Fighting for Religious Freedom

Florida Cross Allowed to Stand

Earlier this week, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed itself and decided that the 34-foot cross at Bayview Park in Pensacola, Florida does not have to come down. The cross had been donated in 1949 by the Pensacola Junior Chamber of Commerce to honor one of its past presidents.

The lawsuit was brought by four atheists and made it to the U.S. Supreme Court which returned the case to the lower court for a second look. Upon review, the federal appeals court decided the cross did not violate the establishment clause in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Last summer we reported on the case American Legion v. American Humanist Association in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a 40-foot memorial cross in Bladensburg, Maryland. Known as the Bladensburg Peace Cross, this monument was erected in 1925 to honor 49 local men who died in WWI.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Stephen Breyer, Brett Kavanaugh, Elena Kagen, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas ruled that it is permissible for a monument in the shape of a Christian cross to be on public land. Alito argued for presuming that “longstanding monuments, symbols, and practices” are constitutional.

This latest decision by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is perhaps a positive movement towards less hostility from the courts toward religious expression in the public square.

Students Granted Right to Exercise Their First Amendment Rights

Four Wheaton College students were banned from evangelizing in Chicago’s Millennium Park. They are members of the Chicago Evangelism Team sponsored by the Wheaton College Office of Christian Outreach. This group meets on Friday nights to proclaim the Gospel “in the city of Chicago to whomever we find there.”

Last September, the students filed a lawsuit, arguing that the city government’s ban limited their ability to engage in “protected activity.” Federal Judge John Robert Blakey granted a temporary injunction and ruled that the students must be allowed to exercise their First Amendment rights until the legal dispute is resolved.

Pray for these students as this case moves forward. We are thankful that, for now, they can boldly proclaim the Gospel in Millennium Park. Pray their efforts will not be in vain.

All Life Is Precious

Earlier this week, the remains of 2,411 aborted babies were given a dignified burial. These remains were discovered by the family of Dr. Ulrich Klopfer after he passed away last September. Klopfer performed abortions in South Bend, Indiana where he left behind medically preserved aborted babies in his garage and in the trunk of his car.

Republican Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill promised that he would provide a proper and dignified burial for the babies. During the service, Attorney General Hill commented, “Each of these 2,411 was a life—a life that was terminated—and each deserve to be secure in a final resting place, with dignity and respect, as should be afforded all human beings. May each of the 2,411 buried here, now and forever, rest in peace.”

The Christian Post reports that “In the 43 years Klopfer worked as an abortionist, he’s said to have performed around 30,000 procedures before his medical license was indefinitely suspended in 2016 by the Indiana Medical Licensing Board.”

Mike Fitcher, president of Indiana Right to Life, said although Klopfer “cannot be punished because he is deceased,” he wants to know whether former employees were complicite and if the “bodies were being preserved to sell to universities or research facilities,” he told NBC affiliate WNDU at a news conference.

The abortion clinics in Illinois and Indiana where Klopfer operated in are now closed.

Virginia Lawmakers Repealing Laws that Protect Life

Notoriously pro-abortion Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, along with the Democratic majority in both houses of the state legislature are on a rampage to end most of the state’s protections for the unborn.

One such bill would remove the requirement for a woman to obtain an ultrasound or wait 24 hours before getting an abortion. “In less that two weeks’ time, we’ve watched the General Assembly rip away over 30 years of pro-life law,” said Olivia Gans Turner, president of the Virginia Society for Human Life. The bill passed the Senate and a similar bill also passed through the House. Gov. Northam is expected to sign it into law.

Last year, when defending a bill that would allow a pregnant woman to request an abortion even if she was moments away from giving birth, Gov. Northam in a radio interview supported a hypothetical situation in which an infant who was severely deformed or unable to survive after birth could be left to die.

Election News

Several Democratic candidates running for president have radically expressed that there is no room for pro-life Democrats within their party. During a forum in Vermont, MSNBC host Sephanie Ruhle asked Senator Bernie Sanders if he believed it was possible to be pro-life and a Democrat.

“By this time in history, I think when we talk about what a Democrat is, I think being pro-choice is an essential part of that,” stated Sanders.

Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats For Life of America, asked Pete Buttigieg at an Iowa town hall how his campaign would welcome pro-life Democrats.

Buttigieg responded, “Well, I respect where you’re coming from and I hope to earn your vote. But I’m not going to try to earn your vote by tricking you. I am pro-choice. And I believe a woman out to be able to make that decision.

Day wrote a column for USA Today in which she voiced her opinion that he did not properly answer her questions, “… instead [Buttigieg] focused on his unyielding support for abortion and did not really seem to want the vote from me or people who share my views.”

Turkey and Russia in Disagreement about Syria

As we have seen over the past few months, Turkey and Russia have been working together, alongside Iran, to push into Syria and grow Russia’s influence in the region. However, some cracks are starting to emerge in the Turkish/Russian agreements. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan recently has attacked Russia’s escalation on the Syrian border and their escalation of military force in the region. Erdogan said that Ankara [the capital of Turkey] was losing patience with the military assault in Syria’s Idlib region, adding that Russia is violating agreements aimed at stemming conflict. Renewed bombardments by Russia-back Syrian government forces on Idlib have raised concerns in Turkey of a new refugee wave from the area, which borders Turkey and is home to 3 million people. Turkey has already received a large flow of immigrants from Syria and does not want any new military action that would cause such a large group to flood north into their land as political refugees. They have threatened to send the refugees to Europe if Western Europe attempts to intervene against Turkey.  

Turkey and Russia, which support opposing sides in Syria, have recently been working together to create a demilitarized zone in Syria so that there would no longer be a need for refugees to continue to flee north into Turkey. And, they have proposed the possibility to create a zone where Turkey could resettle the refugees that have already entered their nation. Despite several ceasefire agreements, fighting continues in the last remaining rebel bastion in the country’s nearly nine-year war. Erdogan, speaking to reporters, said Turkey is building houses in northern Idlib to shelter civilians fleeing the bombing. He said he also told Russia they are running out of patience.

Turkey had hoped that their recent agreement with Russia and Iran would solve these types of issues, but Russia has also made agreements with Syria. Syria, with Russia’s backing, is not afraid to violate the cease-fire agreements because they know Turkey is unwilling to risk a future escalation with Russia. Syrian government forces recently entered a town in southern Idlib. However, Turkey, who has 12 observation posts around the city, warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad they would retaliate against any aggression. A Turkish military convey, consisting of 30 armored vehicles, was sent to the region and is expected to establish a new observation post to detect Syrian aggression.

Meanwhile, the third member of the alliance, Iran, has their own plans for the region and would like to have a greater influence into Syria in order to use the location as a base for a future strike into Israel. Consequently, all three players in the region, supposedly working together to demilitarize the region, also have their own reasons and goals in mind.

While Ezekiel 38-39 speaks of a future Russian, Turkish and Iranian alliance in the battle of Gog and Magog, this does not automatically mean that this event will occur soon or even in our lifetime. The three nations could easily overcome these challenges and work together to try to invade Israel as Ezekiel described or their alliance may break up to be recovered in the future. Ultimately, only God knows the timeline for these events, and we can only pray for peace and do our part to reach as many lost souls as we can in the meantime. God will ultimately bring these events to their conclusion when He chooses, and we must simply continue our work for God’s kingdom.

Pray- Pray for peace in the region. Pray for the refugees that have had their entire lives disrupted by this long civil war.

Two Sobering Anniversaries

47th March for Life

Friday, January 24 marked the 47th March for Life held in Washington, D.C. This march has been held every year since 1974, one year after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling led to legalized abortion nationwide.

President Trump became the first sitting president to speak in-person at this largest pro-life human rights demonstration in the world. He told the crowd that “every child is a precious and sacred gift from God.”

“Together we must protect, cherish, and defend the dignity and the sanctity of every human life,” he continued. “When we see the image of a baby in the womb, we glimpse the majesty of God’s creation. When we hold a newborn in our arms, we know the endless love that each child brings to a family.”

The Christian Post noted that more and more young people are joining the March for Life. The 2020 march was attended by “countless high school and college students.”  Students from Oakcrest School in Vienna, Virginia lead the march, holding the official March for Life banner.

Catalina Scheider Galinanes, the 16-year-old president of Oakcrest’s Respect Life Club, spoke at the rally. She said this was her seventh March for Life, “From the moment I realized that the abortion industry was ending the lives of millions of babies and lying to women everywhere, I knew God was calling me and each of us to act to defend human dignity and protect the lives of generations to come. That is what we are doing here today.”

In 2019, we witnessed New York, Illinois and Vermont expand abortion up to birth. The State of Virginia’s General Assembly, currently in session, is seeking to loosen existing regulations on abortion, one of which would also legalize abortion up to birth.

Praise God that 10 states with majority pro-life legislatures and governors passed laws requiring clinics to meet health and safety standards and placed limits on abortion. Pray that other states would follow their lead. And pray for God to raise a pro-life generation who will ultimately change the culture in those states which have removed regulations!

What can we do today? We can support mothers and fathers. We can speak for the unborn through our votes, in our churches, in our communities and with our families. Together, we can end abortion and create a culture of life!

Remembering the Holocaust

Last week, more than 200 Holocaust survivors and their families gathered at Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp 75 years after it was liberated on January 27, 1945. This event commemorated the more than one million people murdered at Auschwitz, the vast majority of whom were Jewish.

NBC News reports that many of the survivors described their experiences. “My number was 45,554,” said Bat-Sheva Dagan, who is originally from Lodz, Poland. “They tattooed my number on me and it’s just as visible today as it was back then. It was tattooed very well,” the 94-year-old added.

“I would love Hitler should be alive to see what I accomplished—that I’m alive,” said survivor David Marks, who now lives in Sherman, Connecticut.

On January 23, more than 40 dignitaries attended the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem marking it as one of the largest political gatherings in Israeli history. World leaders in attendance included Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Prince Charles, Vice President Mike Pence and the presidents of Germany, Italy and Austria. The event was highlighted by a three-hour-long ceremony called “Remembering the Holocaust: Fighting Antisemitism” at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

Tel Aviv University researchers noted a significant rise in anti-Semitic violence in 2018. They recorded 400 cases of violent attacks against Jews, with the largest reported number of Jews killed in anti-Semitic acts in decades. The spike in violence was most dramatic in western Europe. For instance, in Germany there was a 70% increase. In addition to shooting attacks, assaults and vandalism, the research also noted increased anti-Semitic vitriol online and in newspapers, as extremist political parties grew in power in several countries.

Middle East Peace Plan

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released this week a plan for peace in the Middle East. Arab Ambassadors from Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates attended the announcement and expressed a desire to work towards peace.

In spite of growing support of the Peace Plan by multiple Arab nations, Palestinians have soundly rejected it and instead have called for a “Day of Rage” to attack the Jewish people and Americans in protest.

We must continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And, we must stand against anti-Semitism and pray for the protection of Jewish people worldwide.

Chinese Pastor Sentenced to Prison

Pastor Wang Yi has been sentenced to nine years in prison for subversion of power and illegal business operations. Located in Chengdu, China, Wang is the pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church, one of China’s largest unregistered churches. According to a statement for the Intermediate People’s Court of Chengdu, in addition to the nine years in jail, he will also lose his political rights, will have a fine of approximately $7,2000 and his personal assets seized.

In December of 2018, authorities raided the Early Rain Covenant Church’s offices, a kindergarten, a seminary, a Bible college, and searched the homes of many of its members. At that time, Wang was arrested along with his wife, Jiang Rong, and more than 100 members of his congregation. They forced church members to sign a pledge to not attend the church anymore. Jiang was eventually released after six months.

The New York Times noted that Wang had become known for taking high-profile positions on politically sensitive issues, including forced abortions and the massacre that crushed the Tiananmen Square democracy movement in 1989. Ahead of his arrest, he wrote, “I believe this Communist regime’s persecution against the church is a greatly wicked, unlawful action. As a pastor of a Christian church, I must denounce this wickedness openly and severely. The calling that I have received requires me to use non-violent methods to disobey those human laws that disobey the Bible and God. My Savior Christ also requires me to joyfully bear all costs for disobeying wicked laws.

“Those who interrogate me will finally be questioned and judged by Christ. When I think of this, the Lord fills me with a natural compassion and grief toward those who are attempting to and actively imprisoning me. Pray that the Lord would use me, that He would grant me patience and wisdom, that I might take the Gospel to them.”

Open Doors USA World Watch List ranks China as the 27th worst nation in the world when it comes to Christian persecution. The Chinese Communist Party has increased their efforts to destroy all religious institutions, yet the Church continues to expand under persecution.

PRAY: We must pray for Pastor Wang Yi as he serves his prison sentence. Pray that he can withstand all that he will face and pray that he will be able to lead others to Christ. We must also pray for perseverance for our brothers and sisters in China. Pray for the Lord to strengthen them and allow their faith to be a light in such heavy darkness and persecution.

PRAY: As a "message to Christians worldwide," ISIS executed 11 Christian men the day after Christmas. The terrorists released a gruesome video showing one man being shot and 10 others beheaded. For the last two years, there has been an increase in violence against Christians, with an estimated 1,000 killed in 2019 and at least 2,400 in 2018. Open Doors USA's World Watch List ranks Nigeria as the 12th worst nation in the world for Christian persecution. Please pray for our Christian brothers and sisters in Nigeria!

Russia-Turkey Collusion in Syria

Russia and Turkey have reached an agreement that would put a combined Russian-Turkish force into northern Syria after Turkey had invaded the region and in support of Russia’s Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad, the leader of Syria. The agreement will allow Turkey to keep its holdings that it has already taken from its recent invasion and place a combined force in the rest of the border region. With the withdraw of United States forces from the region, this move fills the power gap and strengthens both Turkey and Russia’s hold and influence in the region.

Russia has long been a supporter of Iran and now seems to be making greater headway into a Russian-Turkish alliance. President Vladimir Putin of Russian and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey met for six hours to discuss the negotiations and formalized the agreement.

Erdoğan stated afterward, “I believe that this agreement will start a new era toward Syria’s lasting stability and it being cleared of terrorism.” However, pundits of the invasion view this as a move to increase Turkish power and influence in the region, with the support of their new friend Russia.

President Putin has emerged as the dominant force in Syria and a major power broker in the broader Middle East — a status showcased by Mr. Erdoğan’s hastily arranged trip to the Russian president’s summer home in Sochi. And it looks increasingly clear that Russia, which rescued the government of Syrian President al-Assad with airstrikes over the last four years, will be the arbiter of the power balance there.

Reuters reports “Russia is the Syrian government’s most powerful ally and helped it turn the tables in the country’s civil war by retaking much of the country from rebels in 2015. The Turkish-Russian deal last week allowed Syrian government forces to move back into border regions from which they have been absent for years.”

Putin already has strong ties in the region and has attempted to increase Russian influence through various means, including working with Iran. His goal is to make Russian the dominant influence in the region and secure both influence and resources, including oil, for Russia.  

That Russia is working with both Turkey and Iran should not come as a surprise to scholars of the Bible. This could easily be the beginning of the foundation of the alliance spoken of in the book of Ezekiel in chapters 38-39, called by scholars the battle of Gog and Magog. Ezekiel speaks of an alliance between several nations that invade Israel and are only defeated by divine intervention. Magog has long been associated with the Russian people, tying back to the table of nations in Genesis 10 to settling in the Caucus region that eventually became part of Russia.

Persia, ancient Iran, is also mentioned as an ally of Magog in the text and so is the Ethiopia, Libya and Gomer and Togarmah, both which would be associated with modern day Turkey. Today, outside of Russia, these nations are primarily Islamic and Russia has worked very hard to develop relations with both Iran and Turkey. Iran and Turkey both view Israel as an enemy in the region and hope to both lesson Israeli influence and territory while expanding their own.

While this does not necessarily mean that the battle of Gog and Magog will happen soon, it should alert us that the pieces of this battle described by Ezekiel are being put into place and could very easily occur, especially now that Russia and Turkey are becoming more aligned in their goals.

Turkey had long been a staunch opponent of Russia as a part of NATO, but is turning into a more cooperative Russian ally in the region. This combined Turkish and Russian alliance should send red signal warnings to us that something prophetically significant may be occurring in the region.

PRAY: Pray for God’s sovereign will to be done in this region.

Israel Under Attack

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.

Psalm 122:6-8

On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu Al Ata. The IDF had identified Al Ata as the senior commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Gaza. They discovered he was planning rocket, sniper and drone attacks against Israeli forces on the Israeli-Gaza border. 

At the time of this writing, over 300 rockets have been fired into Israel in retaliation. Funded by Iran, the PIJ is one of the most violent terror groups in Gaza. The Iranian regime filters money, weaponry and rockets to the PIJ.

To date, more than 50 Israelis have been wounded but there have been no Israeli deaths. However tremendous damage has been caused. One rocket narrowly missed civilian drivers on a busy highway. These numbers could have been much higher if it were not for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.

The rockets fired by terrorists are war crimes because they are targeting Israeli citizens while Israel is only attacking military targets. The Israeli envoy to the United Nations has called on the UN Security Council to condemn the rocket fire.

“Nine million citizens are facing an insufferable terror attack by terror groups. I expect a clear and unequivocal condemnation of the side responsible for this and not a statement calling for both sides to act with restraint. The time has come for the international community to understand that silence is a prize for terror,” Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement.

Danon adds: “Israel is not interested in an escalation but will lead the campaign against terror with determination and strength.”

Israeli citizens have spent nights in bomb shelters, schools across parts of the nation closed and hospitals evacuated. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Knesset stating, “We will not tolerate attacks on our citizens. We will do all that we need to defend our citizens. We are not bent on escalation, but that we would respond to every attack against us and respond very sharply.”

As a result of these attacks, the IDF was forced to increase airstrikes against Palestinian Islamic Jihad. They have targeted underground terror facilities for storage and manufacturing weapons as well as training camps.

There is an urgent alert to pray for the nation of Israel and the barrage of rocket fire it faces. An IDF spokesman has said it is “preparing for a number of days of fighting.” Pray for the protection of the Israeli citizens to withstand the forces setting out to destroy their country.

Photo credit: Christians United for Israel

Rights of Faith-Based Healthcare Workers Protected

Earlier this month, a federal judge permanently blocked a part of the Obama Administration’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) regulation that required medical professionals to perform abortions and gender-transition procedures regardless of their religious convictions. If the ACA rule had stood, physicians would be faced with performing surgeries, against their Christian convictions, on children or teenagers who identified as the opposite sex, a girl who wants to be a boy or a boy who wants to be a girl.

Mike Chupp, a Christian physician and CEO of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations (CMDA), said of the decision, “We would have been in a world of hurt as Christians because we would have been thinking about leaving or limiting our practices so as not to be in a bind. Christians take care of the poor, take lower salaries, take care of refugees, and take care of those on the fringe who are uninsured. That’s why religious freedom is just so critical for us to protect.”

The ruling is just one of many religious freedom court cases being fought in the United States today. For the past six years, the Little Sisters of the Poor have also challenged a mandate of the Affordable Care Act requiring them to provide contraceptive services in their healthcare plans. Becket, a religious liberty law firm representing the Sisters, has petitioned the Supreme Court three times for an exemption to the ACA contraceptive and abortifacient mandate.

Mark Rienzi, president of Becket, said “This is a nonsensical political battle that has dragged on six years too long. These states have not been able to identify a single person who would lose contraceptive coverage under the new HHS rule, but they won’t rest until Catholic nuns are forced to pay for contraceptives. It is time for the Supreme Court to finally put this issue to rest.”

In Chicago, the Thomas More Society, a conservative legal group, has filed a complaint against the state of Illinois over a new abortion law that requires health insurance policies to cover elective abortions. Michael McHale, counsel for the Thomas More Society, told the Christian Post that the new law puts them in a double bind, “Either we purchase health insurance plans that cover abortion and violate our deeply held religious and moral principles, or we abide by our principles and forgo providing insurance, thereby violating our conscientious duties to offer appropriate benefits to our employees and severely undermining our ability to provide a suitable place of employment.”

Christian principles will continue to come under attack. We must pray for those who try to restrict our religious beliefs and for the courts that face the task of making decisions that allow us to continue to have religious freedom.