ATTENTION: SCROLL DOWN to get t today's article entitled in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. And PLEASE be sure to note the various PRAYER REQUESTS listed AFTER the posted article. They deserve your intercession. THANK YOU.
President Trump’s long-anticipated order on religious freedom reminds us that salvation won’t come on Air Force One.
Yesterday, on the National Day of Prayer, President Trump signed an executive order on religious liberty. Unfortunately, though it was a “first step,” it was a small one, an order Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation called “woefully inadequate.”
Now, let me be clear: there are things in the order worth praising. The president said that “No American should be forced to choose between the dictates of the federal government and the tenets of their faith.” I couldn’t agree more. And I’m thankful that at least so far this administration, unlike the last one, isn’t forcing that choice on Americans. Still, protecting religious freedom requires more than just noble sentiments. And here is where the executive order disappoints. After directing the federal government to “vigorously enforce Federal law’s robust protections for religious freedom,” the measures set forth in the order are, well, less than vigorous.
The order instructs the Secretaries of the Treasury, Labor, and HHS to “consider amending existing regulations” to address “conscience-based objections” to the HHS mandate. Words like “consider” aren’t exactly a guarantee that anything will change. As Ryan Anderson told The Atlantic, the “regulatory relief” promised to groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor may very well amount to, “Well, you have to do it, because [the Supreme Court] told you to do it,” but, it “doesn’t move the ball” on religious liberty.
Nor does the emphasis on the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits churches and other charitable organizations from endorsing political candidates. First, the Johnson Amendment is bad law, but it’s rarely, if ever, enforced. So the order effectively tells the IRS to continue doing what it is already doing. Second, the inability to endorse candidates from the pulpit on Sunday isn’t the problem with religious freedom in this country. The problem is the increasing inability of Christians and other people of religious conviction to practice their faith Monday through Saturday.
Yesterday’s events suggest that, as I said after the election, the incoming administration has offered us a reprieve on religious freedom, but not a champion. Or as Chuck Colson often put it, salvation doesn’t arrive on Air Force One. So, with or without the executive order we really wanted, we have to know this: The case for religious freedom must be made both in our churches and over our backyard fences. Even had we gotten the executive order many of us had hoped for, it would have been, at best a temporary help.
Why? Because our cultural understanding of religious freedom is currently not strong enough to offer or to sustain a long-term political solution. Like the understanding of marriage was lost in the cultural imagination way before Obergefell, so the understanding of religious freedom has been lost in the culture. Many are just frankly ignorant about what the free exercise of religion means and why our founders thought it so important. For most Americans, religious freedom means the ability to “attend the church of your choice.” The logical corollary of this would be, “what happens in church stays in church.” Of course, if Christians took that idea seriously, there would be a lot fewer religious hospitals, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, etc. Government can’t even begin to fill the vacuum left should these institutions be forced out of business.
Americans must be reminded that believers ought [NOT] be made to choose between obeying their conscience and serving their neighbor. And it would help if Christians understood this better. In too many churches, being a Christian is about how God can make your life better, not how you can work with God to make the invisible kingdom visible.
This is where the battle for religious freedom will be fought, and either won or lost, no matter who sits in the Oval Office.
[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]
Further Reading and Information
"Presidential Executive Order Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty" - Office of the Press Secretary | White House - https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/04/presidential-executive-order-promoting-free-speech-and-religious-liberty
"Trump’s Executive Order Fails to Address Most Pressing Religious Liberty Threats" -
Ryan T. Anderson | The Daily Signal | May 4, 2017; http://dailysignal.com/2017/05/04/trumps-executive-order-fails-address-pressing-religious-liberty-threats/
"Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience" - Chuck Colson, Robert George, Timothy George; http://manhattandeclaration.org/man_dec_resources/Manhattan_Declaration_full_text.pdf
Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom- Ryan T. Anderson | Regnery Publishing | August 2015 - - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=9781621574514
The Global Public Square: Religious Freedom and the Making of a World Safe for Diversity - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=9780830837670
Os Guinness | IVP Books | September 2013
PRAY FOR OUR LEADERS: 1) Pray for President Trump and his advisers, that they would select Godly leaders at the federal level who will be accountable to do an excellent job (or be fired!) ; that he would seek God's wisdom and be enabled to lead our country effectively in the years ahead; and 2) Pray our leaders at every level of government will Spirit-filled, leading us with Godly wisdom and integrity; that they will only pass legislation and enact policies that will benefit Americans today as well as future generations and NOT do any lasting harm.
SUPREME COURT: PRAY 1) that the Senate will quickly confirm Judge Gorsuch for the Supeme Court, and 2) that the justices will only hand down decisions that are Constitutionally sound and in the best interests of our country now and for future generations.
BE Prepared TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST ABORTION
(...because ALL Babies Matter! - http://www.lifenews.com/2017/03/01/why-do-unborn-babies-matter-just-because-they-are/
: Go to: LIFE Training Institute - http://prolifetraining.com/resources/five-minute-11/
Be Prepared TO ENGAGE WITH THE PC CULTURE:
Go to:"Tactics" -
http://townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/2016/04/29/tactics-n2154983
"PRESIDENT TRUMP'S RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ORDER - ONCE AGAIN POLITICS DOWNSTREAM FROM CULTURE" - by: John Stonestreet & Roberto Rivera, Breakpoint.org, May 5, 2017; http://breakpoint.org/2017/05/breakpoint-president-trumps-religious-freedom-order/
PERSONAL UPDATE 5/1 - See JOURNAL section on right side of this blog page.
----------------------------------------------------------
Yesterday, on the National Day of Prayer, President Trump signed an executive order on religious liberty. Unfortunately, though it was a “first step,” it was a small one, an order Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation called “woefully inadequate.”
Now, let me be clear: there are things in the order worth praising. The president said that “No American should be forced to choose between the dictates of the federal government and the tenets of their faith.” I couldn’t agree more. And I’m thankful that at least so far this administration, unlike the last one, isn’t forcing that choice on Americans. Still, protecting religious freedom requires more than just noble sentiments. And here is where the executive order disappoints. After directing the federal government to “vigorously enforce Federal law’s robust protections for religious freedom,” the measures set forth in the order are, well, less than vigorous.
The order instructs the Secretaries of the Treasury, Labor, and HHS to “consider amending existing regulations” to address “conscience-based objections” to the HHS mandate. Words like “consider” aren’t exactly a guarantee that anything will change. As Ryan Anderson told The Atlantic, the “regulatory relief” promised to groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor may very well amount to, “Well, you have to do it, because [the Supreme Court] told you to do it,” but, it “doesn’t move the ball” on religious liberty.
Nor does the emphasis on the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits churches and other charitable organizations from endorsing political candidates. First, the Johnson Amendment is bad law, but it’s rarely, if ever, enforced. So the order effectively tells the IRS to continue doing what it is already doing. Second, the inability to endorse candidates from the pulpit on Sunday isn’t the problem with religious freedom in this country. The problem is the increasing inability of Christians and other people of religious conviction to practice their faith Monday through Saturday.
Yesterday’s events suggest that, as I said after the election, the incoming administration has offered us a reprieve on religious freedom, but not a champion. Or as Chuck Colson often put it, salvation doesn’t arrive on Air Force One. So, with or without the executive order we really wanted, we have to know this: The case for religious freedom must be made both in our churches and over our backyard fences. Even had we gotten the executive order many of us had hoped for, it would have been, at best a temporary help.
Why? Because our cultural understanding of religious freedom is currently not strong enough to offer or to sustain a long-term political solution. Like the understanding of marriage was lost in the cultural imagination way before Obergefell, so the understanding of religious freedom has been lost in the culture. Many are just frankly ignorant about what the free exercise of religion means and why our founders thought it so important. For most Americans, religious freedom means the ability to “attend the church of your choice.” The logical corollary of this would be, “what happens in church stays in church.” Of course, if Christians took that idea seriously, there would be a lot fewer religious hospitals, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, etc. Government can’t even begin to fill the vacuum left should these institutions be forced out of business.
Americans must be reminded that believers ought [NOT] be made to choose between obeying their conscience and serving their neighbor. And it would help if Christians understood this better. In too many churches, being a Christian is about how God can make your life better, not how you can work with God to make the invisible kingdom visible.
This is where the battle for religious freedom will be fought, and either won or lost, no matter who sits in the Oval Office.
[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]
Further Reading and Information
"Presidential Executive Order Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty" - Office of the Press Secretary | White House - https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/04/presidential-executive-order-promoting-free-speech-and-religious-liberty
"Trump’s Executive Order Fails to Address Most Pressing Religious Liberty Threats" -
Ryan T. Anderson | The Daily Signal | May 4, 2017; http://dailysignal.com/2017/05/04/trumps-executive-order-fails-address-pressing-religious-liberty-threats/
"Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience" - Chuck Colson, Robert George, Timothy George; http://manhattandeclaration.org/man_dec_resources/Manhattan_Declaration_full_text.pdf
Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom- Ryan T. Anderson | Regnery Publishing | August 2015 - - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=9781621574514
The Global Public Square: Religious Freedom and the Making of a World Safe for Diversity - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=9780830837670
Os Guinness | IVP Books | September 2013
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
PRAYER MATTERS:
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world." - Karl Barth; "Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory." - Stan
PLEASE BE IN PRAYER FOR THE PEOPLE OF SYRIA [from OpenDoors.org]
2/7 American Center for Law and Justice: American Pastor Andrew Brunson still languishes in a Turkish prison. He’s one of 19 prisoners in a 10-person cell. He’s the only Christian. Pastor Andrew has been falsely charged with “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” He has served and loved the people of Turkey for more than two decades. Now this U.S. citizen is in extreme danger – falsely charged for his Christian faith. We are representing his family and have launched an aggressive global campaign demanding that Turkey – a fellow member of NATO – release him immediately. We’re working on Capitol Hill with our nation’s leaders, through our international offices, and around the globe to secure the release of Pastor Andrew. Now, we are preparing to send a critical legal letter to Turkey’s president in the next few days. Time is of the essence. Sign our letter before we send it. Join the fight. Be Pastor Andrew’s voice. He needs it now more than ever.Sign Our Petition: Free American Pastor Andrew Brunson.https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/free-american-pastor-andrew-brunson
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world." - Karl Barth; "Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory." - Stan
PLEASE BE IN PRAYER FOR THE PEOPLE OF SYRIA [from OpenDoors.org]
*For families struck by terror in such an unexpected way — while they were sleeping — to receive the care and rest that they need to physically and emotionally heal from this horrific ordeal.
*For those who executed the attack. This act was full of evil and hate, but no one is too far from God’s saving grace. May God convict their hearts today of the evil act they did — in direct rebellion to Him and His Word. May He save them miraculously, just as God did with Paul, while he was persecuting the church.
*For believers in Syria and in this region as they navigate so much uncertainty. May they remain faithful to God through these most difficult times as He sustains them with peace and endurance. May the gospel be ever-present in their minds.
2/7 American Center for Law and Justice: American Pastor Andrew Brunson still languishes in a Turkish prison. He’s one of 19 prisoners in a 10-person cell. He’s the only Christian. Pastor Andrew has been falsely charged with “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” He has served and loved the people of Turkey for more than two decades. Now this U.S. citizen is in extreme danger – falsely charged for his Christian faith. We are representing his family and have launched an aggressive global campaign demanding that Turkey – a fellow member of NATO – release him immediately. We’re working on Capitol Hill with our nation’s leaders, through our international offices, and around the globe to secure the release of Pastor Andrew. Now, we are preparing to send a critical legal letter to Turkey’s president in the next few days. Time is of the essence. Sign our letter before we send it. Join the fight. Be Pastor Andrew’s voice. He needs it now more than ever.Sign Our Petition: Free American Pastor Andrew Brunson.https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/free-american-pastor-andrew-brunson
12/13- American Center For Law and Justice: On trial for their faith, two Christian pastors in Sudan face death. Christian Pastors Hassan Abduraheem and Kuwa Shamal have been brutally imprisoned for nearly a year – 359 days – in deplorable conditions. Their trial has been delayed time and time again.Their churches miss them. Their families need them. They face possible death sentences because they are Christians. At the ACLJ, we've launched a massive international legal advocacy campaign for their freedom. We're preparing critical legal letters to Sudan, raising their case with world leaders, and preparing action at the U.N. They could be sentenced to hang for their faith if the world is silent. Christian Pastors Hassan and Kuwa need your voice now. Time is of the essence, as the trial continues. Our silence could be their death.Other Christians facing death in Sudan are now free because you spoke out. Demand Sudan free Pastors Hassan and Kuwa now. Sign Our Petition: Save Christian Pastors from Death...https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-pastors-from-possible-death?
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) Short of that, we should not be saying "God Bless America"but instead "God be merciful towards America!"
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) Short of that, we should not be saying "God Bless America"but instead "God be merciful towards America!"
PRAY FOR OUR LEADERS: 1) Pray for President Trump and his advisers, that they would select Godly leaders at the federal level who will be accountable to do an excellent job (or be fired!) ; that he would seek God's wisdom and be enabled to lead our country effectively in the years ahead; and 2) Pray our leaders at every level of government will Spirit-filled, leading us with Godly wisdom and integrity; that they will only pass legislation and enact policies that will benefit Americans today as well as future generations and NOT do any lasting harm.
SUPREME COURT: PRAY 1) that the Senate will quickly confirm Judge Gorsuch for the Supeme Court, and 2) that the justices will only hand down decisions that are Constitutionally sound and in the best interests of our country now and for future generations.
Other World-Wide Prayer Requests:
4/26 UPDATE: PAKISTAN. The Pakistani parliament has agreed to stop the ongoing misuse of the blasphemy law. Pray that it will stick to its word and give the mater priority. Many innocent people have been killed under this law for a crime they never commi6ed.(ASSIST News Service)
A Christian Mother's Mandatory Death Penalty Could Be Overturned. PRAY and Sign the Petition Now! - https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-mom-asia-bibi-from-execution?
Learn about Christian Persecution; Check out the World Watch List:
http://live.opendoorsusa.org/wwl/?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_content=content-banner&utm_campaign=may-2016
PRAY for the ON-GOING crisis now happening in IRAQ/SYRIA. Pray that coalition forces will be able to destroy the leadership and infrastructure of ISIS.
This is a photo of 3 of Asia's daughters holding a picture of their imprisoned mother.
4/26 UPDATE: PAKISTAN. The Pakistani parliament has agreed to stop the ongoing misuse of the blasphemy law. Pray that it will stick to its word and give the mater priority. Many innocent people have been killed under this law for a crime they never commi6ed.(ASSIST News Service)
A Christian Mother's Mandatory Death Penalty Could Be Overturned. PRAY and Sign the Petition Now! - https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-mom-asia-bibi-from-execution?
Learn about Christian Persecution; Check out the World Watch List:
PRAY for the ON-GOING crisis now happening in IRAQ/SYRIA. Pray that coalition forces will be able to destroy the leadership and infrastructure of ISIS.
No comments:
Post a Comment