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republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The blockading of the church caused Coptic residents of
Ezbat Al-Forn Village to write a letter to Egypt’s president, Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi, titled “We were prevented from prayer like criminals.”
President el-Sisi has long been deemed to be the hope of Egypt. His words sent shockwaves throughout the world when he declared
over 2 1/2 years ago that “it’s inconceivable that the thinking that we
hold most sacred should cause the entire Islamic world to be a source
of anxiety, danger, killing and destruction for the rest of the world.”
El-Sisi proceeded to call for a religious revolution.
It has been three years since el-Sisi came to power and
promised to “care for the interests of the people” and solve Egypt’s
problems. By now, the world should be wondering why his impassioned
words have not yielded any results. Instead, jihad attacks and
intimidation are on the rise. Now “authorities in Egypt…closed down a
1,300-member church in the Minya governorate and are preventing
Christians from worshiping at another church in the area, according to a
report.” The reason given is alarming: the church was upsetting to
local Muslims.
A report from the Middle East Monitor noted
in January that “Egyptian Sisi regime officials have recently been
attempting to reconcile with the Muslim Brotherhood, going behind
President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s back in the process.” This paints a
troubling picture of Egypt, signifying that el-Sisi is losing or has
lost control of the destiny of his nation.
Last year it was reported that Egypt’s Christians were at a breaking point
due to persecution; then back in May, jihadis opened fire on a bus
transporting Christians to a monastery south of Cairo, killing at least
30 people and wounding 26. The Independent ran a story entitled “How Egypt’s Copts fell out of love with President Sisi,” which addressed the Christian Copts’ disillusionment over Sisi’s “failure to address longstanding injustices.”
Egypt currently ranks as the 21st worst nation in the
world when it comes to the persecution of Christians, according to Open
Doors USA’s 2017 World Watch List.
“Egypt Closes Church Over Muslim Extremist Opposition, Blocks Worship at Another”, by Samuel Smith, Christian Post, August 24, 2017:
Authorities in Egypt have reportedly closed down a
1,300-member church in the Minya governorate and are preventing
Christians from worshiping at another church in the area, according to a
report.
Morningstar News, a donor-funded news agency that reports on
persecuted Christians worldwide, reported that the Virgin Mary and St.
Paula Church in Kedwan village was shut down last month by authorities
based on the claim that local Muslims objected to the church.
According to the outlet, the church served Christians from three
different villages — Kedwan al-Baharyia, Kedwan al-Keblyia, Masaken
Kedwan.
Coptic Orthodox Bishop of Minya Anba Makarios pressured government
officials for weeks to re-open the church. But as the bishop’s pressure
on the government provided no result, Makarios issued a public statement
refuting the government’s claim that local Muslims opposed the church.
“The security apparatus has prevented Copts from practicing their
rites in Kedwan, Minya, claiming that it was because of objections of
some opposing factions in the village, and that it was necessary to be
considerate of their feelings,” Makarios was quoted as saying: “However,
this means that there is no consideration for the feelings of the Copts
and those who do not ask for anything but to pray, as if the decision
belonged to the opposing factions and not to a great state such as
Egypt, which should have authority and law.”
Makarios stated that the majority of Muslims and Coptic Christians in
the area co-exist peacefully and that the only opposition to the church
came from a small extremist faction.
“There is actually no disagreements or disputes between the Copts and
Muslims,” the bishop stated. “He among them who opposes [opening the
church], if any is found, gives the excuse of the necessity to obtain a
security clearance. Regardless of whether these may be right in their
opposition or not, the authorities instead of responding by pointing out
that this is the prerogative of the state institutions, or by stating
that allowing prayer is a legal right, affirm prevention of prayer! In
doing so, they underscore at the same time that the opposing factions
are right in their reasoning.”
Morningstar News noted that the Virgin Mary and St. Paula Church in
Kedwan is just one of at least 15 Christian places of worship that has
faced closure in Minya.
“We have more than 15 places [of worship] closed on the order of the
security apparatus, despite the existence of formal requests that are
imprisoned in [desk] drawers,” Makarios said in his statement. “Also,
there are 70 villages, farmsteads and hamlets without places for
prayers.”
In addition to the closure of the worship centers, security officials
this past Sunday prevented Christians from worshiping in a private
house church in Minya’s Ezbat Al-Forn village.
A local resident told Morning Star News that authorities claimed that
the congregation lacked a permit to allow them to worship in the home.
However, Makarios reportedly refuted the claim that a permit is needed.
The blockading of the church caused Coptic residents of Ezbat Al-Forn
Village to write a letter to Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi,
titled “We were prevented from prayer like criminals.”
“We were surprised to find police forces surrounding and entering the
village to prevent the Egyptian Copts from prayer and were prevented
from going out of our homes,” the letter explains, according to Morning
Star News. “We were attacked with inappropriate words … As if we are
criminals or outlaws and wanted for justice, accused of performing
religious rituals. And is performing religious rituals a crime?”
Egypt currently ranks as the 21st worst nation in the world when it
comes to the persecution of Christians, according to Open Doors USA’s
2017 World Watch List…..
ROBERT SPENCER VIDEO: HOUSE VOTES DOWN PROPOSAL FOR MILITARY TO KNOW THE ENEMY
In this new video, I discuss the House of Representatives’ vote against a
measure that would require military officials to study the motivating
ideology behind the jihad threat.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The House on Friday rejected an amendment to a must-pass annual defense bill
that would have required the military to study the link between Islamic
doctrine and terrorism and make recommendations for identifying Islamic
preachers promoting extremist ideology.
The amendment, by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) fell short by nine votes, 208-217. All Democrats voted against it, and 27 centrist Republicans joined the Democrats.
That list included Reps. Justin Amash (MI), Vern Buchanan (FL), Chris
Collins (NY), Barbara Comstock (VA), Ryan Costello (PA), Carlos Curbelo
(FL), Charlie Dent (PA), John Faso (NY), Michael Fitzpatrick (PA),
French Hill (AR), David Joyce (OH), John Katko (NY), Jason Lewis
(MN), Frank LoBiondo (NJ), Patrick Meehan (PA), Dan Newhouse (WA), Erik
Paulsen (MN), Dave Reichert (WA), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL),
Steve Russell (OK), Mark Sanford (SC), Steve Stivers (OH), Dave Trott
(MI), Michael Turner (OH), Fred Upton (MI), Greg Walden (OR), and Don
Young (AK-AL).
Specifically, the amendment would have required the Pentagon to
conduct assessments on the use of “violent or unorthodox Islamic
religious doctrine to support extremist or terrorist messaging and
justification.”
The studies would have been undertaken by U.S. government employees
from relevant departments and agencies with appropriate background and
expertise, with the assistance of experts from academia or another
industry.
The study would have identified major or significant identifiable
Islamic religious doctrines, concepts, or schools of thought used by
various extremist groups for specific purposes — such as recruitment,
radicalization, financing or propaganda.
It would also include recommendations for identifying key thought
leaders or proponents for these major or significant identifiable
Islamic religious doctrines, concepts, or schools of thought; and
recommendations for technological capability, training improvements, or
process developments to speed the identification of harmful or
destabilizing Islamic religious doctrines, concepts, or schools of
thought used by extremist groups.
However, Muslim lawmakers, interest groups and civil rights groups argued the amendment would unfairly target Muslims.
“If you have an amendment that says we’re going to study one religion
and only one, we’re going to look at their leaders and put them on a
list — only them — and you are going to talk about what’s orthodox
practice and what’s unorthodox, then you are putting extra scrutiny on
that religion,” Minnesota Democrat Rep. Keith Ellison said, according to Politico.
Ellison, who is Muslim, met with Franks to try to persuade him to
withdraw the proposal, telling him: “You are abridging the free exercise
of that religion. This is the wrong way to do what he’s trying to do.”
Ellison tweeted after the amendment’s defeat: “Good happens – even in
Congress! Franks Amendment singling out Muslims rejected; Congress
declines to ‘abridge free exercise’ of religion.”
Good happens – even in Congress! Franks
Amendment singling out Muslims rejected; Congress declines to “abridge
free exercise” of religion.
Franks, who is the chairman of the International Religious Freedom
Caucus, said in an interview that he was not infringing on the First
Amendment’s protection of religious freedom, according to Politico. “We’ve worked very hard to protect the religious freedom for
everybody,” he said, according to the outlet. “But it is important that
we empower America to identify those heroic Muslims within the world
that will help us begin to delegitimize this ideology of global jihad.” “Right now, there is a certain spectrum within the Islamist world
that is at the root of the ideological impulse for terrorism,” he said.
“Ironically, Muslims are the prime targets of these groups. To suggest
that this is anti-Muslim is a fallacy, and I think that anyone who
really understands it knows that.” Franks said he will try to work with colleagues and modify the amendment so it will pass.
Before we throw our troops into untenable military
campaigns, isn’t it prudent that we understand the threat doctrine of
our enemy and identify who we are fighting? Evidently, that is out of
bounds for the majority of the politicians in Washington. They think
that the weather and castration surgeries are more within the purview of
the military.
It was the 9/11 attack, masterminded by Osama Bin Laden, the leader
of terrorist organization al Qaeda, that prompted the Afghanistan War
and contributed to public support for the Iraq War. Hundreds of
thousands of American forces have been sent to the Middle East and South
Asia to fight terrorists.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Gorka himself has been known to equivocate on this issue,
but he was one of the last, if not the last, member of the Trump
administration who was upholding, even in part, Trump’s apparent
campaign promise to speak honestly about the motivating ideology of the
jihad threat. Now that he is gone, it appears that the proponents of
Obamaesque denial and willful ignorance have won the day. Trump may
recover, of course, or he may not. But right now, in the context of the
Left’s intense ongoing efforts to deny all dissenters any access to the
means of communication, the Trump administration’s abandonment of
honesty regarding jihad means that soon those who speak honestly about
this threat could have no voice at all in the public square. In the wake
of Charlottesville, when the Left began moving aggressively to cut the
ground out from under the feet of foes of jihad terror, Jihad Watch
received a few thousand dollars in donations, for which I am most
grateful. At the same time, the hard-Left smear machine Southern Poverty
Law Center received tens of millions to continue its defamation and
marginalization of legitimate organizations by lumping them in with the
KKK and neo-Nazis. This only means there will be more assaults on
truth-tellers coming in the near future.
Gorka wasn’t perfect, but his departure, whether he jumped or was
pushed, is another light going out in the failing Trump administration,
and a harbinger of rough days to come.
“Breaking: Sebastian Gorka Resigns From Trump Administration,” by Mollie Hemingway, The Federalist, August 25, 2017:
Sebastian Gorka is resigning his post as Deputy Assistant
to President Trump, multiple sources familiar with the situation have
told The Federalist.
In a blunt resignation letter, the national security and
counterterrorism expert expressed dissatisfaction with the current state
of the Trump administration. “[G]iven recent events, it is clear to me
that forces that do not support the MAGA promise are – for now –
ascendant within the White House,” Gorka wrote. “As a result, the best
and most effective way I can support you, Mr. President, is from outside
the People’s House.”
Gorka’s letter expressed unhappiness with the direction the Trump
administration’s foreign policy has taken, as signaled by the
president’s recent speech on Afghanistan:
“Regrettably, outside of yourself, the individuals who most embodied
and represented the policies that will ‘Make America Great Again,’ have
been internally countered, systematically removed, or undermined in
recent months. This was made patently obvious as I read the text of your
speech on Afghanistan this week…
“The fact that those who drafted and approved the speech removed any
mention of Radical Islam or radical Islamic terrorism proves that a
crucial element of your presidential campaign has been lost…
“Just as worrying, when discussing our future actions in the region,
the speech listed operational objectives without ever defining the
strategic victory conditions we are fighting for. This omission should
seriously disturb any national security professional, and any American
who is unsatisfied with the last 16 years of disastrous policy decisions
which have led to thousands of Americans killed and trillions of
taxpayer dollars spent in ways that have not brought security or
victory.”
During his time in the Trump administration, Gorka focused on issues
such as countering the Muslim Brotherhood, the crisis in Qatar,
supporting efforts to draft a new long-term national security strategy,
and combatting China’s economic warfare. Before coming to the White
House, Gorka was the Major General Matthew C. Horner Chair at Marine
Corps University and also contributed to Breitbart News…. The Forward has written dozens of attack pieces against
Gorka, including several attempting to align him with Nazism. Most
recently that publication retracted a story about his son’s schoolwork.
Gorka strenuously objected to allegations he had ties to Nazi groups in
his family’s home country of Hungary, where he had previously been
involved in national politics. Even detractors eventually acknowledged
the Nazi accusations were unfair smears…. UPDATE: In response to this story, the White House issued a statement
that said, “Sebastian Gorka did not resign, but I can confirm he no
longer works at the White House.”
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
“It shows a lack of understanding of the president’s broader policy
when it comes to protecting Americans at home and abroad from all acts
of terrorism. Terrorism has manifested itself in many types of
organizations.”
Yes, of course. Just consider that worldwide network of Amish terrorist groups.
What this is about is whether or not the U.S. is going to identify
and study the terrorists’ motivating ideology. If it doesn’t, it will
have failed to know the enemy, which is the first adage of how to pursue
a war successfully.
The Trump administration has betrayed its promise.
“Tillerson: Gorka is ‘completely wrong’ on ‘radical Islam’ term,” by Julia Manchester, The Hill, August 27, 2017:
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday former
White House aide Sebastian Gorka was “completely wrong” to criticize the
president’s Afghanistan speech because there was no mention of “radical
Islam.”
“It shows a lack of understanding of the president’s broader policy
when it comes to protecting Americans at home and abroad from all acts
of terrorism,” Tillerson told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Terrorism has manifested itself in many types of organizations. The
president has charged us to develop policies and tactics both
diplomatically and militarily to attack terrorism in its many forms,
wherever it exists in the world, and wherever it might present a threat
to the homeland or Americans anywhere. This means that we need to
develop techniques that are global in their nature.”…
167 Year Old California Catholic School Removes Statues of Mary and Jesus to be More Inclusive
Published on Aug 26, 2017
Breaking News: 167 Year Old California Catholic School Removes Statues of Mary and Jesus to be More Inclusive Officials
at the San Domenico School in California decided recently to remove the
Catholic statues and icons in a move to be seen as more inclusive.
The school is celebrating its 167th year.
Removal
of a number of statues and other smaller Catholic icons from the campus
of San Domenico School in San Anselmo has raised concerns among some
parents.
In an email to the school’s board of directors,
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael and the head of school, Shannon
Fitzpatrick objected to the removal of the statues and other steps the
school has taken in an effort to make the school more inclusive.
“Articulating
an inclusive foundation appears to mean letting go of San Domenico’s
167-year tradition as a Dominican Catholic school and being both afraid
and ashamed to celebrate one’s heritage and beliefs,” wrote Fitzpatrick,
whose 8-year-old son attends the school.
She added, “In our time
here, the word ‘Catholic’ has been removed from the mission statement,
sacraments were removed from the curriculum, the lower school curriculum
was changed to world religions, the logo and colors were changed to be
‘less Catholic,’ and the uniform was changed to be less Catholic.”
Responding
to follow-up questions Monday, Fitzpatrick wrote, “There are other
families having the same concerns I do. Many parents feel if the school
is heading in a different direction then the San Domenico community
should have been notified before the signing of the enrollment for the
following year.”
CALIFORNIA: CATHOLIC SCHOOL REMOVES STATUES TO AVOID OFFENDING MUSLIMS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
“The students attending San Domenico come from a variety of religious
backgrounds besides Christianity: Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and
Islam.”
Hmmm. Which of those four is likely to have been the only
one objecting to the presence of these statues? And so here again we see
the universal principle: in Muslim countries, one must change one’s
behavior to suit Muslim sensibilities. And in non-Muslim countries, one
must change one’s behavior to suit Muslim sensibilities.
“Leave them; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14)
“San Anselmo’s San Domenico School creates stir by removing Catholic statues,” by Richard Halstead, Marin Independent Journal, August 24, 2017:
Removal of a number of statues and other smaller Catholic
icons from the campus of San Domenico School in San Anselmo has raised
concerns among some parents.
In an email to the school’s board of directors, Dominican Sisters of
San Rafael and the head of school, Shannon Fitzpatrick objected to the
removal of the statues and other steps the school has taken in an effort
to make the school more inclusive.
“Articulating an inclusive foundation appears to mean letting go of
San Domenico’s 167-year tradition as a Dominican Catholic school and
being both afraid and ashamed to celebrate one’s heritage and beliefs,”
wrote Fitzpatrick, whose 8-year-old son attends the school.
She added, “In our time here, the word ‘Catholic’ has been removed
from the mission statement, sacraments were removed from the curriculum,
the lower school curriculum was changed to world religions, the logo
and colors were changed to be ‘less Catholic,’ and the uniform was
changed to be less Catholic.”
Responding to follow-up questions Monday, Fitzpatrick wrote, “There
are other families having the same concerns I do. Many parents feel if
the school is heading in a different direction then the San Domenico
community should have been notified before the signing of the enrollment
for the following year.”
Cheryl Newell, who had four children graduate from San Domenico,
said, “I am extremely disappointed in the school and the direction
they’ve been going. This isn’t a new thing that they’ve been
intentionally eroding their Catholic heritage. They’re trying to be
something for everyone and they’re making no one happy,”
Kim Pipki, whose daughter left San Domenico two years ago after
graduating from ninth grade, said some of the statues were also
important to families who aren’t Catholic.
“The one main statue that has everyone fired up is the baby Jesus and
Mary one,” Pipki said. “It was at the center of the primary school
courtyard.”
Pipki said the school had a ceremony during which children would place a crown on the statue of Mary.
“It was less about God and more about passing on some traditions,”
Pipki said. “People were shocked that the statues were pitched in the
basement.”
Amy Skewes-Cox, who heads San Domenico School’s board of trustees,
said the relocation and removal of some of the school’s 180 religious
icons was “completely in compliance” with San Domenico’s new strategic
plan, approved unanimously by the board of trustees and the Dominican
Sisters of San Rafael last year. She said at least 18 icons remain,
including a statue of St. Dominic at the center of the campus.
She noted that it was unfortunate the removal of the statues occurred
at about the same time as the unrest in Charlottesville over the
removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, and that the
issues are “totally different” and have “absolutely no connection other
than it is change, and people have a hard time with change.”…
One of the strategic plan’s stated goals is to “strengthen San
Domenico’s identity as an independent school” and clearly articulate its
“inclusive spiritual foundation.”
San Domenico was founded by the Dominican Sisters in 1850 as an
independent, Catholic school — meaning that it is not owned or operated
by a parish or religious order.
“San Domenico is both a Catholic school and an independent school,”
said Head of School Cecily Stock, “but what we were finding after doing
some research is that in the broader community we are known as being a
Catholic school and are not necessarily known as an independent school.
We want to make sure that prospective families are aware that we are an
independent school.”
Of the 660 students who attend the K-12 school, 121 are boarding
students and 98 of these are international students from British
Columbia, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mexico, Korea, Thailand and
Vietnam. The students attending San Domenico come from a variety of
religious backgrounds besides Christianity: Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism
and Islam….
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The Qur’an teaches that Infidel women can be lawfully taken for
sexual use (cf. its allowance for a man to take “captives of the right
hand,” 4:3, 4:24, 23:1-6, 33:50, 70:30). The Qur’an says: “O Prophet,
tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to
bring down over themselves of their outer garments. That is more
suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah
Forgiving and Merciful.” (33:59) The implication there is that if women
do not cover themselves adequately with their outer garments, they may
be abused, and that such abuse would be justified.
“Italy: Polish Man Beaten Unconscious and Wife Gang Raped on Rimini Beach, African Migrants Suspected,” by Jack Montgomery, Breitbart, August 26, 2017:
A young couple from Poland were subjected to a “brutal
and beastly attack” by four men suspected to be African migrants on a
beach in Rimini, Italy. The 26-year-olds were taking an evening stroll on their last night in
the popular tourist spot when they were set upon by four men, Wiadomości reports. The young man was beaten unconscious by the gang, who then subjected
his partner to multiple rapes in front of him. Both were also robbed. The Polish consulate in Milan say they are providing every assistance
to the couple, who were both hospitalised following their ordeal. Italian authorities have described the “brutal and beastial [sic]
attack” as an “act of cruel aggression”, and called on the public “to
cooperate with the police forces informing each and every element that
may be of use in the investigation”….
The number of foreigners living in Italy as residents has rocketed by
25 per cent from 2012 to January 2017, and by an astonishing 270 per
cent between 2002 and 2017 — statistics which may herald a significant
and possibly irreversible demographic shift.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
DailyCaller.com
A bill that passed the California state senate and is now moving
through the Assembly could threaten jail time for anyone who refuses to
use a transgender person’s preferred pronoun.
The law is currently limited in its effects to nursing homes and
intermediate-care facilities, but if passed, those who “willfully and
repeatedly” refuse “to use a transgender resident’s preferred name or
pronouns” could be slapped with a $1,000 fine and up to one year in
prison, according to the California Heath and Safety code. The state senate passed the bill 26-12
at the end of May. Since then, the Assembly Judiciary committee
recommended the bill unanimously and the General Assembly held its first
hearing on the legislation Wednesday.
“How can you believe in free speech, but think the government can
compel people to use certain pronouns when talking to others?” Greg Burt
of the California Family Council testified in
July. “This is not tolerance. This is not love. This is not mutual
respect. True tolerance tolerates people with different views. We need
to treat each other with respect, but respect is a two-way street. It is
not respectful to threaten people with punishment for having sincerely
held beliefs that differ from your own.”
Titled the “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term Care
Facility Residents Bill of Rights,” the legislation also requires
nursing homes and care facilities to allow residents to use the bathroom
of their choice, regardless of biological sex. The bill’s author, state
Sen. Scott Weiner, argues that religious views don’t hold weight in
public areas.
“Everyone is entitled to their religious view,” Weiner said. “But
when you enter the public space, when you are running an institution,
you are in a workplace, you are in a civil setting, and you have to
follow the law.”
Experts argue it is “pretty unlikely that, if this law is enacted,
such prohibitions would be limited just to this [nursing home]
scenario,” UCLA First Amendment scholar Eugene Volokh told National
Review. Volokh speculates that lawmakers chose to apply the bill to
nursing homes not because there is an overabundance of transgender
seniors in the state, but because the demographic group is likely to
garner sympathy.
The bill is one of several pieces of gender discrimination
legislation moving through California’s Congress this summer. The body
is also considering mandatory transgender training programs for
companies that have more than 50 employees, CBS Sacramento reported.
While that legislation doesn’t punish those who refuse to use gender
identity pronouns, it does affirm the right to transgender people to be
called what they wish.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The following testimony was submitted to Pulpit & Pen:
My name is Susan. I grew up attending the Methodist church and rarely
missed a Sunday. I accepted Christ in 1974 during my time in college. I
am currently affiliated with a nondenominational church. I have broken
free of Beth Moore.
After receiving Christ as my Savior, I began studying
the Bible with a wonderful group of Christians called the Navigators.
From the Navigators, I learned inductive Bible study methods. Kay Arthur
was just becoming popular in Christian college circles for her
inductive Bible studies and through this method of study, I learned to
dig deeper into the Word. This was a spiritually enriching time but when
I graduated and moved away, I also gradually moved away from God. I
floundered about for many years doing things my way but calling upon God
when I needed Him.
Three years ago, through a series of life changing
events, I found out how inept I was at handling my own life and how much
I needed the Lord to be Lord of my life. I was excited to improve my
relationship with Christ and eager to learn all I could about Him. I
began to attend a local women’s group Bible study. We would use books by
popular Christian women and follow the study guide. This was a very
different experience when compared to my previous studies with the
Navigators and Kay Arthur’s inductive method.
So Long by Beth Moore, was one of the first studies I
participated in with the women’s group. Our weekly assignment was to
read a few chapters on our own. Then we would meet together, watch Beth
Moore’s video teaching session for that week, and discuss what we
learned. was captivated by Beth Moore’s easy style of communication and
how she seemed to relate to the Lord on such a personal level. She not
only seemed to know Him, but she seemed to know the everyday problems
that women face along with how to fix them. I was impressed with her
transparency and I felt that her ability to be open about sensitive
issues was helping all of us in the group to openly explore these areas
while learning how God could change us. I didn’t agree with everything
Beth Moore said but I was not discouraged from continuing the study. My
thinking was that we all make mistakes because we are human and it
seemed to be that Beth was really trying her best to teach about the
Lord. So, I grasped the things I did identify with and just brushed the
questionable material aside.
I continued to seek a deeper relationship with God. I
really liked what I was learning in the Beth Moore studies so I began
watching more of her video teachings online on my own. I was able to
find her earliest studies when she spoke to small groups and then moved
forward watching the major conferences and more recent videos. I began
to notice a curious evolution in her teaching – a bit of a “sea change”.
In her first videos, she was quiet, a bit restrained, as a matter of
fact, and an excellent communicator. She connected with her audience. As
she became a more experienced speaker she seemed to loosen up and
became more emotional and dramatic in her style, developing into the
unleashed Beth Moore we see today. I noted the change, but like hair
styles change, personal styles of presenting also evolve. I rationalized
that she was just evolving to be more effective in today’s very
different world. While watching one of her conference presentations one
day, an alarm went off. Though her messages in previous conferences had
seemed clear, she seemed to ramble and I had trouble understanding what
she was trying to convey. I made a mental note of this experience but
just decided that maybe I was tired and unable to follow her message
that time.
My Bible study group moved on to another book. My
interest in Beth Moore waned a bit but I thought I was just growing
tired of using material by the same person. While at one of the group
studies, someone made the comment “not everyone likes Beth Moore”. I was
surprised by the comment and I wanted to know what she was getting at.
She explained that some people had trouble with Beth’s style of
presentation but that was all that was the extent of what was said. The
comment made an impression on me, and the things I had previously
brushed aside began to bother me enough that I finally decided to find
out more about her. So I prayed for discernment and then began to read
about her on various blog sites. After reading many posts, I decided
this wasn’t really a fair approach because I wasn’t always able to
verify the source used by the the blog authors. So I started studying
some of her other books myself and watched more of her conferences
online.
This experience opened my eyes and I realized it was
time to stop making excuses for Beth Moore. The evolution of her
presenting style is culturally accepted. However, I began to think she
was going far afield when I realized the mass advertising, big business
aspect of her teaching ministry seems to be no different than those of a
rock star or the carefully orchestrated promotions of actors. I also
find the rabid defenses of the slightest criticism toward her
disturbing. Divisions can easily be created among women at the mention
of her twisting of scripture, inserting herself into verses that have
nothing to do with what she is using them to exemplify, her on stage
emotional rants, and her lack of scriptural content. In one conference
video, she uses precious teaching time to defend herself against those
she labels “scoffers” as she goes on and on about them and demonstrates
how we all need to get us a shovel.
By corralling the troops of her own personal army of
disciples, she is actually doing the very thing she is speaking against,
namely, causing divisions. Why should she be so concerned if she is
truly doing the Lord’s work? Jesus was shunned on earth. I think anyone
who follows Him should expect criticism, not doing masses hanging on
every word. I think I understand that her need for acceptance from
others is just like that of any of us, but when we are accepted by the
Christ died who for our sins worldly acceptance no longer matters. I
could go on here but much of my problem with Beth Moore’s teaching has
been written about by others.
To take a stand, I made an appointment to speak with our
Bible study leader about my concerns. I presented my case for
discontinuing any further Beth Moore studies and told her I would go
back to the inductive Bible study method. She was surprised but had not
really dissected Beth Moore’s teaching as I had. She seemed alarmed by
what I shared. She does not feel that studying Beth Moore’s material is
essential but is okay with the fact that many people choose to do so. I
will no longer be in that camp. I wrote a post expressing a few of my
concerns on Beth Moore’s Living Proof blog. I was very kind but
straightforward. It was deleted. I try to communicate my concerns when I
have the opportunity and have found many women have broken away
including those on this site. I will continue to speak up and to be on
the alert for other false teachers and I will continue to pray for Beth
Moore.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The following testimony from JD Hall regarding a recent visit to
Jim Bakker’s studio and Morningside Ministries was sent to Pulpit &
Pen for publishing.
While on a working vacation in Branson, Missouri on August 2 – just
prior to my debate on Cessationism and Charismaticism in Cleveland the
following weekend – I spent time with my extended family on the campus
of College of the Ozarks. While there, I planned to visit the television
studios and survivalist retreat (for lack of a better word) of Jim
Bakker, the disgraced televangelist who had a multi-millionaire fund his
ministry come back and who is now hustling survival supplies in the
name of Jesus. Prior to leaving on vacation, I planned this visit to
Morningside and received permission for what I had expected would happen
from my local church leadership, lest anyone think I am a completely
crazy man who had gone rogue or something like that. My leadership gave
me the okay to do what I, indeed, ended up doing.
First, a few things about Jim Bakker. Bakker is a charismatic
preacher who has had his ministry ordination revoked by his former
denomination, the Assemblies of God. A sex scandal, which included
allegations that he and another evangelist had raped a woman, eventually
led to his imprisonment and divorce from his equally infamous wife,
Tammy Fae Bakker (the one with the ridiculous makeup – no, not Jan
Crouch, the other one with ridiculous makeup). Bakker received
his start by working at Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network
and helped to start the 700 Club. From there, Bakker went on to host his
own program, the “Praise the Lord” show for Paul and Jan Crouch on the
Trinity Broadcasting Network. The Bakkers then launched out on their own
and started the Praise the Lord (PTL) Club. The PTL Club grew into a
television network. In the 1980s, the Bakkers built what amounted to a
Christian-themed amusement park called “Heritage USA,” and raised
upwards of a million dollars a week to expand the park. It’s during this
time that Bakker raised the attention of the secular press regarding
the excess with which he and his wife lived in opulent luxury while
using the charitable tax status of his organization to obtain great
wealth. Eventually, Bakker was caught giving upwards of 300k to the
woman he had raped from the tax-exempt money given to the ministry, and
the eventual investigation led to law enforcement determining that
Bakker had defrauded his real estate investors and owed a lot of money
to the federal government. Bakker was indicted on eight counts of mail
fraud, 15 counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy, and he was
sentenced to 45 years in the federal penitentiary. Later, the sentence
was reduced to eight years. To this day, he still owes the IRS about six
million dollars.
While in prison, Bakker says that he was saved and for the first
time, led to Christ. Financial backers have given Bakker access to more
than 600 acres of prime real estate twenty miles from Branson, Missouri
and built a strange mix of television sets, condos for aging citizens,
and a survivalist retreat replete with security. Today, he broadcasts
television shows that highlight some scary prophetic scenario that
portends world-ending omens and then (conveniently) offers survival
supplies to his audience.
The question is not why I did what I did, but how could I not do
what I did, considering I was only 20 miles away from this cesspool of
wickedness. It seemed a shame not to preach some truth in that darkness.
I approached the gates of the Morningside compound at roughly 11 AM
CS4T on August 2, with plenty of time to spare for the show that was to
begin an hour later. After making it through the security checkpoint and
receiving directions through the compound, I wound my rental vehicle
through the hills and made my way to the main facility – a television
studio, apartment complex, “book store” and restaurant all in one
building. Parking in the parking lot, workers were busy under tents
doing either construction or landscaping, so it seemed.
Walking into the facility reminded me marginally of the Venetian
Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, with a fake sky and blue, ambient
lighting reflected from the corners that imitated the appearance of the
sky. Immediately to the right was the “book store,” and to the left was a
friendly greeter, a woman who appeared to be in her late seventies or
eighties, bound to a wheel chair (she was written about in an article I
ran across in the secular press, and she was still at her station, still
serving Jim Bakker). I asked for a tour of the grounds, and the
volunteer pointed me to the window across from her where I could plan a
tour. The “tour guide” was already on a tour, and the window was vacant,
but I obtained photos of the paperwork left behind; it was essentially a
checklist for salesmen that I regularly saw when I worked with
timeshare companies when I owned my direct sales business. The “ministry
tours” are essentially sales pitches to potential “investors.”
The “book store” had (by my guess) less than a dozen books, all of
which were written by heretics and guests of his program. The “book
store” was instead filled wall to wall with survival supplies. There
were food buckets, pocket knives, sanitary toilets made out of 5-gallon
buckets, flashlights, water purifiers, and so forth. Being that I am an
outdoorsman and Boy Scout at heart (always prepared), I was familiar
with virtually all the products for sale in the book store (and own many
of them), and so I could see that there was a 300-400% markup on
virtually all the products compared to their fair market value that one
could expect to pay at ordinary retailers (for example, water filtration
straws that I previously bought for my hiking and kayaking excursions,
which I paid $35 for 3, were sold for $49.95 each). The book store did
have Shemitah and Four Blood Moons DVDs and CDs on special discount, and
considering those prophecies failed in 2015, it shouldn’t have
surprised me that they were the cheapest products in the book store.
The studio for the program was busy with camera people and producers,
and I made my way to a cameraman and asked if I could have a photo in
Jim Bakker’s chair. He asked if I was a fan and I responded, “I listen
to a lot of what he does.” I made my way to Bakker’s seat and the
cameraman happily took the photos for me. This made my day, but I really
wanted a photo with Jim Bakker.
I found my way to Jim Bakker’s office, in which sat a man and a woman
at different desks. The man had long, dark hair, forearm tattoos,
dressed in all black with an assortment of gold jewelry and looked like
he should have been a leg-breaker for the mob. In his hand was a large
stack of cash, and he was counting it. Before he saw me in the doorway,
he said to his co-worker – and I quote – “It’s all about the money,
baby, it’s all about the money.”
When he looked up and saw me, he and his female counterpart both
blushed and asked how they could help me, as though perhaps I was lost.
“I was hoping to get a photo with Jim. Is that possible?” I asked.
The woman responded, “Oh, no sir. We are all volunteers, and not even
the volunteers get to see Jim. He doesn’t come out unless it’s time for
the show. I haven’t been able to talk to him in years.”
That’s interesting, I thought. I was persistent, asking, “What about
when he comes out? Is there any milling around that happens, do you
think I could approach him to ask for a photo?”
“No,” the woman responded. “He only comes out when it’s time for the
show. He’s in the green room, talking with God. Then he goes back
immediately after the show to talk to God more.”
“Well,” I asked, “when should the show begin, so I know when to be back?”
“There’s no telling,” the woman responded, “because it could be noon
or one or three o’clock because he doesn’t come out of the green room
until he’s heard from God.”
“Just like Moses on the mountain,” I asked. She responded, “Yes, exactly like Moses on the mountain.”
So, with Jim Bakker talking with God in the green room and the tour
guide went on a sales pitch, I decided to risk it and drive around
Morningside. Let me tell you – it is creepy. There’s a false town that
looks like a town but is only a false front (like a movie set or the
town in Blazing Saddles). I have no idea the purpose of that. A vehicle
was very clearly following me around, and though it was unmarked, I know
security when I see it, and so I did not want to risk taking pictures
and getting escorted out as uninvited press (if the officer had Googled
my name, not only would it come up as a polemicist, but as a reporter
and columnist for several newspapers). This fake town, should you doubt
its existence, has been written about by numerous national outlets. It’s
real. It exists. I don’t know why.
Sprinkled around Morningside (even in the studio complex) are condos
paid for by the residents of the compound, who are mostly all in
retirement, and many well beyond retirement. Virtually all of them
grease the wheels that make Morningside work, volunteering for virtually
every aspect of service needed to be done on the sprawling estate.
Making my way back to the main complex, I began to speak to the
twenty or so senior citizens finding their way to the studio audience. I
asked them questions.
“Have you bought any of Jim’s survival food?” I asked a woman clearly in her eighties, barely mobile.
“Oh, yes,” she responded, “I spend my whole social security check on
his food every month.” Two other women gave me the exact same answer.
An elderly volunteer asked which table I would like to sit at in the
audience, and I asked to be seated at the very back. The “crowd” began
to gather (again, less than 25 senior citizens) and I was the youngest
person in the audience by at least 30 years, except for one man about my
age who was there with his father or grandfather, helping him get
around. I made small talk with those around me, asking if they had ever
spoken to Bakker. None of them had. All of them, however, revered him
even though he had never once spoken to them. After all, he was in the
green room, talking with God. He was busy.
I kept my eye out for security, and a few minutes before Jim took the
stage with his new wife, daughter, grandson, false prophet John Shorey,
and the owner of the survival food company that Jim peddles, the lone
security man came out. I “made him” instantly, as having that “security
guy look,” even short of a Secret Service earpiece. Unfortunately, I
think he also “made me.” I’m sure I stood out like a sore thumb, and he
found his way right behind me in the back. This was bad news because I
knew that I would only get out a few words before he would grab me by
the neck or tase me or something.
Right about then, a volunteer came up and asked if I would like to
move forward to the front row to “make it look more crowded for the
cameras.” I happily obliged, knowing that given the layout of the room,
the security guy would have to wade through twenty or so octogenarians
to get to me, which would afford me an extra 30 seconds or so to say
what I wanted to say.
As the program began, Bakker and his “wife” talked about her sick
mother for about 30 minutes or so, and Tammy Fae #2 wondered out loud
why God would allow a good person like her mother to be sick (no one
answered the question). Clearly, a theology of suffering was absent from
any of the experts at the table. Then, John Shorey launched into a
mini-sermon in the next segment about how it was never God’s will for
anyone to be sick, and everyone both on stage and in the audience seemed
oblivious to the fact that they just spent 30 minutes hearing about how
Jim Bakker’s godly mother-in-law was sick. I was looking around the
room to see if anybody caught the contradiction, but everyone was
smiling and nodding at the health-and-wealth gospel being preached.
It was important to me not to interrupt Bakker until he gave a false
prophecy, considering it is his false prophecy that is most detestable
to God (it carried a capital punishment in the Old Testament). There
were dozens of times I could have interrupted Bakker concerning some
abject stupid thing he said, but I was waiting for the perfect
opportunity. After talking about sick grandma, the opportunity presented
itself.
A chef off to the side of the audience was cooking pancakes on the
griddle, and the volunteers were busy serving the pancakes to the panel
on stage (the chef was NOT using the pancakes from the survival bucket,
but a store-bought mixture, which I know because I checked under the
table to see what they would be using when the program began, as the
chef-station was set up before hand). The audience was then being
brought free pancakes, to many “oohs” and “ahs.”
It’s here that Bakker recalled having a prophetic dream a few nights
earlier when God gave him a vision to offer a discount on pancake
survival buckets.
I turned on my iPhone camera laced around my neck and turned on my
GoPro (I received permission to use my camera from the Morningside
office, so long as it wasn’t on flash) for back up, and interrupted Jim.
You can watch the video below.
When I asked about Bakker’s failed prophecies, you can hear a sweet
old woman behind me say, “these things happened.” Of course, the
prophecies did not come to pass, and she is deluded. Bakker said (if you
listen closely you can hear him), “You must listen to the men of God,
so you can understand [the prophecies].”
Bakker then said to “kill the cameras.”
What you can’t see is when I said, “I’ll go, I’ll go,” is that I was
not responding to the female producer whispering in my ear, but the
security guy who was making a rush for me. Then, you hear me saying,
“Don’t touch my camera, and don’t touch my person.” This is in response
to Bakker’s grandson telling the security guy to confiscate my camera.
To his credit, the security guy did not attempt to take my camera or lay
hands on me (which is good for him, because he didn’t look like that
tough a guy).
As I was walking out, the leg-breaking mobster guy from before was
lurking behind while I was being escorted out by security. It was a
fairly quiet conversation, because it was important to be able to say
that I stopped speaking as soon as I asked to and left as soon as I was
asked to – both for the sake of potential litigation and because I
really do believe in private property rights. It was their right to ask
me to be quiet and leave, and that is what I did, and I did it
immediately out of respect for the law.
The security guy told me that if I returned I would be arrested for
trespassing and then threatened me not to release the video I had
because it was “copyrighted.” Of course, you cannot copyright my video,
especially when you gave permission for cameras to be used. It was an
idle threat.
He followed me to my car and took photos of my license plate (I feel
sorry for the guy renting it next from Enterprise, who might happen to
wander onto Morningside). Security guys at the compound’s gate gave me
strong glares on my way out and radioed that I was leaving.
That’s my account, and that’s the story of the now infamous video.
Please pray for the senior citizens being led astray and preyed upon by
this wicked false prophet.
________________________________________________________
Cozy Cottages at Morningside Retreat Center –
Blue Eye, Missouri
Published on Jul 13, 2016
http://bit.ly/29Qwbhl
Take a tour of Morningside Retreat’s Cozy Cottages. These homes are
sweetly nestled in Morningside’s Peaceful Valley and are perfect to rent
for a vacation or own for a whole new way of life! We are located in Blue Eye, MO. just south of Branson.
Governor Mike Huckabee comes to Morningside!
“I FEEL RIGHT AT HOME HERE”
Right about then, a volunteer came up and asked if I would like to
move forward to the front row to “make it look more crowded for the
cameras.” I happily obliged, knowing that given the layout of the room,
the security guy would have to wade through twenty or so octogenarians
to get to me, which would afford me an extra 30 seconds or so to say
what I wanted to say.As the program began, Bakker and his “wife” talked about her sick
mother for about 30 minutes or so, and Tammy Fae #2 wondered out loud
why God would allow a good person like her mother to be sick (no one
answered the question). Clearly, a theology of suffering was absent from
any of the experts at the table. Then, John Shorey launched into a
mini-sermon in the next segment about how it was never God’s will for
anyone to be sick, and everyone both on stage and in the audience seemed
oblivious to the fact that they just spent 30 minutes hearing about how
Jim Bakker’s godly mother-in-law was sick. I was looking around the
room to see if anybody caught the contradiction, but everyone was
smiling and nodding at the health-and-wealth gospel being preached.When I asked about Bakker’s failed prophecies, you can hear a sweet
old woman behind me say, “these things happened.” Of course, the
prophecies did not come to pass, and she is deluded. Bakker said (if you
listen closely you can hear him), “You must listen to the men of God,
so you can understand [the prophecies].”
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The gender barriers continue to be under attack by the secular
culture. Those who speak confidently about how the roles of genders are
ancient history, outdated modes of thought that need to be not only
changed but obliterated. In the Boy Scouts, the line has already has been compromised, wait, no, it has been erased, by allowing gay men to be scout leaders, and gay and transgender
boys to be scouts. The goal to effeminize the role of men is to always
start when they are still boys when their understanding of gender roles
can still be molded.
In this clip
from today’s, August 24, 2017, Good Morning America show, GMA
highlights a girl who is fighting to enter the Eagle Scout program. She
had been an honorary member of her older brother’s troop but now she
wants to become a full-fledged Eagle Scout and she is campaigning for
the rules to change. You will note that at the beginning of the video
they interview several girls and women affiliated with Girl Scouts and
they all agree that Girl Scouts are for girls and boy scouts are for
boys. The president of the Girls Scouts wrote a letter,
mentioned in this Buzzfeed post, stating that the news of the BSA
covertly exploring the idea of allowing girls into the BSA is upsetting,
especially the GSA was trying to negotiate a relationship with BSA that
would mutually benefit both groups, but BSA decided to move on their
own.
Then GMA brings on their “expert” to speak on the topic, Rachel
Simmons, an educator at an all-girls school in New York City. In
typical liberal fashion, GMA and Rachel Simmons pooh-pooh all over this
whole idea of gender roles and associations specifically for girls and
boys. If boys want to girl stuff they should be able to join the Girl
Scouts, and the same should true for the girls if they want to do boy
stuff. Simmons states, a paraphrase, that medieval/dark ages thought
that boys are fundamentally and genetically different is forced upon
them by the culture. In her words “this is toxic” to young boys and
girls. So it is a good thing that those of us who are progressive
idealists are here to correct that erroneous paradigm. The whole time
Simmons is talking her tone is one that sounds like she is reading a
story to a group of first graders. So soothing and reassuring that we
are to believe what she is saying is the correct way to think.
Somewhere in the “Feminist Christian” fantasy world, I am sure Jory
Micah, Rachel Held Evans and their gaggle of “Christian” feminists (just
search Twitter and their Facebook pages, they are always
retweeting/reposting each other’s stuff) are applauding this young girl
and her misguided campaign to become an Eagle Scout. These “Christian”
feminists have abandoned the biblical standard of gender roles set forth
by God Himself. Complementarianism is so early twentieth century, God
has called the church to be egalitarian. Women, rise up, thou art
invincible. These “Christian” feminists have been demanding that women
be able to share the pulpit, embracing the gay agenda and telling the
rest of us that the social gospel is the gospel.
I believe that all of this “Christian” feminist agenda, and the
blurring of gender identities and societal roles, can be traced back to
the Garden of Eden after the fall. The Lord proclaims the curse to Adam
and Eve for sinning against God in Genesis 3. In verse 16, along with
having pain during the birth of a child Eve and the women after her
would desire to dominate their husbands, to usurp their husband’s
authority ordained by God. This is manifested in the New Testament when
God ordained that the role of pastors and elders were to be filled by a
man (1 Tim 3, Titus 1). This is why we have witnessed the rise of
female pastors and teachers like Beth Moore, Joyce Meyers, Priscilla
Prior and others. The women’s movement of the 60’s and 70’s has
influenced this rise of women pastors in the church. These women are
rebelling against the Word of God by teaching from the pulpit which God
had ordained to be only occupied by biblically qualified men.
Their favorite role model in the bible is Esther. They claim
she was bold, defiant and resisted the misogynist ruler, embracing her
womanhood and standing up against the male dominated establishment by
exposing the racist plot of Haman. When the reality is she was
submissive to her king by observing the rules of the court, humbling
herself before him by waiting for him to extend the golden scepter to
her so she could speak and once again humbly presenting her petition to
the king. She did not speak out of turn nor bulrush her way to the
throne. She wasn’t defiant, she was humble and submissive to her king
and husband and to the rule of the land. That is the Esther who was the
role model, not the feminist version of Rachel Held Evans.
We need to keep the church body in our prayers. The truth of God’s
word and the two genders, male and female, and their complementarian
roles in God’s ordained order of the family are under attack from
without and from within. We need to hold fast to His Word and not cow
to the screeching voices trying to tell us what to think and that the
bible is wrong and needs to be understood differently in today’s
culture. The Word of God is eternal, and the truths that are found in
that Word are eternal, and that is the footing we must plant our feet on
as we stand firm against the onslaught.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
WASHINGTON —President Trump signed a directive on Friday instructing
Defense Secretary James Mattis to revert to the nation’s longstanding ban on
open “transgenders” in the U.S. military.
“In my judgment, the previous administration failed to
identify a sufficient basis to conclude that terminating the
departments’ longstanding policy and practice would not hinder military
effectiveness and lethality, disrupt unit cohesion, or tax military
resources, and there remain meaningful concerns that further study is
needed to ensure that continued implementation of last year’s policy
change would not have those negative effects,” he wrote in a memo posted to the White House website. He therefore directed the Secretary of Defense and the
Secretary of Homeland Security to “return to the longstanding policy and
practice on military service by transgender individuals that was in
place prior to June 2016 until such time as a sufficient basis exists
upon which to conclude that terminating that policy and practice would
not have the negative effects discussed above.”
ADVERTISING
As previously reported,
Trump first announced his decision to reinstate the transgender service
ban on Twitter last month, advising that the Obama-era policy change is
a distraction and would place a burden on the finances of the Armed
Forces. The new policy included federal payment of the gender transition
treatments and procedures of transgender service members.
“After consultation with my generals and military experts,
please be advised that the United States government will not accept or
allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S.
military,” Trump tweeted.
“Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and
cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that
transgenders in the military would entail. Thank you.”
Defense Secretary James Mattis had just issued a statement on
June 30, outlining that the previous administration’s policy
implementation deadline of July 1 would be pushed back six months to
give additional time to determine whether or not allowing open
transgenders to serve would negatively affect military readiness.
Reaction to the matter has been mixed, with Christian and
conservative groups cheering the move and transgender advocates decrying
the policy reinstatement as a let-down.
“The president’s order to remove transgender service members
from the United States armed forces and deny them healthcare is nothing
less than a purge,” OutServe-SLDN Executive Director Matt Thorn
remarked in a statement.
“He is implementing this purge based on bigotry, motivated
by agents of an ideology that has no concern for the national defense,
and in blatant disregard of the experience of career officers who spent
more than a year developing and implementing the current policy,” he
asserted.
“Every cent spent on this politically-correct exercise is
money that could prepare our troops for war. Every second wasted in
‘transgender sensitivity training’ is time that could be spent on the
rifle range,” Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Boykin, the vice president of Family
Research Council, also said.
“Every American should thank President Trump for boldly
prioritizing our military’s war-fighting capabilities by lifting this
unnecessary burden from those preparing and fighting to achieve
victory,” he opined.
In his memo, Trump directed that no action be taken against
those already serving in the military who have been diagnosed with
gender dysphoria, and those who have already been undergoing a gender
transition must be allowed to continue. Mattis must submit a plan by
Feb. 21 that includes information on how the Armed Forces will address
those existing service members.
______________________________________________________ SEE ALSO: https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/faith-and-morals/item/26781-president-issues-official-directive-banning-transgenders-from-military
“Last year, President Obama introduced a new transgender plan which
recommended “parents be secretly excluded from any decisive role when
their children experiment with sexual ‘gender identities’ as male or
female,” according to Breitbart News’ Neil Munro.”
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
ROCKLIN, Calif. — A first grader was
reportedly sent to the principal’s office this week after calling a
former classmate, who now identifies as a girl, by the male name he was
known by the year prior.
“There was a little girl who had been in class with the
little boy all last year,” Karen England, executive director of the
Capitol Resource Institute, told the Washington Times on Wednesday.
“They’re in different classes now, but she saw him on the playground
yesterday and called him by his name.”
“The little girl was told, ‘You can’t do that. His name is
this name,’ and ‘You need to call him a her,’” she outlined. “Then, she
was called to the principal’s office [for an investigation].”
ADVERTISING
The alleged incident occurred at Rocklin Academy, a charter
school in California that has already been in headlines this week as a
number of parents have expressed concern that a kindergarten teacher
recently read two transgender-themed books to students without their
prior knowledge. As previously reported,
the teacher, who has not been publicly identified, read the books “I Am
Jazz” and “The Red Crayon” on the second-to-last day of school before
summer break. The first book is about teen reality show star Jazz
Jennings—a teenage boy who identifies as a girl, and the second tells
the story of a blue crayon that was mislabeled red.
No advance notice or opt-out information was provided to parents.
Therefore, when students came home and advised that they had
learned about gender identity, with some confused about whether they
could transition to the opposite gender, a number of parents contacted
the school to express concern.
Principal Jillayne Antoon issued a letter a
week later to advise what had transpired in the classroom. She outlined
that a student had asked the teacher to read “I Am Jazz” to the class.
According to reports, a student who was born a boy but identifies as a
girl gifted the books to the teacher. It is not clear if the student who
donated the books was the same kindergartener that requested that the
Jazz book be read aloud.
“Please be assured that these books are age appropriate
children’s books, geared for ages 4-8,” Antoon wrote to parents. “There
were no additional discussions with the class about any topic in
relation to these books.”
However, according to CBS News, parents say that the male
student changed his clothes at some point during the class and presented
himself as a girl.
During Monday’s board meeting, one mother lamented, “My
daughter came home crying and shaking, so afraid she could turn into a
boy.”
Now, the parent of the first grader who was sent to the
principal’s office this week is likewise upset over how her daughter was
treated. It was discovered that the child meant no harm and was not
seeking to bully her former classmate.
“I stressed over and over with the principal that I am all
for protecting the rights of [the transgender child], but my children
have rights as well,” she wrote in a letter obtained by conservative
commentator Todd Starnes. “It makes me sad that my daughter felt like
she was punished for trying to be kind to the kid.”
The religious liberties organization Alliance Defending Freedom is looking into both incidents.
_____________________________________________________ SEE ALSO:
School disciplines first-grader for ‘misgendering’ a gender-confused classmate
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
ROCKLIN, California, August 24, 2017 (LifeSiteNews)
— The Sacramento-area charter school already rocked by parental
backlash over a five-year-old boy transitioning to a girl in
kindergarten class last June has now sent a first grade student to the
principal’s office for “misgendering” the boy.
The first grade student at Rocklin Academy Gateway inadvertently
called the trans “girl” by his boy’s name on the playground earlier this
week, Karen England, executive director of the Capitol Research
Institute, told LifeSiteNews.
The first grader “knows the student’s name from last year, and
innocently on the playground called him by his name, and was told she
needed to refer to him as a ‘she’ and needed to refer to him by his new
name, which the student said OK,” England said.
“But then later the student was later called into the principal’s
office so that the incident could be investigated to see if it was
intentional or not, as if six-year-old kids are even thinking about
this.”
The parent met with the principal on Wednesday, England said, and the
school reiterated to the parent “that their child needs to refer to
this biological boy as a girl with the girl’s name.”
The first grade student was “upset” because she thought she was in
trouble, England said, adding: “The parent is very concerned for their
child. This was an innocent mistake.”
LifeSiteNews contacted Rocklin Academy Gateway and was referred to
the Rocklin Academy school board, which did not return a call from
LifeSiteNews by deadline.
Rocklin Academy Schools has been hit by parental backlash after a
five-year-old boy in kindergarten class transitioned to a girl in June.
Parents weren’t told the child was transitioning and that the
kindergarten class would introduced to his transition in a way that some
parents say has traumatized their five-year-olds, who are now fearful
they too will “change” to the opposite sex.
While accounts vary on the sequence of events, the kindergarten
teacher read two pro-transgender books to the class on the
second-to-last day before summer break.
According to a parent account provided by Greg Burt at California
Family Council, somewhere in between these readings, the five-year-old
boy “changed his clothes from boy clothes to girl clothes.”
England described what happened as a “transgender reveal exercise on
one of the last days of kindergarten” where “ the young boy arrived at
school a boy and left identifying as a girl.”
Parents were told a week later in a letter from principal Jillayne
Antoon that the two books had been read in class, but not that the boy
had transitioned to a girl, the parent stated. The kindergarten teacher won’t say what happened that day, nor will the school board, England told LifeSite News.
Parents have been left to find out what happened from their children.
Regardless of just how the five-year-old boy’s transition took place,
it’s not disputed that parents weren’t told about it beforehand, a
number of his classmates have been left disturbed, and that several
parents are angry. And it now appears Rocklin Academy Gateway is doubling down on
enforcing the boy’s “change” to a girl, with a visit to the principal’s
office a possibility for any child who hasn’t gotten with the program.
According to CBS, the school board will address the issue during next month’s board meeting. RELATED School refuses to answer parents’ questions about kindergarten transgender lesson
According to Karen
England, executive director of the Capitol Research Institute, the
first-grader “knows the student’s name from last year, and innocently on
the playground called him by his name, and was told she needed to refer
to him as a ‘she’ and needed to refer to him by his new name, which the
student said OK,”
“But then later the student was later called into the principal’s
office so that the incident could be investigated to see if it was
intentional or not as if six-year-old kids are even thinking about
this.”
Right about then, a volunteer came up and asked if I would like to
