by Kelly Shackelford
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Town Demands Family Stop Hosting Bible Studies
The Fetterolf farm (ToddStarnes.com)
“In America, no government can categorically ban people from assembling to worship on one’s property.”
by Todd Starnes
7/20/2018
The owners of a Pennsylvania farm have been ordered by the Sewickley Heights Borough to cease and desist holding Bible studies on their private property.
Borough leaders accused Scott and Terri Fetterolf of improperly using their 35-acre farm as a place of worship, a place of assembly and as a commercial venue.
They were served a cease-and-desist order in October 2017, the Post-Gazette reported.
The Independence Law Center filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the farmers against the borough alleging an egregious violation of the U.S. Constitution.
According to the lawsuit, the Fetterolfs were threatened with fines of $500 per day plus court costs for having Bible studies at their home, having meetings where religious songs are sung, conducting any religious retreats for church leaders or seminary students or conducting any religious fundraisers.
“The borough has no business overseeing a group of people reading and discussing a book together on private property—even if that book is the Bible,” attorney Randall Wenger said in a statement.
The lawsuit accuses the government leaders of violating religious freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and equal protection.
“Government should not target religious activities for punishment, particularly when similar secular activities are permitted,” attorney Jeremy Samek said. “In America, no government can categorically ban people from assembling to worship on one’s property.”
To that point, the lawsuit alleges the borough allows other activities and gatherings—ranging from political rallies to a Harry Potter event.
So if government leaders allow muggles to cavort in Sewickley Heights Borough, they should afford the same rights to Christians gathering for Bible study on private property.
Canada Forces Christians Into The Closet
by David Fiorazo
July 13, 2018
Between its progressive history, Canada’s Supreme Court, and far left leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, our northern neighbors are gradually forcing Christians into the closet. But before you say ‘that could never happen in America’ or, ‘as long as it doesn’t affect me,’ let’s look at three disturbing news stories.
Just across the U.S./Canadian border, a Christian bus driver was arrested and charged with a hate crime for evangelizing. Bill Whatcott gave out gospel pamphlets at a Pride parade saying homosexuality can lead to diseases, (which it can) and Jesus can save gay people if they repent of their sins (which He can).
Toronto Police said in a statement that Whatcott “distributed anti-gay material which promoted hatred toward the gay community.” The 51-year-old Christian man was charged with “willful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group, namely the gay community.”
Apparently, they’ve reinterpreted John 3:16 to suggest God so loved the world – except for the LGBTQ – that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to give His life as a ransom for the sins of whoever believes – unless you’re LGBTQ. This must be the New Liberal Translation.
But the Bible is true and every word can be trusted. So if you and I love our neighbors, whether they live down the street or across the Canadian border, the love of Christ compels us to tell them the good news that they can be forgiven and saved. It’s not up to us to convict or force them to receive the truth. We’re the messengers.
Bill Whatcott was not only fired from his job, but faces two years in prison as well. And Justin Trudeau became the world’s first national leader to march in a gay pride parade two years ago in Toronto. It was a proud first for his Liberal Party – a Party that also introduced a bill that would punish perceived “discrimination” of transgender individuals – with up to two years in prison.
And if you missed it earlier this year, Ontario Province now allows people born there to remove “male” or “female” from their birth certificates and opt for a “nonbinary” or unknown gender designation.
Next, according to Canadian elites and the LGBTQ mob, “diversity” now means all views and beliefs are welcome – except the Christian worldview.
Canada’s Supreme Court recently ruled 7-2 against a Christian college, Trinity Western University’s (TWU) Law School, essentially forcing them to choose between biblical standards or accreditation, basically suggesting Christianity and academia are incompatible.
Since 1962, Trinity Western in British Columbia, has required its students and faculty to agree to live by a moral code. The audacity! Thousands of Christian schools across North America have similar requirements. TWU refers to theirs as a “Community Covenant.”
Trinity requires students and faculty to pursue a holy life ‘characterized by humility, self-sacrifice, mercy and justice, and mutual submission for the good of others.’ It requires members to abstain from using vulgar language, lying or cheating, stealing, pornography, and further adds:
“…according to the Bible, sexual intimacy is reserved for marriage between one man and one woman, and within that marriage bond it is God’s intention that it be enjoyed as a means for marital intimacy and procreation.”
Some liberals in North America now think these Christian values are harmful to society. Remember: Truth is hate to those who hate the truth.
But don’t be too quick to bash Canadians. Americans have gradually allowed discrimination against Christians in our own education system. So it would be foolish and naive to think religious intolerance won’t increase in the U.S.
And finally, a judge in Canada has officially declared two men and a woman parents of one child, on the child’s birth certificate. The unmarried threesome are in a relationship together known as polyamory meaning “many loves.”
The judge’s reasoning? Times change. He explains:
“Society is continuously changing and family structures are changing along with it; …This must be recognized as a reality and not as a detriment to the best interests of the child.”
Psalm 119:160
The sum of Your word is truth,
And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.
God doesn’t change, and fixed moral absolutes exist by which we govern ourselves and our culture. But to those wanting no accountability, relativism rules, man is god, and anything goes.
Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis calls it social Darwinism. He explained:
You see, if naturalistic evolution is your starting point, there is no ultimate authority; The result is …a society clearly in rebellion against God. God created the institutions of marriage and family with one man and one woman (Genesis 1:27), so he gets to define them.
Truth is eternal (PS. 117:2), and free speech should be protected, but this debate over what is in the best interest of children will continue; a debate that will soon find itself in the courts of America.
What Transgender Activists Have In Store For Your Children
Transsexual” youth depicted by a Development and Peace partner attend an LGBT march
by Jonathon Van Maren
I’m often told, when I address the transgender ideology, that it is an exaggeration to claim that trans activists actually wish to impart their ideology to children. Surely, people say, all trans activists really want to do is help teenagers who are grappling with genuine issues of gender identity and confusion—and thus to claim that trans activists wish to impart or apply their ideology to young children is simply fear-mongering. I wish that were the case, but a survey of the evidence indicates that this analysis is about facts, not fearmongering.
To illustrate just how radical the transgender ideology is, consider some advice given to parents at a 2016 conference (attended by over 400) people by Dr. Diane Ehrensaft, who is a developmental psychologist and the author of The Gender Creative Child. She is one of the key proponents of determining a child’s gender through careful observation, followed by affirmation of whatever the child says or acts upon—including very early transition, if that happens to be the case. She is a very influential figure within the trans movement, sitting on the board of directors of Gender Spectrum, a San Francisco trans advocacy organization, as well as serving as the director of the University of California-San Francisco children’s hospital gender clinic.
If you would like to understand what the transgender movement is all about, you can watch the 2016 Jon E. Nadherny/Calciano Memorial Youth Symposium in its entirety. The guest speakers bluntly lay out their agenda and explain how they are capturing the hearts and minds of the next generation, resulting in both sky-rocketing numbers of trans-identified youth as well as young people supportive of the trans ideology. One speaker showed a cartoon that had one parent asking another parent who was pushing a stroller whether her child was a boy or a girl. “I don’t know,” the mother replied. “It can’t talk yet.” It wasn’t meant as a joke.
After Ehrensaft’s presentation, one mother stood up to ask how best to “explain gender to a three, four, and five-year-old? My daughter asks a lot of questions about gender expression and identity without knowing what she’s asking, but I don’t quite have the language to talk to her about it…Is that a boy, is that a girl, what does it mean to be a boy, what does it mean to be a girl? Is it because they have a penis? Is it because they have a vagina? And I don’t quite know how to use language to talk about gender…” Dr. Diane Ehrensaft’s answer gives a clear picture of how trans activists wish to impart the ideology of gender fluidity to children:
“First of all, in terms of the question is that a boy or is that a girl, I would say we don’t know—we’ll have to ask them. So that would be the start, that only they know for sure. Some people like to be asked and some people don’t. I’d say you know, some people think (because by three you’re learning) that if you have a penis you’re a boy and if you have a vagina or a vulva you’re a girl, but actually it’s not like that. It’s not like that at all. If you’re a boy it’s because your mind is telling you I’m a boy. If you’re a girl it’s because your mind is telling you you’re a girl. Some girls like to wear dresses and some girls like to dress as Darth Vader—that’s a people thing, but there are some people where we live who think one thing is a boy thing and one thing is a girl thing. So there is a teaching moment there. Kids by three know their culture. Remember I said gender socialization starts at two? So we have to sometimes unsocialize those messages with new messages. Then the next thing is: Some people think there is only two genders. But there is lots and lots of genders—it’s just like a rainbow. It has all different colors. And then I’d stop there because that’s almost way too many words already for a three-year-old.”
There you have it, in her own words: Children must be “unsocialized” out of antiquated beliefs such as the idea that men have penises and women have vaginas, or that there are only two genders. Instead, children as young as three years old are to be told that you can be whatever you decide to be, regardless of biological reality. When children meet adults who have not yet relinquished common sense, they will be gently introduced to the concept of transphobia.
Ehrensaft’s views do not simply extend to children between the age of toddler and kindergarten, either. A father stood up to ask her another question: “A very strong message people have been talking about this morning is listening to the child, and letting them tell us. I’m just wondering if there are recommendations for pre-verbal children, so between the ages of one and two, suggestions for how to approach the topics that we’re talking about today?” Unsurprisingly, Ehrensaft had advice regarding “pre-verbal children” who can’t talk yet, too:
So the question is, what about the kids between one and two who are just developing language, or may not have it yet? They’re very action-oriented. This is where mirroring is very important, and listening to actions. So let me give you an example. I have a colleague who is transgender, and there is a video of him as a toddler—so he was assigned female at birth—there is a video of him as a toddler tearing barrettes out of then-her hair and throwing them on the ground and sobbing. That’s a gender message! And when it happens not just once or twice or three times, that’s a gender message. Sometimes kids between the age of one and two with beginning language will say “I boy!” when you say girl. Those two words: “I boy.” That’s not a pre-verbal, but an early verbal message. Sometimes there is a tendency to say, well honey, no, you’re a girl, because little girls have vaginas and you have a vagina so you’re a girl. And then when they get a little older you’ll hear them say: Did you not listen to me? I said I was a boy with a vagina. But they can’t say that between one and two, but they can show you by what they want to play with, and if they feel uncomfortable about how you are responding to them and their gender if you are misgendering them. So you look for those kinds of actions, like tearing a skirt off. There was one, I think this was in the Barbara Walters special, where this child wore the little onesies with snap-ups in between the legs, and at age one would unsnap them to make a dress and have the dress flow. This was a child who was assigned male. That’s a preverbal communication about gender, and the message back should not be to negate any of those expressions, but to go with them and see where they go. So that’s my sense about the one to two-year-olds. Children will know as early as the second year of life. They probably know before, but they’re pre-pre-verbal.
In Ehrensaft’s view, a child throwing a tantrum and pulling out her barrettes, or a boy opening his onesie, or children simply playing make-believe—these are all reasons to believe that your child may not be the gender they were “assigned.” Despite evidence telling us that up to 80% of children who genuinely do struggle with gender dysphoria will later grow out of it, and the incredible danger that physical and chemical mutilation poses to the physical and mental well-being of children who decide to transition at a young age (which is already giving birth to the phenomenon of “detransitioning”), Ehrensaft advises parents to be on the lookout for signs that their child might actually be of the opposite gender—or any of an assortment of different genders, some of them yet unnamed and presumably undiscovered.
Trans activists are especially focused on young people because they rightly feel that indoctrination is more effective at a younger age. The fact is that experts like Ehrensaft are the ones informing new sex-ed curriculum for schools, new governmental policies, and new social responses to the transgender ideology. In her view, her ideology applies even to children under the age of five, including those who are “preverbal.” Most parents are unaware of what activists like Ehrensaft believe and teach, but it is incredibly important for people to be aware of what this ideology constitutes, and to find out whether it has infiltrated the curriculum of your local schools, as well.
Trans activists are waging a war for the hearts and minds of the next generation. Don’t fool yourself: That means your children, too.
Demonstrators Mocked for SCOTUS Protest In Scorching Heat
Dressed in long red “Handmaid’s Tale” robes in sweltering Arizona temperatures, demonstrators protested President Trump’s imminent Supreme Court Justice nominee on Sunday.
But apparently the only ones to see the not-so-effective demonstration was the media.
Carrying signs with riveting phrases such as, “Keep you theology off our biology,” and “Get out of our privates,” the dozen or so protesters marched in Phoenix at the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. District Courthouse Sunday in anticipation of Trump’s announcement. The women had gathered for a press conference about the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy and women’s rights, according to AZCentral.
With the left’s fears that Trump’s appointee for the seat being vacated by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy will be a hardline conservative, opposition – and panic – has been rampant among liberals, especially playing out with dire warnings that the dystopian America in Margaret Atwood’s novel “The Handmaid’s Tale,” could become a reality.
No telling what the small group of Phoenix cosplayers thought to accomplish with their performance.
Seems the only thing the left is accomplishing with their mindless opposition is driving more Democrats to leave the party, as witnessed by the now viral #WalkAway campaign. A recent participant was a St. Jude family that was attacked for simply thanking the president’s son, Eric Trump.
“Does the hatred of the far left know no bounds? This is truly sick,” he tweeted Sunday.
The president is not likely to be making decisions based on the underwhelming Handmaids Resistance stunt, but they provided hours of entertainment on Twitter.
https://i.rmbl.ws/s8/2/_/r/-/L/_r-La.caa.1.mp4?b=0&u=bt1g
‘Thank God For Abortion’ Float in New York Gay Pride Parade
Photo credit: The Root/Facebook
July 4, 2018
By Heather Clark
NEW YORK — A profanity-laced video posted to social media on Monday features an interview with the woman behind the “Thank God for abortion” float that appeared at the NYC Pride Parade on June 24. The woman, who claims that she was “blessed” to have two abortions, says that she is trying to push back against the Christian beliefs that stand against both homosexuality and abortion, and characterized the float as a “never before seen spectacle of autonomy and conviction.”
“The tie between GLQTQ and people seeking abortion rights is very much both real and unspoken—queer people need abortion access too! And the same Christian core beliefs that fuel homophobia are at the seat of the anti-abortion movement. The #TGFAPrideFloat brings that all together and together is where we need to be,” a GoFundMe page for the float reads. The fundraising effort exceeded its goal of $6,000.
Viva Ruiz states that she created the float because she wanted to celebrate autonomy, as she believes people have the right to do whatever they want with their bodies. One photo on the “Thank God for abortion” website shows Ruiz standing in front of a Ten Commandments monument wearing a “Thank God for abortion” shirt.
“Autonomy is where we meet as a queer community. That’s what it’s about—I have a right to do what I want with this body,” she said in the video. “This is a march in independence from a police state; a break from subjugation. That’s where we meet. Physical personhood. Autonomy.”
“And that’s where the joy comes in. We celebrate our right,” Ruiz continued. “I celebrate your right to have 20 abortions. I’ll throw you a party. Or zero. It’s a celebration.”
The large black float featured the “Thank God for abortion” motto written across the side and back, and those aboard danced as they wore shirts that read “legal,” “safe,” “free.” Ruiz wore a golden spray on her head that spelled out the word abortion. Some participants also held banners that read “Thank God for abortion.”
“There’s a release, I think, that happens with the project—to see it out in the open, to see it joyfully claimed, and to have God in it,” Ruiz said.
The video, shared to social media by The Root on Monday, has already received 74,000 views and has generated mixed response. View it in full here. Warning: profanity.
One commenter remarked, “God bless you brave and intelligent ladies. Yes, it’s your body and your baby. You all have the right to do what’s best for you. Nobody else has the right to tell you what to do with your body. … We don’t need back alley abortions to be the thing again. These so-called evangelical Christians aren’t Christians. They’re hateful, greedy and lying CINO’s. Christians in name only.”
“Pregnant people are people, and they have the rights to end parasitic relationships should they wish to. I mind my uterus, and everyone especially those without uteruses, should mind their own business,” another stated.
A third mourned, “The celebration of a murdered child. Could there be anything much more sad? Save a whale, save a tree, save a titmouse. But please blend up your unborn child for the dumpster. So heart breaking.”
“This is blasphemy. This is pure evil. If good people continue to be silent and not call it what it is, then evil will continue. God help us, please,” another lamented.
As previously reported, Scripture teaches that men and women are to glorify God with their bodies, and no longer live in autonomy unto themselves, but to give their all to Him.
2 Corinthians 5:15 reads, “He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again.”
1 Corinthians 6:20 also states, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
Romans 6:13 and 19 instruct, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. … [F]or as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.”
More Than 7-1/2 Million Babies Aborted In The Past Year
321,384 Babies Last Year Bringing Total Killed to Over 7.6 Million
by Joshua Denton
Planned Parenthood has killed over 7.6 million babies since it legally began performing abortions in 1973 following the Roe v. Wade decision.
That’s a catastrophic number. It’s easy to read 7.6 million and shrug it off. That’s more than two times the population of Los Angeles. That’s 7,600,000 humans that were never given a chance at life because of Planned Parenthood. 7,600,000 babies that never had the opportunity to celebrate a birthday. And that’s not even taking into account the number of babies aborted by Planned Parenthood illegally, before the Roe v. Wade decision was handed was decided by the United States Supreme Court.
Planned Parenthood is by far the nation’s largest abortion provider. Over the holidays, they conveniently and quietly published their annual report for 2016-2017. Last year, Planned Parenthood published their annual report months late – in May! An analysis of the 2016-2017 report along with Planned Parenthood’s previous reports shows that Planned Parenthood is responsible for the deaths of over 7.6 million human babies. We know the Planned Parenthood number is likely low, in fact, pro life journalists with the Media Research Center estimated in 2016 that Planned Parenthood had killed upwards of 7.5 million babies.
In the 2016-2017 fiscal year detailed in the report, Planned Parenthood performed 321,384 abortions. Last annual report (2015-2016), Planned Parenthood performed 328,348 abortions. The year before that (2014-2015) Planned performed 323,999 abortions.
“Planned Parenthood’s business model is sinking faster than the Titanic,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the Susan B. Anthony List. According to a press release:
“Despite record income, non-abortion services are in decline, clients are abandoning them in droves, and dozens of facilities have closed. Meanwhile, abortions are holding steady at over 320,000 a year. Yet this report barely scratches the surface of the abortion giant’s troubles as it faces federal investigation for its role in the grotesque harvest and sale of aborted babies’ body parts for profit. Enough is enough. Community health centers vastly outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities nationwide and offer comprehensive primary and preventative care for women and families. Congress must follow through on the promise to redirect tax dollars away from Planned Parenthood without further delay.”
It is fortunate that we are seeing a decrease in abortions performed, but there is till much work to be done. According to its annual report, Planned Parenthood provided just 3,889 adoption referrals while performing 321,848 abortions. That’s nearly 83 abortions for every adoption referral. Planned Parenthood’s prenatal services decreased from 9,419 last year to 7,762 this year.For every prenatal service given, Planned Parenthood performed 41 abortions.
Like past reports, this one also tried to sell the misleading idea that abortions make up only 3% of the services provided by the abortion corporation.
Prison For Handing Out Pamphlets Criticizing Homosexuality
Alberta, Canada
Bill Whatcott says speaking on how the LBGT agenda pertains to children and society should be allowed in a democracy.
Canada is supposed to value free speech and Bill should not be prosecuted for it.
