#2122 (10/31) "PRAYER POINTS FOR CHRISTIANS DURING HALLOWEEN"

"PRAYER POINTS FOR CHRISTIANS DURING HALLOWEEN" - Intercessors for America, October 30, 2017; https://www.ifapray.org/blog/prayer-points-christians-halloween/ [AS I SEE IT: Here's a great explanation of how Christians should regard today's cultural celebration of Halloween. It is a great resource to share with the entire family. I just wished I had this available to post before this past Sunday when it would have been a great opportunity for the local church to speak out on this cultural event. (P.S. - For Christians, TODAY (10/31) is esp. significant as the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. You can read more about it in TOMORROW'S post.) - Stan]

Regardless of a believers’ particular understanding of Halloween or the spiritual implications associated with its celebration, all Christians can take an active part through prayer. Even as some in the world use this holiday to celebrate darkness and highlight evil, believers have the opportunity to spread a different message through our prayers, praises, and conduct.
   In the natural world, we do not dispel darkness from the room by cursing it; instead, we turn on the light. Darkness and light cannot coexist; when light is introduced, darkness vanishes. In the same way, as Christians bathe their lives, their homes, and their families in the light of God’s presence and His word, they raise a standard against the evil implicit in “celebrating” Halloween. Here are some specific and practical ways to pray during Halloween and the “season” leading up to the calendar date:

Lift up praise and worship to the only true God.
* “For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.” (1 Chron 16:25-26).
*  Magnify the name of Jesus above all other names (Luke 10:17, Phil 2:9-11).
*  Declare His Lordship in your community, region, and nation (2 Kings 19:19).
*  Read psalms of praise to displace the voices of darkness (Psalm 33, 35, 65, 67).

Declare your home, community, and nation to be a habitation of God’s Presence.
*  “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; He lifts His voice, the earth melts” (Psalm 46:4-6).
*  Thank God for the wall of protection surrounding His people (Zechariah 2:5).
*  Praise Him for the power of His Presence that disarms the enemy (Psalm 31:20).
*  Declare His rule and reign over all who seek His face (Acts 17:27).
*  Christian parents can teach their older children the truth without judging neighbors, etc., who may not share their convictions (Proverbs 22:6).

Praise God for the power of His blood to cleanse, redeem, and restore.
*  “You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:23-24).
*  Declare the blood of Jesus over your life, home, community, and nation (1 Peter 1:1-2).
*  Cancel any evil intent to offer blood sacrifices unto wickedness (Hebrews 10:29-31).
*  Pray that the blood of Jesus would cleanse deceived and defiled minds (Hebrews 9:14).

Disarm any plans of the enemy to “trick” or deceive.
*  “While evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of” (2 Timothy 3:13-14).
*  Declare God’s righteous boundaries that prevent deception from entry (Psalm 101:7).
*  Renounce (refuse to recognize) and cancel any threats of harm or false accusations sent to cause damage or ill-will (Acts 4:29).
*  Pray that communications of the enemy would be confused and canceled (Psalm 55:9-10) and counter negative words spoken with the promises of God (2 Corinthians 10:2-6).

Declare that the light of Truth will dispel any darkness and expose the lies.
*  “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness” (John 12:46).
*  Pray that self-proclaimed witches and Satanists would encounter Jesus (Acts 8:12-13).
*  Pray that counterfeits would be exposed bringing the fear of the Lord (Acts 19:14-17).
*  Pray that every evil practice would collide with Truth and Life (Acts 8:4-8).

Speak God’s blessings and protection over transportation and communication lines.
*  “You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you” (Deuteronomy 28:6-7).
*  Pray protection over city streets and citizens young and old (Psalm 121:7-8).
*  Pray that the Spirit of truth would be proclaimed and heard (John 16:13-14).
*  Bless the roadways and highways with the holiness of God (Isaiah 35:8-10).

Pray for the Word of God and message of the cross to be shared with power.
*  “(They) began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke” (Acts 6:9-10).
*  Pray for boldness to declare the truth of the gospel (Acts 4:31).
*  Pray for opportunities to reach non-believers (Acts 17:16-17).
*  Pray for oneness of spirit in the community of believers (Acts 18:9-10).

Thank God for His delivering power in defeating all His enemies.
*  “The Lord says to my lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’” (Psalm 110:1).
Thank the Lord for the angelic host who work on our behalf (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).
Thank God for the battle that has already been won (John 16:33).
Praise Him for the victory that is already ours (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Some Practical Considerations for Neighborhood Living:
*  “Trick-or-Treat” door-knocking is diminishing due to safety concerns for children. This helps the witness of those families choosing to refrain from the “trick-or-treat” practice.
*  Christians are entitled to similar concerns without being judgmental. Parents need not be intimidated if they do not want their children accepting “treats” from other homes.
*  Churches can offer an alternative “open house” with snacks (“treats”), games, and a Christian film. Christian parents can invite their neighbors to participate.
*  Christian homes displaying a loving, prayerful witness to neighbors all year will have less “explaining” to do when refraining from Halloween activities for conscience’ sake. This is a great opportunity to “love your neighbor as yourself,” which Jesus said was a corollary to loving God with all [our] heart and soul and mind (Matthew 22:37).

Intercessors for America (IFA). IFA equips and supports praying Christians to shape the nation’s history through prayer. To learn more, visit IFApray.org.

#2121 (10/30) "The Most Dangerous National Security Threat No One's Talking About"

"THE MOST DANGEROUS NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT"- Congressman Trent Franks: Oct 27, 2017; https://townhall.com/columnists/congressmantrentfranks/2017/10/27/emp-n2400900

The North Korean dictatorship boasted that they have tested a hydrogen bomb underground in September.Such a hydrogen bomb has the power to destroy Manhattan, killing 8.5 million New York City residents in a couple of seconds.

But, there is a prospect potentially even more deadly and terrifying.
     A hydrogen bomb, exploded within Earth’s atmosphere over a central location like Kansas could potentially mean ‘lights out’ for the entire contiguous U.S.A.  The electromagnetic pulse emitted from such an explosion in the atmosphere could destroy electronic devices for thousands of miles. This could include all the devices we regularly depend upon that require electronics to function – vehicles, our water and plumbing systems, heating and air conditioning, refrigeration… just to name a few. 
    Imagine if all of that suddenly stopped working.Without power, cities and population centers would become death traps since power is required to pump water and sewage, keep hospitals running, etc. Former CIA Director James Woolsey once warned that, in a worst-case scenario, 90% of the American population would ultimately die if an attack like this would occur.

The phenomenon of nuclear blasts emitting Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) when they explode was first discovered/observed during the Starfish Prime event back in 1962 when a nuclear weapon was detonated 900 miles west-southwest of Hawaii. 
     (We now know all nuclear weapons emit an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) when they explode).  The EMP from the blast knocked out about 300 street lights, set off burglar alarms, and damaged a telephone company microwave link. It was realized EMP could destroy electronics.
    As of now, we do not have sufficient hardware fixes to prevent such a detonation from damaging or destroying our electric grid.

We have already observed North Korea is capable of placing a warhead-sized payload into orbit, and we have observed they have detonated a 200 kiloton plus yield nuclear weapon. It is clear that they have all the components necessary to launch a major EMP attack. They have also threatened to do just that. Intent plus capacity equals threat.

North Korea, Iran, Russia and China have all assimilated EMP attack into their military creeds. So what can we do?
     First, we need to strengthen and harden our national electric grid. To do so is not as expensive as the risk – as Bryan Gabbard and Robert Joseph explained, the cost of hardening equipment to increase resilience could be as little as 3 percent more than existing capital investment for electrical grid upgrades. Since the grid is always being upgraded, we would just need to invest a little more to make sure this added defense layer is included.
     We must simultaneously ratchet up our missile defense capability and technology at flank speed. The House-passed NDAA includes an amendment I introduced to begin the development of a space-based missile defense layer; it passed with bipartisan support and it is my hope the Senate accedes to the House-passed language.
     A space-based missile defense layer would provide us with the ultimate high ground and ensure we could shoot down an enemy missile as it ascends — when it is most vulnerable. This “boost-phase defense” is a capability we currently do not have.
    Furthermore, we must increase our Ground-Based Interceptor inventory to 100. These GBIs are currently the first and last line of defense against any nuclear missile attack directed toward the American Homeland.
    It is also imperative that we do what is necessary to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear capability and prevent Iran from gaining such capability. These dangerous and escalating situations cannot be allowed to continue on their present path under any circumstances.

The time for naiveté is over. Congress must act now to allocate the appropriate funds so we can be prepared for an EMP attack on American soil.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

#2120 (10/29) SUNDAY SPECIAL: "Who Do You Say that I Am? - Idols vs. the Real Jesus"

 "WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM? - IDOLS VS. THE REAL JESUS" - by John Stonestreet & G. Shane Morris, Breakpoint.org, October 18, 2017; http://www.breakpoint.org/2017/10/breakpoint-who-do-you-say-that-i-am/ [AS I  SEE IT: It concerns me greatly that too many "Christian" churches are teaching what amounts to a false gospel. In the effort to be more "relevant" to non-Christians, they have become the false teachers that plagued Israel and who will be part of the False Prophet of the End Times in our near future. There is a great need for our pastors to be speaking out against these heresies and  arming their people with the right view of Scripture. Only the very salvation of many hang in the balance! - Stan]

Who is Jesus? It’s a foundational question, and one many Christians struggle to answer.

In Matthew 16, Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Some say John the Baptist,” they replied, “others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But who do you say that I am?”

These days, increasingly odd and just plain wrong answers to Jesus’ question seem to be floating around everywhere, and churches are one of the easiest places to find them. This shouldn’t surprise us, however. As we’ve said before on BreakPoint, beliefs come in bunches. So when you see increasingly unorthodox and innovative ideas about sex, marriage, and the human person coming from religious leaders, you can bet they’re also entertaining increasingly unorthodox and innovative ideas about truth, the Bible, and even God Himself.

For example, Dr. Karen Oliveto, the first openly lesbian bishop in the United Methodist Church, recently offered this message to her flock: “Too many folks want to box Jesus in,” she wrote, “carve him in stone, create an idol out of him. [But] the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting one, prince of peace, was as human as you and me. Like you and me, he didn’t have his life figured out.” Jesus had “bigotries and prejudices,” she added, even sins which He had to learn to overcome."

Wait, Jesus can be an “idol”? As John Lomperis with the Institute on Religion and Democracy remarked, “[A]n idol is something other than God, usually something created by human hands, improperly worshiped as a god.” But Jesus is God. For Dr. Oliveto to suggest that it’s improper to worship God is like suggesting it’s improper to love your spouse.

And a Jesus who sinned wouldn’t have been God, nor worthy of our worship. Ironically, this bishop’s imaginary Jesus would be the idol—along with the Jesus of the Arian and Unitarian heresies, which teach that Jesus was a good man but a created being, not God in human flesh.

But before we give Dr. Oliveto too much grief, we ought to ask where our own theology is.
     A 2014 LifeWay Research survey of self-described evangelicals found that while nearly all profess belief in the Trinity, one in four say God the Father is “more divine” than Jesus. That’s similar to what the Arians believed, it’s the error the Nicene Creed was written to combat.
    In another survey conducted last year, LifeWay talked only with those who held core evangelical and conservative beliefs. Yet an astonishing seven in ten said Jesus was the first being created by God—again, a defining feature of Arianism. And more than a quarter held that the Holy Spirit is not equal with either the Father or the Son.
   
This sad mess shouldn’t just bother theological eggheads. These errors strike at the heart of Christianity, giving fundamentally unscriptural answers to the question, “Who is Jesus?” Answering this question correctly is itself an act of worship. It’s a vital part of knowing and loving our God as He is. And it impacts Christians’ lives at the most basic level.
    For example, because Jesus is equal with the Father and fully God means He can truly pardon us. As the scribes in Mark 2 correctly observed, “Only God can forgive sins.”
    Yet Jesus is also fully human. In order to serve as our High Priest, He became like us in every respect, as Hebrews 2:17 says. In order to redeem Adam’s race, the Last Adam had to belong to it.
    This God-Man was not only sinless, He is entirely worthy of our worship. In reply to His question, “Who do you say that I am?” We should be able to say with Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and with Thomas, who fell on His knees before the risen Jesus and said, “My Lord and my God.”
    Please come visit us at BreakPoint.org. We’ll link you to books and other resources that will help you and your family walk through these essential truths and answer the fundamental questions of the Christian worldview.


[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

RESOURCES - Get re-familiar with the foundational beliefs of the Christian faith. Check out the links below for resources that  discuss and develop the essential truths of “the faith, given once for all.”
The Faith - Charles W. Colson | Zondervan - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=2191_05935
Basic Christianity- John Stott | IVP Books | May 2012 - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=9780830834136
A Practical View of Christianity - William Wilberforce; http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=2191_BKWAP
Mere Christianity- C. S. Lewis | HarperOne Publishing - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=0060652888

#2119 (10/28) PRO-LIFE SAT: "Planned Parenthood vs. Little Girls - Sex-Selective Abortion IN AMERICA"

"PLANNED PARENTHOOD VS. LITTLE GIRLS - SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTION IN AMERICA" - by John Stonestreet &  G. Shane Morris, Breakpoint.org, October 26, 2017; http://www.breakpoint.org/2017/10/breakpoint-planned-parenthood-vs-little-girls/

The worst form of discrimination against women in our time is one that is virtually ignored by feminists.

The abortion industry has long billed itself as a champion of women’s rights. Almost thirty years ago, the head of the National Abortion Rights Action League, or NARAL, told the New York Times that “Abortion is the guarantor of a woman’s right to participate fully in the social and political life of society.”

But as Cathy Ruse pointed out recently at the Daily Signal, abortion is being used right now to keep millions of women from participating in life, at all. By some estimates, there are as many as 160 million girls and women missing worldwide because of sex-selective abortion. Modern technology that allows parents to find out before birth whether they’re having a boy or girl, coupled with traditional cultural preferences for boys, results in nothing less than “gendercide”—the systematic killing of female babies over males. And it’s not just happening overseas.

Newsweek reported last year that sex-selective abortions are on the rise right here in the U. S. One study by Columbia University found that Chinese, Korean and Indian parents on their second pregnancy gave birth to 117 boys for every 100 girls. For third children, the ratio shot up to a staggering 151 boys for every 100 girls.

The culprit, says Newsweek, is sex-selective abortion. So-called “family planning” clinics like those affiliated with Planned Parenthood are helping women kill their unborn daughters. You’d think organizations that pride themselves on protecting and empowering women would want this to stop, but you’d be wrong.

Last year, after the state of Indiana passed a law banning sex-selective abortion, a federal district judge granted a permanent injunction against the law at the request of—you guessed it—Planned Parenthood. In the name of ending discrimination against women, this abortion giant is literally making sure fewer women exist.

This is beyond perverse.

Even worse, pro-choice and feminist support for gendercide remains virtually unflinching. Back in March, when Arkansas enacted a ban on sex-selective abortions, the American Civil Liberties Union complained that the law prevents women from “obtaining abortions that they want for whatever reason,” even, apparently, if that reason is preferring boys over girls.

As Ruse remarks, “Modern abortions politics has done strange things to our culture.” Those who claim to be advocates for women turn a blind eye to the single greatest form of discrimination against them.

Now occasionally, a pro-choice feminist will let slip how he or she really feels about gendercide. That’s what happened back in 2011 when Pulitzer finalist Mara Hvistendahl published a book called “Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men.” In it, she decries systematic discrimination against female fetuses, but comes up short of blaming the real culprit: abortion.

Reviewing the book in The New York Times, Ross Douthat observed that the problem of gendercide puts pro-choicers in a “distinctly uncomfortable position.” They insist “that the unborn aren’t human beings yet, and that the right to abortion is nearly absolute.” But this leaves them “struggling to define a victim for the crime [they’ve] uncovered.”

As pro-lifers, we need to continually point out this glaring inconsistency in the pro-choice worldview. To anyone not sold out to abortion-on-demand, it’s obvious that the sex of a baby is not a legitimate reason to kill her. Of course, there’s never a legitimate reason to deliberately kill a baby—in the womb or out. But the 160 million missing girls worldwide should convince many that Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry—far from empowering women—have become the greatest perpetrators of their extermination.

 [bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

RESOURCES - As John makes clear, true feminists fight for the rights of all women–born and unborn. All Christians should take a stand against any abortions–sex-selective included–whether they’re male or female. For more information on this troubling trend, check out the resources listed below.
"Planned Parenthood Is Targeting Baby Girls in the Womb" - Cathy Ruse | DailySignal.com | October 6, 2017; http://dailysignal.com/2017/10/06/planned-parenthood-targeting-baby-girls-womb/
"Sex Selection Abortions Are Rife in the U.S." - Kelsey Harkness | Newsweek.com | April 14, 2016; http://www.newsweek.com/sex-selection-abortion-rife-us-447403
"Why Do Feminists Ignore Gendercide?" - Jennifer Marshall, Sarah Torres | Heritage Foundation | January 18, 2012;http://www.heritage.org/marriage-and-family/commentary/why-do-feminists-ignore-gendercide
"Mystery of the Missing Girls: Crime writer campaigns against gendercide" - Dorothy Cummings McLean | Lifesitenews.com | May 2, 2017; https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/mystery-of-the-missing-girls-crime-writer-campaigns-against-gendercide

#2118 (10/27) "Why the Left and Right Clash Over National Identity"

"WHY THE LEFT AND RIGHT CLASH OVER NATIONAL IDENTITY" - Dennis Prager / October 24, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/10/24/left-right-clash-national-identity/ [AS I SEE IT: While he does not mention it in this article, I have to wonder whether the actions of many (and not just pro football players anymore) to kneel or show disrespect to our flag and nation during the playing of the national anthem or the reciting of the pledge of allegiance is not another symptom of the leftist move to renounce our  national identity. - Stan]

The left tends to favor international identity over national, preferring institutions like the European Union and the United Nations. (Photo: iStock Photos)

In 2011, after 899 issues and 73 years of publication, Superman, the most famous American comic book character, announced that he was renouncing his American citizenship. “I intend to speak before the United Nations tomorrow and inform them that I am renouncing my U.S. citizenship,” Superman announces. He then adds, in reference to his famous motto: “Truth, justice, and the American way—it’s not enough anymore.”

After a national uproar, the comic publisher announced that this theme would not be revisited in any future edition of the comic. But an important point was made. To the liberal publishers of Superman, the hero’s American identity just didn’t feel right. Maybe that was what people wanted from 1938 to the late 20th century. But this national identity stuff has got to go. We should all be world citizens.

This example illustrates a primary difference between left and right: their respective views of nationalism and national identity. The rejection of national identities began with the founder of leftism, Karl Marx. He ends his major work, “Das Kapital,” with the famous left-wing motto, “Proletariat of the world, unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains.” Marx regarded national identities as backward and useless. In his view, the only identities that mattered were class identities—the working class and the ruling class. If a worker thought of himself first as a German or Englishman, rather than as a worker, communism would never be achieved.

The rejection of nationalism in Europe became mainstream after World War I. Many Europeans, especially among the intellectuals, concluded that the unprecedented loss of life caused by the Great War was a result, first and foremost, of nationalism. They concluded that Europeans slaughtered each other for nothing more than a flag and a national identity. Therefore, the argument went, by abolishing nationalism, war could be abolished. That is the belief that led to the creation of the European Union: The more Europeans identified with Europe rather than with a particular country, the less likely were the chances of war between European countries.

In the United States, however, a national American identity has always been a major part of what it means to be an American. The three pillars of Americanism, constituting what I have called the “American Trinity,” are found on every American coin and banknote: “Liberty,” “In God We Trust,” and “e pluribus unum.” The latter is Latin for “out of many, one.”

Because America has always been a nation of immigrants, it has no ethnic identity. Therefore, unlike almost all other nations, America could not depend on an ethnic identity to keep its people together. In fact, if all Americans retained their ethnic identities, America would simply splinter. So a nonethnic American national identity had to be forged and preserved.

To this day, foreigners in the United States are struck by how patriotic Americans are in comparison to whatever country they come from. They marvel, for example, at the fact that before almost every sporting event—from professional down to high school—the American national anthem is played and/or sung.

Conservatives wish to conserve all these manifestations of American patriotism and nationalism because they believe a sense of national unity is essential to the political and social health of the country. On the other hand, the American left, like the left in Europe, is opposed to nationalism, and it generally finds patriotic expressions corny at best and dangerous at worst.
    This is easily seen. Just visit conservative and liberal areas on July Fourth, America’s Independence Day. You will see American flags displayed throughout conservative areas and virtually none displayed in liberal areas such as Manhattan, or Santa Monica or Berkeley, California.
    Left-wing opposition to American nationalism is exemplified by the left’s embrace of “multiculturalism”—the cultivation of all ethnic and racial identities except American. It has even reached the point wherein some American colleges no longer display the American flag.
    In lieu of an American national identity, the left prefers an international identity. Thus, ideally, United Nations authority would supersede American authority, and the World Court would supersede American courts.
    To conservatives, such ideas are anathema because, in addition to subverting American sovereignty, the United Nations has not done nearly the amount of good in the world that the United States has.

That’s why the liberals at DC Comics had Superman renounce his American citizenship (at the United Nations, no less). In their view, Superman is now even more super. In conservatives’ view, the renunciation is kryptonite.

Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio show host and creator of PragerUniversity.com

#2117(10/26) "The Invisible Christians of North Korea - Surviving by God’s Grace Alone"

"THE INVISIBLE CHRISTIANS OF NORTH KOREA - SURVIVING BY GOD'S GRACE ALONE" - by: Eric Metaxas & Stan Guthrie,September 15, 2017;http://www.breakpoint.org/2017/09/breakpoint-the-invisible-christians-of-north-korea

If you think North Korea’s dictators are bad for the world, just imagine what it’s like to be a Christian there.

Anyone who knows anything about world missions and the global church knows about the Christians of South Korea. According to the Operation World prayer guide, “From the first Protestant church planted in 1884, South Korea now has possibly 50,000 Protestant congregations,” and 15 million Christians of all kinds. It’s also a missionary powerhouse, currently sending more than 21,000 missionaries to about 175 countries. Amazing!

But the Christians of North Korea? They’re virtually invisible—though of course not in the eyes of the Lord Jesus! Operation World says that although no one really knows their true number, there could be as many as 350,000 underground Christians living in the slave state of 24 million people. When you consider that the government there—whether run by the Japanese occupiers during World War II, or the current cult-like, totalitarian leadership—has been trying to stamp out all vestiges of Christianity for about 70 years, that’s also amazing. Tragically, and infuriatingly, up to 100,000 of these brothers and sisters in Christ are locked up in harsh prisons or work camps.

Where did they all come from, and how do they survive? Well, in answer to the first part, it’s a fascinating story. Did you know that from the late 19th century until 1942, Pyongyang, North Korea’s Orwellian capital city today, was known as the “Jerusalem of the East”?
     According to Providence journal, “a Presbyterian medical doctor named Horace Allen … became physician to the king of Korea and received royal permission to proselytize after saving the life of a royal family member severely wounded during an attempted coup. Presbyterian and Methodist missionaries from the United States followed, and along with Catholic and other Protestant missionaries from other countries, they found Koreans to be receptive to their message in large numbers. A quarter of a century later in 1910, Korean Christians numbered over 200,000, two thirds of them Presbyterians and Methodists, in a country of approximately 13 million people.”
    If the city of Seoul was receptive to the gospel, and it was, Pyongyang was even more so. Following a series of revivals in and around the “Jerusalem of the East,” by 1910 the region was the most heavily Christian in all of Korea.

Of course, most of us know what happened next. After World War II, the communist regime of Kim Il-sung attempted to stamp out all foreign religions, especially Christianity, which was branded a tool of “Western imperialism.” Missionaries were thrown out, churches closed, and many Christians executed for their faith, with many more pouring into democratic South Korea at the end of the Korean War.

So how do those who remain survive? As with all of us, by God’s grace. Today, Open Doors USA reports, North Korea is the most oppressive place in the world for Christians. “Due to ever-present surveillance,” the agency says, “many pray with eyes open, and gathering for praise or fellowship is practically impossible. Worship of the ruling Kim family is mandated for all citizens, and those who don’t comply (including Christians) are arrested, imprisoned, tortured or killed. Entire Christian families are imprisoned in hard labor camps.” It’s no wonder that one North Korean Christian lady who escaped continues to pray a simple prayer she learned from her mother: “Lord, Lord, please help!”

And the Lord, through agencies such as Open Doors, is answering that prayer, providing Bibles and emergency relief inside the country as well as to fleeing North Korean Christians. They’re not invisible to Him—and now, I hope, not to us, either.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

RESOURCES - There is a deep history of Christianity in North Korea, despite the present-day government’s crack-down on believers. Learn how you can pray even more effectively for our brothers and sisters inside this totalitarian country. CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW.
Missions in the Third Millennium-Stan Guthrie, Jonathan J. Bonk | Paternoster Publishing | December 2001 - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/product.asp?sku=1842270427
"Jerusalem of the East: The American Christians of Pyongyang, 1895-1942" - Robert S. Kim | Providence magazine | July 13, 2016; https://providencemag.com/2016/07/jerusalem-east-american-christians-pyongyang/
"About North Korea - World Watch List | Open Doors" - https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/north-korea/
"Prayer Guide for North Korea - Operation World"
- http://www.operationworld.org/korn
"2016 International Religious Freedom Reports: Democratic People's Republic of Korea" - U.S. State Department - https://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2016/eap/268738.htm
"World Watch List Ranking #1" - World Watch Monitor | 2017 - https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/countries/north-korea/
"North Korea, Nukes, and President Trump: The Prudential and Moral Considerations of a Just War" - John Stonestreet | BreakPoint.org | August 10, 2017; http://www.breakpoint.org/2017/08/breakpoint-north-korea-nukes-and-president-trump/

#2116 (10/25) "Operation Restored Warrior: Reaching out to Veterans Before It's Too Late"

"OPERATION RESTORED WARRIOR: REACHING OUT TO VETERANS BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE" - Mark Martin, CBN News, 10-17-2017; http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2017/october/operation-restored-warrior-reaching-out-to-veterans-before-its-too-late [AS I SEE IT: I've known of the plight of military veterans with PTSD for some time now. To think of these brave warriors who risked their lives to serve our country returning with so much pain grips my heart so much that praying for them has become something I've come to do every day. Let's pray that each of them will get the help they need and that at some time each will get to know the ultimate healing that Jesus can bring. - Stan]

WOLCOTT, Colorado – It's estimated a military veteran commits suicide each hour of every day. One organization hopes to change that by helping vets fight their way back to restoration.

Healing for Hidden Battle Scars
     Veterans fighting overseas not only suffer physically, but emotionally as well –- hidden battle scars that make life difficult back home. That's where "Operation Restored Warrior" comes in. To find it, CBN News traveled to the heart of Colorado.
    With its wide open spaces and large horse corral, the 4 Eagle Ranch resembles something out of the Old West. But take a closer look and you'll see much more. Organizers of Operation Restored Warrior say it's a location where healing takes place. While the program welcomes all faiths, its core Christian ministry is the five-day program called the "Drop Zone."
    "A 'drop zone' is a place in enemy territory where you go take that ground," Keith Poole, Army veteran and ORW facilitator, told CBN News. "And very often in kind of Christian environments we refer to things as retreats. 'I'm going to go to a retreat,' and that just didn't sit well with us as professional military men."
    "It's like why are we retreating? How about if we go gain ground?" Poole continued. "So we specifically call coming to a Drop Zone, a counter attack, and that appeals to warriors."

Rescue, Rebuild and Restore
     That counter attack is three-fold: rescue, rebuild and restore.
     "Warriors come to this place because they're looking for hope, and often the enemy has just beat them down," Poole explained. "But this is the place where they know there's some hope, and when they get here what they find out is that this is where healing is." "And that hope and healing is here because Jesus is here," he continued.
    The intensive program involves targeting areas of the heart that need healing. ORW leaders hold to the belief, "Psychology reveals; Jesus heals," and say it's been proven hundreds of times.

Literal Life-Saver
    For participants like Navy veteran Paul Williams, the program can be a literal life-saver.
    "July 2nd of this year I had written a note, and I was ready to go," he shared with CBN News. "And it just didn't happen. I went back to my truck to go get the gun, and it wasn't there." "So I just started praising Jesus with my praise and worship music and said, 'You know what, I need to give this ORW, Operation Restored Warrior, a really good shot,'" Williams continued.
    And that decision led to victory.
    "I was able to open up to Paul, the founder of ORW, about all the trash that I've been carrying, and it felt so good to finally just let it out," Williams explained. "I can't thank this organization enough."
    "I came here fightin' for my life, and I'm going to walk away a champion," he said, trying to fight back tears. "So I love them a lot, and I'm super thankful for it."

A Unique Gift
     Former atheist Paul Lavelle started ORW nine years ago.
    "Around 2008, I felt like Jesus just put in my heart that he had gifted me my whole life to rescue people, and I felt like I had a unique gift of healing as well," the Air Force veteran told CBN News. "But I had no idea it had to do with anything spiritual." "And about 2008, I just felt this nudge that I had to do something," Lavelle continued. "ORW – our focus is to heal, and we bring Jesus into that healing process."

     Army veteran Braxton Dunbar dealt with many things, including suicidal thoughts, before coming to ORW. "I was definitely a broken, a broken man, had a lot of depression and anxiety, a lot of anger, a whole lot of anger and just felt lost, really just didn't... didn't know where my place was, didn't know how to find my place either," he shared with CBN News.
   Dunbar accepted Christ during the Drop Zone and decided to get baptized. "The same individual that prayed with me, Jordan, kind of came to me and said, 'You accepted him yesterday, and you verbally accepted him into your life. Would you want to show the action of it?'" Dunbar recalled. "And there was no question at all. I said, 'Absolutely. I'd love to.'"

     Retired Air Force Chaplain Steve Frick also received healing through the program. "ORW doesn't just help; they heal," he told CBN News. "And that's a little hard to hear when you first get here. But I'm telling you it's true."

Healing Adventure
     In addition to powerful sessions building up the faith of the men, the Drop Zone also allows time for recreational activities like fly fishing. What can they learn from this? Lavelle says it nourishes the soul among other things.
    "The reason we do the activities is because it's part of a spiritual longing for a man to have adventure in his life," he said. "It's one of the core desires of a man." "And so as part of this restoration process, we want to remind them that there is adventure out there," Lavelle continued.

Before It's Too Late
     Army veteran Chris Fields is the Drop Zone lead facilitator. He, too, once contemplated taking his life and also lost fellow service members to suicide. Fields understands the urgency of going through this program before it's too late.
     "Don't wait another moment to reach out and to ask for help," he said. "I used to think that I was ten feet tall and bullet proof. I ate barbed wire in the morning, and you can surmise what I did in the afternoon."
    "But when I reached out for help I'm stronger than I ever was... and it just takes one moment, one moment to say, 'Okay, let me see what this is all about.' And then let Jesus take it from there," he continued.

To find out more about this great organization, I invite you to visit - http://operationrestoredwarrior.org/

#2115 (10/24) "The Special Ops Mission in Niger Was Routine and Common. Stop Politicizing It."

"THE SPECIAL OPS MISSION IN NIGER WAS ROUTINE AND COMMON. STOP POLITICIZING IT." - Steven Bucci / October 23, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/10/23/special-ops-mission-niger-routine-common-stop-politicizing [AS I SEE IT: I cannot understand why Senator John McCain is among those politicizing this tragedy. As one who served in the military and who should be quite familiar with these types of operations, there is no need for him to be doing this. This and recent actions that he's taken makes me question what kind of man I voted for President 9 years ago. Very disappointed in him right now. - Stan]

A U.S. Special Forces trainer conducts a drill with a unit of the Sudan People's Liberation Army. (Photo: Andreea Campeanu /Reuters/Newscom)

The loss of four special operations soldiers in Niger is a tragedy. We grieve as a nation, rightly, whenever we lose any of the brave young men and women who serve in uniform. That said, politicians and news media are turning the event into a farce.

Having served as an Army Green Beret for 28 years, I cannot let the mischaracterizations—many by leaders who clearly know better—continue without a comment. The mission in Niger, which began in 2013, was a classic special operations operation. The type of operation is called foreign internal defense. That’s an old school term for the most fundamental task we give our Green Berets. A small team of them goes into a foreign country to work with that nation’s military to better prepare it to deal with its own problems.
     This is done during the period the military calls “phase zero,” which is prior to when a bigger conflict emerges. It is done in coordination with the host nation civilian government, and the entire country team at the U.S. Embassy, which is led by the U.S. ambassador and supported by the intelligence community station chief.
     This is not a clandestine Hollywood commando mission, or a suicide raid. It is overt and open. Its purpose is to build rapport with the host nation military, to improve its capabilities, to gather open source intelligence, and to get to know both the lay of the land and the local players. 
     The U.S. has conducted these kinds of missions around the world since the 1950s. At times we have had as few as a dozen of these operations, and at others several hundred in as many as 80-plus countries simultaneously. These missions are routine and have short-circuited conflicts on nearly every continent in the world at one time or another. They are also inherently dangerous. The teams are small, ranging from a pair of operators up to a few dozen. There are seldom more than 100 U.S. troops.

Some might ask, why do we put such small teams at risk?
     The answer is simply that the return is worth it. Often, the use of a small, mature, and low-profile group of quiet professionals can have greater success than a large, high-profile deployment on a massive scale. Particularly today as terror groups like the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda move to numerous small or underdeveloped countries, these phase zero special operations missions allow the U.S. to mitigate the threat before it grows—and they do so without making the U.S. the “world’s policeman.” Instead of fighting the terrorists everywhere ourselves, these missions help our friends to better police their own backyards.
     These missions have been extremely common since 9/11, so it is ludicrous that legislators now claim ignorance of both their existence and purpose.
     Were these legislators asleep during the last 10 years that they were briefed by the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command and the combatant commanders of U.S. Africa, Central, Pacific, or Southern Commands?
    Nothing about these missions is new, little is “hidden,” and none of it should surprise anyone who has spent more than a week on Capitol Hill.
    To repeat, these missions are dangerous. The teams that execute them lack the huge support mechanisms Americans have come to associate with military operations. Our troops know this, and regularly volunteer for the opportunity to participate in the missions simply because they know they work. 
    They also know these are the kinds of missions they have trained for, and which they execute with greater skill than anyone in the world.
    They know that if trouble occurs, support is further away than in conventional operations. Intelligence is superb, often better than in regular military activities, but the logistical and response functions are thin and distant.
    That’s why we only send professionals on such missions. These are not “kids” who just joined the military six months ago. They are hardened professionals who, yes, “know what the risks are,” and go without hesitation.

     Yes, we need to know what happened in Niger. Any time military members die in action, a full investigation occurs. The Department of Defense does not need Congress or the media to “provoke” that.
    The military is always working to make our troops as safe as accomplishing the mission will allow. A full post-mortem of the deadly ambush in Niger needs to take place so that we can do better on the next mission.
   That would have happened if no one in Washington had said a word.

The media and politicians should stop the showmanship and game-playing. Let Defense Secretary James Mattis do his job, and let the brave men and women of the U.S. military do theirs. Grandstanding senators and talking heads don’t help make America safe, but missions just like the one in Niger do.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

Steven P. Bucci, who served America for three decades as an Army Special Forces officer and top Pentagon official, is a visiting research fellow at The Heritage Foundation. 

#2014 (10/23) "Senate Budget a Major Step Toward Tax Reform, but Falls Short on Spending Reforms"

"SENATE BUDGET A MAJOR STEP TOWARD TAX REFORM, BUT FALLS SHORT OF SPENDING REFORMS" - Justin Bogie / Adam Michel /  October 20, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/10/20/senate-budget-major-step-toward-tax-reform-falls-short-spending-reforms/

The Senate passed its 2018 budget by a vote of 51-49 on Thursday, clearing the way for tax reform. (Photo: iStock Photos)

The Senate passed its fiscal year 2018 budget resolution late Thursday night, paving the way for potentially the most comprehensive tax reform package in decades. The proposal is a significant step toward implementing the president and Congress’ tax reform agenda. However, it fails to make significant cuts to federal spending—an important piece of the puzzle toward long-term economic prosperity.

The budget lays out reconciliation instructions to the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees that would allow for up to $1.5 trillion in net tax cuts. A late amendment to the Senate plan adopts components of the House-passed budget, which may diminish the need for a conference committee. It also allows for any reconciliation bill produced by the Ways and Means Committee to move directly to the House floor.

The House could approve the budget as early as next week. If the House accepts the Senate changes as they are, this could accelerate the timeline for a tax package to move to the House floor by several weeks.

Tax Reform
    The recently released framework for tax reform now has a budget to carry it through the Senate. The Senate-adopted budget paves the way for tax reform, providing both reconciliation protections and a decreased revenue baseline of $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. The reconciliation instructions set out in the Senate budget enables Congress to fast-track reform in the Senate, limiting debate and lowering the necessary vote threshold to a simple majority.
    A $1.5 trillion tax cut over 10 years is truly a good step away from the revenue-neutrality constraint, which had previously shackled the tax reform effort and was included in the House budget. It cuts projected federal revenues by only a modest 3.5 percent over the next 10 years, bringing projected revenues from roughly $43 trillion to about $41.5 trillion.
    The Joint Committee on Taxation will measure this revenue reduction dynamically by incorporating the economic benefits of tax reform. But congressional scorekeepers are notoriously inaccurate when it comes to predicting revenues from pro-growth tax reforms.
    In the past, the Joint Committee on Taxation score has shown one-fifth the economic growth that was predicted by comparable third-party estimates. Because the committee staff will very likely dramatically underestimate the economic growth produced by tax reform, the true cost to the budget will be much smaller.
    The budget is just a first step. Those supportive of tax reform must remain focused as there is a lot of work still ahead. A $1.5 trillion revenue reduction is not enough to avoid making the hard decisions required for truly updating our broken tax code. Without eliminating items like the state and local tax deduction and repealing other tax subsidies for special interests, the proposed tax plan could require much more than $1.5 trillion in revenue reductions. Fully eliminating these tax preferences will be crucial if tax reform is to actually lower rates and implement structural reforms like full expensing.

Budget and Spending
    Though the Senate-passed plan is a positive step toward tax reform, it is not perfect. The bill does little to address Congress’ addiction to spending, which if left unchecked will continue to drive the nation closer to a fiscal breakdown. In fact, it removed a provision from the House-passed bill that required $203 billion in spending cuts through reconciliation.
    It also set the stage for what most observers already assumed would happen—another massive budget deal like the one agreed to by President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, where taxpayers were losers.
    The Senate plan calls for defense spending to be raised to $640 billion in fiscal year 2018. These funds are necessary and appropriate to help rebuild a military that has faced continued uncertainty and underfunding the past several years.
    While adequately funding national defense should be a top priority for Congress, it should not come in exchange for more deficit spending. Rather, Congress should carefully prioritize funding within the aggregate Budget Control Act caps.
    Increases to defense spending should and can be offset with cuts to outdated and ineffective domestic programs. Instead, this plan would allow defense spending to be raised without requiring any of the additional costs to be offset by domestic or mandatory cuts.

While the past two budget deals were imperfect, they did force Congress to offset increases to discretionary spending with cuts to mandatory programs. To remove this requirement is fiscally irresponsible and sets a dangerous precedent.
     If Congress does take action to revise the Budget Control Act caps in 2018 and beyond, it must do so in a responsible manner that fully offsets increased spending with meaningful mandatory cuts and without the use of budget gimmicks.
     Faster economic growth makes deficit reduction easier. An economy growing at less than 2 percent, with increasing numbers of people drawing on social programs, will struggle to reduce the debt, let alone reform the largest drivers of our fiscal crisis.
    A faster growing economy will help set the stage for the necessary reform to the rest of the budget. Pro-growth tax reform is a necessary first step to putting America’s fiscal house in order, but spending and entitlement reforms must be part of Congress’ agenda as well.

Comprehensive tax reform, paired with tax cuts for individuals and American businesses, can unleash American prosperity, creating more jobs and higher wages for all Americans. This budget is an important step toward achieving that goal.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

Justin Bogie is a senior policy analyst in fiscal affairs at The Heritage Foundation. Adam Michel focuses on tax policy and the federal budget as a policy analyst in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

#2113 (10/22) SUNDAY SPECIAL: " #MeToo - Human Dignity, Sexual Morality, and Christian Responsibility"

" #ME TOO - HUMAN DIGNITY, SEXUAL MORALITY, AND CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY" - by: John Stonestreet, Breakpoint.org, October 19, 2017; http://www.breakpoint.org/2017/10/breakpoint-metoo/

The curtain is being lifted on sexual predation. That’s good. And it reveals why we cannot abandon Christianity’s liberating vision of human sexuality.

The recent ugly revelations about Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, coming on the heels of similar revelations about Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes of Fox News, has many American women saying “enough!” Via a flood of posts on Twitter and other social media, women, using the hashtag #MeToo, are demonstrating that sexual harassment, assault, and rape isn’t a problem limited to a relative handful of high-profile creeps.

I applaud their courage. After all, among Christianity’s greatest contributions to the world has been its revolutionary ideas about the dignity of women. To not stand up for that dignity is to betray that heritage.

And to understand why betrayal is the right word, we need to understand the pagan world into which Christianity was born, a world classics scholar Sarah Ruden describes in her 2010 book, “Paul Among the Peoples.” With the exception of a few highborn women, Roman women were often treated worse than Roman cattle. Even upper-class women were little more than possessions, and when it came to sexuality, they were at their husband’s beck and call and could be disposed of at will. Slave women, which were a full third of Rome’s female population, could expect beatings and rape. The “fortunate” ones were sold into prostitution. Unwanted girls were left to die of exposure.

Into this world came Christianity, specifically the writings of St. Paul. As Ruden tells her readers, to call him an “oppressor of women” could “hardly be more wrong.” “Paul’s teachings on sexual purity and marriage were adopted as liberating in the pornographic, sexually exploitive Greco-Roman culture of the time . . .” Christianity “worked a cultural revolution,” she writes, “restraining and channeling the male Eros, elevating the status of both women and of the human body, and infusing marriage—and marital sexuality—with love.” In Ruden’s words, Christian ideas about marriage were “as different from anything before or since as the command to turn the other cheek.”

Of course, sexually-predatory males didn’t go extinct, but until just recently—and thanks largely to Christian influence—they couldn’t rationalize their predations, either. But all that’s changed. As David French wrote in the National Review, “You can sum up the sexual ethic of the sexual revolutionary in one sentence: Except in the most extreme circumstances (such as incest), consenting adults define their own moral norms.” He continues, “Consent is determined by the request, and in a completely sexualized culture, the request can come at any time, anywhere, and from any person you encounter—regardless of the power imbalance or the propriety of the location.”

Given the damage wrought by this change the last thing we should be doing as Christians is running from the clear, life-giving vision of human sexuality that liberated the pagan world.
Yet that’s exactly what many of us are doing. We’re rationalizing our own surrender to the sexual ethos of the day, even thinking ourselves “loving” and “tolerant” to abandon the historic Christian teaching on sex and marriage. But given the brokenness around us, it’s cruel—not loving—to withhold the truth in our confused culture.

But that’s not our only betrayal. Too often, in our churches and Christian institutions, we have turned a blind eye or pretended to not know about the sexual abuse or harassment happening within. That’s a horrific betrayal of people made in the image of God, as well as of the truth that can set them free. ...

On no altar, especially not political expediency or cultural relevance, can Christians ever sacrifice the beautiful, life-giving vision of human sexuality that the Bible presents. To do so is to rob the world of a divine gift that has changed cultures in the past, and can do so again.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

RESOURCES - As John said, Christians have the opportunity to present the truth and beauty of God’s design for human sexuality. We also have the responsibility to speak out against anything that demeans the dignity and betrays the humanity of those created in God’s image, wherever that may occur.
"It’s Past Time to Rethink Modern Sexual Morality" - David French | National Review | October 15, 2017; http://www.nationalreview.com/article/452683/sex-consent-morality-culture-ruined-sexual-revolution

#2112 (10/21) PRO-LIFE SAT: "Labor Unions Give $2 Million to Planned Parenthood and Pro-Abortion Groups"

"LABOR UNIONS GIVE $2 MILLIONI TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD AND PRO-ABORTION GROUPS" - Steven Ergelet, OCT 19, 2017   |  http://www.lifenews.com/2017/10/19/labor-unions-give-2-million-to-planned-parenthood-and-pro-abortion-groups/ [AS I SEE IT: Thankfully, the money given by unions is not incredibly large. However, members should still demand to know of their leadersr leaders about what specific ways their contributions to the killing of the unborn babies serves the interests of the members. I just can't imagine they will receive a good answer. Sheesh!- Stan]

The biggest labor unions have long had ties with top pro-abortion organizations. A new report indicates the leading labor unions across the country donated approximately $2,000,000 to the Planned Parenthood abortion business and other abortion advocacy groups.

The American Federation of Teachers led the way with well over $1 million dollars in contributions to the Abortion Lobby. The total number of donations from the teachers organization to pro-abortion organizations is confounding. Why would a so-called teachers group give so much money to the nation’s biggest abortion business that kills future students in abortions?

The Daily Caller has additional info about the ties between labor unions and big abortion:
    "Unions across the country donated $765 million to various organizations over the last four years, and 99 percent of that cash went to liberal-leaning causes."
    "Labor unions gave $764,952,394 to left-wing special interests between 2012 and 2016, according to the Center for Union Facts. Of the nearly $765 million, 99 percent of union political contributions went to left-wing causes. The Center for Union Facts compiled a comprehensive database of information about labor unions in the United States: outlining union spending, salary information, dues revenue data, and more using data from the U.S. Department of Labor."
    "During this same time frame, almost $307 million went to the Democratic Party and aligned groups, including Media Matters, the Clinton Foundation, Mi Familia Vota, the National Democratic Club, the Advocacy Fund, Progressive Democrats of America, and Planned Parenthood."
     "Money given to these groups and labor union spending on abortion funding, however, is almost exclusively unapproved. Union members must consent to candidate contributions and super PAC spending by affirming they are part of the union, but the same is not true for political advocacy. Thus, union member dues end up going toward political causes—like abortion advocacy—disguised as representational activity.
     "Here’s how much a few pro-abortion groups received from labor unions since 2007, according to Luka Ladan, communications director for the Center for Union Facts:
     Planned Parenthood: $1.18 million 
     Emily’s List: $810,000 [help elect pro-abortion candidates]
     NARAL Pro-Choice America: $45,000
Here are the dollar amounts since 2007 that a few labor unions have given for abortion lobby funding:
     American Federation of Teachers: $1,150,000
    American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees: $520,100  
    International Association of Firefighters: $10,000
    Service Employees International Union: $180,000
    United Association: $40,000
    United Auto Workers: $100,000
    United Food and Commercial Workers International Union: $35,000

"Groups like the Coalition of Labor Union Women also support abortion advocacy projects like the Contraceptive Equity Project that fights to guarantee insurance companies will cover comprehensive contraception services, including abortion. The group did not reply to multiple requests for comment."

That funding doesn’t begin to touch on the hundreds of millions labor unions gave to pro-abortion political candidates or pro-abortion political party organizations.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

#2111 (10/20) "Harvey Weinstein and Feminism"

"HARVEY WEINSTEIN AND FEMINISM" - Mona Charen : Oct 20, 2017; https://townhall.com/columnists/monacharen/2017/10/20/harvey-weinstein-and-feminism-n2397541

The chief of Amazon studios, Roy Price, has now resigned in the wake of allegations that he made lewd comments and propositioned a producer. Lists of accused sexual predators in Hollywood and journalism are circulating on social media... Actress Alyssa Milano, one of Weinstein's targets, fumed, "This is not an uncommon occurrence. This is a sick culture. Men like Harvey Weinstein are around every corner. Men who undermine women and their strength, ability and intelligence exist everywhere."

This is a common theme you find in feminist thinking. Harassment and even sexual assault are seen as part of the spectrum of sexism. It begins with disparagement of women's abilities and intelligence; then progresses to making them sexual objects; and finally results in abuse and even rape. The "MeToo" hashtag and related posts on Facebook are intended as a feminist rallying cry. The Feministing website explains, "Gender violence doesn't exist without white supremacy (such as racism, colonialism, zionism (sic), militarism."

That's hard to beat for dimness. In China, according to a UN study, 23 percent admit to rape. In Papua New Guinea, 61 percent of men say the same. What if boorishness isn't a form of sexism, but merely bad behavior? Let's face it, many a flagrant lecher -- Bill Clinton, anyone? -- has been a stalwart and possibly even sincere feminist. Many a womanizer seeks absolution for his grubby conduct by ostentatious displays of political correctness. The louts seem to calculate that they earn gropes for every contribution to Emily's List or the National Organization for Women. Weinstein offered a particularly pathetic appeal to left-wing sympathies by declaring that he would train even more fire on the NRA.

Feminism made a critical misstep when it joined forces with the sexual revolution in the 1970s. Women needed more outlets for their sexuality, they claimed. Traditional notions about women being more interested in relationships than in casual encounters were outmoded. In 2014, feminist Hanna Rosin looked forward, only slightly tongue-in-cheek, to an era when women would surpass men in sex scandals. 

For decades feminists have made abortion the signature feminist issue -- thus signaling that consequence-free sex for men (who don't undergo the surgery and heartbreak) was a key goal. Feminists may not have intended to thereby send the message that they were all in on the sexual free-for-all, but some men concluded as much nonetheless. Feminists set themselves a contradictory task -- to insist that men and women were indistinguishable in their sexual tastes and appetites but then to demand that men respect women's particular reserve.

It would be healthier for our culture -- about which Alyssa Milano is not wrong -- if feminism were more realistic about human nature. Male sexual aggressiveness has been a challenge every civilization has had to manage. Among some Orthodox Jews, one answer is to set such strict limits on contacts between the sexes that men do not even touch women they are not related to -- not even to shake hands. This can lead to other problems when Orthodox men's reticence is misunderstood by others, but it isn't crazy. How many of us have been hugged a little too long and a little too aggressively by men taking advantage of the fact that they can get away with it?

I could easily sign on the #MeToo campaign. Sexual harassment cost me a summer job in college. But the "men equal bad, women equal good" slogan is a bit too simplistic. I've seen my share of women behaving badly, too. Older women very seldom demand sexual favors from younger men (sorry, Hanna Rosin), but I've seen young women use sex to get ahead in workplaces, sometimes targeting other women's husbands. And I've known men of all backgrounds, religious affiliations and political views who were perfect gentlemen not because they were feminists but because they were raised right.

A more realistic approach to sexual misbehavior would be to acknowledge that the temptation is always there. Most men aren't predators -- but why make it easier for those who are by pretending that a business meeting in a hotel room is anything other than wrong? Even in offices, an open door is a good policy when a man and woman are alone.

Perhaps the slogan we need -- for both sexes -- is #BeDecent.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

#2110 (10/19) "Here Are 4 Ways Iran Is Destabilizing the Middle East"

"HERE ARE 4 WQAYS IRAN IS DESTABILIZING THE MIDDLE EAST" - Madyson Hutchinson / October 13, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/10/13/4-ways-iran-destabilizing-middle-east/

Iran has backed rebel and terrorist groups in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories for years. (Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl/Zuma Press/Newscom)

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the United States would not recertify the controversial Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran—commonly referred to as the “Iran nuclear deal.”
     The controversial agreement has been under fire since President Barack Obama signed it in 2015. Critics have stated concerns that the deal did not do enough to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, something that threatens the security of the entire international community.
     As Trump outlined in his strategy, Iran’s offences are not limited to its nuclear program. This is why he included countering Iranian aggression as one component of his four-point strategy.
     Iran’s growing influence is a threat to regional stability and is harming U.S. allies. Since sanctions on Iran were lifted in 2016, Iran has enjoyed increased financial and economic influence, which it has since invested in destabilizing many of its neighbors.

In addition to having a nuclear program, here are four ways that Iran is increasingly destabilizing the Middle East.

1. Proxy wars and undermining of U.S. partners.
     Iran has a long history of backing rebel groups and undermining established regional governments. In Yemen, Iran is seeking to weaken Saudi Arabia’s influence by supporting the Houthi rebels against Saudi and Yemeni forces and against a Saudi-led Arab expeditionary force. The Houthis have carried out attacks on U.S. and U.S.-allied ships in the Red Sea with Iranian-supplied weapons. Iran even threatened to take military action against Saudi Arabia.

2. Smuggling of weapons and soldiers.
     Iran was able to capitalize on Iraq’s fight against ISIS and the instability that resulted. In particular, it has created transportation and logistical infrastructure to move soldiers and weapons through Iraq to its proxy forces in Syria and Lebanon.
     Iran is doing the same in Yemen. One U.S. officer noted that Iran has provided Houthi fighters with a deadly arsenal of weaponry that has even been used to attack U.S.-allied ships in the Red Sea.
     Iran has also recruited thousands of Afghan refugees and deployed them as armed volunteer forces to fight alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s troops in Syria.

3. Aligning with brutal regimes.
     The Syrian civil war has been bloody and brutal. Over half a million Syrians have been killed, and millions more are now displaced. Iran’s support for Assad is one of the key elements safeguarding his government’s survival.  Iran has dispatched senior military figures, deployed hundreds of Revolutionary Guard soldiers, and provided monetary, intelligence, training, communications, and weapons support to Assad, despite his gross human rights violations.
     Iran’s allies include hostile nations like Russia, which has fought alongside Iranian forces and Assad in Syria, as well as Venezuela, which is falling apart under a corrupt, anti-Western government.
     Iran’s support of the Palestinian Authority has encouraged a rise in Palestinian terrorism and confidence in one day replacing Israel with a unitary Palestinian state.

4. State-sponsored terrorism.
     One of Iran’s most notorious evils is its funding of terrorism. The State Department lists Iran as the No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism, and for good reason.
     For years, Iran has backed anti-Western groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as proxy groups in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen that have worsened ongoing regional conflicts.
     In the Gaza Strip, Hamas regularly carries out attacks on Israel by using Iranian-funded weaponry, and having benefited from Iranian-funded training.
     In Lebanon, Hezbollah broadcasts pro-Iranian news and carries out attacks on the Lebanese-Israeli border. Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters in Syria have played a role in propping up the Assad regime.
    Iran has also been accused of supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan—a relationship the country formalized in early 2014—and of refusing to punish senior al-Qaeda members.

Preventing the Iranian regime from obtaining nuclear capabilities is important, but that is not the only threat Iran poses to the region. Iranian influence is expanding, and instead of slowing or preventing this expanding influence, provisions under the Iran nuclear deal have made it easier for Iran to negatively influence and destabilize the Middle East.
    Trump’s refusal to re-certify the deal could mark a turning point in Iran’s destructive influence.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

Madyson Hutchinson is a research and administrative assistant at the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation.

#2109 (10/18) "The Boy Scouts and the Disappearance of Paths"

"THE BOY SCOUTS AND THE DISAPPEARANCE OF PATHS" - Trevin Wax , The Gospel Coalition, October 16, 2017; https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/trevinwax/2017/10/16/the-boy-scouts-and-the-disappearance-of-paths/

The Boy Scouts of America announced last week that the organization will now accept girls as members, thus ending the uniqueness of this iconic institution. Many commentators have lamented the moral decline of the Boy Scouts, seen in the organization’s steady capitulation to the ideology of the sexual revolution. But there is something deeper going on here, and it goes beyond one's views of sexual morality.

Path of Wisdom and Virtue
     The Boy Scouts offered a pathway toward manhood, a vision of the good life that brought together nature and nurture, and lifted up a moral vision to be pursued and cherished. Spending time outdoors with others in community was a way of traveling the ancient path of wisdom and virtue. Wisdom: learning how to flourish by living according to the grain of the universe. Virtue: choosing patterns of life that lead to the development of moral intuitions and character growth.
   The Boy Scouts offered a way for boys to track their progression toward the fulfillment of an idealized manhood. All the knot-tying and skills-learning were about bringing yourself in line with the way the world works. John Waters, the Irish playwright, reminds us what we discover when we build or repair something:
   "You have to conform your will and judgment to certain external facts of physics that remain nonnegotiable. A repairman of the old kind needed to develop a relationship with objects involving a real understanding--not ownership or a claim of dominance, but a sense of how these objects fitted into the logic of the world. . . . To be an apprentice to a master is to be guided along a path of learning. To practice the craft is to enter into a relationship with a world that exists independently of oneself. To get better at something is to be drawn closer to an understanding of how the world works in practice."
     Our society used to include multiple pathways of moral formation. The church occupied a central role, of course. But even entertainment played a part, as is evident in older television series where children stray from the path set by older and wiser mentors (almost always their parents) before coming back in line due to the consequences of their wandering.

A Path Is, By Nature, Confining
     The problem with norms and paths, these visions of the good life, is that they were, by definition, confining. They were paths, after all. To stray was to invite the displeasure of the community.
     (Younger viewers of Netflix's The Crown find it hard to imagine a world in which a princess is forbidden to marry a divorced man. What kind of society would take so seriously the vows of marriage and fidelity as to oppose a passionate love affair? we wonder. The answer? The generation that came just before us, and the queen who still sits on England's throne.)
     Yes, the ancient paths could feel confining. The Boy Scouts delivered a vision for a certain type of boy. Young boys with creative inclinations, who were less interested in hunting, fishing, and hiking may have felt left out and may have wondered if their manhood was deficient. But different paths for different kinds of men have always existed, including apprenticeship in the arts that have given rise to some of the world's greatest writers, composers, poets, and artists.
    Various pathways have existed, and yes, each path was in some way confining. But clear lines of demarcation served the function of helping people understand where they belonged and how they fit in. The lines we drew gave us significance.

World Opposed to Paths
     Today, our society is awash in expressive individualism, where the purpose of life is to find yourself and be true to yourself as opposed to what society, political parties, religious groups, or previous generations say should be your path. In our movies and TV shows, the hero colors outside the lines and does what is necessary to achieve and express his or her uniqueness.
    The older vision of the Boy Scouts doesn't fit this narrative. And so, the drama has been recast. The new heroes are the gay scout leader or the young girl, both of whom challenge the ancient path for its exclusionary practices in order to win access to a previously "off limits" area. The Boy Scouts path, or any path, is too confining and restricting to one's individuality. It must give way.
     And so it has. The Boy Scouts, as they have existed since their founding, are no more. The paths have been blown up.

Downside of a Pathless World
     But we have yet to reckon with a world in which paths no longer exist. We have yet to reckon with a world in which new ideologies of gender lead children at the youngest ages to raise doubts about the fundamental embodied nature of our existence, forms that have always been received without question as "given" by nature.
    We have yet to reckon with a world in which there is no longer a marital pathway for norms in regard to sexuality to be celebrated and cherished, rather than transgressed and exploited.
    For many in our society, the disappearance of pathways, of "right and wrong" or "wise and unwise" or "natural and unnatural" ways of living is a step toward freedom. It means that we are no longer constrained and suffocated by the ancient paths. We can chart our own course.

Disappearance of Meaning
     But the disappearance of paths leads to the disappearance of meaning. In the past, those who transgressed well-worn paths found the experience exhilarating precisely because there were paths to transgress. Today, with pathways quickly disappearing, even the most brazen acts are met with a yawn. Some LGBT writers mourn the normalcy brought by gay marriage, because they sense the loss of what was transgressive and exciting about gay culture.
    Increasingly, our society refuses to accept older paths of meaning and significance. We feel we must create meaning for ourselves. Hence the rise of the transgender revolution, our culture's newest determination of finding some path to transgress in order to find meaning.
    The problem is, without pathways to walk down or react against, the significance of striking out on our own is diminished. Which is why "affirmation" has become such a flashpoint in our culture. Do you wonder why there is such a strong drive to make churches "affirming" of different paths of sexuality, or enshrine in law the requirement that everyone use the pronouns someone demands? It is because we no longer feel a sense of satisfaction in choosing a path and learning a certain way of being in the world. The path is gone, and in the tension of a path-less world, we feel the loss of that significance, and so we demand affirmation from others as a way of regaining it. In order to reassure ourselves of our choices, we ask the community to affirm that our path is as legitimate as anyone else's.

Lost
     Here lies the deeper significance of the loss of the Boy Scouts. The pathways are now covered over. We branch out and blaze our own trails. Yes, we've lost some of the confining and restricting aspects of the ancient paths, but we've also lost the significance of living within them or transgressing them. There's one way to describe losing sight of a path: it's called "being lost." 

Thankfully, there's one ancient path that hasn't gone away. It, too, includes wisdom and virtue, though showered by divine grace. And this path is clearer and more appealing than ever, because the One who walked it before us made sure that it was narrow.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]