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Church Coronavirus Featured

With Church Restricted and Casinos Open, Worshipers Pack Gambling Floor To Praise God

(Disrn)”Evangelicals for Trump,” a group campaigning for the president’s re-election, held a large worship event at a Las Vegas casino and hotel Thursday evening, circumventing Nevada’s ban on large in-person worship services.

The event took place at the Ahern Hotel and Convention Center and featured Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula White, megachurch Pastor Jentezen Franklin, Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, and several others.

Chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition Ralph Reed posted a video of the event titled “Evangelicals for Trump: Praise, Prayer and Patriotism.”

“Packed house at #EvangelicalsForTrump prayer & praise event in Las Vegas. NV Governor banned church services but casinos can operate at 50% capacity. So we are praying in a casino.”

The state of Nevada began phase one of reopening on May 9. While retail stores and restaurants were allowed to operate at 50% capacity, the ban on in-person services stayed intact.

While the state eventually allowed in-person worship as long as attendance didn’t exceed 50 people, Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley filed a lawsuit stating that Nevada’s restriction on places of worship was unconstitutional.

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Editors note. This post was written by Brian Bammer and originally published at DISRN. Title changed by Pulpit & Pen

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abortion Featured News

Texas Abolitionists Make Abortion’s Abolition an Official TX GOP Priority

During their recent biennial convention, the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) passed a legislative priority to abolish abortion completely. It reads: “Abolish abortion by ensuring the right to life and equal protection of the laws to all preborn children from the moment of fertilization.”

Despite Texas Right to Life and Texas Alliance for Life’s insistence on an incremental approach to ending abortion, the RPT chose to listen to the abolitionists, who outnumbered those testifying in favor of incrementalism five-to-one at the hearings. The complete abolition of abortion is now one of Texas Republicans’ eight official legislative priorities, while the incremental proposal did not even make the top fifteen.

RPT Delegate David Sims testified to the Legislative Priorities Committee about the folly of compromise and the necessity of holding firmly to our principles. “We’ve got to stop with the strategy of begging the supreme court to allow us to compromise with evil. It’s unprincipled and it clearly isn’t working. It’s time to stand firmly on God’s word and on the Constitution and provide equal protection of the laws against murder to preborn children. It’s time to abolish abortion.”

Wesley Thomas from Abolish Abortion Texas was another delegate who testified in favor of abolition. When asked if he feared that abolishing abortion in Texas may lead to a civil war, Thomas replied, “55,000 plus children per year are currently being aborted… That is a war, okay? And so… if we’re not willing to lay down our lives to save 55,000 children, are we not asking them to lay down their lives for us instead?”

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Editors note. This article was written by Michael Lockwood and published at Free the States. Title changed by Pulpit & Pen

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abortion Featured News

The Satanic Temple Raffles Free Abortion, Admits Aborting Unborn Babies is a Satanic Ritual

(CBN) The Satanic Temple (TST) has announced it’s raffling a free abortion to promote the organization’s religious abortion ritual, while it argues that its members’ religious rights are exempt from any state laws or any regulations that might block access to abortion services during the first trimester. 

According to TST, the free abortion can be medical or surgical and is transferable upon request.

Headquartered in Salem, Massachusetts, TST describes its new Satanic abortion ritual  as a “spiritual experience designed to instill confidence and self-worth in accordance to TST’s religious beliefs.”  The organization contends those who practice the Satanic abortion ritual are exempt from being subjected to waiting periods, mandatory counseling, forced viewing of sonograms, and reading materials as required in many states.

“TST bases its assertions of abortion mandate exemptions on the protections provided by State Religious Freedom Restoration Acts or RFRA, which generally prohibits the government from substantially interfering with a person’s free exercise of religion,” TST said in a press release.  

The Satanic Temple claims their abortion ritual as practiced by its members is exempt from the existing abortion regulations on the basis of religious liberty. They point to the 2014 Supreme Court ruling that Hobby Lobby as a business had the right not to cover birth control, including abortifacient drugs, as a part of its health care program for its employees, because of its religious beliefs that viewed such a practice as immoral. 

TST says all abortions by its members are religious acts of Satanism and protected under the ruling. 

The organization has also made a sample letter available to all its members to request a religious exemption to abortion restrictions.  Founded in 2012, TST claims to have more than 300,000 members…

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Editor’s note. This article was written by Steve Warren and published at CBN News. Title changed by Pulpit & Pen

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Evangelical Stuff Featured News Religion

John MacArthur’s Attorney: Michelle Obama Would Be Less Depressed if She ‘Found Christ’

(Montana Daily Gazette) In the wake of Michelle Obama’s claim that she has been given ‘depression’ by President Trump, the attorney for a California mega-church pastor has claimed that Mrs. Obama wouldn’t have the malady if she ‘found Christ.’

Dr. John MacArthur ranks as possibly the most respected pastor among serious-minded Christians in America. The dutiful theologian has pastored Grace Community Church in Los Angeles since 1969 and completed preaching verse-by-verse through the New Testament over the course 42 years, during which he published a study Bible, commentaries, and countless books through his ministry, Grace to You. MacArthur has split from mainstream evangelicalism in recent years, much thanks to their widespread liberal drift led by ‘The Gospel Coalition,’ a leftwing progressive organization funded by political dark money, which successfully masqueraded as a Christian ministry for more than a decade before coming out as a tool of the Democratic Party. Now, MacArthur is standing up against tyranny against Christian churches on the part of Gavin Newsom and is being represented by top attorney, Jenna Ellis.

Ellis, who also represents President Donald Trump, made the remarks on Twitter in response to Obama’s self-diagnosis of Trump-caused depression.

Obama claimed on her podcast, “I’m waking up in the middle of the night because I’m worrying about something or there’s a heaviness. I know that I am dealing with some form of low-grade depression. Not just because of the quarantine, but because of the racial strife and just seeing this administration, watching the hypocrisy of it, day in and day out, is dispiriting.”

Ellis’ remarks have infuriated atheists, who claimed, “More to the point, though, ‘more Jesus’ won’t…

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Editors Note. This article was originally published at the Montana Daily Gazette

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Featured Social Justice Wars

Oprah Winfrey Hosts Race Bash Session ‘Whiteness Gives You an Advantage No Matter What’

(Breitbart) Billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey declared in an episode of her eponymous series, The Oprah Conversation that “whiteness” and “white privilege” afford unspecified benefits to white people in the “caste system” of America.

In an episode entitled “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man: Part 1” — featuring former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho and drawing its name from Acho’s YouTube series of the same name — Oprah Winfrey invited several white people to discuss “racism,” “white privilege,” and “whiteness.” Oprah praised her white guests for accusing themselves of being “racist.”

Oprah said:

There are white people who are not as powerful as the system of white people — the caste system that’s been put in place — but they still, no matter where they are on the rung, or the ladder of success, they still have their whiteness.

…

[Whites have a] leg up. You still have your whiteness. That’s what the term “white privilege” is. It means that whiteness still gives you an advantage, no matter.

“It is the fundamental issue,” declared Oprah of racial assumptions.

The Wrinkle in Time star invited Seth, a self-described Jewish man from Manhattan, New York, to describe his “awakening” to his own “racist” self.

“You’ve become ‘woke’ during this period, and realized in that awakening that you are racist, right?” asked Oprah. “I just want to know how that happened.”

Seth replied, “I was born in the 70s. I was born and raised in Manhattan. I’ve always considered myself to be liberal. Now I’m not only a friend of people of color but also an advocate for [them], but this this movement over the last month has been powerful.”

Seth indicted himself as a “racist” who is aspiring to become an “anti-racist.”

“I realized that I couldn’t be not racist,” continued Seth. “I realized that I either was a racist or an anti-racist, and I wasn’t — I’m not — an anti-racist.”

Lisa, a Minnesotan-turned-Californian, attributed “biases” to all white people, warning of “unconscious biases that white people — that we as white people — have.”

Emmanuel Acho said whites living a “white” life become “part of the problem”:

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Editors Note. This article was written by Robert Kraychik and published at Breitbart. Title changed by Pulpit & Pen.

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Featured Social Issues

Hundreds of Sick Canadians Euthanized over ‘Loneliness’ and ‘Isolation’

(National Review) Good grief. We are told that euthanasia is “compassion.” But how compassionate is it when last year in Canada, hundreds of sick people were euthanized because of loneliness?

The country’s 2019 MAID [medical assistance in dying] Annual Report found that 13.7 percent of the 5,631 Canadians killed by doctors asked to be lethally injected because of “isolation or loneliness.” If my math is right, that’s about 771 people, or 64 a month, or two per day. Good grief!

Some of the other reasons people gave for asking to be killed:

  • Loss of ability to engage in enjoyable activities, 82.1 percent. That’s a serious concern, but with proper interventions, it can be overcome.
  • Loss of ability to perform activities of daily living, 78.1 percent. Ditto.
  • “Inadequate control of pain (or concern about it),” 53.9 percent. That’s a scandalously high percentage. Palliative and hospice pain-control experts will tell you that most serious pain in terminal illnesses can be successfully alleviated.
  • Loss of dignity, 53.3 percent. Again, this is a serious concern but can be overcome with appropriate care.
  • Perceived burden on family, friends, and caregivers, 34 percent. In other words, people put themselves out of their loved one’s misery.
  • Emotional distress/anxiety/fear/existential suffering, 4.7 percent.

These statistics are scandalous and should make Canada deeply ashamed.

Alas, most Canadians are proud that their doctors can legally kill sick people whose deaths are “reasonably foreseeable.” Not only that, but the country is now engaged in the process that will expand the conditions qualifying for lethal injection, including incompetent people with dementia if they asked to be put down in an advance directive.

It’s so bad, that in Ontario, if a doctor refuses to euthanize a legally qualified patient or find another doctor he or she knows will kill, they risk professional discipline.

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Editors Note. This article was written by Wesley J. Smith and published at National Review. Title changed by Pulpit & Pen

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Church Featured Religion

Ireland Govt to Churches-Declare if You’ll ‘Marry’ Gays or Lose License Altogether

(Lifesite News) A Northern Ireland government body has backtracked and apologized after writing to churches and asking them to state whether or not they will celebrate same-sex “weddings” while threatening that they would lose their status as marriage officiants for all weddings if they did not reply in less within a month.

The Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Act 2019, the same piece of legislation that introduced new abortion laws into the region, has also legalized same-sex “marriage,” effective from January 13 of this year.  

Same-sex “marriage” has been legal in the rest of the UK since 2013, but until this year had not been imposed on Northern Ireland.

And a number of Nothern Ireland churches recently received a letter from General Register Office for Northern Ireland (GRO) asking them to complete a form detailing whether would officiate only weddings between people of the opposite sex or whether they would also officiate at so-called same-sex “weddings.”

“Although your church has officiants currently registered with the General Register Office to carry out opposite-sex marriages, I am writing to you so that we may update the officiant database with your church’s preferences for performing all types of marriages,” the July 17 letter stated.

The form also asked churches who agree to offer same-sex “weddings” to list the names and details of any of their officiants who would not carry out same-sex “marriage” ceremonies, but would continue to carry out opposite-sex marriage ceremonies.

“If we do not receive any response by this date, it will be assumed that you and other members of the church no longer wish to be registered as officiants for any type of marriage,” the letter continued. 

“We will cancel the registrations on the officiant database accordingly, and you will not be able to carry out any marriage ceremonies in Northern Ireland.”

A number of churches, reportedly concerned by the intimidating tone and contents of the letter, contacted The Christian Institute for their help in responding to the letter…

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Editors Note. This post was written by Paul Smeaton and published at Lifesite News. Title changed by Pulpit & Pen

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cancel culture Featured

Marines Give in to ‘Cancel Culture’- Veto Seminar by Christian Speaker

(WND) The “cancel culture” has struck again, this time in the Marine Corps, with the cancellation of a training session for reservists because of the instructor’s Christian faith.

Air Force veteran Jay Lorenzen was scheduled to lead a U.S. Marine Corps Judge Advocate General training session on July 17 before a complaint by the non-profit Military Religious Freedom Foundation, or MRFF, prompted Marine brass to cancel him.

MRFF’s complaint centered on a completely separate course Lorenzen teached in his freed time course for the Christian group Cru, formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ, called “The Gospel Courageous and the Gospel Corrective Leader.”

In Lorenzen’s defense, the non-profit First Liberty Institute contended the content of his presentation to the reservists “did not contain any explicit religious instructions.”

“In the MRFF’s twisted, mythical version of the Constitution, Lorenzen’s content is unsuitable to help Marines get fit for battle, all because he gives religious instruction and helps others grow in their spiritual lives on his own time as a free citizen,” First Liberty said.

MRFF called Lorenzen’s part in the JAG session a “vicious” violation of the Constitution.

First Liberty called the cancellation “outright religious bigotry and hostility.”

“Not only is this attack outrageous, it also runs contrary to the Constitution, Supreme Court precedent and military policy, all of which clearly state that you cannot discriminate against someone because of their religious beliefs,” the group said.Is the political left looking to cancel Christianity?

“Americans expect those who serve in the military to prepare for battle, not cater to the ‘cancel culture’ – and the USMC shouldn’t be put in the position of having to cave into the ludicrous complaints of a radical, outside group like the MRFF.”

In June, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, sent a letter to Defense Department Secretary Mark Esper urging…

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Editors Note. This article was written by WND staff and published at WND. Title changed by Pulpit & Pen.

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abortion Featured News

Amazon Prime Cancels “Babies Are Still Murdered Here” Film

(Free the States) The anti-abortion documentary Babies Are Still Murdered Here, which had been available to Amazon Prime users since November of 2019, was removed from the streaming service on July 20.

Amazon claims the decision was based on a negative response to the film from customers, saying in an alert on the film’s Amazon Prime page that, “We are always listening to customer feedback and iterating on their behalf. Customer feedback (included but not limited to a combination of star reviews, customer reviews, and/or customer viewing behavior) has indicated that this title does not meet our customer content quality expectations.”

Reviews from Amazon Prime users appear to contradict this explanation. The film received five stars from 89 percent of the 344 reviewers as of the publishing of this article, with an average of 4.7 stars among all reviews.

In a live video on the End Abortion Now Facebook page, Babies Are Still Murdered Here Director Marcus Pittman expressed frustration with Amazon, making reference to the recent Congressional hearing where tech leaders including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos testified that the company does not make content decisions based on political ideology:

“The big tech executives were just meeting before Congress this week talking about all this sort of stuff. ‘Oh, we’re trying to be fair and balanced and we just want to get rid of misinformation.’ Well, look, the people that were watching this movie were liking this movie. There’s evidence of that. The screenshots [of the ratings] show that people like it. The keywords that Amazon itself picked out show that people liked it. And yet here we are. It was removed. It was removed. And it was getting quite a bit of views. So the fact that Amazon Prime did this is insane to me.”

The documentary focuses on the opposition of pro-life lobbyists and politicians to legislation that abolishes abortion and the lack of Biblical foundations in the arguments and strategies used by pro-life leaders. Early portions of the film feature interviews with National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) President Carol Tobias and Virginia Society for Human Life President Olivia Gans Turner in which they express their opposition to Biblical foundations and to the criminalization of abortion.

The latter half of the film features the story of Jeremiah Thomas and The Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act. On June 18, 2018, the 16-year-old Thomas, who was in his hospital bed with bone cancer which would take his life a few months later, used his Make-a-Wish to obtain a phone call with Texas Governor Greg Abbott. When Thomas asked Abbott to use his influence to abolish abortion in Texas, Abbott responded positively noting that abortion’s abolition was going to be pursued in the upcoming legislative session.

Tragically, Thomas’ wish was not granted in the next legislative session. As documented in the film, Texas State Rep. Jeff Leach, who is pro-life, denied The Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act a committee vote and thereby ensured that abortion would remain legal in the state for another two years.

While it is no longer available for purchase or rent on Amazon Prime, Babies Are Still Murdered Here can still be watched in its entirety on the Facebook and YouTube pages of Apologia Studios.

Editor’s Note. This article was written by James Silberman and posted at Free The States. Reposted with permission. Title changed by Pulpit & Pen

Categories
Featured News

NBA’s Jonathan Isaac On Why He Did Not Take Knee or Wear BLM Shirt. Preaches Gospel Instead

(CBS Sports) Social Justice has been one of the most important elements of the NBA’s return, as players were committed to using their platform to enact positive change. The NBA has accommodated them, allowing players to wear social justice messages on their jerseys while also painting Black Lives Matter on the court. Throughout the first two days of games, every team that played knelt for the national anthem while wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt as a form of silent protest. 

There was only one holdout. Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac neither knelt nor wore a Black Lives Matter shirt, instead standing for the anthem while wearing his jersey. He cited gospel as his explanation during his post-game media availability (via Taylor Rooks):

“I believe that Black Lives Matter. A lot went into my decision, and part of it is, I thought that kneeling or wearing the Black Lives Matter t-shirt doesn’t go hand-in-hand with supporting Black lives. So I felt like, just me personally, what is that I believe is taking on a stance that, I do believe that Black lives matter, but I just felt like it was a decision that I had to make, and I didn’t feel like putting that shirt on and kneeling went hand in hand with supporting Black lives. I believe that for myself, my life has been supported by gospel, Jesus Christ, and everyone is made in the image of God and that we all forge through God’s glory. 

Each and every one of us do things that we shouldn’t do and say things that we shouldn’t say. We hate and dislike things that we shouldn’t hate and dislike, and sometimes it gets to a point where we point fingers, whose evil is worse, and sometimes it comes down to whose evil is most visible. So I felt like I wanted to take a stand on, we all make mistakes, but I think that the gospel of Jesus Christ is that there’s grace for us, and that Jesus came and died for our sins and that if we all come to an understanding of that and that God wants to have…

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Editor’s note. This article was written by Sam Quinn and originally published at CBS Sports, Title changed by Pulpit & Pen