Can We Still Believe in the Rapture?

The Rapture Changes Everything

“The Lord himself will come down from heaven … and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

 One of the most exciting and compelling prophetic events described in the Bible is the rapture of the church. It will occur instantaneously and without warning. Suddenly, millions of people will be missing—caught up to heaven to meet the Savior in the air. While this prophetic promise is of great comfort and assurance to believers, it will have a shocking impact on those who are left behind.

 At the moment of the rapture, the bodies of all believers who have died with faith in Christ since the day of Pentecost will suddenly be transformed into new, living, immortal, resurrected bodies. Even those whose bodies have long since decayed or whose ashes have been scattered across the oceans will receive a new body. This new body will be joined together with the person’s spirit, which Jesus brings with Him from heaven. Then the bodies of those who are alive on earth and have accepted Christ as their Savior will also be instantly translated into new, immortal bodies.

 Notice the similarity between the descriptions of the Rapture in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 and 2 Thessalonians 4:15-18. When Christ comes to take His church (all believers) to heaven in fulfillment of His promise in John 14:1-3, He will include all New Testament believers, both the living and the dead.

 Together, all believers will be instantly transported into heaven to meet their loved ones “in the clouds” and then to meet the Lord in the air. Those who have rejected the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and remain on earth will witness a miraculous event of astonishing proportions—the sudden mass disappearance of millions upon millions of Christians from the face of the earth.

 Scripture calls the Rapture “the blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) because this event provides comfort not only to those believers who are concerned about the coming tribulations of the last days, but also to those who long to be reunited with their departed loved ones who shared faith in Christ.

 The Second Coming, which encompasses both the Rapture and the glorious appearing, is one of the most significant events mentioned in the entire Bible. The New Testament alone has 321 references to this awesome event, making it the second-most prominent doctrine presented in Scripture after the doctrine of salvation. The concept of the Second Coming is clearly taught in both the Old and New Testaments. It is also affirmed in the doctrinal statement of every major Christian denomination.

 On average, the New Testament mentions the Second Coming in one out of every 30 verses, and it is mentioned in every chapter of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, the first books written for the early church. Moreover, all nine New Testament authors mention the Second Coming, and 23 of the 27 New Testament books reference it.

 While various views exist as to when the Rapture will occur (before, during, or after the Tribulation), all must acknowledge that there will be a rapture. The only real question is, when will it occur? The chief characteristic of the Rapture is that it will be sudden and will catch people by surprise.

 “Of that day and hour no one knows” (Matthew 24:36), which is why we should live so as to “be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44). Indeed, throughout the ages, the Rapture has appeared imminent to Christians of every generation. And one day He will! The trumpet will sound, the archangel will shout, and we will all go home to be with Jesus.

God intended His church to be motivated to holy living, fervent evangelism, and missionary concern by the study of the second coming of Christ. If Jesus is indeed coming again, then we who are Christians need to let the world know it!

World Hunger Dramatically Worse in Pandemic Year

The United Nations lamented what it called a “dramatic worsening” of world hunger last year, saying much of that is likely connected to the pandemic. A report issued jointly by five U.N. agencies said hunger outpaced population growth in 2020, with nearly 10 percent of all people are estimated to be undernourished. It said the sharpest rise in hunger came in Africa, where 21 percent of the people are estimated to be undernourished.

 Children paid a high price, with 149 million of those younger than 5 estimated to have stunted growth since they are too short for their age. More than 45 million children are too thin for their height. “A full 3 billion adults and children remain locked out of healthy diets, largely due to excessive costs,’’ the U.N. agencies said. “In many parts of the world, the pandemic has triggered brutal recessions and jeopardized access to food,’’ the United Nations said in a summary of its findings. “Yet even before the pandemic, hunger was spreading; progress on malnutrition lagged.”

 “Disturbingly, in 2020 hunger shot up in both absolute and proportional terms, outpacing population growth,” the report’s authors concluded. The report found that some 9.9 percent of the world’s population was estimated to have been undernourished last year, compared to 8.4 percent in 2019. The United Nations said that the pandemic further undercut a U.N. goal of zero hunger by 2030. Based on current trends, it estimates that the goal will be “missed by a margin of nearly 660 million people,” and approximately 30 million of that number “may be linked to the pandemic’s lasting effects.”

 The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report was prepared by U.N. agencies including the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. The other two agencies were the United Nations Children’s Fund, commonly known as UNICEF, which is based in New York, and the World Health Organization, or WHO, headquartered in Geneva. The report was described by the agencies as the “first global assessment of its kind in the pandemic era.” Among the U.N.’s recommendations, was one calling for strengthening “the resilience of the most vulnerable to economic adversity,” such as through programs to lessen the impact of “pandemic-style shocks” or steep food price increases.

 While the Covid Pandemic is not the same as the Great Tribulation of the Book of Revelation, it does give us a glimpse of the types of things that will occur. The Third Horseman of the Apocalypse, the black horse, represents pandemic, plague and devastation. Revelation 6: 5-6 states, “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, “A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.”

 What the black horse represents is the massive famine and plagues that will occur in the future, presumably after the war that the red horse brings. We also see John describe the inflation of prices on goods that will occur, just as we are seeing with the Covid Pandemic. Thus, the Covid Pandemic, even as bad as it has been, is only a small glimpse of the type of famine, devastation and inflation that will occur during the Great Tribulation.

Christians in Afghanistan desperately need our prayers.

Believers are caught behind the Islamic Curtain. They are trapped, facing beatings and death for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I urge you to pray and support individuals and organizations taking a risk to rescue those in danger.

 James 5:16 exhorts us to, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

 When we look at a map of the Middle East, it shows us the countries where leadership structures have changed, dictators have fallen. And yet, dictators are still in charge. People have been martyred for their faith in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, and in virtually every Islamic country on the planet. This is not a religion of peace. It is a religion that intends to spread its message by force and violence to make a convert and to keep a convert.

 When a religion threatens to kill people if they do not convert to it, and then threatens to kill them if they dare leave it, I submit to you, you do not have the world’s largest religion; you have the world’s largest cult.

 What is occurring today in the Middle East is setting the stage for the events the Bible predicts will happen in the future. Forces are at work to destabilize governments and bring them into an Islamic Caliphate.

 The Bible says in Psalm 2 the rulers of the world plot against the Messiah, God’s Anointed One:

 “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision,” Psalm 2:1-4.

 The Psalmist reminds us that God is on the throne. God is in control of what is happening in the universe. Today we can respond to His truth or reject it. There is something afoot in Afghanistan and the Middle East that is beyond human explanation. The Bible describes it as an influence of the Prince of Darkness, Satan himself.

 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places,” Ephesians 6:12.

 We are dealing with spiritual warfare that is playing out in the politics of the world in which we live. Time may very well be running out for our planet. The depraved nature of the human heart is incapable of living at peace with others because so many are not at peace with God and with themselves.

 As chaos unfolds and the world totters on the brink of disaster. Many wonder if we have already passed the point of no return. However, the grace of God is longsuffering. God often waits longer than we would as human beings because He is giving people an opportunity to come to faith in Christ.

 While we know God is sovereign and in control, He does use our prayers and finances to accomplish His will on Earth. Pray today how God can use you to help persecuted Christians in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Harris Becomes First Sitting Vice President to March in Pride Event

Vice President Kamala Harris has made history once again, becoming the first sitting Vice President to march in a Pride event. Harris participated in a march with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff during Capital Pride in Washington, D.C. earlier this summer. She wore a “love is love” t-shirt as she walked with other Pride-goers to a rally at Freedom Plaza, telling them, “Happy Pride!”

She spoke briefly at the event, advocating for the passage of the Equality Act while expressing her and President Joe Biden’s commitment to advancing LGBTQ rights. “We need to make sure that our transgender community and our youth are all protected. We need, still, protections around employment and housing,” Harris said, according to NBC Washington. “There is so much more work to do, and I know we are committed.”

The Vice President also observed the fifth anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting on Twitter, paying tribute to the 49 people who were killed at the Orlando gay club on June 12, 2016. “Five years ago, 49 LGBTQ+ people and allies were enjoying an evening out at Pulse Nightclub,” she wrote. “And then, in an instant, they were gone. Today, we remember those who died and their loved ones-and we recommit to building a world free from gun violence.”

Harris’ post came as President Biden issued his own statement announcing that he’ll sign a piece of legislation to name the nightclub a national memorial, which recently passed the House and Senate. He also advocated for stricter gun control and the passage of the Equality Act, acknowledging that the LGBTQ community is disproportionately impacted by gun violence, particularly transgender women of color. “In the memory of all of those lost at the Pulse nightclub five years ago, let us continue the work to be a nation at our best-one that recognizes and protects the dignity and safety of every American,” Biden said in his statement.

The Biden/Harris administration has made LGBTQ issues one of their priorities, restoring transgender healthcare protections and removing Donald Trump’s ban on transgender military members. One of Biden’s first executive orders was calling for an end to discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports,” the order read. “Adults should be able to earn a living and pursue a vocation knowing that they will not be fired, demoted, or mistreated because of whom they go home to or because how they dress does not conform to sex-based stereotypes. People should be able to access healthcare and secure a roof over their heads without being subjected to sex discrimination.”

Many Evangelicals had warned prior to the election that a Biden/Harris ticket would push for these types of progressive policies. The Left has completely accepted the LGBTQ cause, with few exceptions, and will continue to drive this agenda forward, regardless of how it impacts religious freedom for Christians, Jews and Muslims.

Women’s sports are already being impacted, with many transgender females dominating sports across the country. As more and more of these policies become standard throughout the nation and as generations grow up with this worldview enforced through the school systems, it will become much more difficult to both eliminate the policies further down the line and to hold to a Christian view on gender issues. As this agenda continues, it will soon impact many areas of life, including the workplace, public schools, universities and religious organizations.

PRAY: Pray this push against the ways of God will be stopped and that America will return to the biblical view of gender and marriage.

Jews Gain International Recognition in Both London and Tokyo

Usually when the Jewish people are mentioned in the media, it is either to attack them or to mention Anti-Semitism. However, two positive stories about the Jewish people came out recently on the international stage. The British government approved plans to build a national Holocaust memorial beside Parliament, rejecting claims by campaigners that the location was unsuitable. The government said building the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens, a park in the shadow of Parliament, would send a “powerful associative message.”

The memorial was announced in 2016, but the choice of location has faced opposition. A group of campaigners argued that it would remove valuable green space in the heart of the city and would be better built elsewhere. After public inquiries last year, the government said the benefits of the location outweighed the “modest loss of open space” in the park.

The 100-million-pound ($140 million) memorial — designed by leading architects David Adjaye and Ron Arad — is scheduled to open in 2024 and will be free to visit. It is intended as the focal point for Britain’s national remembrance of the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and all other victims of Nazi persecution, and to provide a place for reflection on “subsequent genocides” in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said “there will be something uniquely powerful about locating a memorial to the Holocaust right next to the center of the U.K.’s democracy.”

Meanwhile, at the Opening Ceremony at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, an acknowledgment of the Israeli athletes killed by terrorists at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich was given, marking the first time the murders were mentioned in an opening ceremony.

“As we join together here in the Olympic Stadium, across Japan and around the world, let us all take a moment to remember all those friends and loved ones who are no longer with us, in particular because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the announcer said. A notice for a moment of silence appeared on screens at Olympic Stadium. “They will forever have a special place in our hearts. We, the Olympic community, also remember all the Olympians and members of our community who have so sadly left us. In particular, we remember those who lost their lives during the Olympic Games. One group still holds a strong place in all our memories and stand for all of those we have lost at the Games: the members of the Israeli delegation at the Olympic Games Munich 1972.”

The ceremony then shifted to a dancer’s performance during the creative portion of the event before the announcer continued. “For all those we have lost, we invite everyone around the world to respect a moment of silence, wherever you are,” he said. “And for all of us here in the stadium, we invite you to stand for this moment of silence.”

Members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September stormed the Olympic Village during the Munich Games, killing two Israeli athletes and taking nine others as hostages. The hostages were later killed during an airport shootout. Five terrorists and a policeman from West Germany were also killed. Competition across all Olympic sports was postponed for 24 hours to hold services for those who died. Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency would later kill the Black September assassins. While both recognitions are somewhat limited, perhaps they will begin to turn the tide against the immense negative criticism and attack that constantly is portrayed against the Jewish people.

Pray- Pray that the Jewish people will continue to be recognize in a positive manner and the Anti-Semitic slant that constantly goes against them will decrease.

Victory for Religious Freedom in the Supreme Court

The United States Supreme Court recently gave an important win for religious freedom. In a unanimous 9-0 decision, the US. Supreme Court ruled decidedly in favor of what had been traditional understandings of the religious free exercise clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. In this case, the City of Philadelphia had attempted to block a Catholic adoption agency from being allowed to function unless they would give children to LGBTQ families.

There are several important aspects of this decision that are very encouraging to those who cherish religious freedom. First, the decision was unanimous (9-0). Given the fractious nature of this Court, particularly on issues involving the LGBTQ community, this fact alone signals a significant Court shift on this issue. Second, the fact that the unanimous opinion was written by the Court’s Chief Justice, John Roberts, adds to the signaled significance of this opinion given his perceived reticence in recent years to take decisive and bold action on contentious culture war issues.

Third, the decision amplifies the fact that elections have consequences. If Hillary Clinton had won the 2016 presidential election, Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett would not be Supreme Court Justices and a President Clinton would have appointed justices who would have ruled in a very different fashion and would have exercised a gravitational pull on the more liberal justices: Kagan, Breyer, and Sotomayor.

Instead, we have a unanimous decision affirming the free exercise of religious rights of Americans and refuting the drumbeat of articles in law school journals and other venues over the last two decades. The argument was that when LGBTQ rights conflict with traditional religious beliefs, religious free exercise rights must always give way as if every issue was, and is, a “zero sum” game where one side must win and the other side must lose.

Many of those defending exceptions that respect genuine religious convictions have argued this is not the case and the rights of the LGBTQ community could be recognized while still respecting the religious convictions of their fellow citizens. The Fulton decision proves the “zero sum” belief of complete winners and complete losers was fallacious.

Chief Justice Roberts writes in his unanimous opinion “the City has burdened the religious exercise of CSS through policies that do not meet the requirement of being neutral and generally applicable.” He then significantly notes the decision “prohibits no one from serving children,” but rather “simply ends a state discrimination” against those with deeply held religious convictions. Roberts is arguing that both the LGBTQ and Catholic Social Services (CSS) community can be accommodated, and more needy children can be served.

As the Chief Justice also noted, CSS “seeks only an accommodation that will allow it to continue serving the children of Philadelphia in a manner consistent with its religious beliefs; it does not seek to impose those beliefs on anyone else.” One could only wish the LGBTQ community were as tolerant and as accommodating of their fellow citizens as CSS has demonstrated itself to be.

This is indeed a decision to greatly encourage those who love and believe in freedom of conscience from government coercion in matters of religion. It shows at the very least the Supreme Court has a conservative majority willing to block overzealous governments that attempt to override the First Amendment. How widespread the Supreme Court will defend religious freedom in other areas is yet to be seen for religious groups.

PRAY: Pray the Supreme Court will defend religious freedoms while facing continued opposition from the political left.

News from the United Nations

Iran’s Election to UN Women’s Body Draws Outrage From Rights Activists

Iran’s election to the U.N.’s top women’s empowerment body despite having a poor record has drawn outrage from rights activists who criticized the Islamic republic’s treatment of women. The result of the secret ballot also has been met with silence from the U.S. 43 of the 54 nations in the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) elected Iran to the Commission on the Status of Women for a four-year term beginning next year. The commission is the U.N.’s principal intergovernmental body dedicated to “the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.”

Iran received the smallest number of votes of the five nations elected to the body. Of the other four elected nations, China and Japan were already commission members while Lebanon and Pakistan will be new additions. Iran was not currently a member of the commission. Iran’s poor record on women’s rights was under fire at the world body earlier this year.

In his annual address to the U.N. Human Rights Council, U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, noted “some positive steps” for Iranian women and girls in education and in citizenship rights. But he also said, “egregious gender-based discrimination persists in law, practice and societal attitudes, disempowering women and girls from participating and contributing in society.”

Austria-based Iranian rights activist Sholeh Zamini denounced Iran’s election to the commission as “shameful.” She said Iran will be the only country in the 45-member commission to have not ratified the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. “Not only has Iran not done this, but it is acting quite systematically to violate women’s rights,” she said.

Other Iranian women’s rights activists expressed similar sentiments on social media. Hillel Neuer, the executive director of the Geneva-based group UN Watch, said in an online statement that while ECOSOC typically rubber-stamps regional groups’ nominations for the Commission on the Status of Women, the U.S. exercised its authority as an ECOSOC member to call for a vote.

“I commend the Biden administration for forcing the vote, but they should also speak out to condemn the obscene election of [Iranian Supreme Leader] Ayatollah Khamenei’s regime to a women’s rights body,” Neuer said.

Since only 11 of ECOSOC’s 54 members did not vote for Iran in Tuesday’s secret ballot, Neuer noted that at least four of the council’s 15 European Union (EU) and Western Group democracies voted in favor of Iran. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment on how the U.S. voted and what it thinks of votes by its allies. Neuer expressed disappointment in the U.S. “going silent” on the issue. “Those who believe in the founding values of the United Nations cannot be silent when they are subverted,” he wrote.

In the Biden administration’s first report on Iran’s human rights record published last month, the State Department highlighted multiple issues with women’s rights including a “lack of meaningful investigation of and accountability for violence against women” and “significant legal, religious, and cultural barriers to political participation” for women.

“I hope that the U.S. & EU states negotiating with the Iranian regime over its nuclear weapons program did not make a Faustian bargain to betray women in Iran who are subjugated, discriminated against in law and practice and criminalized if they sing, dance or show their hair,” Neuer said.

This is yet another display of the United Nations favoring Iran, even though they have blatant rights violations and constantly attacks Israel over every move that they make.

UN Opens Israeli War Crimes Probe, Calls For Embargo

The United Nations Human Rights Council voted 24-9 to launch an investigation against Israel for alleged war crimes, including during the recent war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and called for an arms embargo against the Jewish state. An additional 14 countries out of the 47-member body abstained. It marks the first time that the UNHRC created a permanent fact-finding mission with respect to any UN member state. Israel’s Foreign Ministry immediately stated that it had no intention of cooperating with the probe.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated: “Today’s shameful decision is yet another example of the UN Human Rights Council’s blatant anti-Israel obsession. Once again, an immoral automatic majority at the Council whitewashes a genocidal terrorist organization that deliberately targets Israeli civilians while turning Gaza’s civilians into human shields. This while depicting as the ‘guilty party’ a democracy acting legitimately to protect its citizens from thousands of indiscriminate rocket attacks. This travesty makes a mockery of international law and encourages terrorists worldwide.”

In the debate that preceded the vote, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet warned that Israeli actions may already constitute “war crimes.” The “commission of inquiry” would examine incidents that occurred both before and after April 13, 2021 within sovereign Israel, including Jerusalem, as well as in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The decision to call for such a probe was submitted by the Palestinian Authority and Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The United States said it was “deeply unfortunate” that the vote occurred “while we and others have been working to uphold and strengthen the ceasefire, ensure humanitarian assistance to Gaza.” It’s Geneva mission added that creation of a probe “threatens to imperil the progress that has been made in recent weeks... We will continue to advocate for Israel to be treated fairly in the Human Rights Council.” Germany took issue with an “indefinite” commission of inquiry that would “far exceed” any past fact-finding probes.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Meirav Eilon Shahar warned the council against making a moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas, noting that prior to the start of the Gaza war one of its leaders called to cut off the heads of Jews. “On May 7th, a senior Hamas leader, Fathi Hammad, said and I quote “cut off the heads of the Jews with knives.” Just three days later, Hamas launched an unprovoked, unjustified attack against the civilian population in Israel, while cynically hiding military infrastructure in the midst of Gaza’s civilian population. This constitutes a double war crime,” Eilon Shahar said. “We will make no apologies for defending our citizens. Israel has the capabilities to defend its people in accordance with international law and we will continue to do so,” she said. Earlier in the day, she said, those who support the Palestinians should condemn Hamas.

During the debate Bachelet agreed Hamas caused deaths and injuries in southern Israel and its “rockets are indiscriminate and fail to distinguish between military and civilian objects, and their use, thereby, constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law.” Such violations include Hamas launching rockets from civilian areas, she said. “However, the actions of one party do not absolve the other from its obligations under international law,” Bachelet explained, nor did she accuse Hamas of potential war crimes. This is yet another example of the United Nations blatant attacks on Israel while failure to hold other groups accountable.

Favorable View of Palestinian Authority on the Rise

Recently in Atlanta, as hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied downtown, one sign stood out: “We can’t breathe since 1948,” it read – a nod to the social unrest of the past year after the death of George Floyd. Experts said it’s a reflection of the way American support for the Palestinian cause is growing. A recent Gallup poll showed it was on the rise even before the latest Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Results of Gallup’s annual World Affairs poll, released in March, show that although most Americans still sympathize with Israel, favorable views of Palestinians are on the rise. Roughly 30% of overall respondents said they had favorable views of the Palestinian Authority, up from 21% in 2018 and higher than the annual average of 19% since 2001. Such views are increasingly partisan: Republican support for Israel is at 85% compared with 77% of Independents and 64% of Democrats. The percentage of Republicans who view the Palestinian Authority favorably has risen to 19%, up from 9% in 2018.

Omar Baddar, communication director for the California-based Institute for Middle East Understanding, said that even before the recent conflict, liberals had been increasingly critical of Israel. Although more Americans say the United States should pressure Palestinians more than Israel to resolve the conflict, Gallup reports those saying the onus is on Israel represent a new high of 34%, up from 27% in 2018.

Celebrities are increasingly outspoken about Palestinian support. This has caused an increase in support in the younger generations that many times blindly follow their favorite celebrities. Thousands demonstrated from Boston to Los Angeles, supporting Palestinians in rallies and marches marking the 73rd anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Among those marching in New York City’s Brooklyn borough was supermodel Bella Hadid whose father is Palestinian. Entertainers Rihanna, Zayn Malik and Rage Against the Machine posted Palestinian support on Instagram. Actors Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon and Viola Davis took to Twitter to condemn Israel. Last year, actor Seth Rogen made waves when he said he was “fed a huge amount of lies about Israel” growing up as a Jewish boy, and his elders omitted information about Palestinian displacement.

The violence has also raised tensions with the United States. In Los Angeles, a brawl broke out outside a sushi restaurant between sidewalk diners and a group of men passing by in cars waving Palestinian flags. In Michigan, President Joe Biden’s visit to a Ford plant in heavily Arab American Dearborn was met with protest over U.S. support of Israel.

Some see similarities between struggles of Palestinians and Black community in U.S. When the most recent conflict began, the Black Lives Matter chapter in Paterson, New Jersey, issued a statement expressing Palestinian solidarity. “Our deep roots of solidarity are part of a rich tradition of mutual support and exchange between Palestine and U.S.-based liberation movements.”

Baddar said the link between the struggles of Palestinians and Black Americans – a concept scholars call Black-Palestinian transnational solidarity – dates to the 1980s, when Jesse Jackson ran for president on a platform that included demands for Palestinian human rights. The years since have produced other comparisons in terms of discriminations and militarized police response, he said.

Although most Americans still support Israel, one cannot downplay the significance of celebrity political activism to sway the younger generation. In the future, this could lead America away from supporting Israel.

What can be done to heal a fractured nation?

A year ago, I wrote that America is in serious trouble. The convergence of political extremism, social unrest, pandemic paralysis, and general confusion has left us gasping for breath and groping for solutions. The chaos of the past 18 months exposed the deep divide in the empty soul of the nation.

 Many are confused, asking: What is happening to our country? Where did all this begin? Why are we so divided?

 Let us begin by examining the root cause of the current chaos. In the nineteenth century, then Princeton theologian Charles Hodge warned that when American education ceased to be distinctively Christian it would only remain neutral (non-Christian) for a while and then ultimately turn decisively Anti-Christian. Within 100 years, his prediction came true.

 The Supreme Court decision in 1962 (Engel v. Vitale) ruled prayer out of the public schools. Subsequently, even voluntary moments of silence were eliminated and in time all religious instruction was banned from American public education. While students are still free to pray privately or in small groups, the absence of God in American public education is now glaringly obvious. The result is rampant secularization.

 Today, the war against America is a spiritual battle for the soul of the nation. It plays out in several areas under the disguise of social justice and political correctness. Free speech is only acceptable for the radical, liberal left. Conservative Christians are denounced as racists, bigots, and anti-intellectuals. Any attempt to criticize or question the left-wing agenda is met with censorship, hostility, and ridicule. Make no mistake, it is a covert attack of Satan against the very heart of America’s Christian values.

 As we celebrate Independence Day this weekend, what can we as Christians do to bring our nation closer together?

 Pray for Revival. The Apostle James said, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16). Specifically, pray for our leaders; for our nation’s continued support of Israel; for the American church to continue to be an effective witness for the Gospel, both at home and abroad; and for America to experience a great revival and turning to the Lord, so that our goodness might merit our greatness in the sight of God. America is in trouble today because she continues to turn away from God. We need a spiritual awakening to turn our nation back to God before it is too late.

 Be an active citizen. Our nation provides more freedom than most others to participate in the selection of our leaders and to petition them with our concerns. Be sure to make Godly choices in the voting booth, and let our leaders know where you stand on matters of concern to us as Christians.

 Be an active church member. Do what you can to support missionary endeavors. Remember, such activities are not limited to people serving in far-away places. It includes organizations that spread the Gospel through the media. It also includes us as individuals, as we witness for the Lord in our own communities.

 Remember that God is in control. Although the Bible tells us to obey those in earthly authority over us (Romans 13:1-5) and to pray for them (1 Timothy 2:1-4), we should never allow our nation – or its leadership – to replace God as objects of worship. It is God who “removeth kings, and setteth up kings” (Daniel 2:21). When seemingly insurmountable problems face our nation and our world, remember that our Lord said these things would be prevalent in the days immediately prior to His return, and gave us the helpful admonition:

 “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh,” Luke 21:28.

 Only the power of God can save us. We desperately need His divine intervention. America needs a spiritual awakening and a genuine revival of repentance, regeneration, and re-engagement with the culture. Nothing short of a radiant, Spirit-filled Christianity can speak truth into a decadent and self-destructive culture.

Amazon Unveils Palm Technology in Retail Stores

Amazon, alongside Apple, has been one of the major companies developing new technology to allow for making purchases without cash or a physical credit card. They are expanding to its biggest area yet: the company is now testing its palm-scanning payment technology in Whole Foods, starting with a single store in Amazon’s home city of Seattle. The company has been using Amazon One payment technology in its Amazon-branded stores in the Seattle area (including Amazon Go and Amazon Books), but the Whole Foods rollout will make the most substantial expansion of the technology yet. The company says that thousands of customers have already signed up with Amazon One.

Amazon’s palm reading starts at the grocery store, but it could be so much bigger. According to an Amazon FAQ, the palm-scanning technology analyzes “the minute characteristics of your palm — both surface-area details like lines and ridges as well as subcutaneous features such as vein patterns” in order to identify a customer. This would allow them to use the biometric scan as an alternative method of checking out instead of credit card or cash. It is essentially using a “palm print” instead of a fingerprint to make purchases.

Customers will be able to register their palms at kiosks in the supported Whole Foods stores, allowing them to associate a physical credit card to that palm scan. After that point, the palm scan will serve as the physical card when checking out at the store. Amazon One will debut at the Madison Broadway Whole Foods in Seattle as an additional payment option for customers, with plans to expand it to seven other Whole Foods stores in the Seattle area over the next few months. Amazon hasn’t announced plans to further build out the palm-scanning payment system outside of the Seattle area.

All of this, of course, assumes that people are okay with Amazon building an ever-larger database of biometric information linked to its customers, something that some experts have raised concerns about. That’s particularly true given that Amazon’s data — unlike other biometric security systems, like Apple’s Face ID — is stored in on the cloud, rather than secured locally on a specific device.

While this technology itself is not necessarily a bad thing, it is easy to see the trajectory the economy is moving toward. More and more companies are pushing for a “cashless” society. Credit and debit cards have already replaced cash for many. This new technology could lead to an even further delve into this movement. It seems if the trajectory continues, it will not be long before currency becomes a thing of the past.

Why does this impact prophecy? Revelation describes a global economy and the mark of the beast, which will be used to control the global economy. People will not be able to “buy or sell” unless they take the mark of the beast. While this technology itself is not the mark of the beast, it does show that the technology and mindset is moving in that direction. This technology is especially notable because it specifically marks your purchase based on your unique identity.

If this kind of technology expands, it would be easy for the Antichrist to control a global economy. He could flip a switch and make it to where only those who are identified in a database as having taken the mark of the beast could make purchases. For centuries people have questioned how the Antichrist could deny those that refuse to be marked the ability to purchase goods. Perhaps we are seeing the technology that will lead to this ability.

PRAY: Pray for emerging technology and its role in prophecy and the End Times.

PHOTO: Amazon

US Embassies Allowed to Fly LGBT Pride Flags Again

The LGBT movement within the United States again declared victory after the U.S. State Department has authorized embassies worldwide to display the rainbow pride flag on embassy flagpoles along with the American flag, which reverses the Trump-era policy. In a State Department cable, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the diplomatic outposts are not required to fly the LGBT pride flag but can decide if it is appropriate to display on the flagpole “in light of local conditions.” The rainbow pride flag can be displayed before May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, through the end of June, according to the cable and a State Department official who spoke with the New York Times.

June is officially recognized as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, which are viewed by many as the beginning of the gay rights movement. In the cable, State Department officials were told to follow the “do no harm” policy to prevent backlash against the local LGBT population. “Posts should support efforts to repeal [criminalization] legislation, while ensuring that ‘do no harm’ remains our overarching principle so U.S. efforts do not inadvertently result in backlash or further marginalization of the LGBTQI+ community,” the cable was quoted as stating.

Franklin Graham criticized the decision on Facebook. He said just because something is “authorized” does not make it right. “Why should a flag representing one group of people and a specific agenda be literally raised up above all others and allowed to fly at our embassies and consulates?” Graham wrote. “The embassies represent the United States of America on foreign soil—only the U.S. flag should be flown. Not the gay pride flag, not the Christian flag, not any other flag.”

“The previous administration had a one-flag rule that the Biden administration has rescinded,” he continued. “Our U.S. flag represents the sacrifice, the honor, the unity, the patriotism—and the blood—that made America great. Pray for our nation and our leaders.” The Trump administration denied requests from U.S. embassies to display the rainbow flag on the embassy flagpole to celebrate LGBT Pride Month and only allowed the American flag to be flown on the flagpole.

In defense of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s one-flag rule, former Vice President Mike Pence told NBC News in June 2019 that he and the president believe only the U.S. flag should be displayed on the embassy flagpole. “We both feel that way very passionately, but when it comes to the American flagpole, and American embassies, and capitals around the world, one American flag flies,” Pence proclaimed. The Trump administration’s State Department reportedly denied requests from U.S. embassies in Brazil, Germany, Israel and Latvia to fly the rainbow pride flag for LGBT Pride Month.

During the Obama administration, embassies were allowed to fly the rainbow flag under the American flag on the embassy flagpole. Blinken pledged to support the LGBT agenda by flying the pride flag at U.S. embassies and reinstating the special envoy for the human rights of LGBTI persons upon being sworn in this January. This is a sad change of affairs, as America, once was a beacon of Christianity to the world, used its influence to spread Christian values and traditions and sent missionaries around the globe. Instead, it now supports and spreads an anti-God agenda around the world. America, like many nations in the Old Testament, has decided to flaunt its sin. We will only see if God chooses to bring judgment on the nation in a similar manner.

Finland Wants to Jail Politician Over Biblical View of Marriage

Law professors and scholars are calling on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to pressure the State Department to sanction Finland’s prosecutor general for prosecuting a Christian politician who shared her biblical beliefs on sexuality and marriage. In an open letter published by Real Clear Politics, professors from Ivy League institutions like Harvard University, Yale University and Princeton University spoke out in defense of Päivi Räsänen and Bishop Juhana Pohjola. They both face criminal charges related to Räsänen expressing her Christian views on marriage.

Räsänen, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, could face up to six years in prison after being charged with three counts of ethnic agitation related to statements she made expressing her beliefs pertaining to human sexuality and marriage. She is the former chair of the Christian Democrats and a former interior minister who has served in Parliament for seven terms. The mother of five, who is married to a pastor and Bible college principal, has been under police investigation since June 2019. She publicly voiced her opinion on marriage in a 2004 booklet on sexual ethics, describing marriage as between one man and one woman. She also expressed her views on a 2019 radio show and tweeted church leadership on the matter.

Prosecutors determined that her previous statements disparage and discriminate against LGBT individuals and foment intolerance and defamation. The mother of five is adamant that her expressions are “legal and should not be censored.” In their open letter, the professors argue that the prosecution of the politician for her remarks could “compel Finland’s clergy and lay religious believers to choose between prison and abandoning teachings of their various faiths.

The charges against Dr. Räsänen stem from her authorship of a 2004 booklet entitled, Male and Female He Created Them: Homosexual Relationships Challenge the Christian Concept of Humanity, published by the Luther Foundation,” they wrote. “In the booklet, Dr. Räsänen argues that homosexual activity should be recognized by the church as sinful based on the teachings of the Hebrew Bible and Christian scripture.

Second, the Prosecutor General has charged the Bishop-Elect of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, Rev. Dr. Juhana Pohjola, with one count of ethnic agitation for publishing Dr. Räsänen’s booklet,” the letter continues. “The Prosecutor General’s pursuit of these charges against a prominent legislator and bishop sends an unmistakable message to Finns of every rank and station: no one who holds to the traditional teachings of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and several other religions on questions of marriage and sexual morality will be safe from state harassment should they, like Bishop Pohjola and Dr. Räsänen, express their moral and religious convictions.”

The letter argues that the prosecutions “constitute serious human rights abuses” because they violate Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 10 of the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights. Those documents affirm the right of an individual “to manifest his religion or belief in teaching.”

The professors urged commissioners serving on the congressionally-mandated independent commission tasked with advising the U.S. government on international religious freedom matters to urge Secretary of State Antony Blinken to sanction Finland Prosecutor General Raija Toiviainen because of “a gross violation of human rights. No reasonable balance of the goods of public order, civil equality, and religious liberty can ever support this suppression of the right to believe and express one’s beliefs. The prosecutions are straightforward acts of oppression,” they write. “To uphold the internationally recognized rights of freedom of expression and religious liberty, the United States must now respond to the abuses in Finland as it has recently responded to other violations of religious liberty in non-western nations.”

Pray- Pray that this type of anti-Christian attack in Europe will be stopped.

New Dead Sea Fragments Found

Dozens of 2,000-year-old fragments from scrolls containing portions of the books of Nahum and Zechariah have been unearthed in Israel, an extremely rare discovery in the Judean Desert. The Israel Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of the uncovered fragments. They are the first of such discoveries in approximately 60 years. The Dead Sea Scrolls are fragments of religious manuscripts that were originally found in the Judean Desert decades ago.

The newly discovered fragments are Greek translations of the two minor prophets. Despite most of the fragments being in Greek, the name of God is written in Hebrew. The fragments come from a larger scroll found in the same place in the 1950s in Nahal Hever in the “Cave of Horror” that is approximately 80 meters below a cliff top and can only be reached by rappelling down the cliff.

Also known as Cave 8 in the Judean Desert, Israeli archaeologist Yoḥanan Aharonin gave it the nickname “Cave of Horror” because the skeletons of 40 men, women and children were discovered there during the Judean Desert Expeditions in the 1960s.

The Israel Antiquities Authority has been more active in rescuing ancient artifacts in the region since 2017. Significant looting has plagued the area ever since Bedouin shepherds first discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls, also known as the Qumran Caves Scrolls, in 1946.

“The desert team showed exceptional courage, dedication and devotion to purpose, rappelling down to caves located between heaven and earth, digging and sifting through them, enduring thick and suffocating dust, and returning with gifts of immeasurable worth for mankind,” IAA Director Israel Hasson, who led the rescue operation, said in a statement. “The newly discovered scroll fragments are a wake-up call to the state. Resources must be allocated for the completion of this historically important operation. We must ensure that we recover all the data that has not yet been discovered in the caves before the robbers do. Some things are beyond value.”

The IAA team has thus far reconstructed 11 lines of Greek text from Zechariah 8:16-17 and Nahum 1:5-6. The entire passage from Zechariah reads: “These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to one another, render true and perfect justice in your gates. And do not contrive evil against one another, and do not love perjury, because all those are things that I hate—declares the Lord.”

The Nahum passage reads: “The mountains quake because of Him, And the hills melt. The earth heaves before Him, The world and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before His wrath? Who can resist His fury? His anger pours out like fire, and rocks are shattered because of Him.”

The fragments were written in a “new” Greek translation that differs from the traditional Masoretic texts. According to the IAA, the translation’s differences reveal “quite a bit regarding the transmission of the biblical text” until the time of the Bar Kochba Revolt, which was a rebellion of the Jews led by Simon bar Kochba against the Romans around 132-136 A.D., the last of the three major Jewish-Roman wars. The revolt is also called the Third Jewish-Roman War or Third Jewish Revolt.

“These finds are not just important to our own cultural heritage but to that of the entire world,” Avi Cohen, CEO of the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage, said in a statement.

Amir Ganor, who heads the IAA’s Theft Prevention Unit, said the agency finally decided to pre-empt the thieves before the treasures were looted. The scraps containing lines from Nahum and Zechariah were discovered in clumps and rolled up in the Cave of Horror. He estimates that approximately 25% of the Judean Desert has not been surveyed, according to The Times of Israel. By using drone technology and rappelling gear, those rescuing the ancient artifacts can explore caves that have been considered “unreachable,” some of which human beings have not entered for nearly 2,000 years.

These types of discoveries are important to show the historicity of the biblical accounts and the incredible accuracy of the translation process throughout history.

Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden Feel Betrayed

Evangelical Christians have grown into an influential subset of American politics. Not all who identify with this label vote in unison. They voted in large numbers in 1976 for Jimmy Carter, but reversed course in 1980 and went for Ronald Reagan. In subsequent elections, a majority has voted for Republican candidates.

In the 2020 election, this subset created a new subset. They called themselves “Pro-life Evangelicals for Biden.” Their members include Jerusha Duford, the granddaughter of the late Reverend Billy Graham and thousands of pastors and other influential Christian leaders. The group acknowledged that while Biden did not support their primary issue – that of protecting unborn human life – he was “more consistent with the biblically shaped ethic of life than Donald Trump.”

After observing Biden for less than two months in office, the group issued a statement. It said evangelicals and Catholics “feel used and betrayed,” especially as it relates to the president’s recently stated opposition to the Hyde Amendment (which Biden supported for years), which prevents taxpayer funding for abortions.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a socially conservative organization based in Washington, issued his own statement: “They can’t say they weren’t warned. Everyone in America knew where Joe Biden stood on abortion – because he told them. In 13 debates, multiple campaign ads and a Planned Parenthood town hall, no one had any doubt that if this man won the White House his folksy faith talk would take a backseat to his political deal with the far left. If Evangelicals for Biden want to say they never saw this COVID bill and its abortion funding coming, they were the only one.”

Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden should have known better than to bargain with the abortion devils. Because they chose to ignore the above and similar verses, they are now suffering from buyer’s remorse. Liberal Christians like to speak of other issues, such as immigration, the environment and helping the poor, along with personal character qualities as having equal importance – and for some, greater importance – than abortion.

The problem with that argument is that the right to life is the most fundamental of rights. It is mentioned first in the Declaration of Independence. If you can’t be born, nothing else matters.

Second, Evangelical Christians are called to devote themselves to a higher kingdom and King that is not of this world. Just as Scripture says one cannot serve God and money, neither can one equally serve God and temporal political kingdoms that soon pass away.

Paul writes, “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. (1 Corinthians 2:6). John the Apostle put it this way: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. ... The world and its desires pass away...” (1 John 2:15-17).

These and other verses don’t prohibit one from voting, but they do call for the right priorities and for not “marrying” one’s self to a political leader or party. Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden might have learned from recent history and how identifying one candidate and claiming he (or she) are more favorable to God and to Christian voters than another is a form of idolatry and ultimately futile.

Humankind’s greatest needs are less economic and political than spiritual and moral because no politician can redeem the soul. President Biden’s radical agenda has backfired on these Christians who voted for him and will only continue the push of the nation into secularization.

PRAY: Pray that President Biden will turn away from promoting and paying for widespread abortion worldwide.

Chinese Crackdown on Christian Apps

International Christian Concern reports the Chinese government is targeting Christianity through cyberspace. Bible Apps have been removed from the App Store in China and Christian WeChat public accounts have been shut down. ICC is a non-partisan Christian organization based in the United States that “exists to relieve the suffering of the worldwide persecuted church and help it grow.”

 The ICC report references a tweet from Father Francis Liu from the Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righteousness in which he states: “some decent Christian WeChat accounts are no longer available online. A few snapshots of Christian accounts’ landing page such as ‘Gospel League’ and ‘Life Quarterly’ no longer show any content.”

Pastor Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid a group that provides aid to persecuted Christians, wrote that “official WeChat public accounts aimed at providing resources on Bible & guides on edifying the church to Chinese Christians were suddenly suspended. #CCP suspends Old Gospel & The Gospel Coalition. Both have large number of readers within China’s pastoral network.”

 Instead of the normal landing pages for these accounts, a message stating, ‘[We] received a report that [this account] violates the ‘Internet User Public Account Information Services Management Provisions’ and its account has been blocked and suspended” is shown.

 In the middle of removing Christian platforms, China has launched a hotline to report people for “mistaken opinions.” According to Reuters, this hotline is a crackdown on “historical nihilism,” a term used in China to describe public doubt or skepticism over the Chinese Communist Party’s account of the past.

 The Cyberspace Administration of China developed this online service with the hope that “most internet users will play an active role in supervising society and enthusiastically report harmful information.”

 This movement goes hand in hand with a recent change to the nation’s constitution in which people who “insult, slander, or infringe upon” the memory of national heroes or martyrs could face up to three years in jail.

 Scott Kennedy, a senior advisor and trustee chair in Chinese business and economics for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Newsweek, “this new initiative isn’t really a debate about history. It’s simply an effort of the current leadership to control the conversation about Chinese history and to limit any debate about interpretations of different events, all with the goal of putting the current leadership and [President] Xi Jinping in the most positive light.”

 Robert P. George, legal scholar and professor at Princeton University fears there will “likely be a big demand for this app in the U.S. What a tool for thought- and speech-police everywhere.” As cancel culture pervades our nation and we see more restrictions on free speech, it could be just a matter of time before the demand for this app becomes a reality.

 PRAY: Pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in China. Intercede of behalf of the faithful pastors and lay leaders and the expanded reach of the Gospel. Although the Chinese government regulates and restricts all aspects of communication, the underground church continues to grow. We know there is no containing God’s Word and His Will!

Bioethics Advisory Board Dismantled

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden and his Health and Human Services Secretary, Xavier Becerra, overturned the ban on using taxpayer funding for research using body parts from aborted babies. During his administration, President Donald Trump established a bioethics advisory board to review funding requests. While in service, the NIH Human and Fetal Tissue Research Ethics Advisory Board rejected funding for 13 of 14 research projects that had planned to use aborted baby body parts.

The advisory board became a necessity when it was discovered experimentation contracted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with the University of California San Francisco to create “humanized mice” using aborted baby parts. This discovery also shed light on the abhorrent illegal activity of selling those body parts.

Now that the bioethics advisory board has been dismantled, federal tax dollars will once again fund research on aborted babies. Pro-life groups criticized this action and challenge that it is unnecessary.

Dr. Tara Sander Lee, senior fellow and director of life sciences at Charlotte Lozier Institute, commented:

“The HHS decision to resume experiments using the body parts of aborted children defies both the best ethics and most promising science. Exploiting the bodies of these young human beings is unnecessary and grotesque. Fetal tissue was not, and has never been, used for polio or any other vaccine, nor to produce or manufacture any pharmaceutical. There are superior and ethical alternatives available such as adult stem cell models being used by countless scientists worldwide to develop and produce advanced medicines treating patients now, without exploitation of any innocent life. All scientists should reject the administration’s attempts to prey on fears related to the pandemic to advance the practice of harvesting fetal tissue.”

Also this month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it will not enforce the requirement that abortion pills be administered in person, enabling women to obtain the pills without seeing a doctor. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the in-person requirement was suspended because it presented an “obstacle” to women seeking an abortion.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List organization, accuses pro-abortion activists of exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic. She said, “this decision prioritizes abortion industry profits over the health and safety of women and puts the abortion extremism of the Bidden-Harris administration on full display. This decision is pure politics … a flagrant and dangerous disregard for the health and safety of American women and girls.” Not to mention, I might add, for the life of the unborn child!

As the federal government reinstates its assault on life, several states have passed legislation to protect women and the lives of the pre-born. While pro-life legislation is a start, we must continue to hold our elected officials accountable for their votes against it. We must also work to establish and maintain support systems for women and girls in our communities facing unplanned pregnancies!

Christians and the Environment

Yesterday, Earth Day was recognized globally. How should a Christian relate to the environment? When God made man, He gave man the responsibility of having dominion over the environment: “And God blessed them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth,” Genesis 1:28.

 However, dominion does not imply domination or wanton destruction. Man is to assume the role of a caretaker, carefully managing all aspects of the environment and how they relate to one another. We are to realize that God created all we need to sustain life on the planet, and He clothed His creation with beauty so that we might appreciate both the creation and its Creator. We are also to remember that the ability of creation to meet our needs is often limited, and we are to observe those limits. For example, in the Mosaic Law, God provided that the land should have rested one year out of seven, so the nutrients could replenish themselves. Anything that grew by itself in that year was reserved for the poor people and the animals (Exodus 23:10-11).

 After Noah’s flood, God gave man the right to use animals for food (Genesis 9:3). This, too, carries with it the responsibility to allow animals to reproduce in order to serve the needs of further generations of mankind. Several hundred years ago, millions of bison, or buffalo, roamed the open land of the western United States. When setters arrived, they killed these animals in what could only be called a wholesale slaughter and almost reduced them to extinction. By the turn of the 20th century, only about 1,000 were left. Fortunately, steps were taken to preserve this species.

 As life has become more complex in modern times with massive urbanization and industrialization, the challenges involving our stewardship of the planet have become more complex as well. Man-made pollution from automobiles, factories, and chemicals can, left unchecked, affect the land, sea, and air around them, and the wildlife that lives therein. As population increases, so does rubbish, while the areas available for its disposal shrink proportionally. Man has again responded to the challenge by implementing pollution controls, establishing recycling programs, and so on.

 Finally, it should be mentioned that environmentalism can be taken to a dangerous extreme. Some people advocate a “live and let live” approach to the environment that would allow any and all creatures to reproduce unhindered. This does not constitute wise stewardship of the environment. Extreme environmentalism can also be taken to replacing God and worshipping His creation instead.

 Until the day of Christ’s return, may we be good stewards of the world God has entrusted to us: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away,” Revelation 21:1,4.

United Nations Preparing to Create List of ‘LGBT Hate Groups’

A conservative group is warning that the United Nations is preparing to compile a list of “LGBT hate groups” that could be used as a “blacklist” to punish groups and organizations that subscribe to traditional beliefs about gender and sexuality.

 According to the Center for Family and Human Rights, “the UN rights office is collecting the names of anyone who opposes the LGBT agenda in any way.” The report addresses the contents of a “call for input to a thematic report” on the topic of “gender, sexual orientation and gender identity.”

 Issued by Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the United Nations’ independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, the call for input requests information on individual nation-states’ actions regarding issues of sexual orientation and gender identity in addition to asking for information about groups that oppose the idea that “the meanings attached to sex (and other) differences are socially created.” In other words, Madrigal-Borloz is seeking information about which organizations within a particular country subscribe to the idea that there are only two genders. He begins the call for input by noting that “many States have adopted gender as a key concept in laws and policies aimed at protecting women and LGBT persons against violence and discrimination.”

 He laments the fact that “within multilateral and regional organizations, among other fora, there are currently narratives that, under different lines of characterization (including the accusation of so-called ‘gender ideology’), seek to eliminate the gender framework from international human rights law instruments and processes, and national legislative and policy documents.”

 The stated purpose of the impending report is to “document how these narratives are being used to fuel violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and their particular impact on sexual and reproductive rights.” Madrigal-Borloz seeks responses from “States, regional and national human rights institutions, non-governmental organization, UN agencies, academic institutions, local governments and other relevant stakeholders.”

 The first four questions he seeks answers to deal with actions taken by individual states to establish definitions of gender, establish policies “aiming to address violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” establish databases detailing forms of violence and discrimination against LGBT people, and teach comprehensive sexuality education. The remaining questions ask about narratives that exist surrounding gender and sexuality within specific countries. These questions cause the Center for Family and Human Rights particular concern: “Are there examples where the concept of gender has been used in religious narratives or narratives of tradition, traditional values or protection of the family to hinder the adoption of legislative policy measures aimed at addressing or eradicating violence and discrimination based on sex, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity?” they ask.

 Additional questions ask about whether “‘gender ideology,’ ‘genderism’ or other gender-related concepts have been used to introduce retrogressive measures, in particular but not limited to LGBT communities,” and if there have been “initiatives taken by States in connection with the right to freedom of religion, belief or conscience (including the figure of conscientious objection) that have had the practical impact of limiting the enjoyment of human rights (including sexual and reproductive rights) of LGBT persons.”

 The Center for Family and Human Rights warns that “the UN LGBT czar appears to be adopting the approach of the Southern Poverty Law Center, of creating a list of ‘hate groups.’” The group noted that Madrigal-Borloz had previously urged states to “take decisive action” against “representatives of churches and faith-based groups” that “infringe on the rights of LGBT persons” using “hate speech.”

This is yet another example of officials targeting people of faith for their religious beliefs.

 PRAY: Pray for officials to allow people of faith to continue to hold traditional religious beliefs on sexuality without fear of repercussions.

American Church Membership Drops Below 50% for First Time in 80 Years

While America remains a highly religious nation with seven in 10 claiming affiliation with some kind of organized religion, for the first time in nearly 80 years, fewer than half of them now say they have formal membership, a new Gallup analysis. In 1937, says Gallup, when they first measured formal membership in houses of worship, some 70% of Americans had formal church membership and that measure remained steady for the next 60 years until it began a steady decline in 1998. In 2020, formal membership in houses of worship stood at 49%.

The Washington, D.C.-based analytics and advisory company was able to highlight several factors for the decline through responses from more than 6,000 U.S. adults each time across three-year aggregates from 1998 to 2000, 2008 to 2010, and 2018 to 2020 when formal membership in houses of worship first dipped below 50%.

One of the biggest factors Gallup found strongly correlates with church membership is age. Some 66% of traditionalists — U.S. adults born before 1946 — have formal membership in a church, compared with 58% of Baby Boomers, 50% of those in Generation X and 36% of millennials. Current but limited data on members of Gen Zers who've already reached adulthood suggest their church membership rate is similar to millennials.

The analysis also pointed to the growing number of Americans who express no religious preference. In the last 20 years, the share of Americans who do not identify with any religion has grown from 8% in 1998 to 2000 to 21% in the last three years. Only 4% of people from this group said they held formal membership in a church, synagogue or mosque. Between 1998 and 2000 that figure was 10%.

“While it is possible that part of the decline seen in 2020 was temporary and related to the coronavirus pandemic, continued decline in future decades seems inevitable, given the much lower levels of religiosity and church membership among younger versus older generations of adults,” wrote Gallup Senior Editor Jeffrey M. Jones. “Churches are only as strong as their membership and are dependent on their members for financial support and service to keep operating. Because it is unlikely that people who do not have a religious preference will become church members, the challenge for church leaders is to encourage those who do affiliate with a specific faith to become formal, and active, church members,” he added.

Among religious groups, Catholics suffered the steepest decline over the periods measured dropping from 76% to 58%. Protestants fell 9% from 73% to 64%. The data also showed that declining church membership in the last two decades was greater among Eastern residents and Democrats.

Political conservatives, Republicans, married adults and college graduates experienced lower declines and tended to have higher rates of church membership, along with Southern residents and non-Hispanic black adults, Gallup said.

In his analysis of data from the General Social Survey of five-year windows in which individuals were born spanning from 1965 to 1984 and published by the Barna Group in 2019, Ryan Burge, an assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University and pastor of First Baptist Church of Mt. Vernon, Illinois, showed that younger generations raised in the church weren’t typically returning to church when compared with members of the “Baby boomer” generation born between 1945 and 1964. For anyone concerned with church growth, Burge says, “this should sound an alarm.”

“Many pastors are standing at the pulpit on Sunday morning and seeing fewer and fewer of their former youth group members returning to the pews when they move into their late-20s and early-30s. No church should assume that this crucial part of the population is going to return to active membership as their parents once did,” he explained. “The data is speaking a clear message: the assumptions that undergirded church growth from two decades ago no longer apply. If churches are sitting back and just waiting for all their young people to flood back in as they move into their 30s, they are likely in for a rude awakening. Inaction now could be creating a church that does not have a strong future,” he added. While this falling away from the faith should not surprise anyone who has been paying attention to American culture, the numerical data does show that Christianity is on a significant downward slope in America.

Pray- Pray that God will send revival to America and that the nation will turn back to God.

No Place for God in American Politics?

The Declaration of Independence specifically cites “the Creator” as the source of human rights. However, many politicians are now claiming the there is no place for God in American politics. Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York chastised one of his colleagues for mentioning God and the Bible during the House debate over the Equality Act, saying: “God’s will is no concern of this Congress.”

 Rep. Greg Stuebe, R-Fla., said in his remarks on the House floor that the Equality Act is in opposition to Scripture. “The gender confusion that exists in our culture today is a clear rejection of God’s good design. Whenever a nation’s laws no longer reflect the standards of God, that nation is in rebellion against Him and will inevitably bear the consequences,” Stuebe said. “And I think we are seeing the consequences of rejecting God in our country today. And this bill speaks directly against what is laid out in Scripture,” he declared.

 The Equality Act passed in the House by a vote of 224-206 with only three Republicans joining Democrats in voting for the measure. Among the most contested aspects of the bill is the enshrinement of sexual orientation and gender identity as categories in civil rights law.

 The bill is an update of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that is considered by many to be the legislative legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 Steube previously introduced legislation to protect women’s sports and amendments to similar legislation that was being considered by the House, but all were voted down by Democrats. He reintroduced an amendment to ensure Title IX protections for women’s sports earlier this year.

 In his response to Steube on the House floor, Nadler said: “Mr. Steube, what any religious tradition ascribes as God’s will is no concern of this Congress.” This is a far cry from the type of language used by the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln, or even Ronald Reagan.

 The 500-plus page Equality Act adds gender identity as a protected category in nondiscrimination law. That term, which is frequently used by media and transgender activists, refers to an “internal sense” of one’s gender.

 Opposition to the bill has manifested from across the political spectrum. Both conservative-leaning women and left-wing radical feminists have maintained that simultaneously protecting sex and gender identity within the law is impossible because gender identity has, unlike sex, no material meaning.

 Enshrining the concept into federal law would destroy women’s sports and other sex-segregated spaces such as shelters for women escaping domestic violence, rape crisis centers, and any other entity that receives federal dollars, opponents have warned.

 The Equality Act also forbids use of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a 1993 law that was passed on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis and signed into law by former President Bill Clinton to provide religious exemptions. Now, Bill Clinton’s own party is trying to take away these very protections.

 CJV Vice President Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld added that Nadler had “unmasked” the true nature of the proposed law. “Far from valuing diverse opinions and beliefs, it tramples free exercise of religion and even demonizes free speech. Reading the Bible in public, per the Equality Act, could be called an exercise in bigotry and grounds for a ‘discrimination’ complaint. Without question, the true bigots here are those who support deliberate attacks upon the cherished beliefs of others,” Schonfeld said.

 The political left wants to eliminate all traditional held beliefs, including anyone who holds to the beliefs of traditional Christianity as outlined in the Bible. We must stand firm on our beliefs and trust God’s Word.

 PRAY: Pray this push by the left will be defeated and America will again care about God’s input in our lives.