#2684 (5/27) "Memorial Day 2019 - Stories of Sacrifice Still Being Written"

ATTENTION:  SCROLL DOWN  to get TODAY'S article entitled in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. PLEASE be sure to note the various PRAYER REQUESTS listed BEFORE and AFTER the posted article. (NOTE the list of DAILY prayer requests for the persecuted church.)  They ALL deserve  your intercession.

THANK YOU.

PRAYER ALERT:

ANSWERED PRAYER! - 5/8 - Just learned that Asia Bibi (see TODAY'S post) has just been allowed to finally leave Pakistan and join her family in Canada! PRAISE GOD! Continue, however, to pray for her and her family as they will continue to face threats of viiolence in a country with open borders for terrorists.

1 - URGENT - 1) Pray for the many who are suffering from the tornadoes that swept through Okalhoma this past weekend.

2 - Pray for the continued violent crisis taking place in Venezuela and for America’s and other Latin American countries to respond appropriately;

3 Pray for Muslims around the world as they continue to observe their month of Ramadan, that many would have dreams and visions of Jesus that lead them to faith in Christ.

4 Continue to pray for the Jewish congregants who suffered a devastating anti-semitic attack in San Diego, and for the Christians and others in Sri Lanka suffering from the recent Easter Sunday attacks. 

5 PRAY also that our leaders will finally implement an effective border policy that will prevent these incidents in the future.

6)  Pray for U.S. Pastor David Lin in China (see "Something Serious Is Happening In That Dark Place" -  Tony Perkins, Washington Watch, April 09, 2019; https://www.frc.org/updatearticle/20190409/something-serious)

7) Leah Sharibu is a courageous Nigerian Christian teen girl held captive by Boko Haram. The Islamic militia is threatening to kill or enslave her because she won't renounce Jesus Christ. Pray that the UN will intervene in her release. [2/13 – This day marked ONE YEAR since her kidnapping.]

ATTENTION!

DECLARATION FOR LIFE: Please be sure to sign this at:  https://www.focusonthefamily.com/pro-life

PERSONAL UPDATE: 5/18 - Note my latest entry in the JOURNAL section on the right side of this page.

5/27 - PRAY for the President and others in leadership
 (1 Tim. 2:1-3)

Heavenly Father,

 I pray that you will guide President Trump to seek YOU with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength in the New Year. May he act with wisdom and strength against those whose actions would bring harm to this nation and the world now and for generations to come. I pray that you would strengthen his marriage and deepen the love he and his wife Melania share. Pray that you give them wisdom to speak into the life of their son Barron. Please protect him and his family and others in our leadership from physical harm that any might seek to do against them. May all that our President does bring honor and glory to YOU and cause him to draw in closer relationship with you. I ask this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ, Amen. P.S. - 3/27: I just finished reading the newly released book, "The Faith of Donald J. Trump" that the public library had and sent to me. Greatly recommend you read it to better understand our 45th President.

(from Intercessors For America) As the Lord Leads, please pray ...

*For the Americans around the nation as they remember the fallen on this Memorial Day.
*For wisdom for the president as he meets with Japan’s emperor,that he might find a way to point to Jesus and the gospel in their time together.
*For guidance as the president and Japan’s prime minister focus on a variety of issues that both nations share concerns regarding.
*For wisdom and guidance for President Trump and for members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who are working on the important issues of immigration.

*For wisdom for Secretary Mnuchin, Trade Representative Lighthizer and others negotiating on behalf of the U.S. as they navigate what seem to be new renegotiating “speedbumps” in the trade talks with China.
*For wisdom for President Trump, Cabinet members and advisers determining the best course of action for the United States in Venezuela.
*For all the negotiations being undertaken on trade with many of America’s trading partners.
*For wisdom for the president as he faces the probability of another round of investigations by Congress.
*For the new leadership of the Department of Homeland Security in advancing plans for dealing with the security and humanitarian crises at the southern border.
*For God to guide the president and make clear the decisions that he should make related to foreign policy.

*For safe travel for members of the administration who are making trips abroad.

*For the military leaders of the U.S. and Turkey to come to a working arrangement over America’s departure from Syria and the protection of the Kurds.

*For unity in Congress as they work to solve the many pressing issues that face the nation.
*For guidance for President Trump  as he works on a variety of issues, that God’s will would be accomplished through him.

     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

"Don't Argue the Exceptions - Beating Bad Arguments For Abortion and Transgenderism" - by John Stonestreet, Breakpoint.org, May 25, 2017; http://breakpoint.org/2017/05/breakpoint-dont-argue-exceptions/

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"MEMORIAL DAY 2019 - STORIES OF SACRIFICE STILL BEING WRITTEN" - by John Stonestreet and David Carlson, Breakpoint.org, May 27, 2019; http://www.breakpoint.org/2019/05/breakpoint-memorial-day-2019/ [AS I SEE IT: In the midst of having an extra day off from work, I hope that you will take a momen to PRAY for the families who have lost loved ones in service to our country, for those serving somewhere throughout the world, and for those wh are struggling with PTSD, esp. the estimated 20 who on average tragically commit suicide EACH DAY. May this serve to remind each of us that, truly, "freeedom isn't free." - Stan]

      Chuck Colson never missed a single Memorial Day opportunity to remind us all to remember the fallen. Often he did so by telling the stories of those who sacrificed their lives so that others might live. In just a moment, I want you to [read] one such story from Chuck himself, from World War II. But before we do, there’s something else we should all remember. Some stories are still being written.

     Since 2001, nearly 7,000 American service members have died overseas in any number of conflicts. So far this year, that number is 16. And their stories need to be heard as well. More on that in just a moment. 

   First, here’s Chuck Colson: It was February 1945—three months before the end of World War II. Eighteen-year-old Sergeant Joseph George was stationed in Lorient, France. It was evening, and George was preparing to go on patrol. The Americans were hoping to locate landmines buried by the Germans.
   Sergeant George had been on patrol duty the night before. As he told his friend Private James Caudill, he was tired—tired and scared. Private Caudill offered to take the patrol on his behalf. He pointed out that, at age 36, he was nearly two decades older than George. He told George—who had already been blown off a torpedoed ship—to go home and live a full, rich life. And then Private Caudill went out on patrol. A few hours later, he was killed by a German sniper.
   The actions of Private Caudill echo the values and valor of generations of military men and women we remember today. And it’s an example of the sort of behavior we almost take for granted when it comes to our men and women in uniform who fight just wars.

   What is a just war? One that is defined as providing a proportionate response to evil, to protect non-combatants, among other considerations. Today, our military men and women around the world are fighting to resist evil. Ridding the world of Islamo-fascism—by just means—is a good and loving act.

   This willingness to sacrifice on behalf of our neighbors is why military service is considered such a high calling for Christians—and part of what makes just wars just. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica puts his discussion of just war in his chapter on charity—the love of God and neighbor. John Calvin agreed; he called soldiering justly a “God-like act,” because “it imitates God’s restraining evil out of love for His creatures.”
   A world in which free nations refuse to fight just wars would be a world where evil is unchecked and where the strong would be free to prey on the weak—as we are now seeing in Darfur.

   Which brings me back to Sgt. George. He returned safely home to West Virginia. He married, fathered five sons. One of them—Princeton Professor Robert George—is a good friend of mine. He’s devoted much of his life to fighting the moral evils of our time: abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and efforts to redefine marriage in a way that would destroy it.
   In John 15:13, Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that [he] lay down his life for his friends.” The story of Private Caudill and Sergeant George makes one realize more deeply what a tremendous gift this is. It’s why the George family has remembered Private Caudill in prayers for sixty-one years.

   Today, Memorial Day, we ought to remember the sacrifices of all the Private Caudills in all the wars Americans have fought—and we should pray for those who are still in the field—laying down their lives for each other, for us, and for the freedom of strangers. That’s a very Christian thing to do.
   John Stonestreet here again: Today, American service men and women are still making the ultimate sacrifice. Please pray for their families. And in their honor today, why not read their stories. The Military Times website has a photo and a brief story of each and every service member who has perished abroad since 2001. Come to BreakPoint.org, click on this commentary, and I will link you to the Military Times site—and to those stories of the ones who still today are giving their all.

[italics and colored emphasis mine]

RESOURCES
"Honoring the Fallen" - Military Times | Database of those who fought and died in Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn; https://thefallen.militarytimes.com/

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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. Intercession is  one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer."- Stan

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“INTERCESSORS ARE THE RUDDER” – A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT - Wanda Alger, June 28th, 2017; https://www.getamericapraying.com/blog/I was recently given a word by my good friend, Bill Yount. His word greatly encouraged me as an intercessor. Working for Intercessors for America, I soon realized it was not just a word for me, but for all who have been praying for our nation, wondering if their prayers are truly making any difference. Bill told me, “I kept seeing you as a small rudder on a huge ship. Hidden, but giving guidance. Although it seemed slow it was turning the whole ship. Patience was needed to see the impact of your…ministry. I sense the Lord saying, ‘Don’t jump ship! I’ve made you the rudder!’ ” I was immediately touched in my spirit by this encouragement, knowing that our seemingly small place in prayer was having a great impact.

James 3:4 talks about the power of a small rudder to steer a large ship. In this scripture about the power of our tongue, consider the power of prophetic intercession! In the Forerunner Commentary on this verse we read, “…rudders manipulate the course of immense ocean vessels with a slight movement of a pilot’s hand. Since it is underwater and aft, the rudder of a ship does its work UNSEEN. A passenger is ignorant of its movements most of the time. Yet, when it is in proper working order, the rudder holds more power over the ship than the wind. The wind will blow, toss, even destroy the ship’s rigging, but the rudder guides the ship exactly where it directs.”

This is God’s promise to the intercessors in this hour of national turbulence. Don’t stop praying! Your prayers have great power to turn the ship! Continue praying, interceding, and discerning the workings and movements of the Holy Spirit, being faithful to God’s commands. As we come together to declare God’s faithfulness, this nation will, once again, head in the direction that God intends. Don’t give up and don’t give in. Regardless of the winds of adversity and the fires of the enemy, God’s people have a power that cannot be matched. Let us join in faith and continue to pray and speak of God’s faithfulness in order to bring God’s people and this nation into the fullness of God’s plans. Note this additional encouragement from God’s word:

Colossians 2:15 – “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (ESV). 

Psalm 33:8-11 – “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” 

Wanda Alger, IFA Field Correspondent

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 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.

World-Wide Prayer Requests:

 PRAISE GOD for the continuing recent successes against ISIS! Pray that coalition forces will be able to  fully destroy the leadership and infrastructure of ISIS.

*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 His Spirit's strength.

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Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/

On the world’s second-largest continent, Christians 
throughout Africa are enduring severe persecution. In May, Open Doors is focusing on African believers suffering from both oppression and physical violence. Please join us in praying with our brothers and sisters in these places where peace is elusive and conflict is ever-present.
May 27 | BHUTAN - Believers from different parts of Bhutan recently came together for a three-day fellowship. They prayed together, encouraged each other, and set their hearts and minds toward a unified vision. Praise God for this time of fellowship.
*Names changed to protect identities

STANDING STRONG THROUGH THE STORM - OpenDoorsUSA.org

 At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them.- 2 Tim. 4:16                                               

SPEAK ON BEHALF OF THOSE WHO SUFFER

The Apostle Paul knew exactly what it was like to be alone, to be deserted by all who called themselves “brothers” and “sisters.” A former colleague who has done considerable travel among the persecuted says, “It is hard to believe that Christians are the largest persecuted group in the world today. But it is even more difficult to believe that this is so seldom mentioned in our gatherings and church services. More Christians know the names of their favorite actors than their fellow believers who are in prison.”

He continues, “With every trip something in my heart breaks as I hear the echoes of suffering:

I remember the echoes of an Egyptian mother as she shared how her young boy was stuck in a haystack because she refused to deny Jesus.

I remember the sounds of weeping as fellow students in Indonesia shared how Sariman, their co-student, was hacked to death.

I remember the cries of anguish as we walked from church to church that was burned to the ground on the island of Lombok.

I remember the tears of Rebecca in Iran as she showed the picture of her father who was stabbed to death for sharing the gospel.

I remember the voice of Pastor Daniel in Vietnam as he shared how he was chained to the ground for six months.

I remember the fear of Grace from Sudan as she shared how her church was attacked and her friend was shot through the head.

Oh, I remember the cries of Caleb in Eritrea as he shared with tears how two dear friends were executed in front of him because of their faith.

And I remember the tears of Joy in the southern Philippines as she shared how her fiancé was shot to death in their church in Mindanao.

But, most all, I remember the deafening sounds of silence every time I return home.

RESPONSE

How can I be silent today? How can I not speak on behalf of those who suffer? How can I desert those that belong to the same body that I belong to and who desperately need the encouragement of my interven

#2683 (5/26) SUNDAY SPECIAL: “As We Remember Our Heroes This Memorial Day, Let’s Also Remember How Precious And Fragile Liberty Is”

“AS WE REMEMBER OUR HEROES THIS MEMORIAL DAY, LET'S ALSO REMEMBER HOW PRECIOUS AND FRAGILE LIBERTY IS” -  Scott Morefield: May 28, 2018; https://townhall.com/columnists/scottmorefield/2018/05/28/as-we-remember-our-heroes-this-memorial-day-lets-also-remember-how-precious-and-fragile-liberty-is-n2484955 [AS I SEE IT: For a number of years now, the number of Americans who say their patriotism would NOT lead them to give their lives for their country has steadily decreased. As this article emphasizes, this should not just concern but alarm every American who wants to see America remain "the land of the free, the home of the brave." - Stan]

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    “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.” – Patrick Henry

     “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” – Benjamin Franklin

      In May 1942, with the U.S. Pacific fleet down to just three carriers after heavy losses incurred at the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, the USS Wasp, after having distinguished itself in the Atlantic war, embarked to fight the Japanese in the Pacific. After a hard fight at Guadalcanal, three Japanese torpedoes hit the Wasp head-on. Fires spread quickly thanks to the incredible amount of oil and gas released from the tanks by the direct hits, and it wasn’t long before the ship’s fate was sealed. My grandfather, Harding Morefield, was forced to jump into the ocean after his hair caught on fire. When the ship’s captain, Forrest P. Sherman, ordered the abandon ship, the only delays were caused by the crewmen who didn’t want to leave until every single wounded soldier was brought to safety.

    When the foundering, desperate Germans cut through the Ardennes to surprise American forces in December 1944 with what would be their last major offensive of the war, my wife’s grandfather, a young infantryman named George, was shot in the leg. Because the units in the area were caught by almost complete surprise, George languished in the snow for 12 hours before being rescued. He lost his leg in the battle, but 19,000 other Americans lost their lives.

     There are millions of stories like this, interwoven throughout the histories of millions of American families. Most of us have ancestors who were willing to fight and die for something they saw as bigger than themselves, a nation where they, their families and their descendants could live in freedom. From the patriots who risked their lives and sacred honor to found a new country based on liberty and justice to today’s brave soldiers who willingly sign up to fight an enemy that doesn’t always even wear a uniform or adhere to the laws of war, courage and sacrifice are what founded our nation and made it great.

   Our grandparents were heroes to us, of course, and in many ways today’s pampered generation can barely imagine the sacrifices they endured. My wife’s grandfather who lost his leg was said to have never complained about his situation, at least within earshot of his family. To them, he would have gladly given his other leg for his country.

  But they, along with most everyone who survived the horrors of war, would never tell you they were heroes. No, they’d probably say they were lucky, because to them it didn’t seem like there was any real rhyme or reason to those who got to go home and those who got buried on a European battlefield or dumped into the Pacific ocean, or even those who left a leg in some makeshift military hospital in Belgium. To them, the real heroes were the ones who gave all they had to give in places like Khe San and Hamburger Hill, Normandy and Bastogne, Belleau Wood and Flanders, Manassas and Gettysburg, Bunker Hill and Yorktown.

    Crosses in their honor are planted in fields all across Europe, and in Lee’s old farm in Virginia, their lives cut off in the flower of their youth, their deaths mourned by family members who would never see them again. 

    The real heroes - they would say - never came home.

   American industrialist Henning Webb Prentis Jr. once described the historical cycle as, “from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy, from apathy to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more.”

   This Memorial Day weekend we should certainly remember our slain heroes, but we should also consider whether our fragile, dependent generation has the same mettle as our ancestors. Because if not, and if Prentis is correct, we’re about to enter a period of bondage unlike any mankind has experienced.

   As we enjoy an extra day off work and fire up the barbecue, may we not only remember the heroes who gave everything so we could live in a country founded upon and defined by liberty, may we also acknowledge just how precious and easily lost that liberty is. May we remember that freedom is something that, once lost, is never freely returned by those in power.

It is always born of blood.

[italics and colored emphasis mine]


"Prayer Works For the Military - An Army General's Memorial of Miracles" - MAY 24, 2019 | General James Hutchens - https://www.ifapray.org/blog/prayer-works-for-the-military-an-army-generals-memorial-of-miracles/
"Pray For These Military Leaders Who Are Outspoken Christians" - MAY 24, 2019 | Wanda Alger, IFA Field Correspondent - https://www.ifapray.org/blog/pray-for-these-military-leaders-who-are-outspoken-christians/

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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. Intercession is  one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer."- Stan

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Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/

On the world’s second-largest continent, Christians 
throughout Africa are enduring severe persecution. In May, Open Doors is focusing on African believers suffering from both oppression and physical violence. Please join us in praying with our brothers and sisters in these places where peace is elusive and conflict is ever-present.
May 26 | VIETNAM - Praise God for providing motorcycles for eight church leaders whose ministries are in mountainous areas. Said one recipient: “I give thanks to God and all who support us in this gift.”
*Names changed to protect identities

#2682 (5/25) PRO-LIFE SAT: "The Worst Argument for Abortion - ‘You’re Pro-Birth, Not Pro-Life’"

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"THE WORST ARGUMENT FOR ABORTION - ‘YOU'RE PRO-BIRTH, NOT PRO-LIFE" - by John Stonestreet and G. Shane Morris, Breakpoint.org, May 24, 2019; http://www.breakpoint.org/2019/05/breakpoint-the-worst-argument-for-abortion/ [AS I SEE IT: If I heard someone argue that pro-lifers don't care about the women in crisis pregnancies, after sharing the countless stories of how pro-lifers ARE doing just that, I would then ask that person, "And what, besides abortion, do you who promote abortion do for those women?" The silence to that question should be deafening! - Stan]

     If pro-lifers are going to oppose the killing of unborn children, we are told over and over again, then we must be willing to take care of these children and their families even after they’re born. And since we don’t, it’s widely assumed and repeated, we have no right to oppose abortion. As if this line of argument wasn’t repeated enough, it’s become especially popular in the wake of the new anti-abortion laws in Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, and now Missouri.

   For example, a recent political cartoon by Nick Anderson depicts pro-lifers gazing in awe at a pregnant woman’s belly and promising the child, “We’ll do whatever we can to protect your life.” In the next frame, the very same pro-lifers scream at the newborn, “Now you’re on your own!” “Get a job, moocher!”
   Apparently believing this same caricature of uncaring abortion opponents led Times of Israel journalist Sarah Tuttle-Singer to tweet out a challenge last week: “Dear Pro-Life friends: what have you personally done to support lower income single mothers? I’ll wait.”

   Well, at last count, she received some responses—over 13 thousand of them, in fact, answering her rhetorical question. I doubt they were what she and other pro-abortion activists were expecting. A Twitter user named Barbara wrote back: “Great question! Since I am unable to foster, I often babysit for my friends who do. I donate regularly to a foster closet. We help pay bills for people in crisis situations and my oldest kids help when they are able.”

   Another user named Joshua wrote: “[We] became foster parents, which led to adoption. Intentionally worked to build relationship with and support our son’s birth mother. Helped her with buying furniture and more when she got out of prison…We were part of a movement of 30+ foster/adopt families from our church doing the same, with a network of hundreds in our church supporting us in tangible ways.”

   A pastor named Hans replied: “Started a non-profit that gives free clothing, diapers, etc…to those in need. Fostered a teen mom. Fostered another mother’s three children while she got her life back on track. Found them housing. Gave them Jesus. Gave them a church family who helps and supports them.”

   The stories went on and on. The thousands of replies are more than just anecdotal answers to a journalist’s misfired question. Pro-lifers really have put their money, time, and love where their mouths are.

   Think of the nation’s pregnancy care centers—which offer supplies and training and parenting classes to mothers and continue doing so despite being maligned as “fake clinics.” They currently outnumber abortion mills three-to-one, and are overwhelmingly run and staffed by women—most of whom are volunteers. Alabama alone has more than seventy of these centers, all of which rely on the private support of people who believe in their mission.

   And that’s not all. Alabama’s governor, Kay Ivey—who just signed that state’s newest abortion restriction into law—announced back in November that families in her state set a new record for adopting children out of the foster system.

   Is there more to be done? Of course! Could pro-lifers specifically do more? Of course! But here’s an important question asked back to our pro-abortion opponents: Why should an unborn child’s right to life depend on how many social programs, charities, or adoptive parents are available after he or she is born? Think about what’s being implied here: that needy babies are better off dead—that the kindest thing we can do is kill them—and that if you’re unable to take in every single unplanned child, you have no right to speak against abortion.

   This is barbaric nonsense. As some have pointed out, it’s kind of like saying you can’t oppose killing homeless people unless you turn your home into a shelter. And it misses the single most crucial fact in the entire debate: that abortion doesn’t prevent a baby. It kills one. Which is why, of the two sides in our current, intensifying debate, it’s clear who is most deeply invested in the lives of unplanned children—those who think they first and foremost deserve to live.


[italics and colored emphasis mine]

RESOURCES
"Question for pro-lifers" - Sarah Tuttle Singer | Twitter - https://twitter.com/TuttleSinger
"Alabama families set record for adopting foster children" - Mike Cason | AL.com | November 26, 2018; https://www.al.com/news/anniston-gadsden/2018/11/alabama-families-set-record-for-adopting-foster-children.html
"Alabama has more than 70 pro-life centers helping pregnant women" - Katie Franklin | LiveAction.org | May 19, 2019; https://www.liveaction.org/news/alabama-70-pro-life-centers-helping-pregnant-women-need

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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. Intercession is  one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer."- Stan

------------------------------------------------------------

Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/

On the world’s second-largest continent, Christians 
throughout Africa are enduring severe persecution. In May, Open Doors is focusing on African believers suffering from both oppression and physical violence. Please join us in praying with our brothers and sisters in these places where peace is elusive and conflict is ever-present.
May 25 | NORTH KOREA - Christians in North Korea continue to suffer for their faith. Pray for both physical and spiritual provision. And ask God to increase the reach of the secret Christian messages broadcast via radio.
*Names changed to protect identities

#2681 (5/24) "The Pro-life Movement's Moment"

"THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT'S MOMENT" - Cal  Thomas: May 21, 2019; https://townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/2019/05/21/the-prolife-movements-moment-n2546602

     Since 1973, when Roe vs. Wade ushered in what would eventually lead to abortion on demand, including partial-birth abortion and even the failure to protect babies born alive after failed procedures -- the pro-life movement has achieved few legislative victories.

    That may be about to change. While New York and several other states have passed statutes effectively allowing infanticide, more conservative states are passing "heartbeat" bills and other restrictions. Information is becoming more helpful in changing the opinions of people not rigidly "pro-choice" to one more favorable to defending unborn life, at least at late stages of fetal development.

   Films like "Unplanned," the story of former Planned Parenthood official Abby Johnson and her transformation after witnessing an actual abortion, are also advancing the pro-life cause.

   New court cases have been building toward a moment when more conservative judges, including those now on the Supreme Court, might look favorably on modifying, though probably not overturning, Roe v. Wade. While that is not a given (note the opinions upholding Roe by justices named by Republican presidents), momentum appears to be building in a pro-life direction.

   The Pew Research Center has found that while abortion remains a divisive issue, "more than half of U.S. adults take a non-absolutist position, saying that in most -- but not all -- cases, abortion should be legal (34 percent) or illegal (22 percent). Fewer take the position that in all cases abortion should be either legal (25 percent) or illegal (15 percent).

   This is why the courts are likely to take an incremental approach, rather than an outright overturning of Roe. Incrementalism has brought us to the point where Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia recently sought to defend a bill (defeated) that would have failed to protect a baby who survives an abortion and leave the decision to the woman and her "doctor" as to whether the child should be allowed to die, intent being the determining factor. Incremental steps could also move in the opposite direction.

   Unrestricted abortion has been aided by an increasingly secularized society that appears to view human life as merely the highest form of evolution, but of no greater moral significance than animals that seem to be afforded more protection in law than an unborn child. [italics and colored emphasis mine]

   As pregnancy help centers have expanded, as scientific knowledge, including the use of sonograms, have helped change the minds of some abortion-minded women when they see pictures of their baby, as more people become aware that, since 1973, the number of aborted babies has reached 60 million and the U.S birth rate has declined to its lowest level in three decades, there is increasing optimism that the times may be changing in favor of some protection for the unborn.

   Still, abortion is a reflection of something far deeper. An increasingly secular society in which its fastest growing demographic ascribes to no religious belief, is now of a mindset to tolerate virtually everything. In the Old Testament book of Judges, one line is repeated that characterizes modern America: "In those days Israel (insert America) had no king; everyone did as he saw fit." While America is strong economically and militarily, we are weak where it really counts.

   No one can predict how the courts -- especially the Supreme Court -- will handle cases formulated to get their attention, but history proves the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln's observation: "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." That should include the freedom to be born.

   The secular progressives will fight back with everything they have, including their misuse of language to hide what goes on behind closed doors at an abortion facility, but the wind has shifted behind the backs of pro-lifers and this could be their most favorable moment in 46 years.

[italics and colored emphasis mine]

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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. Intercession is  one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer."- Stan

------------------------------------------------------------

Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/

On the world’s second-largest continent, Christians 
throughout Africa are enduring severe persecution. In May, Open Doors is focusing on African believers suffering from both oppression and physical violence. Please join us in praying with our brothers and sisters in these places where peace is elusive and conflict is ever-present.
May 24 | ERITREA - Thank the Lord the peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea has opened borders, allowing people to move more freely between the two countries. Ask God to use the changed geopolitical situation.
*Names changed to protect identities

#2680 (5/23) "The Other Standoff in Iran: Religious Freedom"

"THE OTHER STANDOFF IN IRAN: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM" - Tony Perkins, Washington Update, May 22, 2019; https://www.frc.org/updatearticle/20190522/other-standoff [AS I SEE IT: Once again, don't hold your breath that the mainstream media will  choose to speak about this standoff in Iran. Religious freedom is just not on their radar screen; they normally forget the tens of millions for whom it is threatend daily. - Stan]

     Right now, Iran is in the headlines almost every day. But as tensions escalate, there's another crisis in the region -- and it has to do with people of faith. This afternoon, on Capitol Hill, FRC President and USCIRF Commissioner Tony Perkins had the chance to address the wave of suffering in Iran at a special policy day hosted by International Christian Concern (ICC).

   "It's a pleasure and an honor to join my good friends and fierce defenders of religious freedom, ambassador Brownback and Senator Ted Cruz. Both have championed the rights of Christians and others around the world and have fought tirelessly on behalf of those who seek to worship free from persecution by their own government. They have also been strong supporters of the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), on which I've served for the last year."

   "Iran's persecution of Christians and other religious minorities has been a hallmark of the regime since the Islamic revolution in 1979. Christians, in particular, have faced a dramatic uptick in arrests over the past year, and Muslim converts to Christianity continue to face severe persecution. While Iran's constitution recognizes Christians as a protected religious minority, members of the community are regularly targeted, arrested, and charged as enemies of the state. Earlier this month, Iran's Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alevi revealed that his agency has begun "countering the advocates of Christianity," summonsing people who have shown interest in the faith to regional headquarters."

   "Rather than accept responsibility for its own failings, Iran's government is responding to domestic and international pressure by cracking down on members of the Christian and other religious minority communities such as Baha'is and Sufi Muslims. It would rather persecute and punish those whose beliefs differ or diverge from the government's than give Iranians the right to practice their religion or belief in their chosen way. This past February marked 40 years since Iran's people have lived under this religious repression."

    "The regime has also jailed thousands of other Muslims and non-Muslims in Iran for their religious beliefs. It's easy to lose sight of the fact that each of these Iranians has a name, has a family, and has a story. 
     Mohammed Ali Taheri, a world-renowned peaceful spiritualist leader who was imprisoned at the notorious Evin Prison outside Tehran in 2011. He was thrown into solitary confinement without cause and continues to receive grave threats to his life from those who seek to intimidate him into silence. Iranians also make a point of targeting of women. 
   Ms. Golrokh Iraee, an Iranian novelist, was imprisoned for writing a story that criticized the brutal practice of stoning adulterers. She was arrested in 2014 along with her husband, who suffers from bone cancer, and charged with "insulting Islamic sanctities" among other spurious accusations. USCIRF has reported on her case for over a year and called for U.S. government attention to her case. This past April, Ms. Iraee was granted a release on bail for some of the charges against her. However, she still faces charges on a different case that could land her back in prison without U.S. government pressure. Her husband also remains in prison on a fifteen-year prison sentence and has been denied medical care." 

   "For Christians in Iran, the stories are just as bleak. Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has been arrested several times -- most recently last July -- and remains in prison. A convert to Christianity, Pastor Nadarkhani is a leader of the evangelical church of Iran and ministers to a 400-member house church. In 2016, he was charged with "promoting Zionist Christianity" and "acting against national security" for his pastoral work. He was arrested by plainclothes security officials, who beat him inside his own house and reportedly used a taser gun on his 14-year-old son, Joel."

   "USCIRF continues to work with our partners, including ICC, to inform Congress about their cases and make recommendations to the State Department and the President to ensure their safety and freedom. We are encouraged by what this administration is doing on international religious freedom, but the United States can and must do more to protect persecuted Christians and other religious minorities in Iran. No person deserves to be harassed, imprisoned, or tortured for exercising their fundamental human right to believe or not believe."

[italics and colored emphasis mine]

---------------------------------------

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. Intercession is  one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer."- Stan

------------------------------------------------------------

Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/

On the world’s second-largest continent, Christians 
throughout Africa are enduring severe persecution. In May, Open Doors is focusing on African believers suffering from both oppression and physical violence. Please join us in praying with our brothers and sisters in these places where peace is elusive and conflict is ever-present.
May 23 | SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES - Over a year after the deadly Marawi siege (a five-month battle between Islamic State and military forces), evacuees still need prayer for safety. Please pray they will be relocated soon.
*Names changed to protect identities

#2679 (5/22) "tThe Martyrs of Burkina Faso - Know Their Names"

"THE MARTYRS OF BURKINA FASO - KNOW THEIR NAMES" - by John Stonestreet and Roberto Rivera , Breakpoint.org, May 22, 2019; http://www.breakpoint.org/2019/05/breakpoint-the-martyrs-of-burkina-faso/ [AS I SEE IT: *Note the item about Vietnam in the sectionn below about prayers for persecuted believers: Several months ago, when President Trump met briefly with the leader of North Korea in Vietnam, the media (including Christian media I saw) only spoke of the great economic progress this still communist country was experiencing. Nothing I came across mentioned the continued persecution of Christians and other violations of religious freedom there. At least Christians here in the West should not fail to mention such human rights abuses. - Stan]

      On Sunday May 12th, between 20 and 30 gunmen entered a Catholic church during Mass in Dablo, Burkina Faso, and started shooting the congregation. Six people, including Father Simeon Yampa, were killed. The attackers then set fire to the church with some worshipers still inside.

   Probably 95 percent of Americans couldn’t find Burkina Faso on a map. But that doesn’t make what’s happening to Christians there any less serious or any less deserving of our attention. In fact, this was the second such attack on a church in the region in two weeks. The Sunday after Easter, “gunmen on motorbikes” attacked a Pentecostal church in a neighboring province, killing the pastor, Pierre Ouédraogo and five worshipers.

   Burkina Faso, which was called Upper Volta until 1984, was not a particularly dangerous place for Christians until just a few years ago. While Christians are only a quarter of the population, the country, unlike other Muslim-majority nations, hasn’t been ranked on lists like Open Door’s. As the Christian Post put it, “Although Burkina Faso is a majority-Muslim country . . . religious groups have largely coexisted peacefully there.”

   These recent attacks owe their origins to neighboring Mali, a nation that is on the Open Doors list. Since 2012, Mali has been locked in a series of conflicts pitting the central government against Islamist and Islamist-backed forces. Even after the initial conflict was put down by the French military, jihadis have continued to operate in Mali, which has been characterized as “fragile,” with “…weak state legitimacy leaving citizens vulnerable to a range of shocks.” In this case, the violence in Mali has spilled over into Burkina Faso in the form of Islamist attacks on not only Christians but also those deemed insufficiently Muslim.

   After killing Father Yampa and his parishioners, the attackers “destroyed all places serving alcohol,” as part of an ongoing campaign to establish a so-called “caliphate” in the part of Africa between the Sahara and the rain forests of Central Africa. Since 2016, there have been more than 200 attacks, and in the past two months alone more than 70,000 people have been forced from their homes.

    As order deteriorates and the government’s authority diminishes outside the capital, jihadis, mostly from Mali and other countries in the region, are free to operate with something close to impunity. That freedom is expressed by attacking Christians both inside and outside of church. In addition to the attacks I just told you about, jihadis have also targeted missionaries. Three years ago, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb killed six Canadians who were in the country on a mission trip.

   Given these developments, I suspect Burkina Faso will soon appear on Open Door’s “World Watch List,” given the threat against Christians by those who hate them and the increasing chaos in the country.

   Scripture commands us to “always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” This is especially true for our persecuted and suffering brothers and sisters. They are paying a price we can scarcely imagine for bearing the name “Christian.” The least we owe them is to become acquainted with their situation so that their suffering doesn’t go unnoticed. Yampa’s and Ouédraogo’s names were known to God. Likewise, they should be known to us.

[italics and colored emphasis mine]


"Burkina Faso Wracked by Escalating Violence" - By Sarah Maslin Nir, The New York Times, May 18, 2019; https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/18/world/africa/burkina-faso-violence-extremism.html

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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. Intercession is the one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer."- Stan

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/

On the world’s second-largest continent, Christians 
throughout Africa are enduring severe persecution. In May, Open Doors is focusing on African believers suffering from both oppression and physical violence. Please join us in praying with our brothers and sisters in these places where peace is elusive and conflict is ever-present.
May 22 | VIETNAM - Continue to pray for Lee* and his house church. Police confronted him and ordered church members to stop gathering. Lee was also asked to name church members, but he refused. Pray for his protection.
*Names changed to protect identities

#2678 (5/21) "Our Modern 'Satyricon'"

"OUR MODERN 'SATYRICON'" -  Victor Davis: May 16, 2019; https://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2019/05/16/our-modern-satyricon-n2546364 [AS I SEE IT: While many academians are either teaching us to ignore or seeking to re-do what history tells us, this article - and the novel it refers to - tells us that the past has much to instruct us and warn us about the times we are living in now and may very well give us an accurate picture of where we as a society are heading. The lesson: read history and be warned before it's too late! - Stan]

    Sometime around A.D. 60, in the age of Emperor Nero, a Roman court insider named Gaius Petronius wrote a satirical Latin novel, "The Satyricon," about moral corruption in Imperial Rome. The novel's general landscape was Rome's transition from an agrarian republic to a globalized multicultural superpower.

   The novel survives only in a series of extended fragments. But there are enough chapters for critics to agree that the high-living Petronius, nicknamed the "Judge of Elegance," was a brilliant cynic. He often mocked the cultural consequences of the sudden and disruptive influx of money and strangers from elsewhere in the Mediterranean region into a once-traditional Roman society.
   The novel plots the wandering odyssey of three lazy, overeducated and mostly underemployed single young Greeks: Encolpius, Ascyltos and Giton. They aimlessly mosey around southern Italy. They panhandle and mooch off the nouveau riche. They mock traditional Roman customs. The three and their friends live it up amid the culinary, cultural and sexual excesses in the age of Nero.

   Certain themes in "The Satyricon" are timeless and still resonate today.

     The abrupt transition from a society of rural homesteaders into metropolitan coastal hubs had created two Romes. One world was a sophisticated and cosmopolitan network of traders, schemers, investors, academics and deep-state imperial cronies. Their seaside corridors were not so much Roman as Mediterranean. And they saw themselves more as "citizens of the world" than as mere Roman citizens.
   In the novel, vast, unprecedented wealth had produced license. On-the-make urbanites suck up and flatter the childless rich in hopes of being given estates rather than earning their own money. The rich in turn exploit the young sexually and emotionally by offering them false hopes of landing an inheritance.
     Petronius seems to mock the very world in which he indulged. His novel's accepted norms are pornography, gratuitous violence, sexual promiscuity, transgenderism, delayed marriage, childlessness, fear of aging, homelessness, social climbing, ostentatious materialism, prolonged adolescence, and scamming and conning in lieu of working.
   The characters are fixated on expensive fashion, exotic foods and pretentious name-dropping. They are the lucky inheritors of a dynamic Roman infrastructure that had globalized three continents. Rome had incorporated the shores of the Mediterranean under uniform law, science, institutions -- all kept in check by Roman bureaucracy and the overwhelming power of the legions, many of them populated by non-Romans.
   Never in the history of civilization had a generation become so wealthy and leisured, so eager to gratify every conceivable appetite -- and yet so bored and unhappy.

   But there was also a second Rome in the shadows. Occasionally the hipster antiheroes of the novel bump into old-fashioned rustics, shopkeepers and legionaries. They are what we might now call the ridiculed "deplorables" and "clingers." Even Petronius suggests that these rougher sorts built and maintained the vast Roman Empire. They are caricatured as bumpkins and yet admired as simple, sturdy folk without the pretensions and decadence of the novel's urban drones.

   Petronius is too skilled a satirist to paint a black-and-white picture of good old traditional Romans versus their corrupt urban successors. His point is subtler.
   Globalization had enriched and united non-Romans into a world culture. That was an admirable feat. But such homogenization also attenuated the very customs, traditions and values that had led to such astounding Roman success in the first place.

   The multiculturalism, urbanism and cosmopolitanism of "The Satyricon" reflected an exciting Roman mishmash of diverse languages, habits and lifestyles drawn from northern and Western Europe, Asia and Africa. But the new empire also diluted a noble and unique Roman agrarianism. It eroded nationalism and patriotism. The empire's wealth, size and lack of cohesion ultimately diminished Roman unity, as well as traditional marriage, child-bearing and autonomy.
   Education likewise was seen as ambiguous. In the novel, wide reading ensures erudition and sophistication, and helps science supplant superstition. But sometimes education is also ambiguous. Students become idle, pretentious loafers. Professors are no different from loud pedants. Writers are trite and boring. Elite pundits sound like gasbags.
   Petronius seems to imply that whatever the Rome of his time was, it was likely not sustainable -- but would at least be quite exciting in its splendid decline.
   
     Petronius also argues that with too much rapid material progress comes moral regress. His final warning might be especially troubling for the current generation of Western Europeans and Americans. Even as we brag of globalizing the world and enriching the West materially and culturally, we are losing our soul in the process.
   Getting married, raising families, staying in one place, still working with our hands and postponing gratification may be seen as boring and out of date. But nearly 2,000 years later, all of that is what still keeps civilization alive.

[italics and colored emphasis mine]

---------------------------------------

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. Intercession is the one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer." - Stan

------------------------------------------------------------

Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/

On the world’s second-largest continent, Christians 
throughout Africa are enduring severe persecution. In May, Open Doors is focusing on African believers suffering from both oppression and physical violence. Please join us in praying with our brothers and sisters in these places where peace is elusive and conflict is ever-present.
May 21 | SUDAN - In Darfur, a small church is facing pressure for their faith in Christ. Last October, state police forced their way into a gathering and arrested a dozen believers. Stand with these believers.
*Names changed to protect identities