# 1327 (8/24) "The Counterfeit Christian"

"The Counterfeit Christian" - Mike Adams | Aug 21, 2015; http://townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/2015/08/21/the-counterfeit-christian-n2041939/page/full

Over a decade ago, I went to Yale University to give a speech at the law school. While I was there, my host took me on a tour of the campus. When we visited the divinity school, he commented on the fact that atheists often sought their divinity degrees at Yale. We both agreed that it made sense. If you really hated Christianity, it would only be wise to try to destroy it from within.

The concept of destroying Christianity from within was not unfamiliar to me when I visited Yale. I had already seen it before on my own campus. On one memorable occasion, a campus gay activist sponsored an event meant to deceive people into thinking that the Bible supported homosexuality. He wore a gigantic silver cross on the outside of his shirt in order to make people believe he was a Christian while he was intentionally undermining basic Christian teaching about sexual morality.

On several other occasions, the director of one of our five campus diversity centers sponsored events meant to teach that Christianity and homosexuality were compatible. She also banned pastors who wanted to come to her center and present an alternate view (read: Biblical view) of sexual morality. In addition, she tirelessly promoted what she called “gay-friendly” churches while simultaneously claiming to be a Christian herself. Her profession of Christianity was clearly false and meant to undermine a religion she saw as condemning her sexual choices.

There are many obvious examples of people who pretend to be Christians as part of a conscious effort to undermine Christianity. But others actually start out with what seems to be a sincere belief before eventually selling out and going to work for the Enemy. Examples are easy to find in either the local church or the local campus ministry. Here are just a few:

*Two girls were prosecuted under the campus speech code at a public university in Georgia. The girls later decided to sue. So-called gay rights activists went ballistic and began protesting against the plaintiffs - one of whom was a committed Christian. The LGBT crowd attacked the women with profanity and even made physical threats of violence against them. Leaders of a campus ministry (a ministry that was formerly named after Christ) jumped into the controversy. Remarkably, though, they sided with the homosexuals! In fact, they argued that it was time for Christians to show more tolerance towards the LGBT community. The “Christian” ministry maintained its support of these “tolerant” homosexual activists even after they started making specific death threats against the plaintiffs. These campus “ministers” are not clueless Christians. They are not even Christians. In fact, they are now crusading for the Enemy while other clueless Christians keep joining their support team.

*A prominent pastor saw the cultural drift in favor of same sex marriage and decided to take a six-month break from talking about homosexuality so he could “reflect” upon his stance on the issue. To no one’s surprise when he returned to the issue he affirmed both same sex marriage and homosexuality in general. His “reflection” was motivated solely by a desire to remain popular and to keep money flowing into the church. Now, he is no longer leading people to Christ. He is “affirming” people straight into the gates of hell. And he knows it. He isn’t confused. He just has a mortgage to pay. He is now paying it off by working for the Enemy.

*A United Methodist pastor prohibited his youth pastor from talking about abortion and creationism in weekly youth group meetings. After she resigned in protest, her replacement was allowed to argue in favor of same-sex marriage at those same youth group meetings. To make matters worse, the pastor also taught parishioners that simply being unhappy is a justification for divorce. When he started actively telling people they could leave their spouses in order to find happiness he ceased to be a Christian in any meaningful sense of the word. He just wanted happy parishioners. Happy parishioners write checks. But in order to keep them happy he had to start working for the Enemy.

*A young Christian pro-life speaker gave a talk to a campus ministry (formerly named after Christ). During the middle of his speech the director of the ministry interrupted the speaker. After shutting down the pro-life talk, he castigated the speaker for “offending” people with his pro-life message. Before sending him home he let the defender of the unborn know he was not welcome with their campus crew of “Christians.” To make matters worse, other members of the ministry later sided with the censor over the pro-life speaker. One even had the audacity to warn him that if he publicly criticized the ministry for what they did to him he would be “burning bridges” and hurting his future career. These campus ministers are no longer crusading for Christ. They have joined the Campus Crusade for Comfort. Now, they are clearly working for the Enemy in his war on the unborn.

Committed Christians must soon wake up and realize that the stories in this column are not isolated. They are part of a growing trend within the church. Indeed, there is a cancer growing within the body of Christ. It is time we began to extract the cancer before the entire body is consumed. The proper method of doing that is another issue altogether. That will be the subject of a future column. … To be continued.

  [bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

Mike Adams is a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and author of Letters to a Young Progressive: How To Avoid Wasting Your Life Protesting Things You Don't Understand.

# 1326 (8/23) SUNDAY SPECIAL: "No Foolish Romance"

You WILL Be Blessed! (8/18) I came across the following two very short videos that I know will bless you greatly. The first (1) is the 8-minute tribute of TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford to her late husband that includes a powerful gospel message - esp. amazing as it aired unedited on NETWORK television. Oh wow! It is followed by (2 )the 4-minute performance by a little 5-year old that followed; it will also warm your heart. PLEASE watch the following; be blessed!
(1)http://www.today.com/popculture/kathie-lee-gifford-returns-today-outpouring-has-been-extraordinary-t39066
(2) http://www.today.com/video/heavenly-joy-surprises-klg-with-sweet-songs-506704451810

"NO FOOLISH ROMANCE" - Marvin Olasky | Aug 20, 2015;
http://townhall.com/columnists/marvinolasky/2015/08/20/no-foolish-romance-n2041041/page/full [AS I SEE IT: I agree with the author of this article. In fact, I believe if just a small portion of the evangelicals who voted for the President in the last election had not had a "romantic abandon," we would have a different leader and possibly could have been spared much of what we have endured. Because of that, since the last election I have committed myself to making this a DAILY blog to help keep esp. evangelicals informed about the issues of the day. I pray that at least the vast majority of evangelicals will vote and will vote ONLY according to the issues confronting our nation. - Stan]

Barack Obama became president in 2008 by gaining 53 percent of the vote against John McCain’s 46 percent. That was a sweeping victory, but think: If one out of 25 Obama voters had voted for McCain, Obama would have lost the raw vote and maybe the Electoral College as well.

Let’s think some more: Obama lost votes of those who would not support an African-American, but he apparently gained more from those who wanted to put a black man in the White House. It’s very good in the history of this country that an African-American is there, but very bad that this particular gentleman is the one. Every evangelical who voted on the basis of skin and ignored a sinful ideology acted with romantic abandon rather than discernment.

OK, let me anticipate some defensiveness. Agreed that good looks and a good voice swayed some voters -- but shouldn’t we know that Lady Liberty needs a good husband, not an impressive date? Agreed that candidate Obama hid his views and conned voters -- but we knew enough. (Those who fall for a con usually want to fall for it.) Agreed that Republicans put up mediocre candidates; but when we elect a president, we’re choosing big chunks of the executive and judicial branches, not just one person.

Have we learned that romance is wonderful in marriage yet destructive in public policy? Political romance has brought us two Supreme Court justices who choose ideology over judicial humility. It’s given us foreign policy appeasement likely to lead to more war. It’s now bringing great threats to religious liberty. That last sentence makes me hope a crucial number of evangelicals won’t be all heart and no brain in 2016, since another burst of evangelical romanticism will lead to the closing of many evangelical institutions.

Another term or two of a socially radical president will likely lead to discrimination against any evangelical institution that discriminates in favor of Bible-approved marriage. Judges appointed by such a president are likely to curtail freedom of religion and freedom of speech. At the start, the big impact will be financial: Institutions that embrace homosexuality will continue to have tax-exempt and tax-deductible status, but institutions that embrace the Bible will lose those benefits and see their buying power hatcheted.

Long-range, if trends continue, the issues will be not economic but existential: Will evangelical churches and colleges that stay faithful to the Bible be legal at all, or will we descend to a situation like that of China, with its state-approved religious institutions and its underground ones? Evangelical romantics may say, So what: Despite and in some ways because of persecution, Chinese Christianity is growing. But that’s a historical anomaly, as the sad sagas of many Muslim countries show: More often than not, slow-but-steady persecution saps the strength of the oppressed.

In a modern, interlinked society, what’s been called the Benedict Option -- create Christian communities distinct from a larger culture bound for destruction -- doesn’t work by itself: Central governments stifle dissent. A terrific new biography, “Stalin,” by Stephen Kotkin, shows how the Soviet kingpin was not content to rule all within ready reach, but headed to Siberia to expand his hegemony. No monastery was an island then. Today, the U.S. radical left desire is to make us all wards of the state -- with no one left behind.

As I wrote last month in WORLD, evangelicals instead should embrace the Daniel Option, modeled after the biblical hero who for decades stood up to kings. Today, most of us don’t want to say NO and possibly end up in a lion’s den. Today, from fantasy football to Second Life, from gated communities to the Big Sort (so we don’t interact with persons unlike ourselves), from pornography and homosexuality -- in both, guys don’t have to deal with real women -- to Martha Stewart perfection, many romantics think we can avoid education through suffering.

Daniel Option realism offers pain but also gain. Romantics often fall into gushy solemnity, but Daniels can combine seriousness and smiles, since they know the circus in front of us is not the ultimate reality. Daniels can be happy warriors, and in that way teach others not to despair. Even today, when the sky seems to be falling, Daniels can and do remember that God holds up the sky.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]
 
Marvin Olasky is editor-in-chief of the national news magazine World. For additional commentary by Marvin Olasky, visit www.worldmag.com. 

# 1325 (8/22) PRO-LIFE SAT: '8th Shocking Video: StemExpress CEO Admits Planned Parenthood Sells Fully Intact Aborted Babies"

'8TH SHOCKING VIDEO: STEMEXPRESS CEO ADMITS PLANNED PARENTHOOD SELLS FULLY INTACT ABORTED BABIES" - Steven Ertelt, Aug. 21,  2015 | http://www.lifenews.com/2015/08/21/8th-shocking-video-stemexpress-ceo-admits-planned-parenthood-sells-fully-intact-aborted-babies/

Just a short time after a judge issued a ruling that the biotech firm StemExpress can’t block the Center for Medical Progress from releasing another video that shows what it does with aborted babies Planned Parenthood sells to it, the pro-life group put up a preview of the 8th video in its series showing the scandal of Planned Parenthood selling aborted baby body parts.

While the videos have focused on the Planned Parenthood abortion business, the biotech firm StemExpress, which buys and resells aborted baby body parts from the abortion giant, has filed a lawsuit seeking to block some information the Center for Medical Progress obtained in its three year undercover operation. Last month, a court in California blocked the pro-life group from releasing any videos regarding certain meetings of the middleman, StemExpress.The restraining order does not apply to the Planned Parenthood abortion business or even to StemExpress in its entirety, making it so additional videos were released. Today, a judge lifted the order and Center for Medical Progress immediately released a new video.

In the video, Cate Dyer, the CEO of StemExpress, is shown in a lunch meeting with undercover operatives posing as representatives of a biotech firm. Dyer is laughing about how StemExpress purchases fully intact aborted babies from Planned Parenthood. She laughs about how shippers of the aborted babies would give a warning to lab workers to expect such a baby.“Oh yeah, if you have intact cases — which we’ve done a lot — we sometimes ship those back to our lab in its entirety,” she says.“Tell the lab its coming,” she laughs about the intact unborn babies. “You know, open the box and go ‘Oh my God,'” Dyer adds.

UPDATE: The following is a 2-minute preview of the full 8th video CMP plans to release as early as later today or tomorrow morning. https://youtu.be/CiNGP9Rn_xs

After the swarm of negative publicity surrounding Planned Parenthood selling aborted babies and their body parts, StemExpress was forced to cut ties with the abortion company.

Meanwhile, two committees in the House of Representatives have already launched investigations of Planned Parenthood. One committee is looking into whether or not the abortion business is breaking federal law by altering abortion procedures to better obtain aborted baby body parts for sale. Another committee, among other things, is investigating the Obama administration and whether there is any connection between it and the abortion giant. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform was to know if the Obama administration, via the Department of Health and Human Services, provided any federal grants to Planned Parenthood that ultimately went to pay for the sales of aborted baby body parts and if they were used by Planned Parenthood to “support transactions involving fetal tissue.”

The expose’ videos catching Planned Parenthood officials selling the body parts of aborted babies have shocked the nation... So far, 12 states have responded to the Planned Parenthood videos and launched investigations into their abortion and organ harvesting business including South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Kansas, Missouri, Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana. The district attorney in Houston Texas is also investigating after the Houston-based Planned Parenthood abortion facility was caught selling aborted babies.

Congress has expanded its investigation into the Planned Parenthood abortion business and five states have revoked taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood’s abortion business, including Utah, Arkansas, Alabama, New Hampshire and Louisiana and Iowa’s governor has ordered a review of Planned Parenthood funding.

The full, unedited videos have confirmed that revelations that some aborted baby remains sold by Planned Parenthood go to biotech companies for the purpose of creating “humanized” mice. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood has been exposed as having sold body parts from aborted babies for as much as 15 years.

The federal law that technically prohibits the sale of aborted babies and their body parts was written by a pro-abortion Congressman decades ago and essentially spells out a process by which sellers of aborted baby body parts can meet certain criteria that allows the sales to be legal. That’s why a Colorado congressman has introduced legislation to totally ban the sales of aborted baby body parts.

[bold and italics emphasis mine]

SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must Investigate Planned Parenthood for Selling Aborted Baby Parts - http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/congress-must-de-fund-planned-parenthood-immediately.html

# 1324 (8/21) "If Planned Parenthood Loses Taxpayer Funding, This Map Shows Health Clinics That Will Take Its Place"

"IF PLANNED PARENTHOOD LOSES ITS TAXPAYER FUNDING, THIS MAP SHOWS HEALTH CLINICS THAT WILL TAKE ITS PLACE" -  Sarah Zagorski,   AUG 18, 2015 |http://www.lifenews.com/2015/08/18/if-planned-parenthood-loses-taxpayer-funding-this-map-shows-health-clinics-that-will-take-its-place/

Yesterday, the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the education arm of the Susan B. Anthony List, and Alliance Defending Freedom released a map showing the thousands of health care clinics in the United States that offer legitimate health care to women. The Daily Signal reports that the two pro-life organizations contend that there are many health care centers that should receive federal funding instead of Planned Parenthood.

As LifeNews previously reported, in July, five videos were released by The Center for Medical Progress showing Planned Parenthood’s top executives haggling over the price of aborted babies’ body parts, admitting to altering abortion procedures to procure salable organs for harvesting and casually discussing ways their doctors can “crush” unborn babies to obtain fully intact parts. Unbelievably, one Planned Parenthood director even jokes about using the money she receives from selling aborted babies to buy a Lamborghini.

Then, in a sixth video, former phlebotomist Holly O’Donnell explains how Planned Parenthood worked with Stem Express, the organ harvesting company that bought the fetal “tissue” from Planned Parenthood, to procure body parts and pressured patients into “donating” their aborted babies to research. O’Donnell also said that sometimes the abortion company’s employees harvested aborted babies’ organs without their patients consent.

Even though the scandal exposed more of Planned Parenthood’s true agenda, there are lawmakers who still believe they deserve government funding because of the other services they provide, such as referring women for mammograms and STD testing. However, the truth is there are countless other clinics in our country that provide those services that don’t dismember babies and sell their body parts to the highest bidder.

Casey Mattox, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) explained, “What these graphics put into pictures is what the data has been telling us for a long time. Planned Parenthood is really a small part of the national health care picture in America.” He added that if Planned Parenthood’s funding “went away tomorrow,” the money “would be better used by community health centers and other places around the country that can provide a fuller range of services to women without the ethical challenges that Planned Parenthood presents.”

Furthermore, some of these health care clinics actually offer cancer screenings that include mammograms and ultrasounds. In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports that there are 8,735 licensed mammography facilities in America but Planned Parenthood operates none of them. You can view the FDA list by clicking here. - http://www.fda.gov/radiation-emittingproducts/mammographyqualitystandardsactandprogram/consumerinformation/ucm113962.htm

ADF and the Charlotte Lozier Institute reported that there are 13,540 clinics providing whole-woman healthcare in the United States versus the 665 Planned Parenthood facilities. These centers serve all types of women, including those who are homeless, uninsured, and living in poverty. However, Planned Parenthood’s supporters argue that these centers can’t provide the variety of services the abortion company can....

Earlier this month, Senate Democrats defeated a bill to de–fund Planned Parenthood; but thankfully, states in the U.S. have taken matters into their own hands and opened investigations into the abortion giant. In fact, a total of 12 states have launched investigations into Planned Parenthood including Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Kansas, Missouri, Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana.

Additionally, on Sunday, Utah became the fifth state to cut off state funding of the abortion business by ending its contract with Planned Parenthood for services to residents covered by Medicaid. Utah follows Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, and New Hampshire.

[bold and italics emphasis mine]

SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must Investigate Planned Parenthood for Selling Aborted Baby Parts - http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/congress-must-investigate-planned-parenthood.html

# 1323 (8/20) "What the Sting Video Will and Won't Achieve"

"WHAT THE STING VIDEO WILL AND WON'T ACHIEVE" - Zachary Gappa | Jul 22, 2015;
http://townhall.com/columnists/zacharygappa/2015/07/22/draft-n2028405/page/full

NOTE: Video Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxwVuozMnU

Much has been written since Tuesday’s  [This article was written a month ago.] breaking story on Planned Parenthood's selling of fetal tissue from abortions. Not surprisingly, mainstream media outlets were slow to pick up the story, and many of them largely parroted the Planned Parenthood defense when writing their stories. The video caused quite the stir on social media, amassing countless shares and 2.4 million views on YouTube as of Tuesday. Interestingly, nearly all responses from the left and some from the right seem to miss the real reason for this impact. It is not so much that Planned Parenthood is doing something illegal or secretive (though it may well be violating multiple laws). It's that this particular story brings into vivid relief the reality of what Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers do on a daily basis.

The killing of unborn children is so often out of sight and mind. For certain, pro-lifers have worked tirelessly to enact legislation to reduce the number of abortions, and they have made the case for life in public demonstrations and private conversations. But the average American rarely encounters the graphic details of abortion.

To hear Planned Parenthood executive Dr. Deborah Nucatola speak so clinically about the very human organs they harvest from these children and sell for scientific research - over a meal, no less - seems like something from a dystopian novel. Some liberal commentators are correct - the main thread of Planned Parenthood's practice is legal and is likely sold to young mothers as the "generous" thing to do with the bodies of their unwanted children. As Planned Parenthood states, it's for “life-saving scientific research." Moreover it is not ethically much different from our decades-long practice of abortion.

Many people sharing this story on social media may indeed not have known that these "donations" are legal, but I suspect that this is not the real cause of the furor. The reality is that most Americans, especially casually pro-choice Americans, do not spend time thinking about the child that dies. They do not picture its body parts, its organs, its very real humanity. They don’t think about the forceps… the doctor using ultrasound in order to “crush” the life out of the baby while preserving the health of profitable organ tissue. Through this story they are confronted with the grisly reality of abortion and presented with the difficulty of maintaining their "woman's choice" position in the light of dead baby parts.

The objections from pro-choice columnists have been weak. Some object that pro-lifers are hypocritical by only now filling Facebook and Twitter feeds with this grotesque story, but of course such an extreme and vivid version of this always-present horror will provoke such sharing. Many have claimed that the video is "highly edited" or sensationalistic or manipulative, but the moving part of the story is none of these things. The impactful center could not be clearer: unborn humans are being killed and their body parts sold off. The visceral reaction is legitimate. We have no problem talking about adults who have donated their organs. It is not the process of harvesting organs from the dead that is so troubling. This harvesting of the unborn is different precisely because it brings to the forefront the humanness of the babies that are killed. That is the motivating kernel.

Perhaps this story will lead to change. Perhaps it will further multiply the increasing number of Americans who are opposed to legal abortion in many-to-all cases. Perhaps it will lead to the eventual overturning of Roe v. Wade. In the very least, perhaps it will lead to cutting out the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars currently flowing into Planned Parenthood's coffers. But there is a greater problem this is sadly unlikely to resolve.

While picturing a developed baby being dismembered and sold piecemeal will give many in the pro-choice camp pause, it is unlikely to lead many to a reconsideration of their philosophical position on human life. And the greatest threats to the unborn child today happen early in pregnancy, before the child is so tangibly [say what!]human. Our developing technologies have led many more people to see the very-human nature of a near-term unborn child. This is why pro-lifers have advocated for ultrasounds before a woman commits to an abortion. The humanity of the child is visually evident. But a first-trimester child does not look so much like a baby, and most abortions in the future will be achieved in these early stages through pharmaceutical advances.

The core question is plain: When does a human become a human? Human life demands our protection. There is no sliding scale of human dignity, dependent on how convenient the life is or how difficult it is to protect that life. Ultimately there are only two real options: Either accept that human life begins at a set point and protect it from that point on, or proceed down the Peter Singer road of the utilitarian ranking of humanity. The average American would prefer to avoid committing to one position or the other, but this story brings to the forefront the reality produced by our passive abdication of our moral responsibility to think, decide, and protect.

If, as I believe, human life begins at conception, then a bunch of cells that looks a little like a human is indeed human and its life is worthy of our full protection. Thus our increasingly-effective pharmaceutical abortions are just as much killing as a partial-birth abortion. Tragically the visual difference between first trimester and third trimester babies will likely lead to countless unborn children continuing to die in silence, without the possibility of such provocative videos shared online to change minds.

Nor is it only pharmaceutical abortions that are at issue. There are a host of bioethical quandaries at hand right now, but the public has little-to-no understanding of these questions. This video may cause a cultural backlash against abortion in the later stages, and it should be praised for that, but we must have a deeper conversation about human dignity that centers on our definitions of life and moral duty. Sadly, in an age of increasing flexibility on ultimate questions, it is hard to imagine a new consensus taking shape. In the absence of that consensus, scientists, doctors, and individuals who find a child inconvenient will continue to do as they will. We make the Spartans’ practice of leaving unwanted babies to die of exposure look mild, but at least our modern atrocities are hidden in bathrooms and surgical rooms, right?

[bold and italics emphasis mine]

Zachary Gappa is Managing Editor at the John Jay Institute Center for a Just Society and Operations Manager at Gappa Security Solutions.
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"7th Shocking Video Catches Planned Parenthood Harvesting Brain of Aborted Baby Who Was Still Alive" - 
STEVEN ERTELT, AUG 19, 2015;http://www.lifenews.com/2015/08/19/7th-shocking-video-catches-planned-parenthood-harvesting-brain-of-aborted-baby-who-was-still-alive/

"Half of Americans Haven’t Seen the Planned Parenthood Videos. Here’s What They Need to Know." - Kelsey Harkness / @kelseyjharkness / August 19, 2015; http://dailysignal.com/2015/08/19/half-of-americans-havent-seen-the-planned-parenthood-videos-heres-what-they-need-to-know/

# 1322 (8/19) "Western Churches and the Wrong Side of History

"WESTERN CHURCHES AND THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY- Sexual Revolution Vs. the Gospel"- By: Eric Metaxas| Breakpoint.org: August 18, 2015; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/12/28012?spMailingID=12162964&spUserID=MTMyMjM2ODE5OQS2&spJobID=601278838&spReportId=NjAxMjc4ODM4S0

If Jesus wrote a letter to the American Church in 2015, what would He say? Maybe what the Church around the world is saying now.

We hear a lot about “the wrong side of history” these days—usually from those who want to convince us we’re on it, and that everyone in the future will think like the New York Times editorial board. But if we want to understand where history is really headed, we’ve got to look at the big picture—the global picture.

President Obama—someone who’s used the “right side of history” trope more than once—got a glimpse of that picture last month when he spoke in Nairobi. Addressing Kenya’s strong cultural aversion to homosexuality, the President warned that “treating people differently” not because they’re harming anyone but because they’re “different,” erodes freedoms and leads to “bad things.”

Well, in a nation where 96 percent disapprove of homosexuality, that didn’t go over so well. Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta was quick to express the feelings of his country and Africa, saying: “…there are some things…our culture, our societies don’t accept…for Kenyans today, the issue of gay rights is really a non-issue.”

But the real clash of cultures is happening not among governments, but between churches; specifically between churches in the West—that is, in Europe and the U.S.—and churches in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Last year the Washington Post ran a story about the growing tension between Anglican and evangelical churches in the West and their daughter congregations abroad. While many churches in Europe and America have shriveled as they drift from biblical Christianity, their counterparts in the global south have thrived. These missionary plants haven’t gotten the memo about rewriting two thousand years of Christian orthodoxy. And they’re puzzled and more than a little worried when Westerners come bearing the sexual revolution instead of the Gospel.

“Homosexuality is equivalent to colonialism and slavery,” said Bishop Gitonga of the Redeemed Church in Kenya. “It’s not biblical and cannot bring blessing to Christians.”

African believers, particularly those in communion with our mainline denominations, say they feel betrayed. These Christian communities planted by Western missionaries are now watching the churches that sent those missionaries compromise everything they taught. For Africans, explained Anglican Archbishop Stanley Ntagali of Uganda, it’s like watching their mother give up the faith.

And it’s not just happening in Africa. Last month, two major branches of South American Presbyterianism cut ties with the PC(USA). Citing the PC(USA)’s decision to sanction gay “marriage,” the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil and the Evangelical Reformed Church of Peru separated from the denomination whose missionaries first brought them the Good News 150 years ago. Blessing homosexual unions, these Latin Presbyterians said in a statement, is “against the principle of the authority of Scripture over the life and faith of the Church,” and leaves them no choice but to go their separate way.

Watching all of this, I can’t help thinking of Jesus’ words to the churches of Asia Minor in Revelation. Walking among the lamp stands, Christ threatens to remove the light from any congregation that doesn’t repent and return to its first love. Listening to the reactions of our brothers and sisters around the world as our culture and churches celebrate sin, it’s easy to imagine the Lord saying those words to us in the West.

Folks, we should rejoice that churches around the globe are holding fast to the faith. But if we in the West don’t repent of our compromise and our cultural imperialism, might the Light of the World leave us in darkness? Now that would be a fate even worse than being on the wrong side of history.

[bold and italics emphasis mine]

RESOURCES
"2 Latin American Presbyterian Churches Sever Ties with PC (USA) over Gay Marriage Acceptance" - Veronica Neffinger |ChristianHeadlines.com | Thursday, August 06, 2015; http://www.christianheadlines.com/blog/2-latin-american-presbyterian-churches-sever-ties-with-pc-usa-over-gay-marriage-acceptance.html
"President Obama’s Trip to Kenya Doesn’t Go As Planned When His Speech Causes a Backlash"- Katie LaPotin | IJReview.com;http://www.ijreview.com/2015/07/377185-obamas-lecture-kenyas-leader-lgbt-rights-backfired-heres-said-instead/ 
"African church leaders resist gay rights, call it a colonial import" - Fredrick Nzwili | Religion News Service | March 6, 2014; http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/african-church-leaders-resist-gay-rights-call-it-a-colonial-import/2014/03/06/797a9f96-a564-11e3-b865-38b254d92063_story.html
"The West, the Family, and the Big Picture: Which Side of History is the U.S. On?" Eric Metaxas | BreakPoint.org | July 16, 2015;http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/27810
"Think Christianity is dying? No, Christianity is shifting dramatically" - Wes Granberg-Michaelson | Washington Post | May 20, 2015; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/27810

# 1321 (8/18) "How to Make the Case to Liberals That Conservatives Have Hearts, Too"

"HOW TO MAKE THE CASE TO LIBERALS THAT CONERVATIVES HAVE HEARTS, TOO" - Ed Feulner / @EdFeulner / August 02, 2015 / http://dailysignal.com/2015/08/02/how-to-make-the-case-to-liberals-that-conservatives-have-hearts-too/

Excessive regulations pushed by the left hurt a woman trying to run her own hair-braiding business. (Photo: “Hair Braiding Lourdie Qiqi December 20, 20102” is copyright by Steven Depolo and made available under a Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license via Flickr. Link: https://goo.gl/pfs7nR)

Being conservative in a politically correct culture has never been easy. Whether you’re a politician trying to explain a controversial sound-bite or a voter attempting to defend your stance on a hot-button issue to co-workers, you either grow a thick skin—or learn to keep quiet.

Sadly, you get used to having your motives impugned by people who assume that no one could possibly believe what you believe. You must have some ulterior motive, right? Say, for example, we need less regulation, and you’ll be accused of shilling for some corporation. Call for more defense spending, and you’re a warmonger.

It’s an old trick, clearly designed to save the accuser from having to marshal any actual evidence for his position. But it usually works. Everyone retreats to his corner, leaving us with poorly thought out policies that wind up helping no one.

Small wonder, then, that the phrase “compassionate conservative” entered the political lexicon at one point. The defensive character of that label is understandable, but think about it: It resonates only if you assume that conservatives lack compassion in the first place.

Yes, some of them do (you find flawed human beings on both sides of the aisle), but only the most superficial analysis could conclude that conservatism attracts only those who don’t care about their fellow citizens. In fact—irony alert—conservative solutions often spring from a genuine desire to help people.

Take welfare reform. If you criticize a huge government program that hands out checks with virtually no strings attached, opponents say you must hate the poor. On the contrary: If you care about your fellow man, you know that turning him into a passive welfare recipient robs him of his dignity and often dooms his children to a soul-deadening cycle of poverty. Making sure that welfare is a true hand up and not a hand-out is, in fact, the true compassionate stance.

The problem is that many conservatives fail to frame the issues this way. As American Enterprise Institute President Arthur Brooks points out in his new book, “The Conservative Heart,” we need a new approach. “The only way to set things right is for conservatives to show we care and offer a new vision for the country,” he writes. “This new vision must be guided by the optimism of opportunity. It must declare peace on a prudent, reliable safety net for those who truly need it. It must harness the tools of private entrepreneurship, acknowledge the profound value of hard work, and echo the moral clarity of the Good Samaritan.”

Brooks introduces us to people who illustrate all too well what happens when government policies run amok. Take Jestina Clayton. When she moved to Utah from Sierra Leone, she decided to pursue her piece of the American Dream by starting an African hair-braiding business for children adopted from her native land. Jestina had been braiding hair since she was five, and the business was soon providing a steady paycheck. Then someone told her that it was illegal to do such work without a cosmetology license, which would take 2,000 hours of classes and cost $16,000. And all for something she already knew how to do.

It took a lot of work and a successful lawsuit for Jestina to get her happy ending. (A federal judge ruled that such a requirement, which far exceeded the ones for many other professions, was unreasonable.) But as Brooks notes, she’s one of the lucky ones.

“Millions of Americans without her drive, grit—and the help of a law firm—have little hope to rise in America,” he writes. “Currently, all they are offered are promises that the government will stick it more to the rich through higher taxes and greater redistribution. But this will never help a poor American climb out of poverty, find a better job, and get a good education—let alone start a business.”

As conservatives, we know that our policies help provide opportunity for all. But we can never assume others know that. It’s time to take “heart”—and make sure they do.  (Originally published in the Washington Times.)

[bold and italics emphasis mine]

Edwin J. Feulner’s 36 years of leadership as president of The Heritage Foundation transformed the think tank from a small policy shop into America’s powerhouse of conservative ideas. Read his research.