted Title IX, protections for — or discrimination against sexual and gender minorities — were ‘of no concern,’” wrote Aiken. Title IX of the Civil Rights Act forbids sex-based discrimination in education, but colleges upholding traditional definitions for marriage and sexuality can request exemptions that allow them to adhere to scriptural beliefs on matters of sexuality.

 The court rejected the plaintiff’s claim that religious exemptions violate the First Amendment of the Constitution, noting that “the Supreme Court has interpreted it to allow, and sometimes require, the accommodation of religious practices.” The Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal nonprofit representing three Christian higher education institutions, celebrated the ruling. “Title IX, which applies to schools receiving federal financial assistance, explicitly protects the freedom of religious schools to live out their deeply and sincerely held convictions,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman in a statement. “A group of activists asked the court to strip that protection away from schools that educate the next generation and advance the common good. The court correctly concluded that Title IX’s religious liberty exemption doesn’t violate any of the plaintiffs’ claimed rights.”

 However, across the pond things are very different. An Evangelical Christian teacher in England could be permanently banned from teaching after he was suspended for referring to a biologically female student as a “girl.” Joshua Sutcliffe was removed in November 2017 from his position as a teacher at the Cherwell School in Oxfordshire after he allegedly discriminated against a student by stating “well done, girls” when addressing the student’s small group during class. Sutcliffe was the focus of a number of allegations by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) during the group’s professional conduct panel last week, according to the London-based Christian Legal Centre (CLC). The hearing could ultimately result in Sutcliffe no longer being allowed to teach in the U.K.

 Sutcliffe is also accused by officials at Cherwell of sharing his opposition to same-sex marriage after he was asked by a student about his views. That incident, according to CLC, occurred during a Bible study that was organized by a Christian group at the school. In response to the allegations, Sutcliffe was expected to cite a statement from former Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, who said, “Any teacher, if asked direct or invited to share his view by a parent or a student, is perfectly at liberty to say, with equal marriage — as with adultery, divorce or abortion — what their own moral view might be.” Thus, the attacks on Christianity in the area of education will continue to be pushed by followers of the liberal agenda until they are stopped or until every Christian that believes in Christian standards is driven out.

 Biblical Connection: Genesis 1:27 states, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

 PRAY: Pray for the teachers and administrators that are in the crosshairs for simply holding traditional Christian beliefs.

Earthquakes Continue to Rock the Middle East

Another earthquake struck Turkey’s Hatay province near the Syrian border, killing at least eight people and injuring hundreds of others shortly after a massive tremor killed over 47,000 people and damaged thousands of homes. Christian groups are in the area to provide relief. At 6.4 magnitude, the new earthquake’s epicenter was in the town of Defne. The quake was also felt in Jordan, Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon and even Egypt. A second magnitude 5.8 temblor and dozens of aftershocks followed.

At least six people died and 294 others were injured with 18 in critical condition in Turkey, according to that country’s disaster management authority, AFAD. Across the border in Syria, a woman and a girl died in the provinces of Hama and Tartus, according to pro-government media outlets. According to the White Helmets (also known as Syria Civil Defense), over 130 people were injured in rebel-held areas of northwest Syria. At least six people were wounded in Aleppo, Al Jazeera reported.

 “I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet,” a young mother in the area, Muna al-Omar, told Reuters. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca was quoted as saying that some hospital buildings also cracked in the latest earthquake, requiring patients to be evacuated. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington is willing to help “for as long as it takes,” even as the U.S. State Department said America’s humanitarian assistance for Turkey and Syria had reached $185 million.

 Evangelical Christian relief group Samaritan’s Purse, which has nearly 100 disaster assistance response team members on the ground in Turkey, said in a statement to The Christian Post that its Emergency Field Hospital in Hatay province is uniquely positioned to immediately begin meeting emergency needs of those affected. The group, whose doctors and nurses have treated nearly 1,000 patients and performed dozens of surgeries since Feb. 13, said the field hospital experienced “an influx of patients as ambulances rushed to the field hospital carrying newly injured patients.”

 “I just returned from Turkey where I saw first-hand the devastation caused by the earthquakes,” Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, said. “Today’s quake caused more injuries and damage, but it also traumatized survivors. We are seeing patients with broken bones and other earthquake injuries. I can’t imagine the fear these families are experiencing. They need our prayers, and they need to know that God loves them and they are not alone.”

 The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, an independent medical relief foundation whose staff are also receiving and treating victims, told CP in a statement that most of the injuries were a result of people panicking, as many even jumped from buildings during the quake. “The region has been experiencing hundreds of aftershocks since the initial earthquake,” the charity said in a statement. “Many more buildings could collapse after these earthquakes as a result of weakened foundations and structures from the previous earthquake and aftershocks.”

 Biblical Connection: It should not surprise readers of prophecy to see earthquakes in this region. The Book of Revelation describes several earthquakes that will occur in the Middle East, centering around the nation of Israel, during the Tribulation period. Describing Jerusalem, Revelation 11:12-13 states, “And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.”

 PRAY: Pray for the people in the region that are impacted by these horrific earthquakes and for the families that have lost loved ones in the natural disasters.

New Archaeological Find Defends Biblical History

An Israeli professor claims that a recent translation of an eighth-century B.C. inscription containing the name of Judean King Hezekiah in Jerusalem’s City of David is “one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Israel of all time.” Prof. Gershon Galil, head of the Institute for Biblical Studies and Ancient History at Haifa University in Israel, alongside Eli Shukron, from the Bible and Ancient History research institute, deciphered Hezekiah’s name on a palm-sized limestone tablet discovered in 2007.

 The inscription also summarizes the first 17 years of Hezekiah’s reign and his accomplishments, as described in 2 Kings 20 of the Bible. The verse describes how Hezekiah brought water to the city through the discovery of a pool and a tunnel, and the inscribed stone was found at a pool in the Gihon Spring area. Shukron and archaeologist Ronny Reich found the fragment near a man-made pool in the Siloam tunnel. The discovery was made during excavations at Jerusalem’s City of David National Park in 2007, with Shukron and Galil spending over a decade deciphering it.

 The inscription measures about 5.3 inches long by 3.8 inches wide, and there are two lines of writing containing six letters inscribed in Old Hebrew script. Galil and Shukron concluded that the full inscription reads: “Hezekiah made the pool in Jerusalem.” “This is an extremely important discovery that changes some basic assumptions of research, since until today it was commonly accepted that the kings of Israel and Judah, unlike the kings of the ancient Middle East, did not make themselves royal inscriptions and monuments… to commemorate their achievements,” Galil was quoted as saying.

 The professor explained that these inscriptions are the “earliest manuscripts of the Bible,” that we have to date, noting that they predate other ancient artifacts, such as Hinnom silver amulets by 100 years and the Dead Sea Scrolls by hundreds of years. “They also support the claim that scriptures in the Book of Kings are based on texts originating from chronicles and royal inscriptions and that the Bible reflects historical reality and not imagination,” he added.

 The Jerusalem Post reports that the researchers deciphered five royal inscriptions of King Hezekiah, which include dozens of lines and hundreds of letters. According to Galil, the inscriptions indicate the date the water project was completed in the 17th year of Hezekiah’s reign, around 709 BCE. The researchers believe that the stone was attached to a public building and that the inscription was much larger.

The inscription carries a link to another fragment discovered at the Gihon Spring in 1978 by archaeologist Yigal Shiloh. The text includes the word “seventeen/seventeenth,” which could be a reference to the length of Hezekiah’s reign. Notably, both inscriptions are of the same type of limestone and have the same lettering. The letters also look similar to the Siloam Inscription, which describes how the tunnel was constructed to carry water into the city to prevent the Assyrians from cutting off Jerusalem’s water supply.

 These types of archaeological finds are very important in establishing the credibility of the Bible to the outside world. Many will downplay these discoveries and minimize their findings because they want to reject God’s Word, others will find them helpful in showing that we can trust God’s Word as authoritative.

 Biblical Connections: 2 Timothy 3:16 states, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” If God’s Word says an event happened in the past, then we need to trust that God’s Word is correct. These discoveries can help give us stronger confidence in the reliability of the Bible. While the discoveries themselves will not lead people to Christ, they help to alleviate some of the stumbling blocks people create to avoid the reality of the Bible.

 PRAY: Pray more discoveries will be made in the field of archaeology that will continue to defend and confirm God’s Word.

Living in the Last Days

A large number of Americans across various religious backgrounds believe we are living in the last days of humanity, a recent study showed. Nearly two in five Americans, including both Christians and the religiously unaffiliated, responded affirmatively when asked if they believe “we are living in the end times,” according to a Pew research study. The study addressed Americans’ views regarding the earth, environmentalism and climate change, but a specific portion addressed views about the end of the world.

 Even though a majority of respondents at 58% did not believe we are living in the end times, four in 10, or 39% said they believe we are. The majority of those who believe the end is near were self-professed Christians, 47% of whom believe we are living in the last days. The study further broke down the statistics to determine that 14% of such Christians believe that the end of the world will culminate with the return of Jesus Christ and that the conditions of the world will worsen until then.

 Black Protestants (76%) and evangelicals (63%) were the most likely to believe we are living in the end times. Mainline Protestants (31%) and Roman Catholics (27%) were less likely to assert they are living in the last days. These views are also divided along political lines with 45% of Republicans saying we are currently at the end of times as compared to 33% of Democrats. Geography also had an influence with 48% of adults in Southern states saying that we are at the end of times as compared to 37% in the Midwest, 34% in the Northeast, and 31% in the West.

 Among those who adhere to a non-Christian religion, nearly three in 10 (29%) said they think the world is wrapping up. A quarter of U.S. adults overall said they believe they we are living at the end of the world but do not hold such specific views about how it will take place, according to the study. The study also found that “most U.S. adults – including a solid majority of Christians and large numbers of people who identify with other religious traditions – consider the Earth sacred and believe God gave humans a duty to care for it,” the researchers said. The survey cited an article in The Journal of Religion and Health which noted a rise in both secular and religious “apocalypticism” attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 One of the great challenges we have in this area is because of the nature of the imminent return of Christ — meaning Jesus could return at any time — essentially every generation from the time of Paul until now has thought it was in the last generation before the return of Christ. Paul wrote 1-2 Thessalonians to believers who were concerned they had missed the return of Christ. Many of the reformers believed  the return of Christ would occur during their lifetime. Jonathan Edwards in the early 1700s believed the Great Awakening would lead into the return of Christ. Thus, it is not unique for a large segment of the population to believe  Christ could return soon.

 However, there are important signs that have occurred in the last 100 years that seem to hint the return of Christ could be on the horizon. First, Israel, erased from the map for thousands of years, has been reestablished as a nation. This is critical as so many of the prophecies of the end times require a national Israel. Second, technology has allowed for the world to “grow smaller”, both in terms of communications and travel, which would allow for the Antichrist to control the world much easier. Finally, the existence of weapons of mass destruction both resemble some of the events in the book of Revelation as well as put a limit on how long the earth will exist in its current format before a nuclear apocalypse could occur. These events lend credence that we may be rapidly approaching the return of Christ. 

 Biblical Connections: Matthew 24:36 - “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”

 PRAY: Pray that if the coming of Christ is soon and the Rapture is on the horizon that we will be faithful to witness to as many people as possible in the time that remains.

Doomsday Clock Moved to Closest Setting Since the End of World War 2

The world is closer to annihilation than it has ever been since the first nuclear bombs were released at the close of World War II, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said recently. The time on the Doomsday Clock moved forward from 100 seconds to midnight to 90 seconds to midnight. It’s a reset of what has come to be known as the Doomsday Clock, a decades long project of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists featuring a clock face where midnight represents Armageddon.

Between Russia's nuclear brinkmanship in its war on Ukraine, the real threats of climate change becoming increasingly dire and ongoing concerns about more possible pandemics caused by humans encroaching on formerly wild areas, the Bulletin chose to set the clock the closest to midnight yet. The world is facing a gathering storm of extinction-level consequences, exacerbated by the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia. This explains the latest advance of the clock, said Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. "The threats are even more acute, and the failures of leadership even more damning. We live today in a world of interlocking crises, each illustrating the unwillingness of leaders to act in the true long-term interests of their people," she said.

The Bulletin was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first atomic weapons at the Manhattan Project. Two years later they launched the clock as a way to warn humanity just how close to nuclear apocalypse the world was. "It's a way to remind people of issues that are so big they pose a threat to civilization as a whole," said Steve Fetter, a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland and member of the Bulletin's Science and Security Board, which sets the clock each year.

The clock has ticked minutes or seconds toward or away from catastrophe over the years. Wars bring it closer, treaties and cooperation further away. For the past two years, it has been at 100 seconds to midnight. The movement of the clock to just 90 seconds to midnight sends a message that the world's situation is urgent, with possible broad consequences and long-standing effects, said the Bulletin's president, Rachel Bronson. "What we're conveying with this clock move is things are not going in the right direction, and they haven't been going in the right direction. Those who are listening say 'The world doesn't feel safer today,' – they're not alone," she said.

Their hope is that this year's announcement will focus on world awareness and push people toward action and away from a business-as-usual mindset. Scientists are unequivocal, said Robinson. "Leaders, wake up! This is your responsibility. This is on your watch," she said. The clock ticked forward largely, though not exclusively, because of the nuclear dangers posed by the war in Ukraine, the Bulletin said in its statement. "Russia’s thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons remind the world that escalation of the conflict – by accident, intention, or miscalculation – is a terrible risk. The possibility that the conflict could spin out of anyone’s control remains high," the statement read.

Biblical Connection: Matthew 24:36 states, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” While no one knows the time of Jesus’ Return, the dramatic events of the last few years certainly seem to portray a dark future. How much longer the world can continue to move forward before all-out nuclear war seems to lessen every year.

PRAY: Pray that as many people as possible will hear the Gospel and be saved before the time finally comes for Jesus to return for His bride.

Israel, US Hold Air Drill Simulating Striking Iran Nuclear Program

The Israel Air Force held one of its largest drills in years with the United States Air Force simulating offensive strikes against Iran’s nuclear program. The drill took place over the Mediterranean Sea and Israel. It included long-range flights such as those that Israeli pilots might need to make in order to reach the Islamic Republic. The exercise included refuelers as well as fighter jets from both forces. Washington and Israel have signed an agreement that would see the US come to assist Israel with missile defense in times of war, and the two militaries have held numerous joint air defense exercises in recent years.

 These drills occurred at a time when tensions between Israel and Iran remain high. Iran, which possesses over 1,000 short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, continues to smuggle weapons to countries and non-state actors such as Hezbollah, which is estimated to have an arsenal of some 50,000 missiles on Israel’s northern border. With tensions high over Iran’s nuclear program and regional hostility, Israel and the Islamic Republic have been threatening each other with senior officers stating that their militaries are capable of striking the other. Israel has significantly increased its readiness level and has taken steps throughout the past year to prepare a credible military option against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

 The NIS 58 billion defense budget set for the IDF in the coming year is expected to allow the Israeli military to focus on the threats posed by Iran across the region, with some NIS 3.5b. designated specifically for this very task. The drill was discussed by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi during his visit to Washington recently. Kohavi, who returned to Israel a day earlier than planned following a deadly double bombing in Jerusalem, met with senior American officials including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, and CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Kurilla. In the last year, the IDF and CENTCOM forces have held several joint drills as well as operational missions.

 Kurilla was in Israel a week prior to Kohavi’s visit and toured the northern border as well as the IAF’s fleet of F-35 Adir stealth fighter jets. “We are operating together on all fronts to gather intelligence, neutralize threats, and prepare for various scenarios in either one or multiple arenas” Kohavi declared. His counterpart, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi, also stated, “We are operating together on all fronts to gather intelligence, neutralize threats, and prepare for various scenarios in either one or multiple arenas,” adding that the two countries were “developing joint military capabilities at an accelerated rate” against Iran and other threats in the Middle East.

 Outgoing Defense Minister Benny Gantz told reporters that while Israel has the capabilities to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu must consider the issue “carefully” before giving the order. “Israel has the ability to act in Iran. We have the readiness, development capabilities, and long-term plans we are managing. We need to prepare for this possibility, and we will also need to consider this issue very carefully before carrying it out,” he said.

 Biblical Connections: Ezekiel 38-39 has Israel being invaded in the future by a coalition in which Iran is a major player of in the battle of Gog and Magog. The fact that Iran and Israel continue to have major tension in the region should be a warning to followers of Biblical prophecy. In prophecy, Israel is attacked without allies and only through God’s intervention are they delivered. It will be interesting to see what role, if any, America would play in that future invasion.

PRAY: Pray for peace in the region and that the tension between Iran and Israel would not lead to a major war.

Christianity Shifting from Western Europe, Growing in Central America

For the first time since 1801, when the United Kingdom took its first census, less than half of the population identify as “Christian,” while the share of individuals who say they have no religion has swelled by millions, the latest data from their census show. The data published by the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics show that only 46.2% or 27.5 million of the country’s more than 67 million people say they are Christian. In 2011, when the last census was done, 59.3% of the population or 33.3 million, people described themselves as Christian.

 As in the United States, the number of people with no faith in the U.K. has been growing with the decline of Christianity. Some 22.2 million people or 37.2% of the population reported that they had “no religion.” Ten years earlier, only 14.1 million people or 25.2% of the population, said they had “no religion.” Responding to the results of the census, Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said the U.K. had “left behind the era when many people almost automatically identified as Christian. It’s not a great surprise that the census shows fewer people in this country identifying as Christian than in the past.” Similar drops have occurred throughout much of Western Europe.

 In contrast, according to a new survey in Central America, evangelicals are the majority with 37% of the population; while Roman Catholicism experienced a big decrease, reaching only 32.6%. 29.1% said they were unaffiliated believers and 1.3% non-believers. Among the 32.6% of Catholics, 19.3% attend their church more than once a week and generally participate in church activities. Evangelicals participate almost three times more than Catholics in church activities (58.4%).

 This increase in evangelicalism has also led to an increase in beliefs on traditionally Christian values. The study says that 83.9% of Central American citizens do not agree with same-sex relationships. Regarding abortion, for 61.3% it is only acceptable if the woman’s life is at risk and for 54.6% in case of health reasons. For 46.8% both men and women should be virgins at marriage. These are all significantly higher than anything in Western Europe or the United States.

 Biblical Connections: Daniel 7:7-8 states “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.”

 Conservative scholars have generally agreed that the fourth beast in Daniel’s vision represents the Roman Empire and the little horn in this passage represents the future Antichrist, thus linking him to the Roman Empire, or more accurately a revived Roman Empire. Daniel 9:26 also links the Antichrist to the Roman Empire, as they are the people who destroyed the second temple. However, for centuries Western Europe was viewed as the bastion of Christianity, sending missionaries throughout the world. People wondered how such a Christian center could one day give rise to the Antichrist. This is no longer the case. Western Europe’s Christian influence has completely collapsed, to the point that even nominal Christianity is dying. The secularization of Western Europe could easily be setting the stage for the kingdom of the Antichrist to rise.

 PRAY: Pray that Christianity will continue to grow in Central America and other place throughout the world and that Christianity may once again take hold in Western

Does Belief in the Rapture lead to “Religious Trauma”?

Could teaching what’s described in the Bible as a “blessed hope” actually be a source of anxiety and trauma? An article published by CNN with the headline, “For some Christians, ‘rapture anxiety’ can take a lifetime to heal,” depicts the eschatological doctrine of the imminent return of Jesus Christ for His Church as a “chronic problem.” The article also describes the teaching as “recognized by some faith experts and mental health professionals as a type of religious trauma.”

Featuring a stock photo with the caption, “Some Christians develop fears related to teachings of the rapture,” the article profiles two women who have battled so-called rapture anxiety, including April Ajoy, who recalled waking up to a quiet home as a 13-year-old girl and fearing she had missed the prophetic End Times event. The article reads: “Ajoy’s mind began churning, trying to remember, trying to make plans. When was the last time she had sinned? Should she refuse the mark of the beast? At least, she thought, if she was put to the guillotine during the time of tribulation, it would be a quick death.”

Describing the event as when “righteous Christians ascend into heaven, while the rest are left behind to suffer,” CNN adds, “However it happens, it is something to be both feared and welcomed, to be prayed about and prepared for every moment of a believer’s life.” Another woman, Georgia resident Chelsea Wilson, told the cable news outlet that she grew up in the Evangelical “community” and believed the End Times teaching was akin to a “scary campfire story.” CNN points to social media chatter from “exvangelicals” — former Evangelical Christians who have since turned to unbelief — who were subjected to “violent rapture-themed films” or spent their childhood years “crying themselves to sleep thinking about people and pets that would be left behind when the end finally came.”

For analysis of the doctrine and its impact on believers, CNN reached out to Darren Slade, president and CEO of the Global Center for Religious Research, a “non-religiously affiliated academic society and publishing house.” Slade, whose website states “certain religious contexts have also been responsible for a number of traumatic experiences for people all around the globe,” told CNN that “rapture anxiety” is a “real thing” and a “chronic problem.” “This is a new area of study, but in general, our research has revealed that religious trauma leads to an increase of anxiety, depression, paranoia and even some OCD-like behaviors: ‘I need to say this prayer of salvation so many times,’ ‘I need to confess my sins so often,’” he was quoted as saying. But on Slade’s own website, he acknowledges that “the academic study of religious trauma remains in its infancy when compared to other studies in mental health.”

While belief in the Rapture has always been attacked by other Christian groups who hold other eschatological positions, this is perhaps the first time a major news network has attempted to attack the belief for causing “trauma”. This is simply a lie. Millions of Christians throughout the world hold to the belief in the Rapture and are not suffering from “trauma”. In fact, they find peace from knowing that one day Christ will return for His Bride. While it can be true that someone may misunderstand the position or have been taught bad theology, to characterize a belief positively held by millions as a cause of trauma because of a few claims is not realistic and could even be viewed as a dishonest attack on a biblical belief.

Biblical Connection: 1 Thessalonians teaches about the Rapture when Jesus will call His Bride home to heaven.

PRAY: Pray that those who have been wrongly taught that belief in the Rapture is harmful will experience the truth!

Western European Churches Rejecting Scripture

Several recent stories out of Western Europe show a tragic trend toward apostacy. First, a bishop in the Church of England has released an essay arguing that clergy within the denomination should be allowed to bless same-sex unions. Rev. Steven Croft, the bishop of Oxford, released a lengthy essay on titled “Together in Love and Faith,” arguing that the Church of England should remove its prohibition on blessing same-sex unions. “I confirm my affection and respect for those who will want to argue, in good conscience, against change and potential provision for such change. I also make no claim whatsoever to infallibility: I may be wrong, either in the detail or in the overall argument,” wrote Croft in his introduction. “However, the Church will only be led into true and accurate discernment as we each, honestly and faithfully, share the best perspective we can, and subject those views to the wisdom of whole Church.”

 Croft, who said he once ascribed to the theologically conservative and biblical view on the issue, went on to argue that there were “fruits and benefits of same-sex partnerships” that the Church could benefit from, adding that the current stance of the Church created “hurt and pain” for the LGBT community.

 The bishop’s essay and the responses to it come as the Church of England considers the possibility of allowing the blessing of same-sex unions in their congregations. The College of Bishops held a meeting earlier regarding the matter, with the discernment process possibly leading to changes being approved in February at the Church’s General Synod meeting. Five other bishops in the Church of England have also come out in favor of blessing same-sex unions, arguing that priests should be allowed to celebrate them if they support them.

 Meanwhile, Bishops in the Church of Norway, the largest Christian denomination in the Scandinavian country, say they are open to ordaining unmarried, cohabiting priests, going against a resolution of the Bishop’s Conference that prohibits cohabitation. Norwegian news outlet Vart Land found in a survey that all bishops in the Church of Norway would be willing to ordain priests who live with their partner without being married. The news outlet also found that the bishop of Oslo, Kari Veiteberg, had been ordaining cohabiting priests, cantors, catechists and deacons since 2017.

 The U.K.-based Premier Christian News noted that under current rules, the Church of Norway does not allow the ordination of unmarried cohabiting partners as per its 1995 statement on the issue. The 1995 resolution said employees from the Church cannot “establish a cohabitation outside of an arranged marriage,” according to Dagen. However, the Church’s presiding bishop, Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, recently stated that bishops can decide to ordain unmarried cohabiting priests on their own. “They agree to hold marriage as the best arrangement for cohabitation, but also agree that each bishop must make an individual assessment of each candidate seeking marriage.”

 Biblical Connection: Paul in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 said, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” In both of these instances, neither group is arguing that the Bible itself allows for what they are calling for but instead that it would simply make it “easier” for people. The only thing that they are doing is making it easier for people to live in their sin and avoid facing the truth of the Scriptures.

 PRAY: Pray that the rise of apostacy in Western Europe would be quenched and that people would turn back to the truth of God’s Word.

Persecution Continues to Rise Against Jews in Academia

Recently, Law Students for Justice in Palestine (LSJP) at University of California, Berkeley, School of Law promoted a bylaw  that would create what critics have characterized as “no-go zones for Jews,” “LSJP is so excited to announce that multiple student affinity groups and clubs at Berkeley Law have adopted a pro-Palestine bylaw divesting all funds from institutions and companies complicit in the occupation of Palestine, and banning future use of funds towards such companies!” the group wrote in an Instagram post in August. “LSJP is calling ALL student organizations at Berkeley Law to take an anti-racist and anti-settler colonial stand and adopt the bylaw into their constitutions ASAP!”

 In addition to urging student groups to support the ongoing BDS campaign against Israel, the bylaw also included troubling language to expunge any speech by individuals who might be considered pro-Israel or pro-Zionist, especially speech meant to correct the many factual and historical inaccuracies in the pro-Palestinian bylaw. “In the interest of protecting the safety and welfare of Palestinian students on campus,” the suggested language read, groups who adopt this bylaw “will not invite speakers that have expressed and continued to hold views or host/sponsor/promote events in support of Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine.”

 And in language which is Orwellian in its attempt to paint bigotry as virtue, cooperating student groups, the bylaw read, will proclaim that they are “publicly stipulating the organization’s position of anti-racism and anti-settler colonialism to speakers, ensuring that proposals for speakers emphasize the organization’s desire for equality and inclusion,” all of this for the purpose of creating “a safe and inclusive space for Palestinian students and students that are in the support of the liberation of Palestine.”

 The implementation of a litmus test of ideological allegiance — only targeted at Jews who support Israel — is part of a decades-old campaign to malign Israel and transform it into a pariah state. It excludes its supporters from progressive groups, by falsely alleging Israel is an apartheid, racist regime of white supremacy that continues to oppress innocent Arabs who were the actual indigenous residents of the land now called Israel.

 Imagine if a student government yanked accommodations for halal food on campus because Islam can be linked to terrorism, the same spurious linkage these social justice cretins have created for “apartheid” Israel, Zionism and kosher food from pro-Israel companies. The campus-wide howling about Islamophobia and bigotry would be deafening.

 The Berkeley situation is, of course, part of a broader effort to marginalize Jewish students, malign Israel and Zionism without debate or counter-argument, contort history and facts to elevate the Palestinian cause and denigrate the Jewish state, and promote hatred and hostility to any supporter of Israel. The real intention of pro-Palestinian radicals, now encompassing a large swathe of academia, is to exclude Israel and Zionism as reasonable topics of discussion and to prevent supporters of the Jewish state from even defending it or offering counterarguments. While Israel is not a perfect country and when they do make mistakes they should be called out on those mistakes. However, the immense hatred of the Jewish people that has arisen to almost pre-World War 2 levels is a sign that Satan is continuing his attacks.

 Biblical Connection: In Revelation 12, the nation of Israel, depicted symbolically by a woman figure, is attacked by both Satan and the forces of the Antichrist.

 PRAY: Pray that the Jewish people will be protected from these types of unjust attacks in the public square.

Red Heifers Sent to Israel in Possible Preparation for a Third Temple?

Five perfectly red heifers, required for the ritual purification of those who have touched a dead body, arrived in Israel from a ranch in Texas, as the Jewish Temple Institute continues preparations to lay the ground for the construction of the Third Temple in Jerusalem.

 The heifers are all under one year old and if they remain 100% red and avoid any blemishes which would disqualify them, they will each be eligible to be used to create the ashes required by Jewish law to purify those who have been in contact with a dead body, explained the Temple Institute. This level of purification would be needed in order to allow the priests to carry out their work in a future Temple.

 The prized cattle were immediately transported to Haifa where they will sit in quarantine for no less than seven days, in accordance with the regulations of the Israel Veterinary Authority. After the quarantine, they will be released to two separate locations in Israel, one of which will eventually be opened to the public. The heifers will be fed and cared for at these locations until they can be slaughtered and rendered into ashes from their third year onwards.

 The heifers were greeted by a ceremony at Ben-Gurion Airport. Temple Institute officials Rabbi Chanan Kupietzky, Rabbi Tzachi Mamo, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel and Rabbi Azaria Ariel participated in the ceremony, alongside Stinson and Jerusalem and Heritage Ministry director-general Netanel Isaac.

 The Jewish Temple Institute has been working for years on creating all the necessary elements to rebuild the Jewish Temple. Their website states that their goal is to educate, research, promote activism and to even prepare for actual rebuilding and dedication.

 What is a red heifer? The red heifer is first mentioned in the Book of Numbers 19:3, when God tells Moses and Aaron “This is the ritual law that God has commanded: Instruct the Israelite people to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid.” The Bible goes on to explain how the heifer is processed and burnt and its ashes mixed into sanctified water. Those who became impure due to touching a human corpse would be purified by having the water mixed with the ashes sprinkled on them twice: once three days after they came in contact with the corpse and a second time seven days after contact. The Torah relates that a red heifer was brought to Elazar the Priest, the son of Aaron, and was processed for its ashes for the ritual.

 Biblical Connection: Why is the red heifer important to prophecy? 2 Thessalonians 2:4 says that the Antichrist will one day go the temple and claim to be God. Since the 2nd Jewish Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., this would require a 3rd temple to be built. Critics of eschatology have argued for centuries that this passage cannot be referring to a future time because there would be no temple for the Antichrist to go to or try to spiritualize the temple in some manner. However, these types of headlines show that it is clear that the orthodox Jews in Israel would not only like to rebuild the temple, but are actively creating elements and planning for a time when they can rebuild a future temple. Presumably, it will be this temple that will one day be rebuilt that the Antichrist will enter and declare himself God.

 PRAY: Pray that God’s timetable will continue to occur. While we as Christians should not necessarily cheer the construction of a temple, it does show that some of the prophetic elements that God promised could come to pass soon.

Signs of Apostasy on the Rise?

At least a third of senior pastors in the United States believe one can earn a place in Heaven by simply being a good person, according to a nationwide survey. The findings were among several surprising responses as part of a survey conducted earlier this year by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University. The American Worldview Inventory 2022 examined more than three dozen beliefs held by pastors.

Researchers found that in addition to believing that people can merit salvation based solely on their good works, one-third or more of senior pastors surveyed also believe the Holy Spirit is not a person but rather “a symbol of God’s power.” Others said that moral truth is subjective; sexual relations between two unmarried people who love each other is “morally acceptable” and biblical teaching on abortion is “ambiguous.” At least a third of those surveyed also said they believe “socialism is preferable to capitalism and that allowing property ownership facilitates economic injustice,” which researchers say could point to the “increase of cultural and political influence into the church.”

After data reported earlier this year found just 37% of Christian pastors have a biblical worldview, the latest CRC report analyzed that research across all major U.S. denominations. They found that a “loss of biblical belief is prevalent among pastors in all denominational groupings.”

 The current report focuses on roughly half of those beliefs, revealing that a shockingly large percentage reject biblical teaching on some of the most basic Christian beliefs. Among Evangelical pastors, for example, around 43% said they do not believe that the personal accumulation of wealth is provided by God for the individual to manage those resources for God’s purposes.

 Another 39% of Evangelical pastors surveyed said there is no absolute moral truth and that “each individual must determine their own truth.” Roughly the same percentage (38%) didn’t answer in the affirmative when asked if “human life is sacred,” while 37% said having faith, in general, is more important than in what — or more specifically, Whom — one has faith. Perhaps most startlingly, three in 10 Evangelical pastors (30%) didn’t answer in the affirmative if their salvation is based on having confessed their sins and accepting Jesus Christ as their savior.

George Barna, CRC’s director of research, said the results could be linked to another trend he observed in the data. “While studying the spiritual behavioral patterns of pastors, it became evident that a large share of them do not have a regular spiritual routine,” Barna said. “There was a correlation between possessing biblical beliefs and a consistent regimen of Bible reading, prayer, worship and confession. In some of the denominational groupings, a majority of pastors do not engage in those foundational spiritual practices on a regular basis,” he added. “Yet, among the pastors who have the most consistently biblical beliefs, there is also a daily routine that incorporates all of those disciplines.”

 Biblical Connections: 2 Thessalonians 2:3 talks about a falling away or apostasy (Greek, apostasia) that will occur before the Tribulation and the rise of the Antichrist. While there has always been a segment of Christianity that has dealt with false teachers and falling away, it seems that increased secularization in the West has dramatically increased this push away from Biblical truth that has been accepted for centuries to the point that even many pastors have now fallen into this deceptive trap. These are not interpretive challenges that good people can disagree on but are instead the very core of the Christian faith. Perhaps we are seeing the beginnings of this falling away. Only time will tell.

 PRAY: Pray for the pastors that have turned away from the truth of God’s Word. Pray for a return to the faith that has stood for over 2,000 years.

Doctors Refute Abrams' Claim there is No Fetal Heartbeat at 6 Weeks

Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is being accused of spreading "misinformation" after she stated that the unborn do not have a heartbeat at six weeks gestation, despite evidence from medical journals. During an event at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center in Atlanta, Abrams asserted that "there is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks," adding that she believed the sound of a fetal heartbeat at that stage is "manufactured" to convince people that men have a right to "control" women's bodies.

 Abrams' comments were in response to Georgia's heartbeat bill, also known as the Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act. She claimed the legislation shouldn't be called a "Fetal Heartbeat Bill" because "that's medically false, biologically a lie." The bill bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat becomes detectable but includes exceptions for rape, incest, or if the mother's life is in danger or the fetus is unviable. The law was passed in 2019, but a federal judge ruled it unconstitutional. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, returning authority over abortion laws to the states, a federal appeals court overturned the lower court ruling on July 20, allowing the law to go into effect.

 Dr. Donna Harrison, CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, an organization that boasts over 7,000 pro-life doctors, disagreed with Abrams. Harrison stated that Abrams' claims are an example of "misinformation" that ignores evidence from "basic embryology." "In fact, at six weeks' gestation, the embryonic heart rhythmically contracts to pump blood through its arteries, which flows to the placenta to exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen," she wrote. "To call this anything other than a beating heart is dishonest, and serves only to dehumanize preborn people. ... Playing semantics with the definition of a heart does nothing to serve science or the public, but rather only advances a pro-abortion agenda."

 Tara Sander Lee, the director of Life Sciences at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute who studied heart development at Harvard Medical School, said in a statement that the human heart starts beating 22 days after fertilization. "A baby's heart is actively beating at six weeks gestation and will have already beat nearly 16 million times by 15 weeks," said Lee. "In fact, at six weeks, when Stacey Abrams says a heartbeat doesn't exist, that baby's heart is actually beating at about 110 beats per minute (bpm)." Lee cited peer-reviewed research published by the Charlotte Lozier Institute and a 2019 study published in the National Library of Medicine titled "The Transitional Heart: From Early Embryonic and Fetal Development to Neonatal Life."

 Another study, published in October 2019 by the Department of Radiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, also affirmed that cardiac activity begins as early as six weeks gestation. In addition, the absence of a detectable heartbeat is a sign of pregnancy failure, according to the study. "Most American parents have seen their baby's beating heart during prenatal ultrasound and discussed it with their obstetrician," she continued. "The mainstream media can perform Olympic-level semantics gymnastics all they want, but most Americans instinctively understand that a developing human organ which beats rhythmically and pumps blood throughout the body is, in fact, a heart."

 As The National Review reported in February, up until recently, Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, stated on its webpage that a "very basic beating heart and circulatory system develop" during the fifth to sixth week of pregnancy. Now, the website states that at five to six weeks, "[a] part of the embryo starts to show cardiac activity. It sounds like a heartbeat on an ultrasound, but it's not a fully-formed heart — it's the earliest stage of the heart developing," the website states. This is yet another example of people attempting to go against God’s plan for life.

 Biblical Connection: The Bible clearly teaches that life in the womb is “knit together” by God (Psalm 139:13).

 PRAY- Pray that those who want to continue to kill the lives of unborn babies will be stopped and the unborn will be protected.

Court rules Christians can’t be forced by the government to perform abortions, gender reassignment surgeries

Last week, the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rule that would have required doctors to perform abortions and gender reassignment surgeries. In a unanimous opinion, the Fifth Circuit Court upheld a 2021 permanent injunction by a lower court that shielded Christian groups from anti-discrimination lawsuits under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race and national origin.

 The Department of Health and Human Services had been working on implementing the Biden administration’s “Notice and Guidance on Gender Affirming Care” agenda. This would have forced doctors to perform abortion and body mutilating “gender transition” surgeries, even if they were morally opposed to the practices.

 HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra claimed “This proposed rule ensures that people nationwide can access health care, free from discrimination. Standing with communities in need is critical, particularly given increased attacks on women, trans youth, and health care providers. Health care should be a right not dependent on looks, location, love, language, or the type of care someone needs.”

 In 2016 the Obama administration tried to require healthcare providers to perform gender transition procedures, including on minors, even if the providers held sincere religious objections. The Obama-era mandate was challenged in court by multiple groups, and was eventually repealed during the Trump administration, only to be revived by the Biden administration.

 In August 2021, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction against a similar mandate that required medical facilities and health insurers to cover or to provide abortions and gender transition procedures. O’Connor issued the permanent injunction in the case of Franciscan Alliance, Inc. et al. v. Xavier Becerra, concluding that the mandate violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. “No party disputes that the Transgender Mandate threatens to burden Christian Plaintiffs’ religious exercise … by placing substantial pressure on Christian Plaintiffs, in the form of fines and civil liability, to perform and provide insurance coverage for gender-transition procedures and abortions,” he wrote.

 Luke Goodrich of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty was critical of the proposed rule, telling The Christian Post that it was “yet another proposal to force doctors and hospitals across the country to perform gender transitions and abortions in violation of their conscience and medical judgment. This has been the announced policy of the administration since the first day President Biden took office.”

 Goodrich commented that if they had lost, the Biden administration would have declared “open season” on religious hospitals that objected to gender transitions.

 Joseph Davis, also of the Becket Fund, called this ruling “a major victory for conscience rights and compassionate medical care in America. Doctors cannot do their jobs and comply with the Hippocratic Oath if the government requires them to perform harmful, irreversible procedures against their conscience and medical expertise.”

 Biblical Connection: One of the many sins that the Canaanites committed that caused God to bring judgment on them was sacrificing their children for their benefit and pleasure (Leviticus 18:21, Deuteronomy 12:29-31).

 PRAISE: This is a major victory reinforcing the rights of Christian medical groups and providers to not to be forced into performing surgeries going against their sincerely held religious beliefs.

Britain Continues Attack on Traditional Christian Beliefs of Gender

A London-based employment tribunal has ruled that the British Equality Act protects Christians’ beliefs that do not affirm transgenderism, but they cannot express those beliefs in the workplace. The Employment Appeal Tribunal in London delivered the judgment in a case concerning a Christian doctor whose work contract was terminated over his refusal to refer to a man as a woman.

 In July 2018, Dr. David Mackereth, an A&E doctor with 30 years of experience, was forced out of his job in the Department of Work and Pensions. He subsequently took his case to the tribunal which ruled that biblical beliefs on gender are “incompatible with human dignity” and not “worthy of respect in a democratic society.” The doctor then sought to challenge that ruling.  At first read, this judgment sounded very favorable. It means that the belief that God created humans as male and female and not transgender is a protected belief under both the Equality Act and the Human Rights Act, said the British charity Christian Concern, whose legal arm, the Christian Legal Centre, represented the Christian doctor. “Furthermore, it means that more narrow beliefs flowing from that core belief, such as that affirming a transgendered person in their gender identity belief is harmful, are also protected. The right not to believe in transgenderism is also protected,” Christian Concern added.

 However, the appeals tribunal also affirmed that “while the belief, or lack of belief, in transgenderism was protected, its manifestation in the workplace was qualified.” Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, called the judgment “confusing and muddled…The way in which the judge has driven a wedge between holding a belief and manifesting it means these basic Christian beliefs are protected on paper but not in practice,” Williams said. “The freedom to hold a belief, but not be able to express it, is no freedom at all,” he added.

 Mackereth said during proceedings that he was asked in a conversation by his line manager: “If you have a man 6 foot tall with a beard who says he wants to be addressed as ‘she’ and ‘Mrs,’ would you do that?” And Mackereth replied that in good conscience, he could not. His contract was subsequently terminated.

 Mackereth said he was grateful to the court for at least “recognizing that a belief that we are made by God, both male and female ‘in His image’ is not incompatible with human dignity.” However, he also said he will be taking the case to a higher court. Mackereth said everyone in the NHS should be able to say “publicly without fear that a person cannot change sex, but instead we are being forced to accept a massive change to our concept of the medical reality of sex, with no scientific basis for that change.” He continued: “As Christians, we are not trying to be unkind to people in any way. As Christians we are called to love all people with Christian love. But we cannot love people truly when we live and disseminate a lie. If we are to tell patients that they need to ‘follow the science’, then we must not tell them that they can change sex.”

 Biblical Connections: Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 that, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” We are clearly seeing a change in Western culture in which Christianity is tolerated only as long as it does not offend someone else. The moment someone becomes offended, religious freedom is placated.

 PRAY: Pray that this drive in Western culture toward ungodliness would stop and Christian principles and truth would be put back into the public square.

Woke Culture is a Great Threat to Religious Freedom

The head of a noted religious freedom advocacy organization cited “the dominance of woke culture that thinks it’s OK to silence people who disagree” as the greatest threat to religious freedom in the United States and around the world. Michael Farris, president and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom, explained that many people, especially Christians, find themselves on “the receiving end of efforts to silence them, to cause them to lose their careers” and “not have the ability to even get their opinions out in public society,” Farris said “the dominance of woke culture that thinks it’s OK to silence people who disagree is very dangerous in many respects for freedom of speech and freedom of religion” in the U.S.

 Farris stated that “in some sectors of the world,” the greatest threat to religious freedom is “the same as the United States,” specifically, “the imperialism of woke culture.” He maintained that the “totalitarian mood” behind woke culture extends to the dominant orthodoxies in other countries as well: “In India, for example, Hindu nationalism operates on a very, very egregious basis and tries to close down people that are differing…I was in India just a few weeks ago and met with a young man who was beaten by the police for simply praying out loud on a neighborhood balcony of an apartment,” he said. “He was charged with a crime of forcible conversion. All he was doing was praying for his uncle’s healing.”

 Farris cited the intolerance of Hindu nationalists in India as well as woke culture in the U.S. as examples of how “we’re in a mood of the world where diversity of opinion is not being tolerated. There’s pressure to adhere to whatever the prevailing viewpoint is in a particular country, whether that’s Hindu nationalism or left-wing cultural wokeism. Get in line or face the consequences is the mood in way too many places in the world,” he said, stressing that “it’s relatively a small, very vocal, very vicious minority that wants to silence people, especially in this country.

 “I don’t think that the majority of Americans support this,” he added, noting that “waking up the big middle of the country to what’s happening” is a necessary step in reversing the trend of intolerance because “most Americans still believe in their heart that everybody should be able to say whatever they want and not suffer the consequences of being subjected to mob violence.” Farris recalled that earlier this year, one of his colleagues, ADF General Counsel Kristen Waggoner, had a mob try to “drown her out” as she addressed students at Yale Law School. At the same time, he expressed hope that “America can listen to its better angels and not listen to people who really want to pursue what I believe to be an un-American position of silencing those that you disagree with.”

 Agreeing that “Christians who hold biblical views on sexuality, gender and abortion are not being tolerated in the public square,” Farris identified “most college campuses or most public schools” as the most hostile environments for those with such beliefs: “It is very, very difficult to be able to communicate your views as a Christian and there is punishment being metered out.” Farris elaborated on his concerns with American education, noting that he had been “litigating cases” involving a tug of war between parents and schools and teachers over what is taught in public schools surrounding sex and gender for 40 years. “There has been some level of this that’s been going on at least that long,” he asserted. Farris said one change in education policy that has already materialized is a doubling of the homeschool population in the last couple of years: “It went from 5 percent of the school-aged population to about 10 percent.”

 Farris attributed the ascendance of critical theory and other concerning curriculum in schools to the fact that “school districts are organized in a way that the teachers’ union has an outsized influence in a number of ways.” He also explained that “the general education establishment, if you’re starting with the teachers’ colleges in the country that control a lot of what happens downstream, has pretty much bought into the culturally woke agenda.”

 Biblical Connection: The early church faced a similar issue when first the Jews and then the Romans tried to silence their voices through persecution and even death. However, the believers stood strong in their faith and continued to spread the Gospel.

 PRAY: Pray for those who are in danger of persecution but also pray that this tide will shift, and many parts of the world will turn back to religious freedom.

What Is the Impact of Reversing Roe v. Wade?

At any moment, the Supreme Court will release their decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case over a Mississippi law which bans abortion after 15 weeks. In 1973, Roe v. Wade establish abortion on-demand as a federal right. In the almost 50 years since, the Supreme Court has repeatedly blocked a multitude of commonsense pro-life state laws from going into effect.

 When Roe v. Wade was decided, babies were considered viable (able to survive) at 28 weeks. Today, with aggressive medical care, premature babies are able to survive at 22 weeks or even earlier.

 God’s Word reminds us, “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). Since 1973, medical science has “caught up” to prove that an unborn child is indeed a human life. As early as 5 weeks, babies in the womb have a heartbeat, blood vessels forming a circulatory system, and the brain and spinal cord are begining to develop. At 10 weeks babies have arms, legs, fingers and toes. And at 15 weeks, babies have a fully developed heart, nose, lips, eyelids and eyebrows. They can yawn, hiccup and suck their thumbs … and they can feel pain.

 This momentous decision could immediately enact pro-life laws across America. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 10 states have provisions to ban all or nearly all abortions; four states have passed an amendment declaring their state constitution does not secure or protect the right to abortion or allow the use of public funds for abortion; and 17 states have laws banning abortion at or before 20 weeks.

 Last month, after a draft of Dobbs was leaked, crisis pregnancy centers, pro-life advocacy groups, and churches were targeted. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America released a report listing over 40 incidents of violence and vandalism including activists throwing Molotov cocktails and setting fire to the offices of Wisconsin Family Action in Madison and the offices of Oregon Right to Life.

 Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group’s president, commented “Every abortion is an act of violence – violence against the unborn child who is killed and violence against the mother who is wounded in one of the deepest ways possible. In contrast to that inherent violence, the vast network of pregnancy centers, maternity homes, and other organizations across America exist to peacefully and lovingly serve women and families.”

 Also upset with the Dobbs leak, Nicholas John Roske, armed with a gun and a knife, was arrested near the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and was charged with attempted assassination. Just yesterday, Roske, who has admitted to flying across country to kill Justice Kavanaugh, pled not guilty. A tentative trial date has been set for August 23, but it remains to be seen what the outcome will be.

When the final Dobbs decision is released, there is a very real threat of escalating violence and destruction. Jane’s Revenge, a radical pro-abortion group, has declared “open season” on pro-life institutions that do not shut down threatening, “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either.” They have promised additional attacks saying it “will not stop” or “hesitate to strike” until abortion’s legality is secure.

 PRAY: Pray for safety for the justices of the Supreme Court. Pray for the protection of crisis pregnancy centers and pro-life advocacy groups. In addition to praying, commit to coming alongside those groups who provide pregnant mothers and their children and families with much needed resources that help them embrace life.

Bible Researchers Decipher Earliest Hebrew Inscription Known as ‘Curse Tablet’

Biblical researchers say they have decoded an ancient Hebrew inscription, known as a “curse tablet” that predates by centuries any known Hebrew inscription from ancient Israel. The inscription was found on Mt. Ebal, the mountain of the curse, mentioned in Deuteronomy 27 and Joshua 8. “Cursed, cursed, cursed — cursed by the God of YHWH, you will die cursed, cursed you will surely die, cursed by YHWH cursed, cursed, cursed,” reads the earliest proto-alphabetic Hebrew text recovered on a small, folded lead tablet, the Associates for Biblical Research announced at a press conference at the Lanier Theological Library in Houston, Texas.

 “I believe the amulet dates to the Late Bronze II age, or as early as 1400 BC,” Scott Stripling, ABR’s director of excavations, told The Jerusalem Post. He added, “This is earlier than many skeptics believe the Bible existed, making this the earliest appearance of the word YHWH in Israel and it was found at a covenant site. The implications are enormous and will reverberate for many years to come.”

 The amulet, known as a defixio or curse tablet, came to light in December 2019 when Stripling, also the director of the Archaeological Studies Institute at the Bible Seminary went with his team to wet sift the discarded material from excavations conducted in 1982-1989 in the West Bank. Those excavations were conducted by the late Haifa University archaeology professor Adam Zertal who discovered the altar of Joshua on Mount Ebal near the city of Nablus in the West Bank.

 “This amulet and its inscription do not predate the Bible,” Stripling said. “We believe it coincides with the biblical events. We talk about verisimilitude, a consistency between what we read in the text and what we find in the material culture. If the text were true, this is what you would anticipate finding, and indeed, it is what we found.” Haifa University professor Gershon Galil told The Times of Israel, “This is a text you find only every 1,000 years.”

 Some have raised concerns about the claims, with one unnamed academic telling The Times of Israel, “The fact that they are publishing it in the news before being published scientifically is a bit off.” However, the Associates for Biblical Research said an academic, peer-reviewed article will be published later this year. It is not uncommon for articles in the field of archaeology to take several years to go through the publishing process. The researchers include: Stripling, Galil, Ivana Kumpova, Jaroslav Valach, Pieter Gert van der Veen, Daniel Vavrik and Michal Vopalensky.

 According to the Bible, Mount Ebal was the mountain from which the curses were called out for those who broke God’s law when the children of Israel made a covenant with God before entering the land of Israel. Deuteronomy 11:29 reads, “When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses.”

 This discovery, if proven accurate based on these early reports, would be a game-changer. Critical scholars argue that Israel as a nation did not even exist at this point in time, that the Exodus never happened and that the text of the Bible was not written for centuries. Showing that the Hebrews not only could write at this time, but actually had portions of the Bible written in various forms would go a long way to establish the historicity of the Old Testament, something that has been greatly questioned by skeptics for the last few centuries.

 PRAY: Pray we will continue to see discoveries in archaeology that will help to strengthen the historicity of Biblical text.

Second Synagogue Discovered in Mary Magdalene’s Hometown

Archaeologists say a second synagogue dating back to the Second Temple period has been discovered in what is believed to have been the birthplace of Mary Magdalene of the Bible and is “changing our understanding of Jewish life in this period.” While excavating the Galilean town of Magdala, known today as Migdal, archaeologists say they found the remnants of a second synagogue dating back to the Second Temple period — which in history was a time that is believed to have lasted between 515 or 516 B.C. up until 70 A.D. 

 “This is the second synagogue from the Roman period that has been uncovered in the village — and the first case of the existence of two synagogues in any locality from the Second Temple period, a period when the Temple in Jerusalem was still standing,” the Israel Antiquities Authority shared on Facebook.

 Prof. Adi Erlich,  who heads the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, and Dina Avshalom-Gorni, who directs the excavation of the site on behalf of the University of Haifa, believe the discovery “sheds light on the social and religious life of the Jews in the Galilee during this period.” They contend that the finding “indicates the need for a special building for studying and reading the Torah and social gatherings.”

 The first synagogue in Migdal was uncovered in 2009 through an excavation that found ritual baths, streets, a marketplace and industrial facilities in the ancient village. The second synagogue was first discovered by probes conducted by Barak Tzin of the Israel Antiquities Authority and lies less than 200 meters away from the first synagogue. The IAA statement states that the discovery of the second synagogue is “changing our understanding of Jewish life in this period,” IAA stated.

 “We can imagine Mary Magdalene and her family coming to the synagogue here, along with other residents of Migdal, to participate in religious and communal events,” excavation co-director Avshalom-Gorni told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

 The discovery was made amid a plan to build new infrastructure in the town of Migdal. But while the areas were being excavated — a typical practice in advance of construction —  the second synagogue was discovered by the IAA, Y.G. Contractual and the University of Haifa.  Avshalom-Gorni told the newspaper that the first synagogue had a decorative mosaic floor and the second one had a compacted, plastered and earthen floor, thus the second synagogue is said to be smaller and not as ornate as the first.

 The first synagogue was in an industrial area, while the second was located in a residential street, which suggests they were built “within the social fabric of the settlement,” Avshalom-Gorni told The Times of Israel, who reported that the second synagogue consisted of the main hall and two side rooms. A stone bench was also recovered. Archaeologists found bases for two of the building’s six pillars that held up the roof. The walls of the synagogue were colorfully decorated and covered in plaster. Archaeologists believe that a room at the south end of the main hall with a shelf may have stored scrolls.

Christian doctor to have case heard at UK tribunal

A Christian doctor who lost his job for refusing to use trans pronouns will appear before a tribunal in the United Kingdom to challenge a ruling that held that biblical beliefs on gender are “incompatible with human dignity” and not “worthy of respect in a democratic society.” Dr. David Mackereth, a physician who in July 2018 was forced out of his job in the Department of Work and Pensions, will challenge the ruling at the Employment Appeal Tribunal in London.

“My case affects everyone, not just me and Bible-believing Christians, but anyone who is concerned by compelled speech and transgender ideology being enforced on the NHS and other public services,” Mackereth said in a statement. “The judgment from two years ago said to Christians, ‘you have to believe in transgender ideology.’ That is totalitarianism. It made out Christianity to be nothing, the Bible to be nothing. That cannot be allowed to stand.”

The case comes about a week after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told members of Parliament that “when it comes to distinguishing between a man and a woman, the basic facts of biology remain overwhelmingly important.” In the two-day hearing, lawyers are expected to cite Maya Forstater’s tribunal victory last June, maintaining that an earlier decision against her “erred in law.” Forstater served as a senior researcher at a think tank in London and was fired in 2019 for tweeting that “men cannot change into women.” She criticized the decision to house a trans-identified biological male in a woman’s prison.

In 2018, Mackereth was terminated as a medical assessor after refusing to identify clients by their chosen gender identity. In 2019, he took his case to an Employment Tribunal in Birmingham, claiming harassment and discrimination based on his Christian beliefs. Mackereth said during proceedings that he was asked in a conversation by his line manager: “If you have a man six foot tall with a beard who says he wants to be addressed as ‘she’ and ‘Mrs,’ would you do that?” And Mackereth replied that in good conscience, he could not. His contract was subsequently terminated. But the tribunal ruled in October 2019 that the Department for Work and Pensions had not breached the Equality Act of 2010 by firing the physician, who now works as an NHS emergency doctor. “A lack of belief in transgenderism and conscientious objection to transgenderism in our judgment are incompatible with human dignity and conflict with the fundamental rights of others,” the judgment read.

The Christian Legal Centre argues that the employment judge “effectively put ‘transgender rights’ ahead of freedom of conscience.” The legal group contends that the consequence of the decision is that it “authorized employers to compel Christians to use pronouns preferred by customers who believe in gender-fluidity. It is believed to be the first time in the history of English law that a judge has ruled that free citizens must engage in compelled speech,” a statement from the Christian Legal Centre reads.

Mackereth believes that NHS employees are “being forced to accept a massive change to our concept of the medical reality of sex, with no scientific basis for that change. No doctor, or researcher, or philosopher, can demonstrate or prove that a person can change sex,” Mackereth said. “Without intellectual and moral integrity, medicine cannot function and my 30 years as a doctor are now considered irrelevant compared to the risk that someone else might be offended.” As Christians are called to be “love all people,” Mackereth asserts that followers of Christ can’t “love people truly when we live and disseminate a lie.”

Christian Legal Centre Chief Executive Andrea Williams said if the judgment against her client is upheld, it will have “seismic consequences” for “anyone in the workplace who is prepared to believe and say that we are created male and female. The teaching of Genesis 1:27 is repeated throughout the Bible, including by Jesus Christ himself. It is fundamental to establishing the dignity of every human person but is, in a bizarre ironic twist, being branded as incompatible with that dignity,” Williams said.

Pray- Pray that this left-leaning push to drive out the Biblical foundation of man and woman will be defeated and order will again be restored.