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.

The Rise of “Apatheism” and its Impact on the Church

Scripture is full of promises for those who follow Christ — both for the present and the future. Yet nearly a quarter way through the 21st century, the Church is facing some of its most dire challenges yet. Recent poll findings suggest it’s not just unbelievers who are cool towards the Bible and its teachings but also those who already identify as Christians. A newly released study from the Nashville-based Lifeway Research has found apathy inside the Church was cited as the most common “people dynamic” challenge facing pastors today.

 Lifeway’s “Greatest Needs Of Pastors” study asked 1,000 Protestant pastors to identify the primary people dynamic challenges they face in their churches. Their overwhelming response? Apathy or lack of commitment. The survey found that three-quarters of pastors surveyed (75%) listed “People’s apathy or lack of commitment” when asked to identify the “people dynamics” they find challenging in their ministry. That was the only challenge that more than half of pastors identified. These appear to be self-identified followers of Jesus Christ apathetic to Christ’s Church.

 Coming in a long second, third and fourth place in the survey were responses like “People’s strong opinions about nonessentials” (48%), “Resistance to change in the church” (46%) and “People’s political views” (44%). “It can be easy for a church member to check the box and say, ‘I’m doing some activities, I’m coming to church’ ... and feel like they’re doing enough. And yet, if they are not participating, they’re really missing out on some pretty big parts,” Lifeway Research Executive Director Scott McConnell told The Christian Post.

 The findings come as Christian apologist and author J. Warner Wallace has argued that apathetic views on spirituality — particularly among millennials and Generation Z — pose a greater threat to Christianity than atheism. These are views that aren’t specifically anti-Christian or anti-religion, but rather ambivalent towards Christianity or religion in general. Meanwhile, a Barna Group survey from 2018 suggests that more people in “Generation Z” — traditionally defined as those born between 1999 and 2015 — identify themselves as agnostic, atheist or not religiously affiliated than any other generation.

 Apathy can also bleed into theology, with most Christian parents not having enough biblical literacy to even pass down to their children the most basic tenets of the faith, research suggests. A report released in April by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University found that parents of preteens “are in a state of spiritual distress” as American adherence to biblical Christianity fades. George Barna, director of research at the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian, said a paltry 2% of parents of preteens have a biblical worldview, largely because “parents … are too distracted or disinterested to acknowledge and address the parenting crisis.”

 Researchers said those categorized as apatheists “simply do not believe, and in the same right, their absence of faith means the absence of anything religious in any form from their mental space.” Strictly speaking, apatheism is less theological and more attitudinal in nature. Instead of declaring a “lack of belief” in God, one could theoretically acknowledge the existence of God and still be disinterested. Since apatheism is a judgment or intellectual position on a type of belief and not a belief or disbelief in itself, proponents say it’s irrelevant for an apatheist whether God exists or not. This combination of apathy and resistance to change among Christians can often result in a stagnant fellowship and even a lack of evangelism.

 Biblical Connection: Revelation 3:14- 16 states, “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” There is no place for apathy in the Christian life. Jesus demands that we bear fruit and this can only occur through following Him.

 PRAY: Pray the American church will awake from its slumber and return back to its mission.

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.

Atheist Activist Demands Florida School Districts Ban and Burn Bible

A liberal activist is getting national attention for calling on Florida’s public schools to ban and even burn the Holy Bible over what he says are “obscene” and “harmful” passages. Chaz Stevens of Deerfield Beach, Florida, wrote letters to superintendents in Miami-Dade County Public Schools and other school districts throughout the state asking them to “immediately remove the Bible from the classroom, library, and any instructional material” in their schools.

The campaign came weeks after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1467, allowing Florida residents to request the removal of books they find objectionable from school classrooms and libraries. Critics have alleged that the measure stifles the free speech rights of students and faculty on LGBT issues and other matters.

Citing HB 1467, Stevens’ letter calls not only for the removal of the Bible and the “banishment of any book that references” it but also calls on education officials to burn what Stevens described as “that giant stack of fiction in a pyre worthy of a Viking sendoff.”

Stevens presented Jose Dotres, the superintendent of Miami-Dade County Schools, with his objections, including references to verses from the Old and New Testament. He sent a similar letter to Kenneth Savage, the interim superintendent of Lee County Public Schools, indicating that his effort to ban the Bible from public schools extends to the entire state.

In his letter to Dotres, Stevens misquotes Genesis 2:18 as “It is not good enough for man to be alone, therefore, encourage one another and build each other up!”

The verse written by Stevens actually combines Genesis 2:18 with a New Testament verse from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, to which Stevens comments: “The most troubling of issues for many, as it’s obvious once we teach little Jimmy and Susie to show empathy for their classmates, they’re one giant step closer to getting their LGBTQ+ freak on.” Genesis 2:18 actually reads: “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 reads, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, as indeed you are doing.”

Stevens’ letter also takes apparent umbrage with the words of Jesus in a warning of the depravity of the human heart in Matthew 15:19: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” Additionally, the letter cites the Apostle Paul’s inspired words in Romans 13:13 as a cause for concern: “Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. As the Bible casually references such topics as adultery and fornication — or as I like to think, Date Night Friday Night — do we really want to teach our youth about drunken orgies?” Stevens writes.

Quoting God’s warning to the Israelites not to participate in bestiality in Leviticus 18:23, Stevens says, “one should consider such discussions to be harmful to minors and obscene.” He also linked the Bible’s view of slavery — which calls on masters to treat their servants justly and for servants to obey them as they would obey Christ Himself — with critical race theory, saying he was “concerned our young white students will read such passages and wake up to civilization’s sordid past.”

A note on Stevens’ website says the Bible has been “used to justify slavery, homophobia, and wars for centuries” and “it’s long past time to ban this dangerous book from our public schools.”

Supporters of HB 1557 contend it is a necessary law to support the rights of parents who question the morality of teachers to young children about sexual matters. “Parents’ rights have been increasingly under assault around the nation, but in Florida we stand up for the rights of parents and the fundamental role they play in the education of their children,” DeSantis said in a statement. “Parents have every right to be informed about services offered to their child at school, and should be protected from schools using classroom instruction to sexualize their kids as young as 5 years old,” he added.

This is yet another example of critics attacking God’s Word at every turn and trying to destroy the credibility of Christianity in the public square.

PRAY: Pray these harmful attacks of the Bible will stop and that people will again respect the Bible in the public square.

North Korea Continues to Test Long Range Missiles Amid Nuclear Buildup

North Korea allegedly launched three test missiles into the sea according to South Korea. The purported missile tests came just hours after U.S. President Joe Biden left Asia, where he restated his commitment to defend U.S. allies against North Korea's nuclear threat. The North is believed to have launched an intercontinental ballistic missile and two shorter-range weapons.

 The tests would be the North's first ICBM launch in about two months as nuclear diplomacy talks with the United States have stalled. North Korea said in March that it had test-launched its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile to date, violating a 2018 U.N. resolution on long-range launches. The tests were North Korea’s seventeenth round of missile launches this year and the first since May 12. North Korea's ICBM launch in March marked the first such firing since 2017.

 South Korea said following an emergency national security council meeting shortly after detecting the launches; "North Korea’s sustained provocations can only result in stronger and faster South Korea-U.S. combined deterrence and can only deepen North Korea’s international isolation," the South Korean government said in a statement. "Our government is maintaining constant readiness to strongly and effectively respond to any kind of North Korean provocation."

 South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the U.S. and South Korean militaries launched two surface-to-surface missiles in response to North Korea's tests to show their striking capabilities. The statement said the two allies had detected North Korea’s launch plans in advance.

 The White House said that U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and South Korea national security adviser Kim Sung-han spoke on the phone shortly after the test. "They both condemned North Korea's destabilizing ballistic missile tests and committed to continue building on their close coordination. Mr. Sullivan also reaffirmed the United States’ steadfast commitment to the defense of South Korea," the White House said in a statement.

 Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi called the launches "an act of provocation and absolutely impermissible." U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials have warned that North Korea may also soon launch its first nuclear test in nearly five years. President Biden and South Korea's president said after their summit in Seoul that they would consider expanded military practices in an effort to deter North Korea's nuclear threats. When asked during his trip about possible provocations from the North, Biden said, "We are prepared for anything North Korea does."

 Biden would later meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo. They both promised to work to handle security challenges. These hurdles include North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic programs and China’s "increasingly coercive" behavior. This continues a very difficult time for President Biden’s foreign policy. Between the Russia-Ukrainian War, China’s pressure on Taiwan and both North Korea and Iran continuing to press toward nuclear capability, the world has become a very dangerous and politically divided scene very quickly.

 Biblical Connection: The rise in the desire to proliferate nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction should not shock readers of the Scriptures. The Book of Revelation makes it clear that in the last days there will be massive war and bloodshed unlike any seen in the history of the world. For example, the horseman of Revelation 6 bring war and destruction to the globe and a fourth of the world is killed. The presence and prominence of these types of weapons make this a very real possibility.

 PRAY- Pray for wisdom for the leaders of the world as these challenges continue to arise and evil continues to push for greater impact.

46 Retired Generals, Admirals Urge Against Iran Nuclear Deal

In an open letter to President Biden, 46 retired U.S. generals and admirals voiced their opposition to the ongoing negotiations with Iran on striking a nuclear deal. “In Ukraine, we are bearing witness to the horrors of a country ruthlessly attacking its neighbor and, by brandishing its nuclear weapons, forcing the rest of the world largely to stand on the sidelines,” the letter, penned in coordination with the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), said. “The new Iran deal currently being negotiated, which Russia has played a central role in crafting, will enable the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism to cast its own nuclear shadow over the Middle East.”

 Retired Air Force Gen. Charles Wald, who also formerly served as deputy commander of U.S, European Command, said he supports finding a solution to the nuclear issue in the Middle East through diplomacy, but argued no deal is better than a bad deal.

 “The idea of an agreement is a good idea. We agree with diplomacy,” Wald told Fox News. “But we agreed with a fair agreement that would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon breakout and then have weapons delivery systems that would then change the dynamic in the Middle East – particularly for Israel but all other countries too.” Wald said one of his chief concerns with the latest deal is that the Biden administration is not considering Iran’s role in fueling terrorism and backing rebel groups in the war in Yemen – a war that has prompted one of the greatest humanitarian crises.

 President Biden made re-entering a nuclear agreement with Iran a chief priority of his administration and indirect talks through European allies have been on and off for roughly a year. But reports surfaced suggesting the administration was considering a request from Iran to remove its top military branch, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), from the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations. In exchange, the U.S. has called on Iran to end its support for terrorist organizations fueling unrest in the region – but several groups from Iranian American scientists to retired military commanders have little faith Iran will live up to this commitment. “That’s a red flag,” Wald said in reference to removing the IRGC as a designated terrorist group. “That just doesn’t sit well with us because the IRGC is the most malicious group in the region.”

The retired general said the death of 600 U.S. military members could be attributed “directly” to IRGC, and noted they continue to attack U.S. and allied forces in the region. Talks between western nations and Iran appeared to be stalled and officials involved in the negotiations remain tight-lipped on deal specifics. Wald said he would need to see “unfettered access by the IAEA” and assurances that Iran will not continue with its ballistic missile system even if a nuclear agreement is reached, in order for him to support a deal with Iran.

 “The Iranians will push up to the point where they know something bad is going happen to them,” Wald continued. “So the more difficult we make for them to operate with impunity, the more they’re going to take advantage of it.”

 Just last week it was reported that thankfully the Biden administration will not agree to removing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the State Department’s list of foreign terrorists, thus stalling negotiations for the time being. However, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has warned the world that Iran is weeks away from having the necessary materials for a nuclear weapon.

 PRAY: Pray for President Biden to heed the warnings about Iran and to work to keep them from nuclear capability.

America More Indifferent to Religion but More Accepting of Jesus

According to a new poll by Ipsos, nearly four out of 10 adults living in the United States believe that religion makes the country stronger, while fewer than one in 10 believe it makes it weaker. In a study titled “Jesus in America” released and written as a partnership between Ipsos and the Episcopal Church, 38% of respondents said they believe that religion in the U.S. “makes the country stronger,” which was the most popular response.

 By contrast, 28% of respondents said they believe religion in the U.S. “divides the country,” while 20% said they did not know, and 7% said it had “no effect.” Only 6% said they believe religion “makes the country weaker.” Those who said they believe religion “divides the country” included 21% of Christian respondents, 38% of respondents belonging to other religions and 50% of non-religious respondents. For their data, they used a survey of 3,119 U.S. adults conducted from Nov. 22 to Dec. 2, 2021, with a margin of error of +/- 2.0 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

 This 38% number is substantially smaller than previous polling. For example, according to a Pew Research Center report released in November 2019, 55% of respondents believed that religion did “more good than harm” to society. Thus, in only three years, a 15 percent decrease has occurred in the American mindset based on this data. It is also important to note that this is not Christian specific data, but shows that Americans are more hesitant to think any religious beliefs are of value. Certainly, events such as September 11th and the War on Terror have impacted these figures as well. Many Millennials have grown up with America at war for much of their lifetime and blame religion for much of that situation.  

 The data in the study backs up this idea. The study reported that Generation Z Americans — those born after 1996 — were slightly less likely to be non-religious than millennials (Gen Y), who were born between 1981 and 1996. According to the survey, 24% of Gen Z respondents identify as non-religious, while 28% of millennials identified the same. By contrast, 12% of baby boomers and 18% of Generation X identify as non-religious. If this data holds up, then Generation Z would be the first generation to slow this rapid decline in several generations.

However, one of the dangers that comes with both Millennials and even Gen Z is that they tend to be more “spiritual minded” than religious. They may believe in a higher power or different aspects of spirituality, such as karma, meditation, etc., but not necessarily in an organized religion. Interestingly, even though the numbers believing religion is helpful for the nation have declined, the views on Jesus have shifted in a much more positive direction. Among respondents who said their opinion of Jesus had shifted within the last five to eight years, 76% of Gen Z said their opinion changed to be positive, while 65% of millennials said the same.

 Therefore, there clearly seems to be a disconnect in younger generations between religion, even Christianity, and Jesus Himself. There is a much stronger acceptance of Jesus than Christianity or religion at large. Perhaps this has occurred from a misunderstanding of Jesus, viewing Him as a sage or teacher instead of God Himself, or this could be simply a reaction to the many scandals that have unfortunately played Christianity over the past decade. Regardless of the reason, the data, while alarming at first, may actually point to a more acceptance of Jesus in the new generations.

 PRAY: Pray that younger generations will continue to show a positive acceptance of not simply the Jesus of culture, but the true Jesus of the Bible, the Son of God and Savior of the world.

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.

Is America Becoming too Weak to Stand up for Freedom?

As the war between Russia and Ukraine has captured the attention of the world, one thing that has clearly stood out has been the great passion and love of homeland of the Ukrainian people. Thousands of Ukrainians have flocked to enlist in the military in order to defend their homeland, even many who did not reside in the country at the outbreak of the conflict. Regardless of the ultimate outcome of the war, the strength, passion and dedication of the Ukrainian people for their nation has clearly been demonstrated and has captured the attention of the globe.

 This has led many throughout the globe to question how much of a love of homeland they themselves have.  In a recent poll, Americans were asked what they would do if they were in the same position as Ukrainians are now: stay and fight or leave the country? A majority (55 percent) say they would stay and fight, while 38 percent say they would leave the country. Republicans say 68 - 25 percent and independents say 57 - 36 percent they would stay and fight, while Democrats say 52 - 40 percent they would leave the country.

 This has led many to question what exactly has happened to America? Why is there such a large percentage of the population not willing to stand and fight for their country?

 In a recent Wall Street opinion, Matthew Hennessey wrote, “One can hardly imagine Americans of yesteryear exhibiting such high levels of yellow-bellyism. Where have all the Minutemen gone? The Molly Pitchers? The Audie Murphys? The Todd Beamers? In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and 9/11, when the nation was on its knees, the call was answered without hesitation by rock-ribbed Republicans and true-blue Democrats alike. Even the turbulent Vietnam era didn’t inspire such pusillanimity. Between 1964 and 1973, 2.2 million Americans were conscripted into military service. Another 15 million were granted deferments for one reason or another. Less than 2% of those who were eligible for the draft opted to evade it, either by going underground or emigrating.”

 Cal Thomas similarly wrote, “After two generations where students in public schools and major universities seem to have been taught by mostly liberal teachers and professors that America is not an exceptional nation and is, rather, a country whose “original sin” of slavery and record wealth is an embarrassment, why would anyone want to fight to preserve sin and embarrassment? Maybe in Las Vegas they might ask where these two qualities are in abundance…If the Quinnipiac survey is accurate – and given the current cultural condition, why wouldn’t it be? – the willingness to act seems to be shrinking. Inertia can only last for so long before the power that launched it expires. We have been living off the bravery and sacrifice of ‘the greatest generation’ for some time. It must be renewed if freedom is to be extended for us and for other nations.”

 Now, some might say that love for one’s country is not something that should be a high priority. However, we must remember that it was America that stood against the Nazis. It was America that combated atheistic communism for decades. It is America that has fought the War on Terror for two decades.

 While America certainly has its issues and problems, God has used this nation as a restrainer on evil throughout the globe for many generations. If America no longer has the will or determination to stand up against the forces of evil across the globe, then trouble could be on the horizon.

 PRAY: Pray that America will continue to show the determination to combat evil throughout the globe.

Parents’ Lawsuit Claims School Secretly Helped Kids Adopt New Gender Identities

Two pairs of parents are suing the staff of a Massachusetts middle school for allegedly encouraging their children to adopt new gender identities without their knowledge or consent. Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri, alongside Jonathan Feliciano and Sandra Salmeron, filed the lawsuit in a Massachusetts federal district court with the help of the Child and Parental Rights Campaign and the Massachusetts Family Institute. The organizations help parents navigate issues surrounding gender identity and parental rights.

Several school officials at Baird Middle School are named defendants in the lawsuit, including Interim Superintendent Lisa Nemeth, former Superintendent Todd Gazda, Baird Middle School Principal Stacy Monette, school counselor Marie-Claire Foley and former librarian Jordan Funke. Foote and Silvestri claim that they were unaware of the “transitioning” of their young son and daughter, referred to as G.F. and B.F., respectively, in the filing. They say they became aware after their daughter’s teacher, Bonnie Manchester, told them in December 2020 that their daughter was struggling with her self-esteem. The teacher forwarded the parents an email in which their 11-year-old daughter claimed she was “genderqueer,” citing her new name and pronouns as “he/him.” The parents contacted the school, requesting that the school refrain from discussing the issue with their children and allow them to “direct the mental health care of their children.”

The parents claim they made it clear they would provide their daughter with the help she needed from a “mental health professional,” but they believe the school disregarded their instructions. Foote and Silvestri claim their daughter “changed her preferred name at least twice since December 2020” without their knowledge and claim the school continues to address B.F. by “whatever iteration of her name she has indicated she prefers” despite their request not to do so.

The lawsuit also alleges that the couple’s son has “identified as transgender and requested to be called by a female name,” accusing the school of helping him hide this information from his parents. The lawsuit also describes an assignment given to students in September 2019 by librarian Jordan Funke, which allegedly asked students to create videos of their preferred gender pronouns. B.F. and possibly G.F. participated in the assignment without their parents knowing or consenting to their kids’ participation.

The other set of parents, Feliciano and Salmeron, claim that they “are deliberately hindered from ascertaining whether their children are being secretly counseled about and affirmed in discordant gender identities without their knowledge or consent. Efforts to affirm a discordant student gender identity at school violates parents’ fundamental rights under the United States and Massachusetts constitutions and violates children’s reciprocal rights to the care and custody of their parents, familial privacy, and integrity,” the filing states.

The parents also alleged that the school superintendent at the time, Todd Gazda, publicly referred to opposition to gender transitions as “intolerance of LGBTQ people” disguised as “parental rights.” Gazda also reportedly implied that school is the only “safe pace” for students struggling with gender identity. The plaintiffs pointed out that the School Committee did not refute Gazda’s remarks. The lawsuit accuses Ludlow Public Schools of having a “protocol and practice of concealing from parents information related to their children’s gender identity.”

Ludlow School Committee Chair James P. Harrington told MassLive that the school district’s teachers and staff are looking out for their students’ best interests. “It’s a slippery slope,” he was quoted as saying. “We want to support our students the best we can. But we should bring parents to the table, and hope they respond in a loving and supportive way as well.”

Bruce Hausknecht, a judicial analyst for the Christian organization Focus on the Family, told The Christian Post that “gender ideology in many of the nation’s public schools is premised upon secrecy and furthered by school policies that consider parents to be the problem, not the solution.” Hausknecht noted how the secrecy in schools regarding students’ gender identities has sparked pushback from parents in some states. He cited Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act as an example, a law that requires schools to inform parents about changes in services that could impact their child’s well-being.

Hausknecht asserted that the situation in Massachusetts is not unique and that parents “everywhere” must stay “vigilant” when it comes to protecting their children from the “harmful ideologies” their schools may be pushing. “It is our primary obligation as parents to ‘train up a child in the way he should go...’ (Proverbs 22:6),” he wrote. “School policies that set schools, not parents, as the final authority are in direct contradiction of that biblical imperative.”

Pray- Pray for students in our public school systems as they are constantly bombarded by an agenda that is constantly anti-God.

Israeli’s Believe Ukraine is a Sign for Iran’s Future

For many years, Vladimir Putin has complained about the injustice of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the loss of Russia’s rightful hegemony of the former Soviet Republics. In 2005, he said “the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century... Tens of millions of our citizens and fellow countrymen found themselves outside the Russian Federation.” The world watched him take northern Georgia (2008), Crimea and eastern Ukraine (2014), and did little about it. He took the measure of America during the Afghanistan retreat and read the polls of the American people’s appetite for foreign engagements. The dictators watched closely when the US did not respond to attacks on its soldiers in Syria near al Tanf.

 Putin watched, learned and acted. The authoritarian President Xi Jinping in China, the Revolutionary Shi’ite Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his Republican Guards henchmen, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, are all watching. They are now analyzing and strategizing the best time to invade Taiwan; attack the Gulf states; let loose proxies in Gaza, Yemen and Lebanon; confront India, and threaten the Far East.

 Authoritarian birds of a feather flock together, vocally supporting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. During the unprovoked assault, Putin met with Pakistani Prime Minister Khan, while President Xi of China offered his support of Russia. The “Butcher of Tehran,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told Putin, “The continued expansion of NATO is a serious threat against the stability and security of independent countries in various regions of the world.” The Iranians know that the US desperately wants to rejoin a weakened nuclear deal. It is an agreement that demands absolutely no restrictions on Iran’s expansionism; its support of aggressive proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen; or any limits on Iran’s terrorism, human rights abuses or missile development. The lesson of Ukraine for Iran is to hold out for more, as America under this administration is perceived not as a superpower but more of a 98-pound weakling.

 As Yoav Limor, writing in Israel Hayom, says, “The lesson for the world is broader: Without resolve, the familiar global security order will crack. The Russian invasion of Ukraine poses dangers that could extend beyond the immediate battlefield, potentially changing the world security order for the worse.”

 The Israelis are watching closely and know that their national security is in worse shape than just a month ago. The lesson of Ukraine for Israel is that it must rely on itself by itself, and that is the message most other nations will also take. With a new nuclear agreement whose feeble restrictions on nuclear development will evaporate in just a few years, it means that Israel will need to act sooner rather than later to strike Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

 Ukraine is the flashing signal telling Israel it has to go it alone regarding Iran. The weak western response to the naked Russian act of aggression has increased the chance for regional and global wars.

 Unlike the rest of the world, Israel believes what its adversaries say. Supreme leader Khamenei has called for the destruction of the Zionist entity on innumerable occasions: “Our stance against Israel is the same stance we have always taken. Israel is a malignant cancerous tumor… that has to be removed and eradicated: it is possible, and it will happen.”

 What is the Ukrainian connection to the Middle East? Russia is also the leading outside power in the region with the influence and desire to recreate the Soviet sphere of influence in the Levant and North Africa.

 Russia has solidified its military status with new naval facilities at Tartus and an upgraded airbase at Khmeimim, both in Syria. It now projects on-the-ground military power from its bases in Syria into the eastern Mediterranean, affecting Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Israel, the Gulf States and Egypt. Those Russian bases are close to the Black Sea and Crimea and in range of the Suez Canal, the Straits of Hormuz and Bab-el Mandeb – gateways and choke points of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

 Appeasing Iran with a weak nuclear agreement in 2015, forgetting about previous Russian hegemonic invasions in eastern Ukraine (2014) and Georgia (2008), and ignoring China’s moves in Hong Kong and the South China Sea, were signboards for the dictators to move now or in the near future.

 America’s poor leadership on the global stage, rhetoric with evaporating red lines, and an isolationist sentiment are a perfect storm to ignite regional wars in the Far East, Mideast, Eastern Europe and southern Asia. America is a nation that has lost its way, looking more like America in the 1930s, which ignored the rise of Hitler and Japan until there was no choice. When Emmanuel Macron is the most decisive leader in the West, you know that your adversaries will take notice and act.

 To avoid war, you need the means to fight and for your enemies to believe you have the will to use them. America has the former, albeit somewhat hollowed out in recent years, and lacks the latter.

 Unless things change, by 2030, Xi will be in Taipei. Israel will have struck Iranian nuclear facilities, and Hezbollah and Hamas will have sent tens of thousands of missiles into Israeli civilian areas.

 PRAY: Pray for the protection of Israel. Pray for the return of strong American leadership on the world stage.

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.

Pandemic Opened Door for Greater Persecution Around the Globe

A new survey is slated to reveal how adverse treatment of certain religious groups in several countries significantly worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. The SMART survey, conducted as part of the Religious Freedom Institute’s Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society (FORIS) Project, was designed to fulfill an “unmet need for policy-relevant data to identify, understand and address religious freedom restrictions on religious communities across the globe.”

Rebecca Shah, a senior fellow at the Archbridge Institute and principal investigator for the Religion and Economic Empowerment Project (REEP), elaborated on the results. “The SMART survey stands for Simple, Meaningful, Accessible, Relevant and Timely,” she said. While the survey initially received funding to question experts on the ground about the state of religious freedom in Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia and Iraq, the survey was later expanded to other countries, about 10 countries, including India, Egypt, Mexico, Turkey and Greece.

According to Shah, “policymakers … needed reliable reports that drew on the deep expertise of individuals who could analyze religious freedom violations on the ground in key global locations and provide policymakers with real-time and reliable data on strategic countries.” While “a lot of reports on religious freedom restrictions, both individuals and religious institutions,” existed prior to the SMART survey, Shah stressed the need for “information that comes from local experts on the ground in their own countries, rather than, say, somebody’s desk in Washington, D.C., or Geneva.” She contended that the findings of such a survey were “more likely to be owned by actors in the country and in the region.” The “local experts in these different countries” who participated “were asked to fill out the survey from the perspective of a minority religious community or a majority religious community” based on expertise or membership in a particular religion.

“We started the survey before the pandemic, but as soon as the pandemic hit, we were able to retool the questionnaire to some extent and resubmit the questions to the experts and ask them to fill out COVID-related questions. And so, a lot of the data we got was over the COVID-19 period … at the height of the Delta variant and others, where we were able to examine and explore the impact of restrictions on religious communities as the pandemic was ongoing,” Shah said.

The survey found “an increase in deliberate and direct attacks on houses of worship … and religious and charitable and other religious institutions across the globe.” Specifically, “In Nigeria … 85.7% of respondents writing about minority Christian communities in northern parts of Nigeria said they were aware of direct attacks of houses of worship in their country. In Iraq, 30% of respondents reporting about minority communities, which included Yazidis and Christians, said they were aware of attacks on houses of worship in their countries. Again, when asked who, in their view, were the perpetrators of these attacks, our data revealed that political actors, which might include local government officials, were responsible for 60% of high or very high levels of restrictions on religious institutions, which include houses of worship … religious and charitable institutions,” she added.

Respondents were asked if they knew of “any acts of discrimination perpetrated against individuals or communities on account of their religion or belief that may have been prompted by the current COVID-19 pandemic.” The results revealed “one out of three respondents from India said they were aware of such types of religiously motivated discrimination” during COVID. Additionally, “one out of five respondents in Indonesia said the same and 10% of Nigerian respondents also said they were aware of this type of … discrimination.” Thus, the global pandemic has allowed for nations to persecute believers to an even greater extent than before and is making persecution more accepting in many countries.

PRAY: Pray for the persecuted church that is dealing with increasing amounts of persecution through the global pandemic.

Russia and China Use Ukraine to Pressure Biden’s Foreign Policy

As Russian tanks amassed along the frozen marshes of the Belarus border with Ukraine on January 25, President Joe Biden put 8,500 U.S. troops on high alert for possible deployment. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) moved additional fighter jets and naval ships toward Eastern Europe. “I have made it clear early on to President Putin that if he were to move into Ukraine, that there’d be severe consequences,” Biden said.

However, the opposite has happened: Putin’s gamesmanship has exacted damaging consequences on the U.S. and the Biden Administration. Putin wants to assert Russia’s relevance on the world stage, embarrass Biden, and test the unity of NATO countries. He’s already well on his way to achieving those ends. Putin has dragged Biden into responding to a frustrating series of escalations, complicating the U.S. response to Russia’s actions, distracting from other diplomatic priorities, and upping the political stakes for Biden. His approval ratings sagged after a turbulent withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer led the Taliban to take control of the country. Ukraine is Biden’s second major foreign policy test as President.

Putin’s gamble is paying off—at least in the short term. “He’s back in the center of attention,” says Charles Kupchan, a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University and former director of European affairs on President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council. “Putin craves being at the table and profoundly laments the Soviet Union’s dismantlement and Russia’s fall from grace.”

Putin now has the world’s attention, forcing the U.S. and NATO to hand formal written responses to Russia’s list of demands that Western forces withdraw from Eastern Europe and disallow any other former Soviet-bloc nations, like Ukraine, from joining the alliance. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned NATO would not close its “open-door” policy to new members but said there was room for negotiation in other areas. “Whether they choose the path of diplomacy and dialogue, whether they decide to renew aggression against Ukraine,” he said, “we’re prepared either way.”

The standoff is proving a major challenge for Biden. So far Putin has played his hand to his advantage. Putin has “shown that he is still very relevant in geopolitical terms,” says Matt Pottinger, who was President Donald Trump’s deputy national security advisor. “He’s amassed leverage to extract concessions that Russians have wanted since soon after the close of the Cold War 30 years ago.”

Biden’s aides spent days cleaning up his confusing responses during a January 19 White House press conference. He said if Putin launches a “minor incursion” the U.S. and allies will “end up having a fight about what to do and not do.” The next day, Biden tried to clarify that “any assembled Russian units” moving across the Ukrainian border would be considered “an invasion” and there would be a “severe and coordinated economic response.”

Putin’s show of force comes at a time when Biden’s foreign policy apparatus wants to focus on countering China’s growing influence in the Pacific. While much of the world’s attention was on the crisis in Ukraine, China flew a large formation of warplanes toward Taiwan. “The White House, they want to focus on China, because they correctly see that as the big strategic challenge for the next three or four decades, and they were sort of hoping that Russia would remain quiet. Well, Russia didn’t accommodate,” says Steven Pifer, U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 1998 to 2000.

Ryan Crocker, a retired diplomat who served as ambassador in Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan over his 37-year career, believes Biden’s mishandling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan caught the attention Russia and China. Following his decision to abruptly pull out of America’s longest war, Biden failed to closely consult and coordinate with Western partners, essentially leaving them to scamper for the exits, Crocker said. “The whole world saw what happened,” Crocker says. “He’s got to show that he can do a whole lot better on another major international issue than he did on Afghanistan.”

PRAY: Pray for wisdom for President Biden and his foreign policy advisors and for opportunities to deescalate rising tensions.

Will Climate Change Kill National Sovereignty and Increase Globalism?

As we collectively hurtle into the era of climate change, international relations as we’ve known them for almost four centuries will change beyond recognition. This shift is probably inevitable, but it will also cause new conflicts. Since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, diplomats — in peacetime and war alike — have, for the most part, subscribed to the principle of national sovereignty. The Charter of the United Nations says foreign countries have no right “to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state.”

The concept was born, along with the entire system of modern states, in the physical and psychological rubble of the Thirty Years War. Starting in 1618, European powers intervened in one another’s territories at will. Round after round of war left about one in three dead. It was in that continental graveyard that statesmen stipulated it was best if every state henceforth minded its own business.

Nobody at the Peace of Westphalia was deluded enough to think this realist notion would end war. After all, by acknowledging sovereignty, the system accepted that countries pursue their national interests, which tend to clash. But at least the new consensus offered the chance of preventing additional indiscriminate bloodletting. Even then, the principle of sovereignty was never absolute or uncontroversial. For a long time, the best idealist counterargument was humanitarian — countries have not just the right but the duty to intervene in other states if, say, those are committing atrocities such as genocide.

Now, however, there’s an even more powerful push against sovereignty, put forth by thinkers such as Stewart Patrick at the Council on Foreign Relations. It’s that in a world where all countries collectively face the emergency of global warming, sovereignty is simply no longer a tenable concept.

An early demonstration of this shift in international relations was the dust-up in 2019 between Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and French President Emmanuel Macron. Bolsonaro was allowing fires to burn wide swathes of the Amazon rainforest. Speaking for many, Macron accused Bolsonaro of abetting “ecocide.” Sounds like the new genocide, doesn’t it? Bolsonaro shot back that Macron was a neocolonialist, a European power again trying to force his ideas on another sovereign nation.

The underlying issue is sovereignty: Is a rainforest located in Brazil the business of Brazil or of the world? Would, in a hypothetical future scenario, an alliance led by France be within its rights to declare war on Brazil to prevent ecocide? This opens a new line of thinking about world affairs. Policymakers are already steeped in analyses of the new types of conflict that global warming will cause within and between countries. Those include wars over access to freshwater, the disappearance of arable land or mass migrations.

Will some powers or alliances contemplate military interventions in other states to end what they will define as ecocide? Others may even go to war if they believe rival countries are taking unilateral measures against climate change that threaten their own interests.

This has caused many to claim national sovereignty should be forfeited and the need for an ecological equivalent to what the World Trade Organization is to commerce: A new international body that makes the conundrum explicit and attempts to maintain order. This sounds very much like a global government that can force individual nations to do whatever it deems “best for the globe”. Could this push lead to a stronger emphasis on globalism and a one-world government? It certainly looks like it could be a possibility, and something strongly pushed by progressives in the future.

PRAY: God has called us to be good stewards of the land. Pray for those seeking to establish a one-world government to achieve their goals.

Christian Evangelist Beaten and Left for Dead by Family Members

A 34-year-old Christian evangelist’s Muslim family beat and tied him up to be burned alive after he returned home for his grandfather’s funeral in eastern Uganda, saying, “Allah will reward them in Jannah [garden paradise] if they kill” him. Malingumu Bruhan’s uncles attempted to kill him in their home in the Nawaikoke area’s Muhira village in the Kaliro District.

 Narrating the incident, Burhan told the persecution news outlet that after the funeral on Feb. 6, his Muslim uncles requested that he visit their home. After other visitors left, an uncle, identified as Ndifakulya Musa, started scolding him. “My uncle accused me of embarrassing them by holding Christian evangelistic, open-air meetings and debates with Muslims,” Bruhan was quoted as saying. “He accused me of being an infidel by converting to Christianity, and that Allah will reward them in Jannah [garden paradise] if they kill me.” The victim added, “He said to me that it is now the right time for me to receive punishment from Allah, whereby I was going to be burned alive and the birds of the air will enjoy me as their meat.”

 Bruhan remained silent, which infuriated his uncles. “They started beating me up as others gathered firewood, while another was sent to go for petrol because they wanted to use it to burn me alive,” he said. In the meantime, another convert from Islam who had accompanied Bruhan to the funeral came looking for him and found one of his shoes that had come off as his uncles dragged him off to kill him. After tracking Burhan, who was found tied up near a stack of firewood, he tried calling the police which scared the attackers and they fled. However, Burhan had already sustained injuries to his head. This was the 11th murder attempt on Burhan, who had been ostracized by his relatives after his conversion in 2017.

 While most people in Uganda are Christian, some Eastern and Central regions in the country have higher concentrations of Muslims. The Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project estimates that about 11.5% of Uganda’s population is Muslim, mostly Sunni. Armed attacks and murders of converts are not uncommon in the region.

 “Radical Islam’s influence has grown steadily, and many Christians within the majority-Muslim border regions are facing severe persecution, especially those who convert from Islam,” a Voice of the Martyrs factsheet notes. “Despite the risks, Evangelical churches in Uganda have responded by reaching out to their neighbors; many churches are training leaders how to share the Gospel with Muslims and care for those who are persecuted after they become Christians.”

In Matthew 10:37-38, Jesus told the disciples “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.”

 In the United States, we take these verses for granted in many ways, as no one is currently trying to attack us, and our families are not out to murder us. However, in other parts of the world today, these verses are very much a real possibility, especially in parts of the world where converting to Christianity can ostracize you from the community, cost you your job, your house and your resources and even have your own family disown you or even try to murder you.

 Pray- Pray for the persecuted Church across the globe as they put their lives on the line to follow the cause of Christ.

Did the United Nations Create the Beast of Revelation 13?

A new giant statue installed outside the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan is being likened to an End Times “beast” described by the Apostle John in Revelation 13:2, which states, “The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.”

 The U.N. released a statement about the new statue. “A guardian for international peace and security sits on the Visitor’s Plaza outside #UN Headquarters. The guardian is a fusion of jaguar and eagle and donated by the Government of Oaxaca, Mexico … It is created by artists Jacobo and Maria Angeles,” the U.N. says in a tweet that includes a photo of the statue.

 This new statue has led many to identify it as the beast of Revelation. This has led to some confusion, with some wondering if this is a sign that we are now in the Tribulation. However, there are several problems with this idea. First, the two beasts in Revelation 13, the beast out of the Sea and the beast out of the land, are not actual beasts but are symbolic representatives of actual people in the future. This is very similar to the four beasts found in Daniel 7, which are not actual beasts either but represented the nations of Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece and Rome. In Revelation 13, the beast out of the Sea represents the future Antichrist and the beast out of the land represents the future False Prophet.

 The characteristics of these beasts are symbolic of their power and abilities. For example, the “ten horns” of the beast represented the power of the beast, given to him by ten future kings that will empower his empire. Much of the symbolism that John writes about in the Book of Revelation comes right out of the Book of Daniel. If the beasts in Daniel were symbolic, then it should be clear that the beasts in Revelation are similarly representative of other things. Thus, the beast statue should not alarm us into thinking that the Tribulation period has started in any way. There is no literal future beast figure that is coming that matches the physical descriptions given in Revelation, but instead the Antichrist and his False Prophet fulfills these future beasts.

 Second, the assertion that this statue in any way means that we are somehow in the Great Tribulation is also inaccurate. The Rapture of the Church has yet to occur. The Antichrist has not risen to power. It is only with these two event that the Tribulation can occur. Therefore, we should not be worried about this statue representing any beginning of the Tribulation.

 However, while we should not view this statue as any “sign of the apocalypse”, what it should do is alarm us at the increase of wild speculation that the COVID pandemic has brought into our culture. Instead of being faithful to the Biblical text, people are jumping at whatever they see that vaguely resembles anything from the Bible and trying to make it fit into their narrative. They are reading the newspaper first and then trying to make the Bible fit with current events. Instead, what we must always do as good followers of the Biblical text is to try to understand it in its proper meaning. For example, the Beast of Revelation 13 cannot mean we are already in the Tribulation because the Bible makes it clear the church will not be in the Tribulation. We must be wise and biblical in our interpretation and make sure we are always following the true meaning of the text!

 PRAY: Pray for believers to be wise and biblical in interpreting the Bible and world events.

Did the United Nations Create the Beast of Revelation 13?

A new giant statue installed outside the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan is being likened to an End Times “beast” described by the Apostle John in Revelation 13:2, which states, “The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.”

 The U.N. released a statement about the new statue. “A guardian for international peace and security sits on the Visitor’s Plaza outside #UN Headquarters. The guardian is a fusion of jaguar and eagle and donated by the Government of Oaxaca, Mexico … It is created by artists Jacobo and Maria Angeles,” the U.N. says in a tweet that includes a photo of the statue.

 This new statue has led many to identify it as the beast of Revelation. This has led to some confusion, with some wondering if this is a sign that we are now in the Tribulation. However, there are several problems with this idea. First, the two beasts in Revelation 13, the beast out of the Sea and the beast out of the land, are not actual beasts but are symbolic representatives of actual people in the future. This is very similar to the four beasts found in Daniel 7, which are not actual beasts either but represented the nations of Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece and Rome. In Revelation 13, the beast out of the Sea represents the future Antichrist and the beast out of the land represents the future False Prophet.

 The characteristics of these beasts are symbolic of their power and abilities. For example, the “ten horns” of the beast represented the power of the beast, given to him by ten future kings that will empower his empire. Much of the symbolism that John writes about in the Book of Revelation comes right out of the Book of Daniel. If the beasts in Daniel were symbolic, then it should be clear that the beasts in Revelation are similarly representative of other things. Thus, the beast statue should not alarm us into thinking that the Tribulation period has started in any way. There is no literal future beast figure that is coming that matches the physical descriptions given in Revelation, but instead the Antichrist and his False Prophet fulfills these future beasts.

 Second, the assertion that this statue in any way means that we are somehow in the Great Tribulation is also inaccurate. The Rapture of the Church has yet to occur. The Antichrist has not risen to power. It is only with these two event that the Tribulation can occur. Therefore, we should not be worried about this statue representing any beginning of the Tribulation.

 However, while we should not view this statue as any “sign of the apocalypse”, what it should do is alarm us at the increase of wild speculation that the COVID pandemic has brought into our culture. Instead of being faithful to the Biblical text, people are jumping at whatever they see that vaguely resembles anything from the Bible and trying to make it fit into their narrative. They are reading the newspaper first and then trying to make the Bible fit with current events. Instead, what we must always do as good followers of the Biblical text is to try to understand it in its proper meaning. For example, the Beast of Revelation 13 cannot mean we are already in the Tribulation because the Bible makes it clear the church will not be in the Tribulation. We must be wise and biblical in our interpretation and make sure we are always following the true meaning of the text!

 PRAY: Pray for believers to be wise and biblical in interpreting the Bible and world events.