California Continues the Push to Remove Parental Powers

The California Senate has approved a bill that would prohibit school districts from requiring school officials to share information about a student’s sexual orientation and gender identity with the child’s parent, drawing concerns from Christian and parental rights groups. The Democrat-controlled California Senate passed Assembly Bill 1955 in a 29-8 vote. Support for the legislation fell along party lines, with all votes in favor of it coming from Democrats and all opposition coming from Republicans.

The legislation includes a provision declaring that “[a]n employee or a contractor of a school district, county office of education, charter school, or state special school for the blind or the deaf shall not be required to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent unless otherwise required by state or federal law.” The bill states that “policies that forcibly ‘out’ pupils without their consent remove opportunities for LGBTQ+ young people and their families to build trust and have these conversations when they are ready.”

The measure comes in response to local school districts adopting policies requiring parental notification when it comes to such issues. Sonja Shaw, a member of the school board for the Chino Valley Unified School District that passed a parental notification policy, said that “if a child is asking for the school district to now call them by another sex’s name or go into the other sex’s restroom, we will notify the parents. No one’s outing anybody,” she said, adding, “The kid is coming out, and the parents have a right to know.”

Students First California, an advocacy group that seeks to ensure that “parents have a seat at the table” when it comes to their children’s education, published a letter expressing opposition to the measure. “There is a reason courts have consistently affirmed parents as having a fundamental right to direct the care and upbringing of their children,” wrote Students First California President Jonathan Zachreson. “Parents know and care for their children more than anyone else and are ultimately responsible for them in every setting — school, home, and elsewhere,” he added. “Notifying and involving parents in something as paramount as when a school takes an active role in socially transitioning a child is critical for the well-being of children and for maintaining trust between schools and parents.”

Citing state law, Zachreson noted that “parents of students under 18 years old in public schools have an absolute right to access all records related to their children and the editing or withholding of any of those records is prohibited.” “These records include the gender and name in which the child goes by at school regardless of if the gender or name matches a student’s official government documents,” lamenting that “AB 1955 would enable and strengthen policies that violate this right.”

California Family Council has also expressed its opposition to the bill. “This bill assumes parents with biblical beliefs about gender and sexuality are a threat to their own children,” the organization stated in an online campaign against the bill. “AB 1955 marginalizes parents, preventing them from receiving critical information about their kids. Parents need to be informed partners in addressing issues of gender identity, ensuring their children receive the support and guidance they need within the family unit.” The bill must return to the Assembly before it can be sent to California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.

Biblical Connections: The Bible clearly places the care of children in the hands of their parents and family. For a government to intervene and attempt to lesson that bond for nefarious reasons shows just how far parts of the nation have moved away from the Bible.

PRAY: Pray this continued push to hide children’s actions and thoughts from their own parents would be stopped and that a Biblical foundation will again reign throughout the nation.

Allies Urged to Avoid Rebuke of Iran

The US is pressing European allies Britain and France to abandon plans for Iran to be censured at the upcoming International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors meeting for its lack of cooperation and prohibited nuclear activities, according to the Wall Street Journal, apparently to avoid disruption with Iran before the US elections this November. These divisions come as a new IAEA report revealed Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium has reached unprecedented levels. The UN nuclear watchdog stated Iran’s stockpile of 60% enriched uranium rose over 20 kg (45 pounds) in the last three months to 142 kg (313 pounds) – its highest level yet. US officials say that material could be converted into weapons-grade enriched uranium within days.

The rift exposes differences in approach that have emerged since the Trump administration withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in 2018. Europeans were strong supporters of the accord, which lifted sanctions in exchange for temporary nuclear constraints on Tehran. They sought to preserve the deal even after the US exit, while the Biden administration made reviving the agreement a top priority upon taking office in 2021. But those diplomatic efforts collapsed in August 2022 when Iran hardened its demands as negotiations faltered. Since then, US officials have sought to contain escalating tensions with Tehran. European diplomats now accuse Washington of lacking a coherent strategy and appear unwilling to either seriously engage Iran in new diplomacy or take punitive steps over its growing nuclear program.

The divisions have raised alarms in European capitals that the window is closing to rein in Iran’s atomic work through non-military means. There are increasing Western fears that Iran, already considered a nuclear threshold state, may be positioning itself to acquire weapons capability. While Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, it has significantly reduced IAEA oversight and stonewalled investigations into previous undeclared nuclear materials and activities. European diplomats argue failure to censure Iran at the IAEA would undermine the agency’s authority as the nuclear watchdog and erode Western credibility in confronting potential proliferation risks. They contend it is time to take a firm stand against Tehran’s continued defiance of non-proliferation obligations.

However, the US fears an IAEA censure could prompt Iranian retaliation and further limit inspectors’ access, as occurred after a 2022 rebuke. With Russia and China likely to veto any push for new UN sanctions, a failed censure vote could deal a major diplomatic blow that emboldens Iran’s nuclear intransigence. The Biden administration argues that European powers could do more to economically pressure Iran, like cutting off its banks still operating in Europe and designating the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization. The German dpa News Agency reported that Germany and other European nations are advocating for the EU to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, as per a recent German court ruling. However, diplomats noted that “such a terror listing would be primarily a symbolic step because there are already EU sanctions” against the IRGC. For now, US officials recently held rare indirect talks with Iranian counterparts in Oman in a bid to reduce regional tensions.

Ultimately, experts suggest any censure of Iran’s nuclear activities should be part of a broader negotiating strategy of both disincentives and incentives to alter Tehran’s behavior. “The board needs to send a message that there are consequences for stonewalling,” said Kelsey Davenport of the Arms Control Association. “But it needs to be part of a broader strategy to pressure and incentivize Iran to cooperate with the IAEA.”

Biblical Connections: Iran continues to be a problem in the region of the Middle East. If they are able to acquire nuclear capabilities, then they could eventually try to attack Israel without Western interference.

PRAY: Pray Iran’s nuclear ambitions will be thwarted, and that Israel will not have to try to stand up to a nuclear powered Iran.

Pope Francis Argues “People are Fundamentally Good”

Pope Francis has been a controversial figure to say the least over the past few years as many conservative Catholics argue that he is drawing the Catholic Church further away from their roots and into a more liberal theology. This concern was highlighted when he drew scorn and accusations of heresy on social media for maintaining during his “60 Minutes” interview that the human heart is “fundamentally good.”

Responding to interviewer Norah O’Donnell’s question regarding what gives him hope when he looks at the world, the pontiff said “everything,” and then went on to list examples of people doing good things as evidence of humanity’s essential goodness. “You see tragedies, but you also see so many beautiful things,” he said. “You see heroic mothers, heroic men, men who have hopes and dreams, women who look to the future. That gives me a lot of hope. People want to live. People forge ahead. And people are fundamentally good. We are all fundamentally good. Yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart itself is good.”

Many commentators on X criticized Francis for his remarks, with some accusing him of failing to grasp the basic teaching of the Gospel. Others quoted portions of Scripture that teach God alone is good and that humanity has a sinful nature.

“This is contrary to basic Christian theology,” radio host Erick Erickson wrote. “We are all sinners. There aren’t just ‘some sinners.’”

“If this is true, we don’t need a Savior to die on the Cross. So this pope is a heretic,” wrote author Eric Metaxas.

“Welp, this is a Satanic lie…” wrote Babylon Bee editor Joel Berry.

“This raises a question: Is the Pope Catholic? Apparently not! The minute he saw an American journalist nodding at him, he should have known he had gone astray,” Daily Wire host Andrew Klavan wrote.

Some X users noted that Francis’ comment appeared to be an example of Pelagianism, a fifth century heresy that denied original sin and taught the essential goodness of humanity. Pelagianism was named after a monk named Pelagius who was ultimately excommunicated from the Catholic church in 418, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Multiple councils condemned his worldview, which was also famously repudiated by Augustine of Hippo in his “Confessions.”

Francis also raised eyebrows for other comments he made during his interview, such as accusing conservative U.S. bishops of exhibiting “a suicidal attitude” by opposing his “efforts to revisit teachings and traditions.”

The pontiff also responded to the furor around the Vatican’s recent “Fiducia Supplicans” guidance, claiming it does not permit the blessing of a homosexual union itself, but rather the two individual homosexuals engaging in the union. “What I allowed was not to bless the union; that cannot be done, because that is not the sacrament,” he said. “I cannot. The Lord made it that way. But to bless each person? Yes. The blessing is for everyone.”

Biblical Connections: In Luke 18:19, Jesus stated, “So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.” Paul in Romans 3:23 stated, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In Isaiah 64:6, the prophet writes, “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags.” While humanity was created fundamentally good, the fall of man in Genesis 3 has led to a sinful condition throughout all of humanity. To argue that humanity as a whole is fundamentally good and that there are only a few bad apples that mess things up simply is not consistent with the pages of Scripture.

PRAY: Pray the drift to more liberal leaning movements of various groups within Christianity will stop and people will return to the foundation of the Bible.

North Korea Continuing to Build Up Satellite Capabilities

United States officials condemned North Korea’s latest attempt to put a reconnaissance satellite in orbit, according to a report. North Korea attempted to send a spy satellite into space on May 27. However, the rocket carrying that satellite exploded, according to multiple media sources quoting the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency. The country successfully placed its first reconnaissance satellite in orbit in November 2023, but two other more recent efforts besides this recent launch also ended in failure. The Guardian, quoting North Korean officials, suggested the rocket’s failure was due to “the operational reliability of the newly developed liquid oxygen and oil engine.” The US State Department said the launch breached edicts from the U.N. Security Council, according to a statement provided to The Korea Times. “The United States condemns the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s May 27 launch, which incorporated technologies that are directly related to the DPRK’s ballistic missile program and took place in violation of multiple UNSC resolutions,” the statement read.

The U.N. Security Council has unanimously adopted nine sanctions against North Korea since 2006 because the country has been maturing its nuclear and missile program, according to the Arms Control Association. United States officials have also condemned past North Korean launches, saying the nation’s rocket program uses technologies that support its intercontinental ballistic missile program.

The latest launch took place at 10:44 p.m. local time off the west coast of North Korea. Rocket debris fell in the nearby sea about two minutes after launch, according to Reuters, quoting the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff. North Korea’s launch happened hours after a three-way summit between China, South Korea and Japan that was meant to focus on trade and cultural exchanges between the countries, although another hot topic surrounded security concerns raised by the US, according to The New York Times.

Both Japan and South Korea have repeatedly asked North Korea not to conduct launches, and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida repeated these pleas at the summit, Reuters reported. Chinese premier Li Qiang, while not discussing the launch, asked for hostilities to be curtailed in the region.

North Korea, a communist state, has been cut off from the rest of the world for much of the last 80 years and its citizens lack basic services. That said, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome spaceport last year during a five-hour summit; Russia is currently an International Space Station partner, but working on a new alliance with China following Russia’s unsanctioned invasion of Ukraine in 2022. China is forbidden from engaging in bilateral activities with NASA and the United States without express Congressional permission, under a 2011 decree known as the Wolf Amendment. China has been highly active in space in recent years.

Biblical Connections: We know that the Bible describes that as we get closer to the End Times, wars and violence will increase. North Korea was long been a thorn in much of the world’s side when it comes to being a threat in the region. As North Korea continues to advance with their technology, especially with China as a potential backer, could this lead to more tension in the East?

PRAY: Pray that tensions in the region would be lessened and for peace to be sought by all nations.

Fight Ensures Over the Ten Commandments

Louisiana became the first state to require public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments through a Republican-backed bill signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry. House Bill 71, sponsored by Republican Rep. Dodie Horton, mandates that each public school classroom display a poster-sized copy of the Ten Commandments by next January. "If you want to respect the rule of law you've got to start from the original law given, which was Moses," Landry said during a signing ceremony.

The display must be a “poster or framed document that is at least eleven inches by fourteen inches,” according to the text of the legislation. The text of the Ten Commandments must be the “central focus” of the poster or framed documents, which shall be printed in “large, easily readable font.” The display must also include a four-paragraph “context statement” telling readers that “The Ten Commandments were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries. Around the year 1688, The New England Primer became the first published American textbook and was the equivalent of a first-grade reader. The New England Primer was used in public schools throughout the United States for more than one hundred fifty years to teach Americans to read and contained more than forty questions about the Ten Commandments,” the context statement reads.

“The Ten Commandments were also included in public school textbooks published by educator William McGuffey, a noted university president and professor. A version of his famous McGuffey Readers was written in the early 1800s and became one of the most popular textbooks in the history of American education, selling more than one hundred million copies. Copies of the McGuffey Readers are still available today.”

The new law is likely to face legal challenges. Secular church-state separation groups have already threatened lawsuits, contending that it violates the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation announced their intention to file a lawsuit. The groups assert that school displays of the Ten Commandments equate to “religious coercion of students, who are legally required to attend school and are thus a captive audience for school-sponsored religious messages.”

The organizations believe the law violates U.S. Supreme Court precedent set in the 1980 Stone v. Graham decision. In a 5-4 ruling, the Burger court ruled against a similar law passed in Kentucky requiring classrooms to post copies of the Ten Commandments, finding that it violated the First Amendment. "The law violates the separation of church and state and is blatantly unconstitutional,” the groups wrote in a joint statement. “The First Amendment promises that we all get to decide for ourselves what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice, without pressure from the government. Politicians have no business imposing their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools.”

Supporters of the law maintain that its purpose is to highlight the document’s historical significance, as the legislation describes the Ten Commandments as one of the "foundational documents of our state and national government." The bill also allows schools to display other historical documents, such as the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence and the Northwest Ordinance. “Although this is a religious document, this document is also posted in over one hundred and eighty places, including the Supreme Court of the United States of America. I would say is based on the laws that this country was founded on,” Republican state Sen. Adam Bass told KALB.

Biblical Connections: Many of the founding documents and laws of America were founded on biblical precedent. Getting back to that precedent is paramount in having a successful nation.

Pray- Pray that there will continue to be a push for getting America back to its biblical roots and that the court challenges to stopping this will be defeated.

God Bless America A Message for Our Nation

It’s time to exhort the people of America to call upon God and ask God to indeed bless the United States of America.

If we humble ourselves before God, repent and ask for forgiveness, God could certainly return His blessing upon America. He has already wonderfully blessed our nation far beyond anything we deserve. And though we are not a perfect nation, and though there are many problems and challenges and difficulties, it is still one of the greatest nations in all the world.

Can any nation say, “God bless our nation?” The Bible tells us “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 32:12).

Now in the Old Testament context, the people of Israel realized they were in a special covenant relationship with God. They were a theocratic kingdom of the people of God on Earth. Yet that blessing of God was not limited just to them. It was available to any people that would come to God.

It was available to the Assyrians, if they would repent at Nineveh. It was available to the Babylonians, if they would come to God. It was available to the Egyptians. And it’s available today to any nation in the world that is willing to say, “Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is our Savior. He is our God. And we’re going to pray that God will bless our nation, not to the exclusion of other nations, but that God might bless our nation in particular.”

Everybody in every nation ought to be able to pray for that and say it from the depth of their heart and their soul. If you love God with all of your heart, and you love your country, then certainly you want God to bless you nation, just as you want God to bless your life. The blessing of God comes when we receive the power of God Himself in our lives. The Bible tells us that the Spirit of the Lord is the Spirit of liberty. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty and freedom.

Liberty is a gift from the God of liberty. It’s the blessing of God in our lives. It’s not just something that is a political circumstance in our experience of Americans. The patriots that founded the United States of America made a Declaration of Independence, that asked God to bless this nation, and we have in turn been blessed by the results.

But it’s more than that – it’s the blessing of God that comes to the lives of people who are willing to let God be God in their lives. It’s that personal relationship with God that brings the blessing of God to us as individuals, to our churches, and to our nation.

One of the reasons God has blessed America all these years is because America was founded by godly men and women who were concerned to take the Bible seriously, and to live out its truths in their lives.

Secondly, they took the whole issue of freedom seriously, a freedom that was guaranteed to everybody as one of the unalienable rights given to us by our Creator. They understood that we were not here by accident. We’re not simply here by convenience. We are here by the Divine sovereign choice of God Himself. God called those Pilgrims and Puritans to come to this new world, to establish this new nation to the glory of God.

When we as a people are willing to get on our faces before God, on our knees before God, we’re willing to call out to Him, cry out to Him, and let Him deal with our hearts and lives, we can then say, “God bless me, God bless America, God bless the world through us.” Then America can reach the greatness God intended for her to have. Not just as a military power, not just as a commercial enterprise, but as a nation that would reflect the goodness of God, the freedom of God, the liberty of the Spirit of God, the blessing of God.

In nation after nation after nation, God is calling people to come to Him, to believe in Christ. He’s building His Church. He’s blessing those nations whose God is the Lord.

Excerpts from this article taken from Dr. Ed Hindson’s message, God Bless America.

PRAY: Pray that freedom of religion, freedom of choice, freedom of opportunity to open the Word of God continues in America. Pray that our nation turns back to God.

Catholic Church in US Slowly Abandoning Stance on Abortion

For decades the Catholic Church has had a strong stance in the pro-life movement. However, a new survey has seen that a majority of American Catholics think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, although support for legal abortion is much lower among Catholics who attend Mass regularly.

The Pew Research Center released a blog titled “9 Facts about U.S. Catholics”. One fact included on the list, based on research conducted from March 27 through April 2, 2023, found that 61% of Catholics living in the United States believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. This is a slightly smaller percentage than the number of U.S. adults who said the same (62%). Support for abortion differs among subgroups within the sample of Catholic adults surveyed. A slightly higher share of Hispanic Catholics (63%) favor keeping abortion legal in all or most cases than their white Catholic counterparts (59%).

Conversely, the difference in support for abortion among Catholics who attend Mass weekly and those who go less frequently is much starker. Only 34% of Catholics who go to Mass every week think abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances. Meanwhile, 68% of Catholics who attend Mass once a month or less or not at all support legal abortion in all or most cases.

Michael New, a pro-life scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, reacted to this particular finding from the survey on X. “Church attendance tells us far more about abortion attitudes than denomination,” he said. Carol Swain, a conservative commentator and former Vanderbilt University professor, cited the report’s findings as evidence that “Pope Francis and progressive public Catholics like Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Democrat President Joe Biden have been disastrous for orthodox Christians of all denominations.” Swain’s comments suggest that Pelosi and Biden, self-professed practicing Catholics who support abortion despite its direct contradiction to the teachings of their faith, are causing many of their fellow Catholics to stray from church teaching on the matter.

The report measured the share of U.S. Catholics who attend Mass weekly at 28% while finding that 10% of American Catholics go to church once a month, and the remaining 62% attend Mass a few times a year or less. Catholic Church teaching, as laid out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, declares that “direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law” and that “formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense.”

Additional findings from the Pew Research Center show that partisan affiliation also plays a role in Catholics’ level of support for abortion. Forty-three percent of Catholic Republicans favor legal abortion in all or most circumstances compared to 78% of Catholic Democrats. The partisan divide within the Catholic Church as it relates to abortion mirrors the divisions among the American public as a whole. Among all U.S. adults, 40% of Republicans think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 84% of Democrats said the same.

Biblical Connections: 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 states, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” The push for Christians to abandon the Bible is strong in our day.

PRAY: Pray for those who call themselves Christians will actually follow what the Bible and live Godly lives in all areas of life.

Houthis Target US Ships and Expand Operations in Middle East

The Houthis have increased their attacks, saying that they “targeted two American destroyers and two ships in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.” Their spokesman said they used drones to target the US ships, after a month in which it appeared that Houthi attacks had leveled off or had been reduced. US Central Command said on April 29 that “between 10 a.m. and 5:20 p.m., Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists fired three anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM) and three UAVs from Yemen into the Red Sea towards MV Cyclades, a Malta-flagged, Greece-owned vessel. Initial reports indicate there were no injuries and the vessel continued on its way.”

The new attacks are raising eyebrows in the region. They were front page news at the pro-Iran Al-Mayadeen, which shows that Iran and its proxies view the new attacks as important moves for the Iran-backed “axis of resistance.” Tehran has been continuing to push Hamas and Hezbollah to carry out attacks on Israel. For instance, terrorists in both Lebanon and Gaza have targeted the Jewish state with rockets in recent days.

The Houthis are a third front where Iran seeks to escalate attacks. The Al-Ain media in the Gulf said that “new naval attacks were carried out by Houthi militias against American cargo ships and destroyers, extending from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.”

The report quoted Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree, as saying that the militias carried out a series of attacks that targeted the Israeli ship MSC Orion, the Cyclades ship, and two American destroyers. The Iranian-backed groups often claim to attack Israeli ships or Israel-linked ships without providing evidence of the connection or claim. The report goes on to claim that the attack on the MSC Orion took place in the Indian Ocean. This is also an escalation because the Houthis have usually concentrated attacks in the Red Sea. They have also carried out attacks in the Indian Ocean, but this expands their area of operation.

The report at Al-Ain media said that the Houthis had “confirmed that the hit on the Cyclades ship came after an attack targeted it in the Red Sea.” The Cyclades sails under the flag of Malta, reports said and was targeted with drones and missiles for “violating the ban and heading to the port of Eilat on April 21, using deception and camouflage, under the pretense that it was heading to another port,” the report said.

In addition, the Houthis are escalating attacks on US ships trying to prevent Houthi attacks over the last five months. The ships come under US Central Command’s overall mission to secure shipping and prevent destabilization in the region. “Last week, the Houthi militia claimed responsibility for targeting the Andromeda Star in the Red Sea, and shooting down an American drone in its home stronghold of Saada, in the far north of Yemen,” Al-Ain noted. The same report said that the Houthis had targeted the MSC Darwin sailing in the Gulf of Aden, the American ship Maersk Yorktown, an American destroyer in the Gulf of Aden, and the “Israeli ship MSC VERACRUZ in the Indian Ocean.”

The Houthis claim they have now attacked 102 ships. They also claim to be expanding operations in the Indian Ocean. They issued a video message about this claim, but did not elaborate about these incidents. However, the Houthi claims clearly show they want to appear to be increasing their attacks.

Biblical Connections: The Bible makes it clear that the Middle East will be in chaos at the time of the end. These continual developments in the Middle East that lead to chaos and disorder may be paving the way for the Rapture.

‘Frogs in the Kettle’

The president of a nonprofit Christian persecution watchdog that monitors hostility to faith and freedom abroad warned that too few Christians in America and the West seem aware of how such trends are manifesting at home. “Basically, we are frogs in the kettle, and the bubbles keep coming up under us,” Jeff King, president of the Washington, D.C.-based International Christian Concern (ICC), told The Christian Post. “Too many people are not aware politically, and they’re so used to thinking of how things were that they can’t figure out where these bubbles are coming from, not realizing they’re being cooked.”

ICC, which was founded in 1995 to advocate for the persecuted church around the world, has been speaking out, particularly about Staci Barber’s case in Texas. Barber is a school teacher who sued the Katy Independent School District near Houston in March after her principal allegedly reprimanded her last September for praying with two other teachers at the school’s flagpole as part of “See You At the Pole,” an annual international event. The administrator reportedly told her that teachers were not allowed to pray where students could see them and be influenced to join, according to the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ). Teachers were told they “could not pray in any location where students would be present, even if this praying occurred before the school day began,” according to the lawsuit.

King told CP that Barber’s case “highlights the depth of ignorance among school boards and even at the principal level of what rights the Constitution grants people,” but he suggested her situation is symptomatic of a wider hostility toward Christians in the U.S. at all levels. King warned that the same trends his nonprofit has been tracking and advocating against overseas are increasingly manifesting in the historically free nations of the Western world, including the United States. He pinpointed a corrupt, cumbersome judicial process and proliferating hate speech laws as the main prongs of the attack on Christian beliefs. King explained that dictators and despots will promise religious liberty out of one side of their mouths while at the same time effectively mandating that religious citizens keep their opinions to themselves and out of the public square. “If that sounds familiar, there’s a reason,” he said. “The big picture, and what people need to grasp, is that’s what’s going on here in the West, and that’s what a lot of people who dislike Christianity are proposing and trying to push forward.”

Even if courts rule against the bad actors, King noted that the onerous judicial process itself is sufficient to convey the regime’s message. “People learn that you do not stick your head up, and you start being quiet because the process is the punishment,” he said, adding that he has even seen examples of similar situations in Christian ministries in the U.S. where employees have been dragged before HR for not “toeing on the line” on LGBTQ issues and pronoun usage.

King also observed that American culture has shifted dramatically within the past 30 years or so, and that the population has been “softened up” to the creeping totalitarian and anti-Christian impulses of their political leaders. Noting how such things have progressed gradually along a spectrum, he was reluctant to trace such trends to any particular year or event, but said they seemed to escalate as a backlash to the political rise of the Moral Majority during the 1980s. Likening their influence to “poison that’s been poured into the masses for the last 30 years,” King said media and the entertainment industry have played a pivotal role for decades in promoting immorality and portraying people of faith in a negative light. “When you use propaganda, you can turn the masses over time, and that’s part of what’s happened,” he said, adding that a hedonistic society views Christians as an unwelcome “giant stop sign” against such impulses, which leads to building resentment.

Biblical Connections: Paul warned that in the last days people would continue to turn against Christianity. We move closer and closer to this point every day.

PRAY: Pray this push to drive the United States away from its Christian roots will be stopped and that revival will come to the nation once again.

Iran's President Raisi Killed in Helicopter Crash

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country’s foreign minister were found dead hours after their helicopter crashed in fog, leaving the Islamic Republic without two key leaders as extraordinary tensions grip the wider Middle East. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in the Shiite theocracy, quickly named a little-known vice president as caretaker and insisted the government was in control, but the deaths marked yet another blow to a country beset by pressures at home and abroad. At first, many were quick to blame either Israel or the United States for the crashed chopper, assuming it had crashed through some type of sabotage or assault. However, Iran has offered no cause for the crash nor suggested sabotage brought down the helicopter, which fell in mountainous terrain in a sudden, intense fog.

A hard-liner who formerly led the country’s judiciary, Raisi, 63, was viewed as a protege of Khamenei. During his tenure, relations continued to deteriorate with the West as Iran enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels and supplied bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine. His government has also faced years of mass protests over the ailing economy and women’s rights.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. continues to monitor the situation surrounding the “very unfortunate helicopter crash” but has no insight into the cause. “I don’t necessarily see any broader regional security impacts at this point in time,” he said. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Raisi’s death is not expected to have any substantive impact on difficult U.S.-Iran relations, or Iran’s support of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Yemen-based Houthi rebels. “We have to assume that the supreme leader is the one who makes these decisions and the supreme leader, as he did in the last so-called election, made sure to stack the deck with only candidates that met his mandates,” Kirby said. For now, Khamenei has named the first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, as caretaker, in line with the constitution.

Condolences poured in from allies after Iran confirmed there were no survivors. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on the social media platform X that his country “stands with Iran in this time of sorrow.” Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a statement released by the Kremlin, described Raisi “as a true friend of Russia.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, China’s Xi Jinping and Syrian President Bashar Assad also offered condolences. Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, said he and his government were “deeply shocked.”

The United States officially stated, “The United States expresses its official condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and other members of their delegation in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran. As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

Many questioned why the US government would offer their “condolences” for a man that had not only been a part of orchestrating the October 7th attack on Israel, but has also been part of the government that supported terrorism throughout the region, including against US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Biblical Connections: In Genesis 12:3, God told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” It should not shock students of the Bible that many of those leaders throughout history that have had a negative and hateful stance to the nation of Israel have come to their end in quick and sudden ways.

PRAY: Pray that this would wake up Iran and that new leadership would be less hostile to Israel in the future.

Fewer Than Half of Christians Regularly Attend Church

A new report recently came out that shows the decline of Christianity in America is increasingly on the rise. Three in 10 people in the United States attend religious services on a regular basis, representing a decline compared to the past couple of decades, according to a report by Gallup. Gallup reported that 21% of Americans said they attend religious services on a weekly basis, while 9% said they attend religious services nearly every week. By contrast, 11% of respondents reported attending about once a month, 25% reported attending “seldom,” while 31% said they “never” go to religious services.

This represents a decline from one decade ago, when Gallup found that 38% of Americans attended weekly or almost weekly, and from two decades ago, when 42% of Americans reported attending weekly or almost weekly. For its research, Gallup drew from aggregated data from surveys conducted over the phone in 2021, 2022 and 2023, with previous samples being collected from surveys done in 2000-2003 and 2011-2013, respectively.

Gallup found that Mormons were the most likely to report going to their services regularly, with 67% saying they attended weekly or almost weekly. Protestants were the next highest at 44%, followed by Muslims (38%), Catholics (33%), Orthodox Christians (26%), Jews (22%), Buddhists (14%) and Hindus (13%). The report also found that Catholics experienced the sharpest drop in attendance compared to two decades ago, going from 45% regular attendance in 2000-2003 to 33% in 2021-2023.

Over the past several years, much has been made about the rise of the religiously unaffiliated population in the United States, also known as the “nones,” especially among younger generations. In January 2023, for example, the Survey on American Life, a project of the American Enterprise Institute, released a report which found that church attendance still hadn’t recovered from what it was before the COVID-19 lockdowns.

While the number of Americans who attended worship services had increased from 13% in the summer of 2020 to 27% by the spring of 2022, this was still below pre-pandemic levels. Furthermore, according to the SAL, 33% of Americans reported in 2022 that they never attend religious services, an increase from the 25% who said the same before the pandemic. The largest declines in attendance were seen among adults younger than 50, Hispanic Catholics, black Protestants, and white mainline Protestants.

Biblical Connection: Paul, writing in 1 Timothy 4:1-3, stated, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.”

Similarly, in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 he wrote, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” While we do not know for certain this decline of Christianity is the type of falling away Paul wrote about, it certainly fits the type of pattern Paul described would happen prior to the Rapture of the church and the start of the Tribulation with the rise of the Antichrist.

PRAY: Pray this decline in church attendance in America will reverse and Americans will return to church once again.

President Biden Wants Pride Flags to Continue at US Embassies

The Biden administration is promising to fight a GOP-led rule in the recently signed $1.2 trillion spending package that effectively bans the rainbow pride flag from being flown at U.S. embassies and consulates. A provision slipped in the bill spanning more than 1,000 pages requires that “none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be obligated or expended to fly or display a flag over a facility of the United States Department of State,” other than the U.S. flag, with some exceptions, according to Axios. Other permitted flags include the POW/MIA flag, the U.S. Foreign Service flag, the Hostage and Wrongful Detainee flag, as well as flags that represent states, American territories, Indian tribal areas, and the District of Columbia. Flags of other nations are also allowed.

President Joe Biden signed the spending bill, but a spokesperson for the White House expressed the administration’s disapproval of the pride flag ban and promised to pursue repealing what they suggested amounts to discrimination against LGBT Americans. “President Biden believes it was inappropriate to abuse the process that was essential to keep the government open by including this policy targeting LGBTQI+ Americans,” a White House spokesperson told the outlet. “While it will have no impact on the ability of members of the LGBTQI+ community to serve openly in our embassies or to celebrate Pride, the Administration fought against the inclusion of this policy and we will continue to work with members of Congress to find an opportunity to repeal it,” the spokesperson added. It should surprise no one that President Biden would be against this provision, as he has been one of the most pro-LGBT leaders in the world, constantly promoting the agenda wherever and whenever possible and going out of his way to promote LGBT individuals within not only his administration but also throughout the entire government, including the US military.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., a Southern Baptist, praised the provision behind closed doors as a win for conservatives, according to a source who spoke to Bloomberg News. Some U.S. embassies began displaying pride flags to mark so-called pride month or other LGBT-related holidays during the Obama administration. The blanket authorization was repealed under former President Donald Trump, though some continued to display the rainbow flags anyway, according to The Washington Post. The Biden administration then reversed Trump’s ban in April 2021, allowing the flag to be unfurled again at U.S. embassies such as the one to the Vatican, which prompted outrage from Roman Catholics in June 2022. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also permitted the Black Lives Matter flag to be flown at U.S. embassies, which critics denounced as unnecessarily political.

The provision in the current spending bill remains effective only until Sept. 30. In 2023, Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., introduced the Old Glory Only Act, which would permanently ban such displays at diplomatic facilities. “Our beautiful flag, Old Glory, should be the only flag flying and representing our country over our diplomatic and consular posts worldwide,” Duncan said in a statement at the time, according to Fox News Digital. “The American flag is a beacon of liberty, and no other flag or symbol better portrays our shared values than the Stars and Stripes.” In 2021, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York proposed a similar bill and accused the Biden administration of permitting “inherently political flags that are in no way affiliated with the U.S. government.”

Biblical Connections: Romans 1:26-27 states, “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.” Any nation that continues to promote the things God calls evil is not a nation that follows after the Lord.

PRAY: Pray the sinful forces that are pushing this anti-God agenda will be defeated and the ways of the Lord will be established once again.

Erdogan: ‘Netanyahu Earned His Place Alongside Hitler and Stalin’

Turkey continued its recent push against Israel and toward Russia and Iran when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered another antisemitic speech, during which he compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fascist leaders. In the speech, Erdogan compared Netanyahu to historical fascist leaders, stating that “Netanyahu earned his place alongside Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin.”

It is blatant antisemitism to compare the elected leader of Israel with a man that killed 6 million Jews.

The Turkish President also refused to condemn Hamas’s actions on October 7 and even stood by the terrorist group in his rhetoric. Erdogan accused Israel of acting as “the Nazis of our time while committing humanitarian crimes in Gaza.” He refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization: “We cannot be coerced into designating Hamas as a terrorist organization. We communicate with them openly and stand behind them.” 

In response, Netanyahu said, “Israel observes the laws of war and will not be subject to moral preaching from Erdogan, who supports murderers and rapists of the Hamas terrorist organization, denies the Armenian genocide, massacres Kurds in his own country, and cracks down on regime opponents and journalists.” National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz weighed in on this exchange, criticizing Erdogan for his support of Hamas. “Erdogan standing with Hamas makes him a supporter of crimes against humanity, and comparing the Prime Minister of Israel to dictators is the height of hypocrisy,” Gantz stated in a post to X. “The fact that Erdogan believes that Hamas is not a terrorist organization explains his conduct towards his own citizens. Israel will continue to adhere to international law even in a war against those who have proven to have no humanity.”

In another statement supporting Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that “The murders and sex crimes of Hamas against Jews and the State of Israel makes it one of the greatest acts of oppression and antisemitism in history, and Turkey as the biggest supporter of terrorism in the world right after Iran. What a disgrace to the republic founded by the father of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk.”

This is not the first time since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war that Erdogan has attacked Israel. “Netanyahu has gone down in history as the butcher of Gaza, and we are preparing to prosecute him,” Erdogan has previously stated. In another instance, the Turkish leader accused “Israel and other parties as being behind the terrorist organizations in northern Syria and Iraq. Israel would not have lasted three days without the support of Western countries. We are making preparations to declare Israel a war criminal in front of the world.” It is ironic that Erdogan attacks the “support of the west” for Israel when Turkey is an active member of NATO, made up of Western European nations and the United States. It shows just how far Turkey has moved under Erdogan to even make this statement. He is clearly attempting to move Turkey away from its NATO allies and into stronger ties with both Iran and Russia.

Biblical Connection: It is no surprise to followers of Bible prophecy to see Turkey becoming an enemy of Israel. They also have continued to build ties with both Iran and Russia over the last several years, despite being an active member of NATO. Ezekiel speaks of a future invasion of Israel where Iran, Turkey and possible Russia, along with others, will attempt to invade the nation but will be stopped by divine intervention. It is definitely a possibility that the events of our day could be leading up and setting the stage for this future event.

PRAY: Pray the enemies of Israel will not make any headway and will halt their commitment to evil and terrorism

Activism Replacing Religion in the West?

The Western world was the center of Christian civilization for centuries. Missionaries were sent around the world from places like Great Britain and America in the late 1700s and 1800s. Men like Hudson Taylor and CT Studd left everything to go out to the ends of the earth to spread the Gospel to the nations. The missionary movement has continued for the last two centuries, with people like Eric Liddle, Lottie Moon and many others continuing this great missionary tradition.

However, as the Western world has slowly moved away from its Christian foundation and become more secular, the passion and enthusiasm for the Christian mission has disappeared in many circles. It has instead been replaced by other causes. The younger generations today, specifically Gen Z and younger Millennials, are generations that are searching for meaning and purpose in their lives. Earlier generations in the West found this purpose through religious devotion, pursuing God’s purpose in their lives. In contrast, these two generations, much of which are comprised of an increase in what has been called the nones (no religious affiliation) which is just another way of saying they are secularists, are searching for purpose and meaning in other places outside of the church.

Many are finding other places to fulfill this meaning and purpose through activism, either politically or socially. This activism really began to take off in the mid 2010’s with a focus on Global Warming/Climate Change. For example, Greta Thunberg became a worldwide celebrity as a small child because she became a climate activist. This expanded during the mid-2010s with the LGBT protests and activism during the second Obama term and the Trump Administration. This activism continued during the summer of 2020, when young people throughout the nation went to the streets in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Today, this activism continues with both the “Free Palestine” protests as well as the abortion protests, specifically in the US.

Many have noticed that a lot of the same people have been involved in all of these protests. Some of this comes from the predominately liberal academic institutions throughout the West that have been pushing both secularism and activism for several decades. It is no surprise when these protests begin, the universities are some of the first places to become activist hotbeds. While universities have certainly played a role, social media platforms, such as Tick Toc and Instagram also have played a crucial role in building this activism mindset into these generations.

The question that arises is why is this occurring now? The answer may be very simple. When religious conviction is denied or lost, people do not simply stop looking to fill that hole in their lives. Instead, they look to find something to “fill that hole” in their lives. Because they have no religious affiliation, they have turned to activism to replace their religious convictions. This is why many of these activists just move from one movement to the next, even if the movements themselves do not connect. It has become their religion and their purpose. They have turned from God to activism.

Biblical Connections: In Romans 1:24-25, Paul wrote, “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” Paul understood when people reject God, they try to fill that hole with paganism, sinful lusts including homosexuality and worshipping God’s creation instead of God. It should not surprise us then that many of these activists movements that are secularly driven mix in occultism, are LGBT affirming and in many ways worship the environment.

PRAY: Pray that this drift away from God in the West would change and that revival would break forth to move the West back to its Christian roots.

Believing Rights Come from God Now Considered Extremism

An award-winning investigative journalist for Politico claimed during an MSNBC panel on that believing rights come from God is a marker of “Christian nationalism.” Heidi Przybyla also claimed on “All In with Chris Hayes” that former President Donald Trump is surrounding himself with an “extremist element of conservative Christians” who are misusing “so-called natural law” in their attempt to roll back abortion and LBGT rights.

Przybyla went on to make a distinction between Christians and “Christian nationalists,” which she said are “very different.” What unites all Christian nationalists, she said, “is that they believe that our rights as Americans, as all human beings, don’t come from any earthly authority. They don’t come from Congress, they don’t come from the Supreme Court, they come from God,” she added. “The problem with that is that they are determining — man, men, and it is men — are determining what God is telling them.”

Przybyla’s comments echoed assertions in her recent article for Politico titled “Trump allies prepare to infuse ‘Christian nationalism’ in second administration,” which argued that Christian nationalism is likely to play a major role in public policy if Trump takes back the White House. The article, co-written by Alexander Ward, defined natural law as “the belief that there are universal rules derived from God that can’t be superseded by government or judges,” and likewise called it “a pillar of Catholicism” that has “been used to oppose abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and contraception” in recent decades.

The main target of the article was Russell Vought, Trump’s former director of the Office of Management and Budget, who was among many on X (Twitter) who excoriated Przybyla for comments they claimed showed ignorance of basic American political thought as found in the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence. “Mike Johnson should put a resolution on the floor reaffirming that we are one nation, under God. Make the Dems vote against it or be called Christian Nationalists,” Vought posted.

The Politico article also hit at former Trump administration official William Wolfe, labeling him a Christian nationalist because he “advocated for overturning same-sex marriage, ending abortion and reducing access to contraceptives.” ... [Wolfe] called for ending sex education in schools, surrogacy and no-fault divorce throughout the country, as well as forcing men ‘to provide for their children as soon as it’s determined the child is theirs’ — a clear incursion by the government into Americans’ private lives,” the article said.

Wolfe also responded to Przybyla on X, “Apparently believing in the ideas set forth in our Founding documents now makes you a — you guessed it — ‘Christian Nationalist’. Yes, Heidi, our rights do come from God. Again, the ignorance of these regime journalists is astounding. They know nothing about the American founding or Christian political thought.”

“Politico has twice now, in print and with its reporter on MSNBC, raised flags about an idea central to the founding of the American Republic,” journalist Erick Erickson posted on X. “This is troubling because it suggests a lack of education and understanding by its reporters.”

“Believing rights come from God is now Christian Nationalism,” wrote Andrew T. Walker, an ethics and public theology professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. “This is a civics failure, a talent failure, an intelligence failure, a historical failure, an ethics failure ... shall I keep going?”

Biblical Connection: The founding fathers of America believed the Biblical concept that our rights come from God, not man. This has been the Christian understanding for 2,000 years. That it is under attack shows how far some in America have fallen away from the founding ideas of the nation, many which came directly from the pages of the Bible.

PRAY: Pray those seeking to drive America away from the Christian values it was founded upon will be stopped and fundamental Biblical principles will again reign.

Christian School Targeted in Maine

A Christian school in Maine must adhere to the state’s LGBT antidiscrimination policy to qualify for a state tuition assistance program while the lawsuit against the state continues, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge John Woodcock, a George W. Bush appointee, denied a preliminary injunction requested by Bangor Christian Schools run by Crosspoint Church, concluding the church’s lawsuit against assorted state officials is not likely to succeed. He ruled that Bangor Christian Schools must follow all the Maine Human Rights Act provisions.

“The Court determines that the educational antidiscrimination provisions do not violate the Free Exercise Clause because they are neutral, generally applicable, and rationally related to a legitimate government interest,” wrote Woodcock. “The Court concludes further that the educational provisions do not violate the Free Speech Clause because they regulate conduct, not speech. Finally, the Court concludes that the employment provisions do not proscribe any constitutionally protected conduct.”

First Liberty Institute Senior Counsel Lea Patterson, who represents Crosspoint, denounced the decision and expressed plans to appeal. “Government punishing religious schools for living out their religious beliefs is not only unconstitutional, it is wrong,” said Patterson, as quoted by Bangor Daily News.

In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Carson v. Makin that Maine cannot lawfully stop parents from using a state tuition program to send their children to Christian private schools. The lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court ruling was driven by parents from Bangor Christian School who sued Maine over the ban on state tuition assistance for families sending their children to a private school that includes sectarian aspects in its curriculum. In response to the high court ruling, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said that BCS was still ineligible for the program because of its conservative religious stance on LGBT issues. Crosspoint requires staff and students to support a biblical stance on marriage and sexuality.

“The education provided by the schools at issue here is inimical to a public education,” claimed Frey, a Democrat. “They promote a single religion to the exclusion of all others, refuse to admit gay and transgender children, and openly discriminate in hiring teachers and staff.” Frey promised to “explore with Governor Mills’ administration and members of the Legislature statutory amendments to address the Court’s decision and ensure that public money is not used to promote discrimination, intolerance, and bigotry.”

In response, Crosspoint sued state officials over the requirement that the private school adhere to Maine’s antidiscrimination policy on LGBT issues. The complaint labeled the state standards a “poison pill” and that “BCS was no longer eligible to participate in the tuitioning program, and eligible families could no longer use their tuition benefit at BCS. Thus the sectarian exclusion operated to allow religious schools to participate in the tuitioning program if, and only if, they held religious beliefs the State approved.”

Biblical Connections: It is hard to believe that in America a school could be discriminated against simply for adhering to their Christian beliefs. However, the secularists and LGBT proponents have made it their mission to try to destroy anything resembling a Christian worldview. Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

PRAY: Pray this agenda that seeks to remove Christianity from the public square will be stopped and Christians will be treated fairly.

Hamas Rejects US Hostage Deal after UN Resolution

Hamas rejected a deal proposed by the United States to help secure the release of the remaining hostages amid ongoing tensions between the Biden administration and Israeli officials about how to best address the conflict. Israel agreed to a U.S.-proposed compromise that involved releasing around 700 to 800 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 40 hostages, The Jerusalem Post reported. According to an update, Hamas reiterated its demands, which include the full withdrawal of Israeli Defense Forces from the Gaza Strip.

The Post shared a message Hamas posted on its Telegram channel in response to the deal, stating that the terror group is adhering to the demands presented in a March 14 press release, in which Hamas deemed necessary for an agreement withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza. "The occupation's response did not respond to any of the basic demands of our people and our resistance: a comprehensive ceasefire, withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced, and a real exchange of prisoners," Hamas wrote on Telegram. "Accordingly, the movement reiterates that Netanyahu and his extremist government bear full responsibility for thwarting all negotiation efforts and obstructing reaching an agreement so far."

Israel has been at war with Hamas after the terrorist group's surprise attack on Oct. 7, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,200 people, primarily civilians, and the abduction of over 240 Israelis and foreigners. Hamas released several hostages during a temporary ceasefire last year. However, over 130 individuals remain in captivity, and around 30 of the hostages are presumed dead. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says that over 32,000 people have been killed since the war began, figures that don't differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the proposal's rejection is a consequence of a United Nations Security Council resolution. Earlier, the Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of all the hostages. The U.S. abstained from the vote. “Hamas has once again rejected an American compromise proposal and has repeated its extreme demands: An immediate halt to the war, the complete withdrawal of the IDF from the Gaza Strip and leaving in place its administration so that it can repeat, time and again, the massacre of October 7, as it has promised to do,” Netanyahu stated. "Israel will not address Hamas's delusional demands. Israel will pursue and achieve its just war objectives: Destroying Hamas's military and governmental capacities, release of all the hostages, and ensuring Gaza will not pose a threat to the people of Israel in the future."

Netanyahu intends to send a delegation to Washington, D.C. to discuss a potential ground operation in Rafah, a strategy that the Biden administration opposes, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed. Netanyahu argues the operation is necessary to eliminate Hamas, while the Biden administration fears that Israel does not have a foolproof plan to prevent civilian casualties, Axios reported.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart that the civilian death toll in Gaza is "too high" and the amount of aid entering the territory is too low. Netanyahu previously canceled a delegation visit to D.C. after the U.S. failed to veto the ceasefire resolution. According to a press release by the Israeli prime minister’s office, Netanyahu met in Jerusalem with a U.S. congressional delegation organized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Netanyahu discussed the war in Gaza, stating, "We have to win. There is no substitute for victory. What we've set out at the outset, with the support of President Biden and the administration — important support, which we appreciate deeply — was to say, the first thing: Our goal is to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas in Gaza. Hamas has to be eliminated. Not as in idea. Nazism wasn't destroyed as an idea in World War Two, but Nazis do not govern Germany," he stated.

Biblical Connection: Unfortunately, much of the public support globally for Israel immediately after October 7th has dried up and there are concerns that this continued war will only increase hate for Israel globally, something that we see when we read the Book of Revelation where the Antichrist is easily able to turn the world against Israel. However, Israel knows that it must eliminate Hamas if it is to survive as a nation.

PRAY: Pray that Israel will be able to end the war as quickly as possible, that as many hostages as possible will be recovered and that civilian casualties will be limited.

Attacks Against US Churches Doubled in 2023

Anti-Christian hatred is accelerating in the United States, according to a Christian nonprofit that has tracked violence against U.S. churches since 2018. The Family Research Council (FRC) released its annual Hostility Against Churches report recently, finding there were 436 hostile incidents against churches in 2023.

This is more than double the number tracked in 2022 and more than eight times as many as the group found in 2018. The group said it used publicly available data to track 915 acts of hostility against churches over the past six years. Most of the incidents were acts of vandalism. The report also found gun-related incidents, arson and bomb threats used against churches.

“From January 2018 to November 2023, there were at least 709 occurrences of vandalism, 135 arson attacks or attempts, 22 gun-related incidents, 32 bomb threats, and 61 other incidents (assault, threats, interruption of worship services, etc.). In 39 cases, multiple types of hostility occurred (e.g., vandalism and arson),” the report states. Vandalism against churches may be a sign of the culture’s increasing irreverence for places of worship and the Christian religion in general, the report said.

“Americans appear increasingly comfortable lashing out against church buildings, pointing to a larger societal problem of marginalizing core Christian beliefs, including those that touch on hot-button political issues related to human dignity and sexuality. Attacks on houses of worship may also signal a discomfort with religion in general,” the report continues.

FRC President Tony Perkins said the hostility toward Christians displayed by the Biden administration is mirrored by the growing persecution against Christians worldwide.

“There is a common connection between the growing religious persecution abroad and the rapidly increasing hostility toward churches here at home: our government’s policies,” Perkins said in a statement. “The indifference abroad to the fundamental freedom of religion is rivaled only by the increasing antagonism toward the moral absolutes taught by Bible-believing churches here in the U.S., which is fomenting this environment of hostility toward churches.”

Some of President Biden’s critics have accused his administration of waging a war on Christians after several pro-life activists were charged with violating federal law for protesting at an abortion clinic in 2021. The activists could face up to 11 years in prison.

FRC report author Arielle Del Turco said the documented incidents show there is a “growing disdain for Christianity and core Christian beliefs” in the United States. 

“Although the motivations for many of these acts of hostility remain unknown, the effect is unmistakable: religious intimidation. They send the message that churches are not wanted in the community or respected in general. Our culture is demonstrating a growing disdain for Christianity and core Christian beliefs, and acts of hostility against churches could be a physical manifestation of that. Regardless of the motivations of these crimes, everyone should treat churches and all houses of worship with respect and affirm the importance of religious freedom for all Americans.”

It would have been unthinkable even 20-30 years ago to attack a church in these types of manners, as society, even unbelievers, had a deep respect for the church. However, that respect has dissolved through the rise of the secular left which only sees Christianity and the church as an evil that must be destroyed in any way possible.

Biblical Connection: In John 15:18, Jesus stated, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.”. It should not shock Christians to know that a dark world hates the light. The Bible is clear that as we move closer and closer to the return of Christ that darkness will also increase.

PRAY: Pray these attacks on churches would stop and that America would be a place that respects the church once again.

Iran Claims New Satellite Launch from Russia

Iran has announced that it successfully launched a satellite from Russia. The satellite is called the Pars-1 and is considered a “remote sensing and imaging” satellite. It was launched with a Russian Soyuz launcher. It was launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome launch base, which is 5,000 miles east of Moscow. It is a Russian spaceport first used in 2016, designed to move more launches to Russia’s far east, and out of Kazakhstan, where Russia used to conduct most launches. Issa Zareppur, Iran’s telecommunications minister, praised the launch and noted that Iran has launched 12 satellites in the last two years.

The Pars 1 was sent into an orbit at around 500km from the Earth’s surface, which would make it a low earth-orbit satellite. It weighs 134kg according to Iran’s Tasnim News. Testing was carried out at the Iranian Space Research Institute. It is part of a “series of research-measurement satellites of the Iran Space Research Institute and was designed and produced for the purpose of functional imaging, development of the domestic measurement data market, and the development and testing of technologies required for local operational measurement satellites,” Tasnim says.

It has three imaging cameras, which include visible, short-wave infrared, and thermal infrared imaging. “The thermal infrared spectrum camera with the capability of imaging at night is capable of imaging the entire territory of Iran in less than 45 days.” In addition,the “technologies used in Pars 1 satellite include V/UHF frequency band telecommunication link, wide range S frequency band telecommunication link, X frequency band telecommunication link, GPS positioning sensor,” and other capabilities.Iran’s sophistication with their weaponry continues to expand and they are clearly a major player in not only the Middle East but the world at large with their various alliances and relationships.

According to reports, Iran launched three satellites in January. This included a launch with Iran’s Simorgh rocket. Iran also launched a “research” satellite of the IRGC. Iran claims all these satellites are not related to its military ballistic missile and nuclear program. However, it is clear that Iran’s investment in the launch technology and increase in power in space is directly tied to the country’s attempts to grow its indigenous abilities in this realm.

Russia also launched an Iranian remote sensing satellite from Kazakhstan in 2022. Overall, the Iranian satellite launch and its partnership with Russia represent increasing threats by the Iranian regime to the region. Iran has exported Shahed 136 drones to Russia, and Russia and Iran have collaborated in the past on various programs that have helped Iran increase its technological capabilities in various realms. For instance, Iran’s rocket and missile programs have increased its abilities in the last decade, including the deployment of longer-range precision missiles.

In addition, Iran’s space program has increased its number of satellites. Iran continues to also enrich uranium and work towards achieving a nuclear weapon. All of these details put together, with cooperation between Iran and Russia, illustrate how Tehran is aiming to knit together its various military, space, and technological capabilities with links to countries that oppose the West. They have become one of the world leaders in drone technology, supplying drones to Russia as well as creating rockets and missiles for their proxies throughout the Middle East.

Biblical Connections: Iran and Russia continue to build their relationship in terms of technological and military arrangements. These types of continued arrangements, especially with Russia driven away from the West with the war in Ukraine, could lead to the type of military alliance described in Ezekiel 38-39.

PRAY: Pray that the forces of evil that seem to be moving the world closer and closer to a global conflict will be thwarted.

Hawaii Educators Deny Christian Afterschool Group

The organization that oversees the Good News Clubs in public elementary schools has sued education officials in Hawaii, accusing them of unlawfully blocking their student clubs from operating in four local school districts. Child Evangelism Fellowship of Hawaii filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court of the District of Hawaii, alleging various education officials blocked the ministry’s student clubs from operating on public school campuses. Good News Clubs are described on the Child Evangelism Fellowship’s website as ministries “designed to bring the Gospel of Christ to children on their level in their environment.”

Defendants named in the complaint include the Hawaii Department of Education and Education Superintendent Keith Hayashi; Rochelle Mahoe, superintendent of the Farrington-Kaiser-Kalani Complex Area; Linell Dilwith, superintendent of the Kaimuki-McKinley-Roosevelt Complex Area; Janette Snelling, superintendent of the Honokaa-Kealakehe-Kohala-Konawaena Complex Area; and Richard Fajardo, superintendent of the Pearl City-Waipahu Complex Area.

“Defendants’ policies of unequal access, pretextual denials, and hostility to CEF’s religious message violate the Constitution and have denied some Hawaii elementary school students access to free, positive, and character-building Good News Clubs that enrich countless students’ lives in other Hawaii schools and throughout the country,” argued the suit. The ministry alleges defendants have regularly denied CEF’s requests to use public school campuses for meetings, even though comparable secular clubs are permitted to do so.

These rejections allegedly began during the COVID-19 pandemic when the Hawaii Department of Education decided in November 2021 to allow student clubs to meet again on campuses. “By denying CEF use of HIDOE facilities on unconstitutional and specious grounds, Defendants deny CEF the ability to communicate with students on an equal basis with other similarly situated non-religious organizations, such as Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts,” claimed the lawsuit. “Defendants’ repeated denials of equal access therefore serve as a serious impediment to the operation of Good News Club’s and preclude CEF from exercising its rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver, whose law firm filed the lawsuit on behalf of CEF, said in a statement that “Good News Clubs should be in every public elementary school and that includes in these Hawaii schools. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that public schools cannot discriminate against Christian viewpoints regarding use of school facilities.”

According to the State of Hawaii Board of Education, “Public school buildings, facilities, and grounds shall be available for general recreational purposes and for public and community use whenever these activities do not interfere with the normal and usual activities of the school and its pupils as provided by law.” According to state rules, “no available public school building, facility, or grounds shall be denied for use by the public and community on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, or disability.”

In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Good News Club v. Milford Central School that public schools could not ban the Christian student group from meeting on their property after class hours solely because the club was religious in nature.  

Biblical Connections: John 3:19 states, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Public schools in many places have become a cesspool of secular agendas with educators who will not allow the light of the Gospel into their schools even when it is against the law to do so.

PRAY: Pray this lawsuit will be successful and that movements such as this to eliminate the Bible from our schools in any way possible will be defeated at every turn.