The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem Issue Plea for Prayer, Peace, and an End to Violence Against Civilians

The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem Issue Plea for Prayer, Peace, and an End to Violence Against Civilians
Courtesy of Myra Kahn Adams
The winds of war are once again blowing across the home of the Prince of Peace. Many years ago, a priest friend advised me if you put off going to the Holy Land until there is a peaceful period with no trouble, you will never go. Historians may document a period of peace in the world around the time of the birth of Christ, but since then, there has almost always been a war somewhere — often in the very region of the world Christ called home.

While the protagonists of the Jewish and Islamic sides of this conflict argue, the survival of the Christian presence in the cradle of Christianity is often ignored. Wars have consequences. Some estimate that half of the Christians in Iraq and Syria have fled the region since the Second Gulf War and the Syrian civil war.

There are about 180,000 Christians in Israel. Seventy percent are Arabs or Palestinians, the largest group living in Jesus’s hometown of Nazareth.  As a small minority within a minority, Christians require peace and stability for their survival. This latest war will do little to enhance that.

The so-called “Status Quo” is the unwritten rule in Israel under which religious groups don’t rock the boat at holy sites under the protection of different religious groups. You may visit, but not hold religious services without an agreement. Even the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which encompasses Calvary and the Tomb of Christ, is managed by a consortium. The key to the church is traditionally in the possession of a Muslim Arab family to avoid disputes among the Christians.

That peace has been unraveling lately at the nearby Temple Mount, also called the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is claimed by both Muslims and Jews and is just one front on a broad sectarian conflict that has now turned violent. To this end, the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches of Jerusalem, have issued a joint call for peace and prayer:

The Holy Land, a place sacred to countless millions around the world, is currently mired in violence and suffering due to the prolonged political conflict and the lamentable absence of justice and respect for human rights. We, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, have time and again appealed for the importance of respecting the historic and legal Status Quo of the holy shrines. In these trying times, we come together to raise our voices in unity, echoing the divine message of peace and love for all humanity.

As custodians of the Christian faith, deeply rooted in the Holy Land, we stand in solidarity with the people of this region, who are enduring the devastating consequences of continued strife.

Our faith, which is founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ, compels us to advocate for the cessation of all violent and military activities that bring harm to both Palestinian and Israeli civilians.

We unequivocally condemn any acts that target civilians, regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, or faith. Such actions go against the fundamental principles of humanity and the teachings of Christ, who implored us to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).

It is our fervent hope and prayer that all parties involved will heed this call for an immediate cessation of violence. We implore political leaders and authorities to engage in sincere dialogue, seeking lasting solutions that promote justice, peace, and reconciliation for the people of this land, who have endured the burdens of conflict for far too long.

[…]

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all during these challenging times.

—The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches

Related: Pray for Israel, Pray for Peace

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said yesterday, “The cycle of violence that has killed numerous Palestinians and Israelis in the past months has exploded…The operation launched from Gaza, and the reaction of the Israeli Army are bringing us back to the worst periods of our recent history. The too many causalities and tragedies, which both Palestinians and Israeli families have to deal with, will create more hatred and division and will destroy and any perspective of stability.… We ask God to inspire world leaders in their intervention for the implementation of peace and concord so that Jerusalem may be a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Pray for Israel, Pray for Peace

Pray for Israel, Pray for Peace
Mahmud Hams /Pool Photo via AP

Fifty years ago, almost to the day, on Oct. 6, 1973, Israel was attacked on the holy day of Yom Kippur. I remember being a child attending services and the Rabbi stopping the liturgy to tell us what had happened and to pray for Israel. On Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has again been attacked, this time on the holiday of Shemini Atzeret. Once again, our people and nation have been attacked on a holy day. All reservists have been called up, and Israel is again fighting for her life.

Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israeli communities through the Gaza Strip and launched a surprise attack in conjunction with over 5,000 rockets fired into Israel. Horrific videos of terror are filling the internet. One clip from Gaza shows a lifeless Israeli soldier being trampled by an angry crowd. Hamas asks that all Arab nations attack Israel immediately to “set the earth on fire.” The Hamas commander, Mohammed Deif, specifically asked all terror groups in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq — all of which are funded through Iran — to join in a war against Israel. Israeli civilians are being specifically attacked, slaughtered, and kidnapped as hostages. We see video after video demonstrating that the Hamas terrorists act in ways that are beyond comprehension by any human being. Rather, they act like sick, rabid animals or zombies who have lost any sense of humanity.

But let’s all be honest: They have acted like this for decades. Hamas and its allies, all of which are funded by and through Iran, have behaved this way over and over as they have prayed for the destruction of both Israel and the United States. They have celebrated violence at every opportunity and demonstrated repeatedly that they would like to do exactly what they have been doing: kill Israelis and Americans, desecrate their corpses, and perform horrors that are unimaginable to any sane human being.

So here’s a question: Given Iran’s repeated hatred for everything Israeli and American, and given that they have constantly and consistently expressed their desires to destroy both nations, how could Joseph Biden and his regime support this evil and give over $6 billion to Iran, the admitted financier of Hamas as well as terrorists in Syria, Lebanon, and the entire region? Forgetting for a moment about all the other anti-American acts done by Biden during his tenure, isn’t sending money to self-proclaimed enemies of America and Israel the definition of treason to the United States?

With God’s help, we will have time to analyze why Israel was unprepared for this attack. Now is the time to support the only democracy in the region in every way, from money to arms to prayers. We will have time to investigate the relationship between the $6 billion gift from Biden to Iran and how it directly funded these horrors in Israel. History will judge Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and their cronies justly when it is realized that the horrors we are seeing are a direct result of the Democratic Party’s actions of supporting Iran.

For most of my life, I voted with the Democratic Party.  But for years now, I have said that any Jew voting for the Democratic Party is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders. Even those who refused to recognize this previously can now see how true this statement is, not just for Jews but for all Americans.

Biden and his supporters have fortified an enemy of the United States, and we are seeing the manifestation of true evil as a result. At this point, there is no realistic option but to realize that the president of the United States is, in fact, more committed to strengthening our enemies than to supporting our allies. For any American to still support Biden, Blinken, et al. is to be blind to the reality that they and their party are actively working to destroy Israel and America.

Related: What Went Wrong? How Hamas Managed to Stagger Israel

There will be time for an analysis of how this horrific war was permitted to start and the direct role the Democrats had in the process. But there are two things that we must each do to preserve the only democracy in the Middle East and to protect the United States. First, every American must immediately stop all support of the Democratic Party in its entirety until the party has once again become a political party that is committed to the United States and its allies. If we don’t want to see the horrors that are happening in Israel occur here in the United States, God forbid, we must entirely reject the Democratic Party and its candidates until it ostracizes its internal fanatics like Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, etc. As long as the Democratic Party is controlled by these fanatics—who hate America and her allies while supporting groups like Hamas that commit such heinous acts as we see going on in Israel right now—there is no hope for the Democrats or for peace.

And we must pray. We must all pray for our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisrael, that they remain safe and protected and that they quickly triumph over these terrorists who worship death, destruction, and hate. The United States was built on the foundation of being a nation supported by God, and we need to develop our personal relationships with God through prayer and entreat God that this evil we see manifest among Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and their allies is quickly, efficiently, and permanently destroyed. We must pray for peace and safety for all who support respect, healing, and peace in the world.

I ask that you join me in your hearts, souls, and voices:

Ribbono Shel Olam, Master of the Universe; Shema Koleinu, Hear our voices. Keep the men and women in the IDF safe and protected as they defend our people and our nation. Protect the civilians of Israel, and lead our people to a speedy and safe victory over those who seek to destroy us and have attacked us on the Holy Day of Shemini Atzeret. Keep our people safe, and let your healing light keep our bodies and souls strong and whole. Bring healing to the bodies of our brothers and sisters in the IDF and healing to the hearts of these Arab terrorists so that they put down their weapons and totally cease their hate for us. Please, God, please, bring peace and healing swiftly to the Jewish people so that we may worship and live safely in the land you gave to us through our forefathers. May You, the One who makes peace in the Universe, make peace upon us and upon all Israel. And together, let us say, Amen.

 

Pope Francis Hints Openness To Blessing Same-Sex Couples

Pope Francis Hints Openness To Blessing Same-Sex Couples

Pope Francis leads an ecumenical prayer with Protestants and Orthodox at St. Peter’s square in The Vatican on September 30, 2023. (Photo by TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images) / Canva edit

OAN’s Brooke Mallory
1:30 PM – Tuesday, October 3, 2023

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/pope-francis-hints-openness-to-blessing-same-sex-couples/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Pope Francis hinted at a reversal of the official Vatican position by allowing some Catholic priests to bless same-sex nuptials.

On Monday, Francis noted several important qualifications, such as the need for case-by-case consideration and the fact that they should not be seen as equivalent to heterosexual wedding ceremonies.

Back in 2021, the Vatican said that it could not support same-sex relationships because “God cannot bless sin.” The pope did, however, hint that there may be some exceptions to this attitude on Monday.

“We cannot be judges who only deny, reject, and exclude,” he said in a letter to five cardinals who asked for clarity on the issue.

Although Vatican doctrine has not changed, some LGBTQ+ Catholics have seen Francis’ remarks as a significant step toward ending the isolation and judgment they claim to face inside the church.

Francis made the comments in a letter that was released on Monday by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Five conservative cardinals from Asia, Europe, Africa, the United States, and Latin America gave a list of “dubia,” which means “doubts” or “inquiries.”

They pressed him to uphold traditional Catholic doctrine on same-sex unions and other contentious topics like women’s ordination.

In response, Francis stated that there may be “forms of blessing, requested by one or more persons” that might be given sometimes. The clergy were urged to practice “pastoral charity,” which he defined as “kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness, and encouragement.”

The pope continued, saying that these unions “do not convey a mistaken concept of marriage,” however, they also “should not necessarily become a norm.”

This focus on permitting these partnerships on a “pastoral” rather than official basis may be a reference to a number of German Catholic priests who have recently publicly blessed same-sex weddings in a dispute with their diocese.

LGBTQ+ Catholics and other progressives hailed his comments as a major victory for the cause of “religious equality.”

“Though the Vatican’s latest statement about same-gender couples does not provide a full-fledged, ringing endorsement of blessing their unions, the document significantly advances Pope Francis’ work to include and affirm LGBTQ+ people,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, an organization that uplifts LGBTQ+ Catholics.

The 86-year-old pope, who has recently struggled with a variety of health challenges, is no stranger to progressive causes. He has established himself as a strong voice on everything from the immigrant crisis to climate change-related topics.

When challenged about LGBTQ+ matters and priests’ sexual orientations many months into his pontificate, Francis responded, “Who am I to judge?”

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The chilling reason why Islamic apologists love the Old Testament: A response to Paul Williams

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/10/the-chilling-reason-why-islamic-apologists-love-the-old-testament-a-response-to-paul-williams;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

There is an entire cottage industry of Islamic apologists who claim to know Christianity better than Christians themselves do; their arguments in this line usually consist of quoting various passages from the Mosaic Law and claiming that the Christians are dishonest or ignorant when they insist that such passages do not apply to Christian belief and practice, and never has.

Recently one of these Islamic apologists, Paul Williams, who professes to be an ex-Christian, published a video claiming that what I stated on the Patrick Bet-David podcast recently is false: that Christians do not consider Deuteronomy 13:6-11 to be a law they are bound to follow, and never have. That passage says this: “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, `Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, some of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him; but you shall kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.”

In making his case, Williams makes arguments that are common among Islamic apologists, claiming that Christians are, in fact, actually bound to keep the Mosaic Law. This betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of Christianity and unfamiliarity with both its scriptures (aside from a few proof texts cited with no genuine understanding of the way they’re understood in Christian theology) and its history. Williams is apparently unacquainted with Acts 10 and Acts 15 and should read and ponder them if he really has any interest in understanding the basic Christian position on the Mosaic Law.

Williams also cites Thomas Aquinas’ argument in favor of the execution of heretics, claiming that it was the Catholic Church’s teaching at the time. There are several fundamental problems with this:

1. Aquinas, though he cites numerous scriptural passages in making this argument, does not mention Deuteronomy 13:6-11. Why not? Contrary to Williams’ claim, even Christians in the High Middle Ages who believed heretics should be executed did not believe that passage to have mandated a practice that was valid for all time. Aquinas clearly did not think that a localized command God issued to the Israelites to execute His wrath upon a particular group of people had any relevance to the question of whether or not heretics should be executed.

2. Aquinas’ position was never the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. The common claim that the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 endorsed the execution of heretics is based on a mistranslation. The 1911 (that is, before the modern-day madness) Catholic Encyclopedia states: “Canon law has always forbidden clerics to shed human blood and therefore capital punishment has always been the work of the officials of the State and not of the Church. Even in the case of heresy, of which so much is made by non-Catholic controversialists, the functions of ecclesiastics were restricted invariably to ascertaining the fact of heresy. The punishment, whether capital or other, was both prescribed and inflicted by civil government.”

3. Williams claims that at the time Aquinas wrote (he died in 1274), the Roman Catholic Church was the only Church. Then, perhaps aware of how false his statement was, quickly amends it to the claim that the Roman Church was the only Church in Europe at the time. He is either unaware of the existence of the Orthodox Church (as well as other Churches, such as the Coptic Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, and many more), or ignorant of the fact that Orthodoxy was quite prevalent in European Russia and Southeastern Europe at the time of Aquinas.

Aside from its numerous inaccuracies, however, the worst part of Williams’ video is the underlying reason why he considered it important to make it: he wants to justify the murder of those who leave Islam today, as his friends Daniel Haqiqatjou and Jake Brancatella did on the Bet-David podcast. While the Roman Catholic Church, as well as other Churches, through long meditation on the implications of the idea that human beings are made in the image of God and have equal dignity before Him, have decisively rejected coercion and force in matters of faith, Williams and his coreligionists want to justify and normalize the idea that people should be forced and even terrorized (as per Qur’an 3:151, 8:12, and 8:60) to remain in Islam. Underneath the calm veneer of intellectual debate, Williams’ agenda is nothing short of monstrous.

Pope Francis appoints pro-abortion, pro-LGBT friend as founding member of new Vatican institute

Featured Image
Eugenio Zaffaroni and Pope FrancisVideo screenshot/Unsplash

VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis has appointed his longtime friend and fellow Argentinian Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni to a Vatican position, despite Zaffaroni’s controversial record and his support for homosexuality and abortion.

Announced on August 18 by the Holy See Press Office, Pope Francis formally recognized a group first created in 2019 and made the peculiar move of designating it as a private association of the faithful.

The Pan-American Committee of Judges and Judges for Social Rights and Franciscan Doctrine [COPAJU] had its statutes and logo formally approved by the Pope, along with its first appointments and staffing assignments.

A brainchild and subsidiary of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Committee was first established in 2019 from a meeting in the Vatican of 120 magistrates from across the Americas. According to the Pope’s chirograph, the group is oriented to “protection and promotion of social rights from the magistracy, placing special emphasis on the discarded social sectors, affected by the different processes of neo-colonialism.”

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As a subsidiary of COPAJU, Pope Francis instituted a new research group, appointing to it a friend from his native Argentina whose record on life and family issues contradicts Catholic moral teaching. Raúl Eugenio Zaffaroni was appointed as one of the three founding board members of the new “Fray Bartolomé de las Casas” Institute for Research and Promotion of Social Rights.

The new Institute will deal with the “academic, teaching and formation purposes on the field of social rights, migration and colonialism.” As such, it will be financially “supported, directed, and administered by COPAJU and will operate under the auspices of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.”

But Zaffaroni, despite his appointment to a Vatican-based body, has a long-standing record of promoting abortion and homosexuality. A former member of Argentina’s Supreme Court from 2003 through 2015, Zaffaroni also served as a judge for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) from 2016 through 2022.

As LifeSite’s Dr. Maike Hickson reported in 2019, Zaffaroni was chiefly responsible for organizing an event at the Vatican for LGBT activists on the decriminalization of homosexuality. The invitation letter, of which LifeSite obtained a copy, stated that “Professor Zaffaroni’s words will be followed by a historical speech by His Holiness relevant to the subject matter.”

READ: Pope Francis set to give ‘historic speech’ involving ‘persons of the same sex’, leaked letter claims

The event was revealed by Dr. Frédéric Martel, an open homosexual and author of a book alleging widespread homosexuality amongst clergy in the Vatican. Martel described Zaffaroni as “a friend of Pope Francis.”

To support this claim is the well-documented fact that Pope Francis, when still the archbishop of Buenos Aires, invited Zaffaroni in 2010 to participate as a speaker at a diocesan event on children and youth, something that caused indignation among Catholics at the time. A letter penned to then-Cardinal Bergoglio at the time described Zaffaroni as someone who

publicly advocates for abortion rights (at a time when our country is prey to a ruthless campaign for the murder of the innocent), and has clearly and emphatically expressed in favor of homosexual “marriage” (which includes corruption of our children due to the possibility of adoption recognized by law), also in favor of the decriminalization of drugs, and countless sins from which the Church  – as Mother and Teacher – and her pastors, must protect their children.

Indeed, Zaffaroni has made no secret about being a long-standing supporter of the decriminalization of homosexual relationships along with opposing the criminalization of abortion.

Zaffaroni and Francis: Pachamama supporters

An interesting parallel between the Argentine Pope and the Argentine judge is their advocacy for Earth-centered ecology, including support for Pachamama. Pope Francis was infamously a participant at the 2019 Vatican event which saw Pachamama statues being worshiped in the Vatican Gardens. The statues of the Incan fertility goddess were then placed in a church just meters from the Vatican, before being thrown into the river by Catholic activist Alexander Tschugguel. Francis apologized to Amazon indigenous leaders for the statues’ being thrown into the river.

Zaffaroni is himself also a proponent of Pachamama idolatry. A 2017 article written by Pope Francis’ friend — the disgraced former Franciscan priest and liberation theologian Leonardo Boff — praised a book written by Zaffaroni entitled Pachamama and the Human Being. Boff argued the text was in the same spirit as Francis’ 2015 environmental encyclical Laudato Si’ and strongly defended animal rights against centuries of “human cruelty.”

The book also aligns with Francis’ 2020 text Fratelli Tutti, in that a concept of fraternity divorced from religion is proposed as the answer to the crises of humanity. “Only by substituting the knowledge of the dominus for the frater we can regain human dignity,” Zaffaroni wrote.

Zaffaroni and Argentine prostitution

But additional controversy has long surrounded the Argentinian judge. A 2011 investigation by Perfil found that numerous apartments he owned in Buenos Aires were being used for a lucrative prostitution business.

Zaffaroni denied being involved in the business, arguing that management of the property was handled by a real estate company and that he was a victim of a media campaign. Calls were subsequently made for Zaffaroni’s impeachment given he was serving as a judge on the nation’s supreme court at the time.

Then in 2013, Zaffaroni’s attorney Ricardo Montivero testified in court that it was he who had been managing the prostitution business, not Zaffaroni. Montivero paid a fine for the management of a brothel. Montivero’s fine was reportedly the minimum penalty for the offense and it did not lead to a criminal record.

HOMESCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE: The Romeike family is facing deportation and renewed persecution for their religious beliefs in Germany. And there’s something you can do to help.

HOMESCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE

SEE OUR PREVIOUS POSTS: https://ratherexposethem.org/?s=Romeike+family+

We’re working to ensure the Romeikes can remain in the US and homeschool in peace, and a critical part of that effort is a petition we’ve created asking the Biden administration to intervene.

We need at least 100,000 signatures in order to have the best chance of reaching the White House. Please consider signing the petition and voicing your support for the Romeike family’s right to follow their deeply held religious convictions.


Since we created the petition, the Romeikes’ story has begun to receive national news coverage. Fox News, the Daily Mail, and National Review are covering the story.

With this momentum in the press and your signature, we can have a big impact when we deliver a show of support to the White House and to Congress—hopefully by the first week of October.


Here's more context to the Romeike Story.


When Uwe and Hannelore Romeike decided that God was calling them to homeschool their five children in 2006, Germany responded swiftly by leveling fines that exceeded the family’s income, forcibly removing the children from the home, and threatening to take them permanently.

So the Romeikes fled to America, where we helped them apply for asylum. In 2013, after five years of legal battles and a growing public outcry, the United States government granted the Romeikes “indefinitely deferred action status,” which allowed them to live, work, and remain safely in the United States without fear of deportation.


Then it all changed.


Then, in September 2023, the Romeikes were told during a routine check-in that their deferred status had been revoked. The family was given four weeks to apply for German passports, so they could be deported to Germany. The family had no prior warning, and was offered no explanation, other than that there had been a “change of orders.”

More developments are coming, so watch your email this week as we share additional ways you can help our friends stay in the country and homeschool in peace.

Thank you!

James R. Mason, HSLDA President

P.S. Will you consider making a donation to HSLDA, so we can help the Romeikes fight the legal battle ahead of them?

 

They’re Ranking Churches Now

They're Ranking Churches Now
Ted Eytan, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
You can’t escape the Pride Mob these days, and it looks like your church won’t be able to escape it either. This probably shouldn’t come as a surprise to us, but a group at Oxford University in the UK has begun rating churches in the area based on their capitulation to the heresy of the LGBTQ movement.

“The Oxford Safe Churches project, run by a coalition of LGBTQ+ organisations and Churches in Oxford, have published their first faith report, titled ‘Attitudes to Queer Christians in Oxford Churches,’” reports the Oxford Student news website. “The report, published on Friday 22 September, uses a ‘traffic light’ system to rank the LGBTQ+ inclusivity of churches in Oxford.”

Needless to say, the red light means that a church preaches sound doctrine about gender, sex, and marriage, while a green light represents a church that affirms and celebrates open sin. Furthermore, churches receive a numerical score on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 and 2 corresponding to red lights, 3 equating to an amber (or yellow) light, and 4 and 5 representing green.

Here’s how the group’s report describes a church that receives a score of 1:

This is probably a church where there is public teaching calling homosexuality sinful. They are likely to use the ‘clobber passages’ to argue that any form of homosexual sex (within a same-sex marriage or otherwise) is a form of sexual immorality and are likely to use this as a means of arguing for celibacy or ‘conversion’ to a heterosexual ‘lifestyle’. It is also likely that trans and non-binary people are not openly affirmed. You might find people in this church who would express a ‘love the sinner, hate the sin’ approach. There may be people attending this church who would describe themselves as same sex attracted and celibate. LGBTQ+ people may be asked to repent of any relationships before becoming members of the church. Heteronormativity is likely to be seen as the only life sanctified by God. No one drives through a red light without knowing they are taking an extreme risk. We believe, for some people, especially freshers [freshmen] and students, it may mean a high risk of spiritual abuse.

Contrast that with the characteristics that give a church a score of 5:

This is probably a church which has internalised a queer identity, it may be that a large number of LGBTQ+ people attend or even that they started or lead the church. Straight and cis people attend as part of the diversity of the church rather than the assumed norm. If someone were to speak against inclusivity, others would be very likely to defend it. LGBTQ+ relationships and milestones are publicly celebrated. Agencies and resources which offer LGBTQ+ people support and allyship are almost certainly linked to and promoted. Modelling of including behaviours and language is normative. Driving through a green light, you can be far more certain that the road will be clear and safe to drive.

A church that receives a 4 on the scale demonstrates “at least some public support for LGBTQ+ people and probably a specific public welcome.” Wait — wut? Are there actually churches that say, “If you’re LGBTQ+, welcome”? Do they do that with every specific identity group? If so, the welcome time might go on forever.

Related: Dismantling One of the Pride Cult’s Arguments for Gay Bible Characters
Lest someone accuse me of saying that homosexuality is the only sin that’s worth focusing on, let’s play a little game here. Suppose I like to steal things; should I be on the lookout for a church that is theft-affirming? (Maybe Joel Osteen’s church?) Or let’s say that my wife and I openly commit adultery; does that mean we should be seeking a church that has a special welcome for cheaters?

Of course not. The only reason there’s this debate about LGBTQ+-affirming churches is that the Rainbow Mafia demands acquiescence and will take nothing less. These days, we can’t simply love gay people for who they are; we must celebrate their lifestyles if we are to be in good standing with the Pride Mob.

You may also be thinking, “So what? This is just one community outside the U.S.” Don’t forget that these ideas always expand beyond their place of origin. It wouldn’t surprise me if these ideas make their way to this side of the Atlantic soon — of course, it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s happening already.

What do we do? Stand firm. Don’t yield to the pressure to “affirm” the LGBTQ agenda. Know the truth from scripture and be confident in the knowledge that we know how the war ends. Forget “the right side of history.” What’s most important is being on the right side of eternity.

It’s no secret that culture has lined up against the truth. That’s why it’s important to support truth-tellers like the talented writers here at PJ Media. The Left has censored us, throttled us, and threatened our business model, but we refuse to go away. Will continue to bring you the truth, no matter the cost. You can help us to get the word out on these important cultural issues by becoming a VIP member. Use the promo code CENSORSHIP to get 50% off of your membership. With the discount, an annual membership will only cost you around $2/month for a standard membership and $4/month for VIP Gold.

‘No Apologies’ From ‘Weaponized’ Banks Canceling Faith Groups~FOR EXAMPLE: BANK OF AMERICA, J.P. MORGAN CHASE, BLACKROCK, WELLS FARGO

An increasing number of Christian and conservative organizations say they're being 'de-banked.' Accounts are closed, payment processors are turned off, or some are placed on a donor 'blacklist.' Banking and financial services have become weaponized. Christian and conservative groups labeled 'high risk' can be denied financial services, and it's happening under the cover of federal banking laws. Among the victims? Indigenous Advance Ministries, which helps orphans and widows in Africa. Its account was closed by Bank of America. Read the full story from CBN's Dale Hurd: https://cmsedit.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/20...

Uganda: Muslims murder Christian evangelist for leading Muslims to Christ

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/09/uganda-muslims-murder-christian-evangelist-for-leading-muslims-to-christ;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Islamic law forbids non-Muslims to proselytize among Muslims. They clearly believe that murdering their opponent is preferable to besting him in debate.

“Evangelist Slain for Leading Muslims to Christ in Uganda,” Morning Star News, September 15, 2023:

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Muslim extremists on Sept. 6 beat a 33-year-old evangelist to death for leading Muslims to faith in Christ at an event in eastern Uganda, sources said.

After the evangelistic event in Kituuti town, Philip Bere was pulled from his bicycle while returning to Katiryo, Kibuku District and killed when the assailants bashed him with a large rock, an eyewitness said.

Mudenya Sirasi, who had assisted Bere at the evangelistic event, was with him as the two neared Katiryo on the Kataka-Katiryo road. Sirasi said many people accepted Christ at the event, including Muslim women and two young Muslim men.

The two evangelists were ambushed at about 7:40 p.m., he said.

“We heard people talking from both sides of the road at a nearby bush saying, ‘They are the ones who converted our members today – they are not supposed to live, but to be killed,’” Sirasi told Morning Star News. “From nowhere, one man who was stationed in front of us grabbed our bicycle that we were riding on and hit Bere with a blunt object on his back.”

Bere fell as Sirasi jumped off the bike and entered a tunnel under a bridge, where he hid, he said.

“I could see the attackers brutally injuring my friend,” Sirasi said. “One of the attackers hit him with a big stone, and he bled to death.”

When the assailants left, Sirasi found the body of Bere in a pool of blood, he said. He alerted other area Christians and police, and officers took the body to a hospital for postmortem, Sirasi said.

The pastor of Bere’s church, unnamed for security reasons, said officers at the police station in Katiryo, Kibukuand took statements about the killing of the evangelist and that they were searching for the killers, who have gone into hiding.

“Our evangelist was killed because his passion for preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, especially to Muslims,” the pastor told Morning Star News.

Bere was well-known for his preaching among Muslims in Buseeta, Lwatama, Katiryo and other parts in eastern Uganda….

Banned Video: Muslims Desecrate the Cross of Christ

Banned Video: Muslims Desecrate the Cross of Christ
(Rumble screenshot)
Back in 2015, I watched a one-minute video of Muslims connected to the Islamic State (“ISIS”) breaking crosses inside and from atop churches. Because the video had for some days been going viral on Arabic social media, I, in an effort to bring Westerners up to speed with Muslims—to show them the same things Muslims around the world were watching—uploaded it onto YouTube.

YouTube’s reaction was swift and terrible: deemed “inappropriate,” the video was taken down and my YouTube account temporarily suspended.

Recently, however, while doing some research for another article, I found the video YouTube sought to bury and loaded it onto Rumble: view here (special thanks to Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi).

"Break the Cross!"

The video shows Muslims doing what Muslims have been doing from the dawn of Islam to the present moment: breaking the cross in emulation of their prophet, who always broke the cross whenever he came upon it (per canonical Bukhari hadith). As such, and according to the caption provided by ISIS on the video, Muslims were “purifying” the ancient Christian region of Nineveh, Syria, of its “symbols of polytheism,” which included not just the crucifix but Christian icons and statues, all of which the jihadists smashed.
Such behavior, it should be noted, is immensely commonplace. Hardly a few days go by without some cross throwing some Muslims somewhere into a fit of rage (most recently, a soccer player’s cross).

Indeed, just a few weeks ago in Pakistan, thousands of Muslims rioted after some Christians were accused—as usual, falsely—of desecrating a Koran. The rampaging Muslims set 25 churches aflame and desecrated at least one Christian cemetery. Discussing this savagery, the Rev. Deacon Daud Irshad observed:

I saw with tears in my eyes how the mob desecrated crosses on the roofs of the churches and in graveyards and ruined church buildings. They burnt so many Bibles and altars…

Videos of these “every day” Pakistanis breaking the cross (which, interestingly, are allowed to be on YouTube, here and here) are very reminiscent of the “terrorist” behavior of ISIS (who, as we are forever told, “have nothing to do with Islam”).

While one can point to many other recent examples of Muslims attacking churches and destroying crosses all around the Islamic world, it is enough to note that this same exact savagery has become commonplace even in the West, where churches and crosses are routinely attacked by Muslims. For numerous examples, read this article.

At any rate, if you wish to know what millions of Muslims around the world feel towards the cross of Christ—at least those who seek to follow their prophet’s example of breaking the cross—be sure to view the one-minute video that YouTube censored.

Breaking Down Jesus’ “Prophecy” About Big Pharma

Does a verse in Revelation 18 teach that pharmaceutical drugs are going to be the main catalyst of deception to lead all mankind astray? I got an email from a concerned friend asking me about the word “pharmakeia” in scripture, particularly in Revelation 18:23. It says: “For your merchants were the greatest in the world, and you deceived the nations with your sorceries.” This word for sorceries is “pharmakeia”. It’s talking about drugs, poisons, and sorcery, and how it’s connected to magical arts, idolatry, and witchcraft. Bad theology hurts people, and sometimes kills people. So, is this bad theology? Is this interpreted incorrectly?

Islamic Republic of Pakistan: Police tell Christian churches to ‘hire private guards, we cannot protect you’

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/09/islamic-republic-of-pakistan-police-tell-christian-churches-to-hire-private-guards-we-cannot-protect-you;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Many of the police share the faith and outlook of the attackers and are more sympathetic to them than they are to the victims of these attacks.

“Pakistan, Police to Christian Churches: ‘Hire Private Guards, We Cannot Protect You,'” by Massimo Introvigne, Bitter Winter, September 15, 2023:

August was one of the worst months in recent years for the number of assaults to Christian churches in Pakistan, with dozens of places of worship burned or demolished.

Besides arresting Christians for having allegedly provoked the rioters, the Pakistani police has now found a solution for this crisis, and a simple one.

Having inspected an area of Karachi notorious for sectarian conflict, and visited places of worship of different religions, the police issued on September 10, 2023,  “Security Directions for Churches” (mosques are not mentioned).

The police recommends (or rather orders, since “strict compliance” is required), that

“Private security guards be deployed outside the main gate of the church along with metal detector equipment.” Details are as follows: “Private security guard will be deployed on the roof bunker especially made as the backup for gate security. Walk through gates to be installed on the entrances of church. All the windows of churches to be covered with iron grill. CCTVs to be installed inside and outside the premises of churches and must be of great quality such as 6 MP / Night Vision with 15 days minimum back up. Walls of the churches must be fenced properly to avoid any untoward incident.”…

What the document says, in so many words, is that the Pakistani police is not capable or perhaps not willing to protect Christian churches. Christian taxpayers should hire and pay private guards. The police would check who these guards are—perhaps to make sure they are not “too” effective.

Genocide Alert: Azerbaijan is attacking Nagorno Karabakh

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/09/genocide-alert-azerbaijan-is-attacking-nagorno-karabakh;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Today, the dictatorship of Azerbaijan launched a full-scale military attack on Nagorno Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, where 120,000 Armenian Christians have been under siege for nine months.

The president of Christian Solidarity International (CSI), Dr. John Eibner, warns, “If Azerbaijan’s allies and commercial partners – the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, European Union, Israel, and Switzerland – do not act immediately to restrain it, there will be mass killings and other atrocities against the region’s civilian population. Genocide is imminent.”

CSI has received word from the minister of health for the Republic of Artsakh, Vardan Tadevosyan, that the capital city of Stepanakert is being bombed continuously by artillery. “We are under attack,” he says.

Azerbaijan’s defense ministry has announced that it has begun a military operation to “neutralize [the] military infrastructure” of the Armenians and “restore the constitutional order of the Republic of Azerbaijan.” An armed Azerbaijani conquest of Nagorno Karabakh will entail nothing less than the destruction of its ancient Armenian population.

On September 7, Elchin Amirbayov, a senior spokesman for Azerbaijan’s president, menacingly predicted “a genocide may happen” if Nagorno Karabakh’s elected leaders fail to submit.

A CSI team was in Armenia from September 11 to 16 and was able to observe Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno Karabakh to the outside world. The CSI team also observed Azerbaijani military outposts built many kilometers inside the Republic of Armenia itself. It is highly likely that this war will spread to southern Armenia and beyond.

CSI’s Joel Veldkamp, who was part of the visiting delegation, stated, “For nine months, the major powers – Russia, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom – have done nothing to end this siege, or avert this very predictable outcome.”

A week after Azerbaijan’s siege of Nagorno Karabakh began, on December 19, 2022, CSI and nine other human rights groups issued a Genocide Warning for the Armenian Christians of the region. “Despite this early and clear warning, the world failed to respond,” Veldkamp stated.

On September 14, Yuri Kim, the U.S. State Department’s Acting Assistant Secretary for European Affairs, stated in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that “the U.S. will not countenance any action or effort—short-term or long-term—to ethnically cleanse or commit other atrocities against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Azerbaijan is now doing just that.

Eibner states, “The United States and other members of the UN Security Council must now do collectively and individually what they should have done nine months ago – immediately use every lever at their disposal to restrain Azerbaijan and protect Nagorno Karabakh’s Armenians, including sanctioning the Azerbaijani perpetrators.”

“If not, they will be complicit in another Armenian Genocide.”

Cross-posted from Christian Solidarity International.

Trump’s Shocking Answer to ‘Can a Man Become a Woman?’~What Happens when a Presidential Candidate still has no biblical faith

Trump’s Shocking Answer to 'Can a Man Become a Woman?'
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
I have to admit, I was shocked when I first saw this clip.

There’s been a lot of talk about Trump’s recent interview on SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show,” but his answer to what may have been one of the most important questions was so horrifying awful, I can’t even wrap my head around it.

During the interview, Megyn Kelly asked Trump a very simple question: “Can a man become a woman?”

Easy, right? The answer is “No, absolutely not.” It’s not complex or complicated. There’s no room for nuance, different points of view, or interpretation. A man cannot become a woman. A woman cannot become a man. There’s no gender spectrum, nor are there more than two genders.

Yet, in response to the easy question, Trump first replied with an “Ummmmmm,” then a chuckle, before saying, “In my opinion, you have a man, you have a woman. I think part of it is birth. Can the man give birth? No, although they’ll come up with some answer to that also someday. I heard just the other day they have a way that now the man can give birth. No, I would say I’ll continue my stance on that.”

Related: Money Powers the Transgender Movement, Not Science, Health, or Identity

What kind of an answer is that? Look, the sad reality is that there is no middle ground on this issue. Trump may be strongly against the mutilation of children by the transgender cult, but it feels like Trump is trying to have it both ways on this transgender nonsense, and you just can’t.

Sure, he banned transgender people in the military and is against giving children puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and such, but at the root of this issue isn’t merely whether or not a kid has the mental capacity to consent to transitioning, whether biological men should be able to play in women’s sports, or whether someone on hormones should be in the military. The root of this issue is the fundamental and basic question of whether a man can become a woman or vice versa. And if you even give the slightest hint that maybe “someday” it might be possible, then you legitimatize the transgender movement and the entire industry behind it. To make matters worse, Trump also referred to Bruce “Caitlyn” Jenner by feminine pronouns.

Related: Megyn Kelly Has an Epiphany on ‘Preferred Pronouns’

It’s a horrifyingly disappointing answer from Trump. You can watch the entire portion of the interview on the subject of gender here:

Pope Francis Weighing Removal of Conservative Texas Bishop

Pope Francis Weighing Removal of Conservative Texas Bishop
AP Photo/Andrew Medichini
Pope Francis is considering a request for the resignation of an outspoken conservative bishop in northeast Texas.

According to a report by Catholic news outlet The Pillar, Bishop Joseph Strickland of the archdiocese of Tyler was the subject of a Sept. 9 meeting between the Holy Father and cardinals-elect Robert Prevost and Christophe Pierre. Prevost is the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the body responsible for recommending the appointment of new bishops, and Pierre is the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio — or national ambassador — to the United States.

“The situation of Bishop Strickland is the agenda, and the expectation is that the Holy Father will be requesting his resignation,” an unnamed source told the publication.

Strickland has gained notoriety in recent years for his opposition to abortion, vaccine mandates, and LGBTQ ideology.

In January, Strickland criticized President Joe Biden for his support of taxpayer funding for abortions, arguing, “It is time to denounce Biden’s fake Catholicism.”

In May, he accused Pope Francis of “undermining the Deposit of Faith,” a term for the divine authority Catholics believe has been vested in the presumed successor to the Apostle Peter. Although Strickland’s statement was an attempt to clarify that he disagrees with the assertion by a conservative Catholic podcaster that Francis is not the legitimate pope, he implicitly endorsed the podcaster’s criticism of the pontiff for embracing lockdowns and the COVID-19 vaccines while failing to defend the church’s traditional views on issues like abortion, divorce and remarriage, and homosexuality.

And in June, Strickland led a prayer rally outside Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles during the team’s “Pride Night” event featuring a group of drag queens known as the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” one of whose members was recently arrested for “indulging” himself in public. Although the local archdiocese urged Catholics to pray for their community in response to the event, they stopped short of endorsing the rally held outside the stadium, fearing it could lead to confrontation and paint Catholics in a negative light.

Later that month, Strickland was visited in Tyler by emissaries from the Vatican. During his weekly podcast, he compared the visit to “being called to the principal’s office,” saying he was being investigated for “simply preaching the truth.”

However, the Vatican has had eyes on Strickland for at least the last two years.

At the 2021 annual meeting for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Strickland was confronted by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, who warned him to tone down his rhetoric because “we’re watching you.”

When contacted by Religion News Service for comment on the report of the pope’s meeting, Strickland said he had not heard anything about it from the Vatican. He also indicated he would not resign if asked to do so.

“As a basic principle I cannot resign the mandate given to me by Pope Benedict the XVI,” he wrote in an email. “Of course, that mandate can be rescinded by Pope Francis, but I cannot voluntarily abandon the flock that I have been given charge of as a successor of the apostles.”

If Strickland is removed by Francis, some critics worry conservative Catholics would view him as a political martyr.

Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University, expressed this concern to Religion News Service in May when the aforementioned incident between Strickland and Pierre was first disclosed.

“I believe that the fear is that, if he’s removed, his visibility will be amplified,” Faggioli said.

However, Strickland insists his priority is the gospel of Christ, and he isn’t trying to make a name for himself.

These recent remarks echo what he said during a July episode of his podcast.

“Really, it isn’t about me, but it’s about the truth of our faith,” Strickland explained.

Exclusively for our VIPs: Pope Francis Skewers U.S. Catholic Church for Being ‘Reactionary’

Nevertheless, he indicated nothing would deter him from this mission, saying, “I’m willing to go through anything [that] I have to, to continue to proclaim that message because love for God’s people means we share the good news of Jesus Christ.”

“They won’t stop me,” he continued. “When we’re speaking the truth of Jesus Christ, there is no politically correct. And the world can try to shut us down, but it won’t work.”

Pope Francis and the Vatican might have something to say about that, but it doesn’t appear Bishop Strickland will be riding off into the sunset anytime soon.

America’s Largest Evangelical Magazine Continues to Drift to the Left

America's Largest Evangelical Magazine Continues to Drift to the Left
Misko from Bilbao but I wish it was Amsterdam or Biarritz, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
I subscribed to Christianity Today for several years. For over half a century, the magazine and its accompanying website were the best source of news about what’s going on in mainstream Christianity,  not just in America but also throughout the world. Billy Graham founded the magazine in 1956 as an evangelical answer to the mainline magazine The Christian Counterpoint.

Vital reporting, fascinating features, and thoughtful book and music reviews characterized what Christianity Today was about. One of the most important things about the magazine was that it mostly remained apolitical yet theologically mainstream.

Rarely did the magazine get explicitly political — except when it came to presidential scandals. In 1974, the magazine stopped short of calling on Richard Nixon to step down. A 1998 editorial criticizing Bill Clinton after his impeachment called him “morally unable to lead,” while in 2019, editor-in-chief Mark Galli, who later dealt with a harassment scandal at the magazine — he said he may have “crossed lines” — wrote that Congress should remove Donald Trump from office after his impeachment.

But over the years, I started to notice a leftward drift at Christianity Today. From articles about “creation care” that weren’t much different from the rhetoric of the believers in another environmental phrase that contains two words that start with the letter C to heavily featuring and advocating for women in pastoral roles (ignoring millions of complementarian Christians across the world), Christianity Today started to sound more politically and theologically liberal.

Galli’s dumping on Trump was enough for me to cancel my subscription, but a podcast by the magazine about another scandal was more problematic. “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill” told the story of Seattle’s Mars Hill Church and the troubling leadership of its pastor, Mark Driscoll. The story was fascinating and heartrending, and the production values made it even more compelling. The problem with the podcast came in the analysis, which relied on anti-male feminism and got in multiple digs at Trump and conservatives in general.

Recommended: Most Pastors Preach the Gospel — Not This Guy
Two articles from over the summer make me question what direction Christianity Today is heading. One piece from August takes on Oliver Anthony’s hit song “Rich Men North of Richmond,” which has struck a chord with people across the nation. Author Hannah Anderson admitted that she had high hopes the first time she heard the tune.

“I was excited for a song in the tradition of Johnny Cash, Pete Seeger, and Woody Guthrie—music that names the inherent dignity of the poor, lodges a protest against establishment excess, and echoes Old Testament calls for justice, like God’s condemnation in Jeremiah 5:28 of those who ‘have grown fat and sleek’ yet ‘do not promote the case of the fatherless’ or ‘defend the just cause of the poor,’” Anderson writes.

As both a Christian and a fan of good music, I totally understand hoping for a Johnny Cash-type song — and I would welcome that. But Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie? Sorry, but no one outside of the far left would welcome a song like that these days.

What’s Anderson’s problem with the song? She says it “doesn’t love its neighbors” because Anthony takes on those who abuse welfare. The author cites these lyrics:

Lord, we got folks in the street, ain’t got nothin’ to eat

And the obese milkin’ welfare

Well, God, if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds

Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds

She then goes on to relate the time she was on food stamps and how undignified it was. Later, she lectures readers that “protest against wealthy elites and government corruption, no matter how justified, cannot ride on the backs of others who are also suffering. The price of accessing food through SNAP or a church food pantry must not be the poor’s dignity and self-worth.”

But the truth is that even Christians should have a problem with people abusing the system. Yes, it’s nice that we have a safety net for people, but the Bible doesn’t call for government welfare programs to be the primary solution to society’s problems. Anderson does laud churches and other Christian organizations for helping people in need, but it’s wrong for her to say that calling out those who abuse the system robs people of their “dignity and self-worth.”

Seeing Christian authors lose their minds to progressivism isn’t all that uncommon these days, but another article, also from August, might blow your mind. Author Beth Felker Jones compares the crowds flocking to see Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and the “Barbie” movie to church communities. Jones expresses her delight with the “theological themes” in “Barbie” and makes a cheap shot at conservative Christians when she points out that “Swift has expressed public frustration with ways American Christianity has been attached to partisan politics.” (I can only imagine that Swift doesn’t have any problems with progressive Christians.)

“The kids want communal meaning,” Jones concludes. “So I’m going to keep hoping—hoping that, maybe, what they want is the body of Christ.”

Instead of hoping, why not try to lead these kids to faith in Christ? Instead of taking potshots at Christians whose politics Taylor Swift might not agree with and lauding a movie that alienates half of those kids who need Jesus — boys and men — by saying that they all mistreat women, why not show them what a truly vibrant Christian community looks like?

I wish I knew what happened to Christianity Today. It’s reminiscent of what we’ve seen in so many large Christian organizations. John Cooper of the band Skillet, himself a committed and outspoken Christian, says that larger Christian organizations wind up “leaning left and punching right,” meaning that they’re so afraid of being labeled “evil conservatives” that they’ll take left-leaning positions and attack conservatives to avoid criticism. I have a feeling that’s what has happened to Christianity Today, and it makes me angry and sad.

Member Of Anti-Catholic Drag Queen Group Arrested For Indecent Public Exposure

Member Of Anti-Catholic Drag Queen Group Arrested For Indecent Public Exposure

Members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

OAN’s Brooke Mallory
12:48 PM – Wednesday, September 13, 2023

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/member-of-anti-catholic-drag-queen-group-arrested-for-indecent-public-exposure/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

According to a sheriff’s office report that the press obtained this week, a prominent member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of primarily gay men who dress in drag and openly mock Catholics, was arrested in California last month for indecent exposure after it was alleged by witnesses that he openly masturbated in public for an hour.

After receiving a report of a man “exposing himself in the driver’s seat of a parked vehicle,” authorities detained 53-year-old Clinton Monroe Ellis-Gilmore at a seaside park, according to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s office.

“According to numerous witnesses, Ellis-Gilmore had been at that location for approximately one hour, sitting in his truck with the door open, masturbating,” according to a sheriff’s report on the incident, which took place on August 12th at around 6:41 p.m. “The conduct does not appear to have been directed at anyone in particular.” 

In Loleta, California, at Table Bluff County Park, the arrest was made.

The park is described by Google reviews as “good for kids” and the location of “kid-friendly hikes.”

The press was able to obtain Ellis-Gilmore’s booking photo, which shows that he was shirtless when he was taken into custody.

Earlier this year, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ decision to recognize the group during an LGBTQ “Pride” event garnered negative backlash for the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

However, the group also gained the backing of many mainstream media outlets who supported the organization against those who said it was a perverse hate group, praising them for their “dedication to community service.”

The men typically dress as traditional nuns and use names that are sexually provocative while mocking Catholicism and Christianity.

A local Humboldt County website, The Lost Coast Populist, broke the news of Ellis-Gilmore’s original arrest. They discovered several of his previous social media posts and established the first connection between Ellis-Gilmore and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

Ellis-Gilmore made no attempt to conceal what was happening in the park, according to Randy Fleek, a witness who spoke with the officers who conducted the arrest.

Fleek said that Ellis-Gilmore had parked two spaces away from his trailer, leaving the truck door wide open while putting his right leg up on the dashboard. He was also reportedly wearing no trousers, giving Fleek an open side view of Ellis-Gilmore “playing with himself.”

“Well this is f***ed up,” Fleek said, speaking of what he saw. “It’s obvious. You cannot help but see this guy, he’s not hiding it. He wants everyone to see what he’s doing.”

Throughout the hour, he said that vehicles pulled up to the parking area and left, some of them carrying young girls and boys who were passing by. Fleek said that he felt immense relief when the sheriff’s deputies came.

“There’s something wrong with that man. He’s got a weird f***ing desire to show off to the public, to anybody that wants to look at him,” Fleek said. “He puts himself in a position and in a spot that you can’t help but look at the son of a b****.”

The “popular” park, where many cars pass by to gaze at the ocean, added to the unsettling nature of what he saw.

“People do not pull in to view this sort of perverse behavior, they do so to see the ocean.”

He maintained that Ellis-Gilmore’s purported intentions were obvious.

The suspected public masturbator, Ellis-Gilmore, had long been involved with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in Eureka, California. According to social media posts, Ellis-Gilmore appears to go by numerous identities in the organization, including “Novice Sister Bethe Cockhim” and “Novice Sister Man Romeo.”

Ellis-Gilmore took part in a number of Eureka Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence activities, including a book reading at an elementary school where he read to kids while a man in a mock-nun costume and fishnet tights was also seen wearing a blonde wig.

“Yesterday sisters had the most magical time reading story books to the Peninsula elementary school kids in recognition of them Studying LGBT awareness month! Thanks for the honor!” a post from October 31st, 2018 read. 

Additionally, Ellis-Gilmore and the “sisters” have a history of posting sexually explicit statements on social media. Two sister members were shown clutching a fake penis in one of their posts, while Ellis-Gilmore displayed his nipple piercing and a cartoon “gay smurf” drawing with erections and pubic hair.

Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts

Biden ignores genocide of Christians, reaffirms commitment to and ‘friendship’ with ‘democratic’ Nigeria

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/09/biden-ignores-genocide-of-christians-reaffirms-commitment-to-and-friendship-with-democratic-nigeria;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

The Daily Signal recognized a pattern last year with the Biden administration, and rightly termed it as an “outrageous betrayal” of Nigeria’s persecuted Christians when “religious freedom designations were declared” and “Nigeria once again was entirely ignored by Biden and company.” Genocide Watch has reported that in Nigeria, more than 6,000 Christians were killed in the 15 months from January 2021 through March 2022, and 45,644 died in the course of 13 years.

Joe Biden has now done it again. He has “reaffirmed his commitment to the longstanding relationship between the country and Nigeria……Africa’s largest democracy,” and has boasted of “the longstanding friendship between our two countries and peoples.”

Nigeria is technically a democracy, but it is a country in crisis, where Christians are suffering under the jihadist threat and the proliferation of jihad activity, and where revolutionary secessionist groups in the southeast create upheaval. It is hardly deserving of a pat on the back from Biden. His continued slap in the face to the Christians in Nigeria and complete exoneration of Nigeria’s government for any responsibility for the nation’s jihad problem is just another indication of Biden’s callousness toward Christians. But that should come as no surprise. A few months ago, Fox News reported that “anti-Christian hostility” is at  “unprecedented levels” under Biden.

“Biden re-affirms commitment to U.S-Nigeria relationship — Nigeria,” by Oluyemi Ogunseyin, The Guardian Nigeria, September 10, 2023:

United States President Joe Biden has reaffirmed his commitment to the longstanding relationship between the country and Nigeria.

This was stated in a statement released by the White House following Biden’s encounter with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, on Sunday.

“President Joe Biden has reinforced our enduring commitment to the U.S.-Nigeria relationship and to the longstanding friendship between our two countries and peoples,” the statement read.

“President Biden welcomed the Tinubu Administration’s steps to reform Nigeria’s economy.

“He also thanked President Tinubu for his strong leadership as the chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to defend and preserve democracy and the rule of law in Niger and the broader region.”…..

Shocking: New Mexico Governor Bans Second Amendment!

ABOVE: PASTOR & PREACHER SPENCER SMITH REPORTS

Two Republican members of the New Mexico State House of Representatives are calling for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to be impeached.

Gov. Lujan Grisham holds news conference on gun violence

Michelle Lujan Grisham speech at Biden's Belen conference

 

President Biden to campaign for Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham

Former Policeman: Governor Suspends Constitution! Lawsuits Filed…Where Is The Arrest?!

Ronchetti: Lujan Grisham Admits Gun Ban Is A Farce As Crime Rages

Stand Up Against The Wicked Witch of the West Governor of New Mexico: Why the 2nd Exists

 

 

Melissa Dougherty: Pronouns, the Gender Spectrum, and Truth With Dr. Doug Groothius

Today, I interviewed Dr. Groothuis about the craziness we see around us and what we can do about it. Dr. Groothuis holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy and is a Professor of Philosophy at Denver Seminary. He is the author of sixteen books and has also published over thirty academic articles in journals as well as dozens of pieces in publications. https://www.douglasgroothuis.com/

FORMER SOUTHERN BAPTIST, NOW ANGLICAN, APOSTATE Beth Moore Now Fellowships With Muslims, IN HER OWN CHURCH

 

Imam Stands in Pulpit at Beth Moore’s Church and Preaches From the Koran

Beth Moore has served as a lector during worship service at St. Timothy’s. According to at least one definition, in the Anglican Church, “The lector carries out his/her primary function during the Liturgy of the Word, proclaiming God’s Word to His people so that, strengthened by the words of Holy Scripture, they might come to a deeper love of God and a fuller Christian life.”

But in an even more shocking turn of events, Beth Moore’s church has now invited a Muslim Imam to come deliver a sermon and offer a prayer of worship in front of the church. This Imam came and took the pulpit—literally stood in the pulpit of this church where the pastor is supposed to proclaim the words of God—and instead stood there and profaned the Words of God and preached blasphemies from the Koran.

Is there room for discussion with Muslims and people of other religions as the pastor of this church claims? Of course. The Scriptures compel us to preach the unwavering, convicting truth and call the lost to repentance and faith. It does not, under any circumstances, call us to allow blasphemers to stand in our pulpits and address our congregations. This is spiritual malpractice at its worst.

_______________________________________________________

SEE ALSO:

Muslim Imam Preaches at Beth Moores Church

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