The Bulletin Board:(Please SCROLL DOWN this page to find the article titled on this post in LARGE CAPITAL LETTERS. Thank you.)
PRAY FOR AMERICA: THANK GOD for His many blessings on America throughout it's history. May we then ask that AMERICA once again be a blessing TO GOD, by once again submitting to HIS will in our affairs - both personal and national - that He may truly "heal our land." (2 Chron. 7:14)
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: Save Christian Mom Asia Bibi from Execution - A Christian mom has been sentenced to death in Pakistan for her faith. Asia Bibi was falsely accused of “blasphemy” – speaking against the prophet Muhammad. Now this wife and mother of five will hang for her Christian faith.She would be the first woman executed under Pakistan’s Shariah blasphemy law.This is the ultimate human rights violation. We’re mobilizing our international affiliate – the European Centre for Law and Justice – and its partner in Pakistan to stop this atrocity. Add your name to our letter to the government of Pakistan demanding Asia Bibi’s freedom.Go to > http://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-mom-asia-bibi-from-execution; please add your signature to mine and over 35,000 others AND pray for Asia Bibi.
URGENT REQUEST: Pray for Brittany Maynard (discussed in past posts #1025 and #1026 and the second article in post #1032) who plans to commit suicide SAT., NOV. 1. Pray that there are family and friends who will finally persuade her to change her mind.
U.S. Supreme Court has Reconvened: Let's be praying WHENEVER the Court is in session as their decisions can have impact on GENERATIONS to come. The fact that they may have an opportunity this session to actually vote on same-sex "marriage" where it has the same impact on this country that Roe v. Wade did should be motivating enough!
ELECTION DAY, NOV. 4th. Let's begin praying that the American people will have wisdom in voting into office those who will lead our communities and nation with integrity and wisdom from God and DO NO HARM!.
WORLD-WDE PRAYER REQUESTS:
Friday, Sept. 26th - Two Year Anniversary of Pastor Saeed Abedini's Imprisonment in Iran! - [NOTE TODAY'S POST!]
We need to continue to pray for Pastor Saeed - that his health will improve and that he will be re-united with his wife and two young children who live in the United States. [If you have not yet, please sign the petition for his clemency- http://beheardproject.com/saeed#sign]
"Not Everyone Happy with Religious Ambassador Pick," Caitlin Burke,July 29, 2014;
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/July/Obama-Taps-Rabbi-for-Religious-Freedom-Ambassador/ "..An estimated 76 percent of the world's population live in countries where religious freedom is restricted. Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States must take a strong stand against those violations. "Around the world repressive governments and extremists groups have been crystal clear about what they stand against, so we have to be equally clear about what we must stand for," Kerry said. "We stand for greater freedom, for greater tolerance, greater respect, for rights of freedom of expression and freedom of conscience," he said A key development in the 2013 report is the large number of displaced members of religious communities, including entire Christian communities in Syria and Iraq that have been forced to flee their homes because of persecution."
SIGN A PETITION TO THE UN FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHRISTIANS :" The church in Syria has shone brightly for 2,000 years. But today violence and persecution threatens its survival. Thanks to an incredible response, Open Doors is helping 8,000 families in Syria survive each month. We believe the signatures and prayers of 500,000 people will encourage the UN to act and protect the rights and lives of all Syrians, especially the vulnerable Christian community." Go to: http://lp.opendoorsusa.org/emails/nov-13-action/save-syria.html?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button&utm_campaign=november
Of course, let's CONTINUE PRAYING FOR AN END TO THE EBOLA CRISIS IN WEST AFRICA AND THE HEALING OF ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN INFECTED.
PRAY FOR THE CRISIS HAPPENING NOW IN IRAQ (see post #907) Pray that allied forces will be able to drive the group ISIS back (see post #964)
/PRAYER ALERT- UKRAINE: As the Lord leads, please pray:
*For God to suppress President Putin’s ambitions to "restore" the Soviet empire.
*For the people of Ukrainen [esp. for the church 'to be THE church'] as they wait to see if the Russian troops will advance.
*About President Obama and to use wisdom in crafting our foreign policy, and wisdom for his advisers.
Continue to Pray for EGYPT - Continue to pray for the tense situation in Egypt and especially for the Christian believers who are being targeted with violence by Muslim Brotherhood members.]
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"Hand Over Your Sermon, Or Else - INTIMIDATING THE FAITHFUL" - By: Eric Metaxas| Breakpoint.org: October 17, 2014;
http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/26252?spMailingID=9702136&spUserID=MTMyMjM2ODE5OQS2&spJobID=401479699&spReportId=NDAxNDc5Njk5S0 [AS I SEE IT: Praise God for the Christians and pastors in Houston who are standing up against this blatant effort of intimidation! Of course, this brings to mind several questions: 1) What of those who've chosen not to stand up? Why are they so willing for their religious freedom to be so clearly threatened?; and 2) What about other Christians, other pastors in this country? How many of us are willing to let our freedoms be taken? Is this just to be expected when the majority just sit by and let our culture become more and more hostile to Biblical truths - when we don't even make the effort to vote and seek to elect representatives who will do good, who will at least do no harm to us and future generations by their decisions? Maybe it's time people meeting in weekly church neighborhood groups began discussing these questions and together asking God to enable them to stand up before it's too late. - Stan]
Wake up, folks. Religious freedom is our most precious liberty under the Constitution. And if you heard what happened in Houston lately, you know it’s under threat. [Last] week, the city of Houston, the fourth-largest city in the U.S., issued a subpoena to a group of pastors demanding copies of sermons that touched on the subjects of “homosexuality, gender identity or Annise Parker, the city’s first openly-lesbian mayor.”
Let that sink in. In America, a city government has demanded that religious leaders turn over their sermons or face contempt of court charges, even possibly jail time. Words fail me. This is beyond outrageous. John Stonestreet and I—and Chuck Colson before us—have been warning for years that our religious liberties are in peril in every aspect of life. This may be the wake-up call the church in America needs.
Okay, so here’s the background. In May, the city council enacted an ordinance that permitted transgendered men to use women’s public restrooms.Mayor Parker defended the ordinance as a measure that supported the “Houston I know [that] does not discriminate, treats everyone equally and allows full participation by everyone in civic and business life.” Missing in that high-sounding rhetoric was any guidance regarding how to distinguish a transgendered man from a guy who simply wants to see women in various states of undress in a public restroom.
In response to this, opponents of the ordinance gathered more than 50,000 signatures to put a measure repealing the ordinance on the ballot. While “the city secretary, who is entrusted by law to examine and certify petitions, certified [it] as sufficient,” the city attorney and the mayor’s office threw out the petitions claiming irregularities. The people behind the petition drive then sued the city.
That’s when Houston decided to play hardball and issued the subpoenas to the pastors. Mayor Parker called the demand for the sermons “fair game,” even though none of the pastors was directly connected to the petition drive or the lawsuit.
A colleague of mine, who graduated from law school and passed the bar, asked “how is this legal?” when he learned about the subpoenas. And of course, he wasn’t alone. Russell Moore, of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, in a piece entitled “Houston, We Have a Constitution,” wrote that he was “simply stunned by the audacity” of the subpoenas. As the Alliance Defending Freedom’s Christiana Holcomb put it, “The city council and its attorneys are engaging in an inquisition designed to stifle any critique of its actions. Political and social commentary is not a crime; it is protected by the First Amendment.”
Presumably, Houston’s lawyers also graduated from law school and passed the bar, so they had to know that there was no way this action would stand up in court. So why did they proceed? They proceeded because their goal was not legal—it was political. The goal was not to prevail in litigation over the petitions but to intimidate their opponents and create what the Supreme Court has called a “chilling effect” on future challenges to government actions by religiously-motivated citizens. The message was “oppose us and we will make your life miserable.”
As I record this commentary, it seems that Houston is re-thinking the subpoenas. But it’s important to note that if they are, it’s only because citizens are crying foul and pushing back—hard. As they should.
That in itself is a sad reminder that the freedom we once took for granted is now up for grabs. And that we can never, ever be silent in the face of this kind of horrendous and utterly un-American intimidation.
Maybe we’ll win this round, but it’s clear that we have a problem—and not only in Houston.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION - "Hand Over Your Sermon, Or Else: Intimidating the Faithful" - The alarm has been sounded; now raise your voice. Share this commentary with family and friends. Post it on Facebook and Twitter. And be sure your pastor gets a copy. It's high time we joined the fight to defend our religious liberty.
RESOURCES
"Houston, We Have a Problem" - Erik Stanley | Alliance Defending Freedom | October 13, 2014; http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/9349
"Houston, We Have a Constitution" - Russell Moore | Moore to the Point | October 14, 2014; http://www.russellmoore.com/2014/10/14/houston-we-have-a-constitution/
The Liberty Threat: The Attack on Religious Freedom in America Today - James Tonkowich | Saint Benedict Press | July 2014
The Global Public Square: Religious Freedom and the Making of a World Safe for Diversity - Os Guinness | IVP Books | September 2013
The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today - Alan Sears, Craig Osten | B&H Publishing Group | July 2003
PRAY FOR AMERICA: THANK GOD for His many blessings on America throughout it's history. May we then ask that AMERICA once again be a blessing TO GOD, by once again submitting to HIS will in our affairs - both personal and national - that He may truly "heal our land." (2 Chron. 7:14)
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: Save Christian Mom Asia Bibi from Execution - A Christian mom has been sentenced to death in Pakistan for her faith. Asia Bibi was falsely accused of “blasphemy” – speaking against the prophet Muhammad. Now this wife and mother of five will hang for her Christian faith.She would be the first woman executed under Pakistan’s Shariah blasphemy law.This is the ultimate human rights violation. We’re mobilizing our international affiliate – the European Centre for Law and Justice – and its partner in Pakistan to stop this atrocity. Add your name to our letter to the government of Pakistan demanding Asia Bibi’s freedom.Go to > http://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-mom-asia-bibi-from-execution; please add your signature to mine and over 35,000 others AND pray for Asia Bibi.
URGENT REQUEST: Pray for Brittany Maynard (discussed in past posts #1025 and #1026 and the second article in post #1032) who plans to commit suicide SAT., NOV. 1. Pray that there are family and friends who will finally persuade her to change her mind.
U.S. Supreme Court has Reconvened: Let's be praying WHENEVER the Court is in session as their decisions can have impact on GENERATIONS to come. The fact that they may have an opportunity this session to actually vote on same-sex "marriage" where it has the same impact on this country that Roe v. Wade did should be motivating enough!
ELECTION DAY, NOV. 4th. Let's begin praying that the American people will have wisdom in voting into office those who will lead our communities and nation with integrity and wisdom from God and DO NO HARM!.
WORLD-WDE PRAYER REQUESTS:
Friday, Sept. 26th - Two Year Anniversary of Pastor Saeed Abedini's Imprisonment in Iran! - [NOTE TODAY'S POST!]
We need to continue to pray for Pastor Saeed - that his health will improve and that he will be re-united with his wife and two young children who live in the United States. [If you have not yet, please sign the petition for his clemency- http://beheardproject.com/saeed#sign]
PRAY ALSO : - For comfort and peace for Saeed’s wife and children here in the U.S.\
- For a strong witness and testimony from Pastor Abedini in the prison where God has placed him
- For Christians around the world who are being persecuted for their faith in Christ
- For leadership from the White House and State Department in defending the freedoms of Abedini and other Americans
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/July/Obama-Taps-Rabbi-for-Religious-Freedom-Ambassador/ "..An estimated 76 percent of the world's population live in countries where religious freedom is restricted. Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States must take a strong stand against those violations. "Around the world repressive governments and extremists groups have been crystal clear about what they stand against, so we have to be equally clear about what we must stand for," Kerry said. "We stand for greater freedom, for greater tolerance, greater respect, for rights of freedom of expression and freedom of conscience," he said A key development in the 2013 report is the large number of displaced members of religious communities, including entire Christian communities in Syria and Iraq that have been forced to flee their homes because of persecution."
SIGN A PETITION TO THE UN FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHRISTIANS :" The church in Syria has shone brightly for 2,000 years. But today violence and persecution threatens its survival. Thanks to an incredible response, Open Doors is helping 8,000 families in Syria survive each month. We believe the signatures and prayers of 500,000 people will encourage the UN to act and protect the rights and lives of all Syrians, especially the vulnerable Christian community." Go to: http://lp.opendoorsusa.org/emails/nov-13-action/save-syria.html?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button&utm_campaign=november
Of course, let's CONTINUE PRAYING FOR AN END TO THE EBOLA CRISIS IN WEST AFRICA AND THE HEALING OF ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN INFECTED.
PRAY FOR THE CRISIS HAPPENING NOW IN IRAQ (see post #907) Pray that allied forces will be able to drive the group ISIS back (see post #964)
/PRAYER ALERT- UKRAINE: As the Lord leads, please pray:
*For God to suppress President Putin’s ambitions to "restore" the Soviet empire.
*For the people of Ukrainen [esp. for the church 'to be THE church'] as they wait to see if the Russian troops will advance.
*About President Obama and to use wisdom in crafting our foreign policy, and wisdom for his advisers.
Continue to Pray for EGYPT - Continue to pray for the tense situation in Egypt and especially for the Christian believers who are being targeted with violence by Muslim Brotherhood members.]
"Hand Over Your Sermon, Or Else - INTIMIDATING THE FAITHFUL" - By: Eric Metaxas| Breakpoint.org: October 17, 2014;
http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/26252?spMailingID=9702136&spUserID=MTMyMjM2ODE5OQS2&spJobID=401479699&spReportId=NDAxNDc5Njk5S0 [AS I SEE IT: Praise God for the Christians and pastors in Houston who are standing up against this blatant effort of intimidation! Of course, this brings to mind several questions: 1) What of those who've chosen not to stand up? Why are they so willing for their religious freedom to be so clearly threatened?; and 2) What about other Christians, other pastors in this country? How many of us are willing to let our freedoms be taken? Is this just to be expected when the majority just sit by and let our culture become more and more hostile to Biblical truths - when we don't even make the effort to vote and seek to elect representatives who will do good, who will at least do no harm to us and future generations by their decisions? Maybe it's time people meeting in weekly church neighborhood groups began discussing these questions and together asking God to enable them to stand up before it's too late. - Stan]
Wake up, folks. Religious freedom is our most precious liberty under the Constitution. And if you heard what happened in Houston lately, you know it’s under threat. [Last] week, the city of Houston, the fourth-largest city in the U.S., issued a subpoena to a group of pastors demanding copies of sermons that touched on the subjects of “homosexuality, gender identity or Annise Parker, the city’s first openly-lesbian mayor.”
Let that sink in. In America, a city government has demanded that religious leaders turn over their sermons or face contempt of court charges, even possibly jail time. Words fail me. This is beyond outrageous. John Stonestreet and I—and Chuck Colson before us—have been warning for years that our religious liberties are in peril in every aspect of life. This may be the wake-up call the church in America needs.
Okay, so here’s the background. In May, the city council enacted an ordinance that permitted transgendered men to use women’s public restrooms.Mayor Parker defended the ordinance as a measure that supported the “Houston I know [that] does not discriminate, treats everyone equally and allows full participation by everyone in civic and business life.” Missing in that high-sounding rhetoric was any guidance regarding how to distinguish a transgendered man from a guy who simply wants to see women in various states of undress in a public restroom.
In response to this, opponents of the ordinance gathered more than 50,000 signatures to put a measure repealing the ordinance on the ballot. While “the city secretary, who is entrusted by law to examine and certify petitions, certified [it] as sufficient,” the city attorney and the mayor’s office threw out the petitions claiming irregularities. The people behind the petition drive then sued the city.
That’s when Houston decided to play hardball and issued the subpoenas to the pastors. Mayor Parker called the demand for the sermons “fair game,” even though none of the pastors was directly connected to the petition drive or the lawsuit.
A colleague of mine, who graduated from law school and passed the bar, asked “how is this legal?” when he learned about the subpoenas. And of course, he wasn’t alone. Russell Moore, of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, in a piece entitled “Houston, We Have a Constitution,” wrote that he was “simply stunned by the audacity” of the subpoenas. As the Alliance Defending Freedom’s Christiana Holcomb put it, “The city council and its attorneys are engaging in an inquisition designed to stifle any critique of its actions. Political and social commentary is not a crime; it is protected by the First Amendment.”
Presumably, Houston’s lawyers also graduated from law school and passed the bar, so they had to know that there was no way this action would stand up in court. So why did they proceed? They proceeded because their goal was not legal—it was political. The goal was not to prevail in litigation over the petitions but to intimidate their opponents and create what the Supreme Court has called a “chilling effect” on future challenges to government actions by religiously-motivated citizens. The message was “oppose us and we will make your life miserable.”
As I record this commentary, it seems that Houston is re-thinking the subpoenas. But it’s important to note that if they are, it’s only because citizens are crying foul and pushing back—hard. As they should.
That in itself is a sad reminder that the freedom we once took for granted is now up for grabs. And that we can never, ever be silent in the face of this kind of horrendous and utterly un-American intimidation.
Maybe we’ll win this round, but it’s clear that we have a problem—and not only in Houston.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION - "Hand Over Your Sermon, Or Else: Intimidating the Faithful" - The alarm has been sounded; now raise your voice. Share this commentary with family and friends. Post it on Facebook and Twitter. And be sure your pastor gets a copy. It's high time we joined the fight to defend our religious liberty.
RESOURCES
"Houston, We Have a Problem" - Erik Stanley | Alliance Defending Freedom | October 13, 2014; http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/9349
"Houston, We Have a Constitution" - Russell Moore | Moore to the Point | October 14, 2014; http://www.russellmoore.com/2014/10/14/houston-we-have-a-constitution/
The Liberty Threat: The Attack on Religious Freedom in America Today - James Tonkowich | Saint Benedict Press | July 2014
The Global Public Square: Religious Freedom and the Making of a World Safe for Diversity - Os Guinness | IVP Books | September 2013
The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today - Alan Sears, Craig Osten | B&H Publishing Group | July 2003
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