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“The previous administration had a one-flag rule that the Biden administration has rescinded,” he continued.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.

Obama’s New Book Demonizes Israel

The political left in America has constantly demonized the nation of Israel for decades in an attempt to lessen American support for Israel. Former President Barack Obama’s 768-page memoir, A Promised Land, published in November 2020, continues to garner criticism from people who claim it is shot through with historical inaccuracies and anti-Israel revisionist history. Writing for JNS.org, former Israeli Knesset member Dov Lipman said it “misleads readers in a way that will forever shape their negative perspective of the Jewish state.” This is very important because President Obama holds a significant following and is still well regarded in many political circles.

Lipman, who said he never before criticized Obama publicly, wrote, “However, his memoir, A Promised Land, is filled with historical inaccuracies that I feel the need to address. His telling of Israel’s story (at the beginning of Chapter 25) not only exhibits a flawed understanding of the region—which clearly impacted his policies as president”—but misleads readers. Obama is viewed as an intellectual and therefore many will simply take whatever he states as fact.

Richard Sherman, writing in clevelandjewishnews.com, said, “Obama writes the British were ‘occupying Palestine’ when the Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917. However, he ignores that the victors after World War I, in the San Remo agreement of 1920, awarded the Jewish people Judea and Samaria. In 1922 the League of Nations ratified the British Mandate, and in 1946 the United Nations ratified the actions of the League of Nations. By omission, Obama implies there was not a scintilla of international consent for a Jewish state.” Obama argues Britain created a Jewish state without the support of other nations, which is simply untrue.

Obama also claimed the Palestine Liberation Organization was a “result” of the 1967 Six-Day War when in fact it was begun in 1964. He claimed “Zionist leaders mobilized a surge of Jewish migration to Palestine” after the British supposedly illegally began forming a Jewish state there.

In the JNS.org article, Lipman sets the record straight: “The truth is that Jews, who maintained a continual presence throughout the 2,000 years that most were exiled from the land, had already been moving to Palestine in large numbers way before then; considerably more than 100,000 immigrants arrived in the late 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Then, in the 1920s, high numbers fleeing anti-Semitism in Europe could only find safe haven in Palestine due to the United States having instituted quotas in 1924 on the number of Jews who could enter America. The number of immigrants rose even more in the 1930s when Adolf Hitler rose to power and began his conquest of Europe while the world remained silent.” It is historically inaccurate for President Obama to claim the British moved Jews there after World War 2.

Historical context is important. Obama should have portrayed the Jews as they were: a persecuted and desperate people searching for safety, and not, as he implies, strong conquerors flooding into Palestine. His claim that the new immigrants “organized highly trained armed forces to defend their settlements” is also misleading.

Acknowledging that the Arabs were attacking Jews before there was even a State of Israel is important historical context for understanding the Israeli-Arab conflict. The spreading of historical inaccuracies that attack Israel’s valid existence must be rejected and will only continue to lead to further anti-Semitism.

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.

Current News Update

Christian Adoption Agency Changes Policy

 Based in Michigan, Bethany Christian Services is the largest Christian adoption agency in the United States with operations in 32 states. They recently expanded their services to include “Christians with diverse beliefs,” now placing children with LGBT couples for foster care and adoption.

 Many evangelical and Christian leaders are disappointed in what is perceived as Bethany’s capitulation to the government rather than traditional Christian beliefs.

 Jim Daly, head of Focus on the Family, tweeted that “Bethany Christian Services should not have to choose between holding to their deeply held religious convictions and serving children and families. No government should tell any ministry how to run their ministry, let alone violate deeply held biblical principles.” 

Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote “Children need a dad and a mom in a healthy, biblical home. God’s Word is clear.”

Xavier Becerra Confirmed by Senate as Health Secretary

 In a 50-49 vote, last week the U.S. Senate voted to confirm California’s attorney general Xavier Becerra, head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). One Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, joined Democrats in support of his confirmation (Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii did not vote).

 Becerra is radically pro-abortion. He sued Little Sisters of the Poor -- Catholic nuns – to force their health care plan to pay for contraception which goes against their deeply held religious beliefs. Along with Vice President Kamala Harris, Becerra prosecuted David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt for their investigation of Planned Parenthood and the sale of aborted babies’ body parts. He attacked pro-life pregnancy centers attempting to force them to promote government-mandated messaging on abortion inside their facilities and in their advertising. Becerra also “successfully” led the fight through appeals to reinstate California’s law legalizing assisted suicide.

 Last year, along with 15 other attorneys general, Becerra called on the Trump administration and the HHS to end its research ban on fetal tissue to aid the US’s medical response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is not a stretch to believe that now he is head of the HHS, this will be reinstated as well. He is hardly the moderate nominee put forward by President Joe Biden.

Abortion and the Equality Act

 While it is noted that the Equality Act will expand LGBTQ+ protections at the expense of religious freedom, there are provisions in the act to boost the abortion industry. Refusing to participate in an abortion could qualify as sex discrimination because of the way the Equality Act has drafted a new definition to include abortion as a medical condition.

 The Equality Act would also eliminate protections for pro-life individuals and entities from participating in practices that violate their sincere moral, ethical, or religious convictions. This act considers disagreements about fundamental moral and religious beliefs to be discrimination. Health care providers, hospitals and health insurance plans could be discriminating on the basis of sex if they refused to perform, allow or cover abortions.

Catholic Clergy May Not Bless Same-Sex Unions

 Earlier this month, the Vatican responded to a question about whether Catholic clergy have the authority to bless same-sex unions by releasing a formal document stating God “does not and cannot bless sin.”

 Approved by Pope Francis, a written answer clarifies that any sexual activity outside of marriage – an indissoluble union of a man and a woman – goes against God’s design. Since gay unions are not intended to be a part of that plan, they cannot be blessed by the church.

 The article reinforced that the church would welcome and bless gay people, treating them with respect, compassion, sensitivity and without discrimination.

Israeli Elections

 At the time of this writing, Benjamin [Bibi] Netanyahu does not have enough support to form a right-wing majority government. The Israeli election consisted of 13 different parties passing a threshold to hold seats in the Knesset. Each party will join with others in forming coalitions.  

The pro-Netanyahu coalition needs 61 seats to form a government, but it looks like they will only have 52 solid seats. The anti-Netanyahu coalition has only 50 seats.  

Joel Rosenburg writes in the All Israel News that “all eyes are on an obscure Arab-Israeli political leader named Mansour Abbas and his Ra’am party.” Ra’am, an Islamist political party, is Israel’s equivalent of the Muslim Brotherhood. “Now Netanyahu has a huge decision to make – will he try to persuade Abbas to join his team? If he does, and is successful, that could, in theory, give Bibi 64 seats,” said Rosenburg.   

Continue to pray for the uncertain leadership and continued political gridlock in Israel.

Return to 2015 Iran Deal a Mistake

There is strong concern in Israel that President Joe Biden will return to the Iranian Nuclear Deal that he helped to create while he was Vice President in 2015. Iran has long declared that President Trumps’ abandonment of the deal was illegal and only increased tension in the region. Iran is now pushing for President Biden to return to the deal and remove sanctions against their nation.

However, a return to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, or a “slightly improved” one, would be an operational and strategic mistake for the world, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi said recently. “If Iran’s progress in developing advanced centrifuges and enriching uranium is not stopped, it could eventually be “only weeks” away from a nuclear bomb.

The Iran deal would still allow the Islamic Republic to break out to a nuclear weapon in 2030 when the agreement expires”, he said at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) annual conference. “The US and others must maintain all sanctions and pressure because Tehran is at its weakest and closest to making real concessions,” he added.

Kochavi said he had ordered operational plans to strike Iran’s nuclear program to be ready if necessary, but whether to use those plans and under what circumstances was a decision for the political echelon. Israel’s strikes in Syria and other undefined parts of the Middle East had created the greatest deterrence Israel has ever known against its enemies. The IDF had tremendous success in blocking or slowing Iran from transporting advanced weapons into Syria, but it could never let its guard down. Moreover, the normalization trend is isolating Iran in ways that it never expected and was not prepared for, declared Kochavi.

Regarding other challenges, Kochavi warned Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, saying in the event of a war, Israel would strike every house that holds weapons “with a deluge of strikes. “These “terrorist armies” have decided to conceal their weapons in civilian areas on purpose and in every fifth house in Lebanon”, he said, adding that all civilians in those areas must immediately evacuate as soon as a war starts because Israel will not give the terrorists immunity just because that is where they are hiding.

“We will follow international law,” he said. “We will warn them in Lebanon and Gaza to let them leave. I already warned you in Lebanon and Gaza: Once war starts, we will let you leave the places you are in, the places you are in have missiles, and you know this.”

New cutting-edge intelligence and technological capabilities that help the IDF uncover hidden weapons with unprecedented accuracy would help destroy enemy rockets and avoid civilian deaths, Kochavi said.

“The pace for gathering targets is much faster than ever,” he said, adding that more than 200 officers are dedicated to the sole purpose of vetting selected targets “to help get to a much more decisive point” in battling our enemies. Kochavi cited the IDF’s targeted killing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) commander Baha Abu al-Ata and responding to every rocket by hitting targets of significant value to Hamas and PIJ.

On a related note, Israel is under constant cyber threat from a range of radical Islamists, Kochavi said. To meet this challenge, the IDF “significantly increased its cyberattack capabilities and operations” this past year. Recently, Israel has also signed normalization agreements with four Arab countries, agreements that strengthen Israel within the region.

PRAY: Pray for wisdom for both Israel and the United States as to how they move forward in dealing with Iran’s desire to become a nuclear power.

Rise in Christians Killed Worldwide in 2020

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”

Romans 8:35

In their annual report, Open Doors USA, a Christian persecution watchdog group, noted that in 2020 there continued a global rise in persecution and repression of the Church. The report revealed a 60% increase in believers killed due to Islamic violence against Nigerian Christians as well as anti-Christian governments around the world using COVID-19 restrictions to persecute Christians.

“This past year 2020 has been a year of uncertainty and fear. We’ve been all fighting a virus that we cannot see with the naked eye. Less known but equally as viral has been the discrimination, isolation and violence against Christians by using COVID-19 as a leverage and as justification,” Open Doors President and CEO David Curry stated.

In Nigeria, over 2,200 Christians were murdered by radical Islamists. This number makes up slightly less than half of the 4,761 Christians killed for their faith worldwide, according to Open Doors statistics. Most of the Christians killed in 2020 gave up their lives to extremist groups, not governments, Curry said. “Extremists […] are emboldened by government weakened by COVID-19 restrictions, knowing that they can steal food and medical supplies from already embattled Christian communities around the world,” he continued.

Violence by Islamists in Nigeria amounts to genocide, Curry said. Attacks have spilled over into neighboring countries. Across Africa, even countries with sizable Christian majorities like Mozambique and Burkina Faso have suffered from Islamic persecution. It only takes a few extremists to commit violence against Christians.

Other persecution hotspots around the globe include China and India, Open Doors announced. In China, the Communist Party has cracked down on Christians by using surveillance technology. In the last year, it has integrated its social credit and video security system, enabling it to track its people and punish them for attending church.

In India, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has encouraged persecution of Christians by sanctioning Hindu extremism, Open Doors research found. The party has told its nation that only Hindus are truly Indian. Political leaders have discouraged police from responding to attacks on Christians.

“I put the responsibility at the feet of the ruling party, the BJP, which is very nationalistic. Their message to the population has been, ‘we want India to be a Hindu nation,’” said Curry. “I have a strong belief that if most Indian citizens knew what was happening in these Christian communities they would vote for different people.”

In many countries, Christians lose their jobs because of COVID-19. Then, governments refuse to provide aid to believers and employers don’t hire them back. It looks like more suffering caused by COVID-19, but it’s a quiet persecution. “In the northeast of Nigeria, Christians have been reporting only 15% of the emergency rations that others have gotten. COVID has clearly affected all of us around the world, yet for some their faith has made them more vulnerable,” Curry noted.

For the first time, every country in Open Doors’ list of the top 50 persecutors has very high or extreme levels of persecution. And, it seems that this trend will likely continue.

“The embedded forces that are driving these scores up, religious extremists, Hindu extremism in Nepal, Hindu extremism in India, the Islamic extremist groups which we most recognize as ISIS or al Qaeda, that’s an ideology that does not need a territory. When ISIS was conquered, that cancer has metastasized around the world. That trend is growing in strength. You also have governments now who have the ability to use surveillance to watch private behavior,” said Curry. “Christians face the most persecution worldwide because they are the largest minority faith in many countries.”

PRAY: Pray for the persecuted church throughout the world as many put their lives on the line every day for the cause of Christ.

Danish Christian Leaders Fear Proposed Sermon Law Will Harm All Faiths

Christian leaders in Denmark fear that a draft law aimed at monitoring the growth of Islamic extremism would restrict their religious freedom because it would require all sermons to be translated and submitted to the government. The Danish government says the proposed law, which is scheduled to be reviewed this month in parliament, is required to curb Islamic extremism because imams in mosques deliver their sermons in Arabic, not Danish, according to La Croix International.

CBN News quoted sources as saying that churches had been included in the measure because Europe likes to be politically correct and cannot put restrictions only on mosques. There are about 270,000 Muslims in Denmark. The law would seek to “enlarge the transparency of religious events and sermons in Denmark when these are given in a language other than Danish,” according to The Guardian, which also reported that the Church of England’s bishop in Europe, Robert Innes, has expressed his concerns in a letter to Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who’s from the Social Democratic Party.

“I am sure it comes from a genuine concern about the security of the estate and the monitoring of all religious minorities who might be perceived as a security risk,” Innes told the British newspaper. “I share the ambition of the Danish government to ensure safety and security and the desire that all religious organizations in Denmark conduct their act peacefully but to require translation of sermons into the national language goes too far. It goes in a concerning anti-liberal direction.”

Innes further explained that not all Christian clergy prepare the full text of their sermons and may prefer to write just some notes. “They might preach extempore as the archbishop of Canterbury sometimes does and there are questions of idiom and nuance which requires a high level of skill in translation of course. It is a high bar. It is a skilled art and it is an expensive skill as well.”

Thomas B. Mikkelsen, chairman of Evangelical Alliance Denmark, argued that “radical groups tend to establish themselves on the margins, in a parallel society, and never apply for official recognition. I do not think a new law will affect them in any way,” according to Evangelical Focus Europe. “The law will have negative consequences for many religious groups, such as evangelicals, moderate Muslims, and other officially recognized communities who now have to spend time and money on translations,” Mikkelsen added. “I do not consider the law a direct breach of international standards on freedom of religion or belief, but it is still a significant step in the wrong direction.”

German-speaking churches, which have been using their language in churches for eight centuries in Denmark, are also concerned. “There is much concern,” Rajah Scheepers, the main pastor of German-speaking St. Petri church in Copenhagen, was quoted as saying. “We do not only hold services on Sundays, but also baptisms, weddings and funerals, throughout the week. It is not realistic to expect that we simultaneously translate all these gatherings or that we translate them in advance.”

Roman Catholics are also opposed to the proposal. “All church congregations, free church congregations, Jewish congregations, everything we have here in Denmark — 40 different religious communities — will be placed under general suspicion by this law... Something is happening here which is undermining democracy,” General Secretary of the Nordic Bishops Conference, Anna Mirijam Kaschne, was quoted as saying.

However, “there appears little likelihood of a Danish backlash, if this bill becomes law, because it affects so few citizens,” wrote the Rev. Ben Johnson, on Action Institute Powerblog. “Nearly three out of every four Danes (72%) say religion is ‘not too’ or ‘not at all’ important in their lives,” Johnson, executive editor of the Acton Institute’s Religion & Liberty journal, pointed out. “Only 68% of Danes who call themselves Christians believe in God, according to the Pew Research Center. Regular church attendance plummets to the single digits.” If this becomes the norm in Denmark, it could easily spread to other European countries. It also creates a slippery slope in which the state could require all pastors to submit their sermons for “government approval”.

Pray- Pray that safeguards will be in place for religious liberty to continue to exist in Denmark and Western Europe.

Pro-Life News

During his first few weeks in office, President Joe Biden reversed key pro-life victories of the Trump administration. With the stroke of his pen, he pulled the United States from the Geneva Consensus, reversed the Mexico City policy, and nominated pro-abortion California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to serve as the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The U.S., under former HHS Secretary Alex Azar, led a total of 35 countries in opposing the United Nations’ stance that abortion is a human right. The Geneva Consensus Declaration states there is no international right to abortion and aimed to “achieve better health for women, preserve human life, strengthen the family, and defend countries’ right to set their own policies to protect babies.”

The Mexico City policy was enacted back in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan to prevent U.S. government funds from supporting foreign family planning organizations that provide abortions. Former President Trump expanded this policy to block funds from all global health organizations that offer abortions. Since Reagan, every Republican administration had implemented the policy and every Democratic administration has reversed it.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is radically pro-abortion. He sued Little Sisters of the Poor -- Catholic nuns – to force their health care plan to pay for contraception which goes against their deeply held religious beliefs. Along with Vice President Kamala Harris, Becerra led the prosecution of David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt for their investigation of Planned Parenthood and the sale of aborted babies’ body parts. He also attempted to force pro-life pregnancy centers to promote abortion as part of the services they discussed.

State Abortion Legislation:

Last week, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed the Fetal Heartbeat Bill into law banning the abortion of a baby with a detectable and audible heartbeat. Planned Parenthood has already filed a lawsuit and a federal court has granted a two-week temporary restraining order to stop enforcement of the bill. A hearing over the lawsuit is scheduled for March 9.

Almost a dozen other states have similar bills and have also faced court battles preventing all of them from taking effect. Pro-life advocates believe one of these laws will make its way before the Supreme Court and will force a challenge to Roe v. Wade. South Carolina State Attorney General Alan Wilson said, “we believe the Heartbeat Law is constitutional and deserves a vigorous defense to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.”

Many pray that by going before the Supreme Court, the justices would reconsider the standard for legal abortion which is usually viability outside of the womb and make it the development of a heartbeat. The human heart begins to beat between 16 to 22 days post-fertilization. At this age, the baby already has eyes, a brain and lungs beginning to form.

Legislatures in New Mexico have voted to approve Senate Bill 10 which would ensure abortion is legal up until birth in the state, even if Roe v. Wade is ever overturned. New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has said she will sign it immediately when it comes before her.

And finally, both houses of the Virginia General Assembly have passed a bill overturning a state ban on taxpayer-funded abortions in the plans offered on the state’s health care exchange. It is expected to be signed into law by Governor Ralph Northam immediately. Northam is a pediatric neurologist and is extremely pro-abortion. Previously he has made statements suggesting support of infanticide. He has already removed restrictions which allow nurses and physician assistants to commit abortions, many safety regulations, as well as the 24-hour waiting period.

Pray: Continue to pray against the evil of abortion. Pray for a change of heart for our president and his administration. Investigate and stay up to date with what is going on in your state with regards to abortion restrictions or de-regulation efforts. Pray for and support your local pregnancy centers as they give aid to women facing unplanned pregnancies.

Israeli Government Dissolves, New Elections on the Way

Israel’s divided government collapsed last year on December 23, thus triggering a need for the country’s fourth election in under two years. The next election will be held on March 23 and brings an unprecedented threat to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lengthy stay as prime minister.

Netanyahu finds himself confronted by a trio of disgruntled former aides who share his hard-line ideology, led by a popular lawmaker who recently broke away from the prime minister’s Likud party. Whether Netanyahu can fend off these challengers or not, the country is almost certain to be led by a right-wing politician opposed to concessions to the Palestinians, complicating hopes of the Biden administration to restart peace talks.

The prospects of Israel’s center-left bloc appear worse than in previous contests because its leader, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, entered the ill-fated alliance with Netanyahu. Gantz has lost the support of much of his disappointed base and the bloc has been left leaderless.

Netanyahu and Gantz formed their coalition last May after battling to a stalemate in three consecutive elections. They said they were putting aside their personal rivalry to form an “emergency” government focused on guiding the country through the health and economic crises caused by the pandemic. Under the deal, Gantz assumed the new role of “alternate prime minister” and was assured he would trade places with Netanyahu next November in a rotation agreement halfway through their term.

The immediate cause of the collapse was their failure to pass a budget. That caused the parliament to automatically dissolve and set new elections for late March. In the previous three elections, Netanyahu was unable to put together a majority coalition with his traditional religious and nationalist allies. Yet he controlled enough seats to prevent his opponents from cobbling together an alternate coalition.

According to recent opinion polls, that equation may be changing, with several rivals poised to control a parliamentary majority without him. Those rivals are led by Gideon Saar, a stalwart in Netanyahu’s Likud party who announced this month that he was breaking away and forming a new party. Saar, who once served as Netanyahu’s Cabinet secretary, has accused the prime minister of turning the Likud into a “personality cult” focused on ensuring its leader’s political survival.

If elections were held today, Saar’s party would finish second behind the Likud, appearing to give him a veto over a Netanyahu-led government, according to polls. Saar has vowed he will not serve under Netanyahu.

Naftali Bennett, another former aide who had a falling out with Netanyahu, leads a religious right-wing party that also has surged in the polls. And Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu’s former chief of staff and a longtime Cabinet minister who now leads his own party, also says the prime minister is unfit to lead.

These rivalries are more personal than ideological, meaning Israel’s next government — led by Netanyahu or not — almost certainly will have a right-wing ideology that opposes Palestinian independence and supports continued Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank. The recent polls indicate that Gantz, who appealed to left-wing voters in previous elections, may not receive enough votes to even enter the next Knesset.

Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, appears to be gaining some of those voters, but not enough to lead the next government, according to the polls. The left-wing Labor Party -- which established Israel and led the country for its first 30 years -- is not expected to cross the threshold of votes needed. The far-left Meretz party is expected to barely cross the threshold.

PRAY: Pray this election will not lead to greater instability in the region and for ultimately God’s will to be accomplished through the election.

China's Communist Leaders Fear Christian Population May Reach 300 Million by 2030

The prospect that China’s Christian community might reach a staggering 300 million people by 2030 has unnerved communist leaders who fear “they'll have to share power” as the Church increases in size and influence, according to Open Doors’ Ron Boyd-MacMillan. Boyd-MacMillan, director of Strategic Research, told the Express UK that the Chinese Communist Party, led by President Xi Jinping, is becoming increasingly concerned about the Christian population’s growth and is cracking down on religion as a result.

“We think the evidence as to why the Chinese Church is so targeted, is that the leaders are scared of the size of the Church and the growth of the Church,” Boyd-MacMillan said. “And if it grows at the rate that it has done since 1980, and that’s about between 7 [percent] and 8 percent a year, then you’re looking at a group of people that will be 300 million strong, nearly by 2030. And, you know, the Chinese leadership, they really do long term planning, I mean, their economic plan goes to 2049, so this bothers them. Because I think if the Church continues to grow like that, then they’ll have to share power.”

Open Doors ranks China at No. 17 on its World Watch List of 50 countries where Christians are most persecuted. The organization notes that while the Church is enjoying “strong growth,” life for Christians is anything but straightforward. The policy of “Sinicizing” the Church — or merging it with Chinese identity — is being implemented across the country as the CCP relies strongly on Chinese cultural identity to stay in power by limiting whatever it perceives as a threat to its control on society.

Churches are being monitored and closed across the country, whether they are underground or part of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the officially sanctioned Protestant church in China. The government has also imposed a ban on the online sale of Bibles.

China also uses high-tech surveillance to oppress and monitor believers. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, citizens have been forced to hand over their personal details to the CCP, allowing government officials to increase their surveillance campaign.

The crackdown on religion isn’t isolated to Christians, however, as Uyghur Muslims, a community that resides mostly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China, have been subject to mass internment, forced labor, and forced sterilization at the hands of the CCP. In response, the former Trump administration accused the Chinese government of human rights violations and issued sanctions on CCP members.

“After careful examination of the available facts, I have determined that since at least March 2017, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), under the direction and control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has committed crimes against humanity against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other members of ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang,” then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement released on Jan. 19, which the Biden administration has since removed. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki did not answer whether the Biden administration would maintain the Trump administration’s declaration that China is committing genocide against its Uyghur population. Psaki told reporters at a press briefing that Biden has “spoken before to the horrific treatment” of Uyghurs, but she will “check” what the Biden administration's policy will be, RCP reported.

In efforts to strengthen adherence to the CCP and stifle dissent, China’s government imposed a national security law in Hong Kong in June. Since then, multiple pro-democracy activists have been arrested, and some sentenced to jail, accused of violating the national security law and subverting state power.

Pray- Pray for the continued growth of the Christian movement in China and for protection from persecution for our fellow believers.

Covid-19 Leads to Increase in Bible Reading and Online Sermon Viewing

While 2020 was an extremely difficult year with the coronavirus, on positive outcome to come from the increase strain and pandemic is that bible reading and online sermon viewing increased through the pandemic. Bible sales increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to LifeWay Christian Resources, one of the world’s largest providers of Christian books and educational material. Carol Pipes of LifeWay told CBN News that Bible sales have “remained strong since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the U.S.” in April and increased through June.

The company’s CEO, Ben Mandrell, added that the increase in Bible sales is no accident, as people often go to the Bible as a source of hope in times of crisis and uncertainty. People draw hope from Scripture because in it they see a God who is with us during our suffering. The Bible, as God’s words to us, is a reminder that He doesn’t leave us to walk through difficult times alone,” he said.

Fellow faith-based publisher Tyndale House Publishers said they also saw an increase in Bible sales amid the pandemic. This includes their Life Application Study Bible sales going up 44% and sales of the Immerse Bible going up 60%, according to Jim Jewell, an executive at Tyndale. Jewell said he believed concerns over the pandemic “has upended almost everyone’s lives in some way. It’s not surprising that people turn to the comfort and clarity of the Bible in times of trouble and uncertainty,” he said, adding that social media engagement for Tyndale was also growing. “On [our Facebook page for the] New Living Translation, where we post Bible verse memes, engagement was triple what it was last March and up 72% from just last month.”

In April, book sales data provider Nielsen BookScan revealed that biblical and liturgical texts had been rapidly climbing the charts. The group said the increase in purchases was an “unusual pattern in comparison to the same period in recent years.” Nielsen cited the closure of churches as a factor, adding that “perhaps people are turning to scripture for comfort in these abnormal and melancholy times ... or perhaps people are curious as to whether the coronavirus is prophesied in Revelations.”

David Jeremiah, senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California, and host of the radio program “Turning Point,” said that ever since the shutdown began, viewership of his online services has dramatically skyrocketed. “The church is alive and well and maybe more responsive now that I can ever remember except for the possible exception of 9/11,” he said.

“What we’ve learned from all of this is God doesn’t need a building for there to be a church. I’m preaching right now to more people than I have ever preached to my life,” he said, adding that a sermon he delivered in which he addressed whether COVID-19 is mentioned in biblical prophecy received over 1 million views on YouTube. We’ve never had anything on YouTube get that kind of traction,’ When everything in which we have trusted is taken away and we are left with ourselves, we have to ask the hard questions. ‘If this is it, what happens to me now?’ There’s a renewed interest in the Gospel and a desire to know what the Bible has to say. Is this the beginning of a revival? This may not be a revival in the truest sense of the Great Awakening, but I believe we are seeing an online revival” said Jeremiah.

While the pandemic is “frightening” and “frustrating” for many people, Jeremiah stressed that God is clearly in the midst of it all, adding: “He is with us wherever we are. You don’t have to be in a crowd to have God. You just need a quiet moment.”

PRAY: Pray this renewed emphasis on the Bible and on the things of God will continue this year, even after the effects of the pandemic have subsided.

National Sanctity of Human Life Day

Days before leaving office, President Donald Trump issued a presidential proclamation recognizing today as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. This directive began by declaring: “Every human life is a gift to the world. Whether born or unborn, young or old, healthy or sick, every person is made in the holy image of God. The Almighty Creator gives unique talents, beautiful dreams, and a great purpose to every person.”

This year marks the 48th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court landmark 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade which made abortion a national right. Due to rising political tensions and Covid-19 concerns, the annual March for Life held in Washington D.C. has moved to a virtual event on January 29. We encourage everyone to take time over the next week to intercede for our country and to pray for the protection of the unborn.

NBC News is reporting that newly sworn-in President Joe Biden plans to do a sweeping rollback of the Trump-era abortion policies. “We have a ton of work to do to undo the harm over the last four years, but knowing we have champions there who understand what needs to happen in the first 100 days is tremendously exciting,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood.

Biden has indicated he will rescind the Mexico City Policy which bars foreign organizations that receive U.S. family planning assistance from providing information, referrals, or services for abortions. He also plans to restore Title X money to clinics such as Planned Parenthood that provide abortions or refer people to abortion providers.

Also in discussion is the revival of the contraceptive coverage mandate which forced employers to cover birth control and emergency contraceptives -- abortifacients that kill a newly formed embryo. The Hyde Amendment will be revisited as well. This amendment bars federal taxpayer dollars from being used for abortions, except in the case of incest, rape, or medical necessity.

In 2020 during Covid-19 lockdowns, we saw a debate rage whether state governments could classify abortion procedures as elective or essential. Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Virginia deemed abortion an essential medical procedure and made exceptions for abortion facilities to continue. Eleven other states instituted restrictions, calling abortion elective. Judges ultimately blocked those orders, resulting in most states lifting restrictions.

 However, Operation Rescue, a pro-life group, proclaims Missouri as the first “abortion-free state” in the U.S. Their report, The Status of American Abortion Facilities in 2020, out last week confirms, “a total of 45 abortion facilities closed or halted abortions nationwide in 2020, leaving one state without an active abortion facility.”

“Reproductive Health Services Planned Parenthood in St. Louis was the last abortion facility in Missouri. It remains open, but Operation Rescue has confirmed that no abortion appointments have been available there for months, and none are available anytime in the foreseeable future.”

What can we do today? We do not know the challenges we will face in the coming year, but 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.

 PRAY: Pray for God to bend the hearts of judges and elected officials to protect the unborn. Pray for other states to follow Missouri’s lead. Pray and work for ways in your community to create a culture of life!