Ben Zeisloft – January 16, 2022

Days ago, Canada approved a “conversion therapy” ban that condemns Christian doctrine on the sinfulness of homosexuality and transgenderism as “myth.” Indeed, bill C-4 — passed unanimously by both the Senate and the House of Commons — threatens pastors with up to five years of prison time if they remain faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As thousands of American ministers stand in solidarity with Canadian believers by preaching about biblical sexual ethics on Sunday, January 16, two Canadian pastors — Jacob Reaume of Trinity Bible Chapel and Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church — told The Daily Wire about the implications of C-4 and how Canadian Christians plan to respond.

‘The Church must be a prophetic witness’

While describing C-4, Reaume — whose church incurred over $100,000 in fines last year for refusing to shut its doors in defiance of Canada’s COVID-19 lockdowns — noted that the edict will “make the preaching of the biblical gospel a criminal act.”

“The biblical gospel is a message of conversion, whereby Christ causes sinners to be born-again, thus converting them from sinful propensities to godliness,” he explained. “The bill’s language is vague enough that many think it might criminalize a biblical call to forsake sodomitic propensities to embrace righteousness.”

Stephens — who was jailed in a maximum-security facility last summer for refusing to close his church — added that “the law is overly broad in defining conversion therapy,” thereby enshrining “progressive gender ideology and queer theory as normative.”

https://www.dailywire.com

Sarah Parshall Perry and GianCarlo Canaparo – January 12, 2022

A tiny administrative agency in the District of Columbia announced a new policy Tuesday that will likely serve as a model for a whole-of-government push to assemble lists of Americans who object on religious grounds to a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia—a federal independent entity that assists officers in the District of Columbia courts in formulating release recommendations and providing supervision and services to defendants awaiting trial—announced a new records system that will store the names and “personal religious information” of all employees who make “religious accommodation requests for religious exception from the federally mandated vaccination requirement.”

The announcement does not explain why the agency needs to create this list except to say that it will “assist the Agency in the collecting, storing, dissemination, and disposal of employee religious exemption request information collected and maintained by the Agency.” In other words, the list will help the agency make a list.

The announcement also does not say what the agency will do with this information after it has decided an employee’s religious accommodation request.

https://www.lifenews.com

Liberty Counsel – January 4, 2022

Boston censored the religious viewpoint of Camp Constitution’s flag, which was to be raised for about an hour the week of September 17 in observance of Constitution Day, while supporters gathered around the flagpole. The flag was part of the ceremony to honor the Constitution and recognize the Judeo-Christian heritage and Christian Founders, like John Adams and Samuel Adams, both who were residents of Massachusetts.

Liberty Counsel has received broad-based support with 17 amicus briefs filed in support of the free speech case, including from the United States of America, 12 states and a wide range of organizations, even the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.

Boston had never censored any flag until Camp Constitution’s flag, which is white with a blue square and a red cross in the upper left corner. The flag contains no writing. Under oath, the city official testified the flag would have been approved if the application did not refer to it as a “Christian flag.” The word “Christian” on the application alone triggered the censorship. The official said he had never heard of a “Christian flag” until Camp Constitution’s application. Therefore, his testimony revealed that if Camp Constitution had not referred to the flag on the application with the word “Christian,” it would not have been censored. If the application had referred to the flag as the “Camp Constitution Flag,” then Boston Commissioner Gregory Rooney would have approved it.

The city refers to its flagpole as a “public forum” open to “all applicants” to temporarily raise their own flags on the flagpole. The city of Boston’s website even states the goals for flag-raising events: “We commemorate flags from many countries and communities at Boston City Hall Plaza. We want to create an environment in the city where everyone feels included.”

For 12 years, Boston approved 284 flag raisings by private organizations with no denials, but then denied Camp Constitution’s flag solely because of the word “Christian” on the application.

https://lc.org/newsroom

Joe Kovacs – December 8, 2021

The head of a free-speech social-media site is making a dire prediction for Christians, saying in coming days believers in Jesus won’t be able to get jobs, use money, open bank accounts or travel by airplane, among other routine activities.

The warning comes from Andrew Torba, the CEO of Gab.com, a popular alternative to left-wing social platforms such as Twitter.

“On December 6th Twitter banned thousands of accounts in their latest purge of dissenting thought on the doomed and failing platform,” Torba says, noting the action resulted in a jump in the number of Gab users.

“While this is great news for the Gab community, it’s not great news for Christians. In fact, it’s a sign of what is soon to come which will be much worse than losing your Twitter account.”

“I have long seen where things are headed for the simple reason that I’ve experienced it first hand myself. Soon it won’t just be Twitter. If you’re a Christian you won’t be able to open a bank account. You won’t be able to host a website on the internet. You won’t be able to send emails. You won’t be able to access the app stores. You won’t be able to transact with money online, or off. You won’t be able to get a job. You won’t be able to fly in an airplane. This is coming for us all, and it’s already happening to many of us right now.”

His mention of not being able to engage in commerce is mentioned in the final book of the Bible, concerning the mark of the beast: “And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.” (Revelation 13:17 New Living Translation)

https://www.wnd.com

Andrew Jose – December 22, 2021

Persecution against Christians is on the rise in India — with Christians suffering communal boycotts, physical abuse and legal harassment.

Empowered by vaguely-defined state anti-conversion laws, anti-Christian mobs in many parts of the country scour through villages, seeking Christians to harm, churches to storm, Christian schools to attack and Christian literature to burn, according to a Wednesday report from the New York Times.

“Christians are being suppressed, discriminated against and persecuted at rising levels like never before in India,” International Christian Concern advocacy director Matias Perttula told the outlet. “And the attackers run free, every time.”

In some cases, according to the Times, authorities assist in these anti-Christian attacks.

A notable example of such an incident where the local police played a part in the persecution of Christians was the Jan. 26 attack at the Satprakashan Sanchar Kendra Christian center in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

According to the Times, a horde of saffron-draped men descended on the Christian center’s stage that day, hollering Hindu nationalist slogans. Pastors were reportedly hit in the head, and women thrown to the ground in the sight of children who hid under chairs.“They kept beating us, pulling out hair,” said Manish David, a pastor who was attacked that day, according to the Times.

https://www.wnd.com

Raymond Ibrahim – December 10, 2021

Hate crimes against Christianity and its followers in Europe — formerly and for centuries the guardian and disseminator of Christ’s teachings — are at an all-time high.  According to a recent report, at least a quarter of all hate crimes registered in Europe in 2020 were anti-Christian in nature — representing a 70-percent increase in comparison to 2019.  Christianity is, furthermore, the religion most targeted in hate crimes, with Judaism at a close second.

Worse, the true number of hate crimes against Christians is likely even higher.  As the Nov. 16, 2021 report by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) explains (boldface in original):

24 states report data on hate crimes committed due to racism or xenophobia, 20 on LGBT groups, 16 states on anti-Semitism, and 14 on incidents against Muslims, but only 11 countries report data on hate crimes against Christians, and this obviously distorts the statistics significantly. Furthermore, of the 136 civil society organisations that provided descriptive data, only 8 organisations (!) consistently reported incidents against Christians. Both of these findings put the reality of the situation into a different perspective, which indicates that the actual number of hate crimes against Christians is probably way higher.  When comparing the numbers of incidents from last year to the number of this year, we can see an increase of almost 70%. What is also striking, is the fact that of the 4,008 descriptive cases [of 2020], 980 are hate crimes against Christians, almost 25%, more than against any other religious group.

Indeed, whereas 980 hate crimes were anti-Christian in nature, 850 were anti-Semitic and only 254 anti-Islamic.  But as the report explained, the true numbers are probably significantly higher — for whereas the majority of racial, anti-Islamic, or anti-homosexual attacks are reported as such, a great number of anti-Christian attacks are not.  Even so and despite this discrepancy, attacks on Christians are still greater than against any other religious group.

Discussing these findings, Madeleine Enzlberger, head of Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe, said, “The media and politicians do not see the rise in hatred of Christians in Europe as a growing social problem.  The OSCE report shows only part of this problem, yet it sends a very clear signal against indifference and the almost fashionable bashing of Christians.”

https://www.frontpagemag.com

World Net Daily – December 3, 2021

Religious liberties in danger.

Religious liberties are in danger in Finland, and Christianity has a giant target on its back.

In a court case with monumental implications, a pastor and a member of the Finnish Parliament are on trial for their faith. Juhana Pohjola, 49, faces criminal charges for teaching the Christian word that has been established for thousands of years.

Pohjola has ministered to small delegations of only dozens and has worked a lifetime building a tight-knit network of churches across Finland. Many of the humble churches started as a handful of people gathering for Bible study, singing hymns, prayer, and communion.

Many of the humble churches started as a handful of people gathering for Bible study, singing hymns, prayer, and communion.

But Pohjola’s life work faces a harrowing test of persecution when he and Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen go to trial on January 24th.

What’s the accusation against Pohjola and Räsänen?

Hate speech!

The Federalist wrote:

Rasanen’s alleged crimes in a country that claims to guarantee freedom of speech and religion include tweeting a picture of a Bible verse. Potential penalties if they are convicted include fines and up to two years in prison.

https://americanfaith.com

Michael Foust – November 24, 2021

Religious liberty watchdogs are criticizing the Biden administration for removing Nigeria from an annual list of religious freedom violators, charging that it denies reality and is motivated solely by foreign policy interests.

At issue is an annual list released by the State Department that examines the status of religious freedom in every country in the world and designates the worst violators as a “Country of Particular Concern,” which means they are guilty of “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”

Nigeria was considered a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) in the State Department reports of 2020 and 2019.

Yet Nigeria was missing in the State Department’s 2021 report, which was released last week.

The annual report is required under a 1998 law.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bipartisan panel that makes recommendations to the State Department, had urged since 2009 the inclusion of Nigeria as a CPC.

Christian groups and religious liberty watchdogs criticized the exclusion of Nigeria, saying thousands of Christians have been killed while the country’s security forces have refused to protect them.

“Removing this largely symbolic sign of concern is a brazen denial of reality and indicates that the U.S. intends to pursue its interests in western Africa through an alliance with Nigeria’s security elite, at the expense of Christians and other victims of widespread sectarian violence, especially in the country’s predominantly Christian Middle Belt region,” said John Eibner, president of Christian Solidarity International (CSI).

https://www.christianheadlines.com

John Simmons – November 16, 2021

In the book of Daniel, three young men by the name of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace after refusing to worship a gargantuan golden god created and instituted by the tyrannical King of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar. While we don’t have a government that is forcing Christians to bow to idols of metal, Christians are increasingly being punished for not bowing to the god of COVID.

Teryn Gregson was a PGA Tour host and reporter as of Monday but was terminated after the company refused to provide her a religious exemption from it’s testing and mask mandates for unvaccinated employees.

Naturally, a person should then adhere to the belief system of whomever they choose to worship. But when a government (like Babylon or the current United States) or businesses decide to encroach within that space and claim ultimate authority over people’s lives, they have done something very ominous: they have declared themselves to be god.

That is why Gregson’s situation is unsettling and should come as a warning sign to everyone. In the sports world, there are repeated instances of teams telling players or employees that their religious beliefs have to be put on hold to comply with what they say. This violates our first amendment right as Americans to have the freedom of religion and becomes a dangerous trajectory for how much power we allow the government to have over our lives.

Fortunately, Gregson, like the three men in Babylon, took this as an opportunity to display her faith more vividly, as well as to promote and more unified country despite being axed for something as ridiculous as this:

“I hope that we can come together and unite on this issue and not treat people differently based on a very private medical decision that they make between themselves, and their family, and their doctor, and God.”

In the Bible, the three men were rewarded for their loyalty to God by surviving being thrown into the fiery furnace. Hopefully, Gregson will experience a similar experience of salvation from her enemies in the near future.

https://newsbusters.org

Raymond Ibrahim – October 10, 2021

What several international observers have for years characterized as a “pure genocide” of Christians in Nigeria has reached new levels.

Since the Islamic insurgency began in earnest in July 2009 — first at the hands of Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist organization, and later by the Fulani, who are Muslim herdsmen also radicalized and motivated by jihadist ideology — more than 60,000 Christians have either been murdered or abducted during raids. The abducted Christians have never returned to their homes and their loved ones believe them to be dead. In addition, in the same time frame, approximately 20,000 churches and Christian schools have been torched and destroyed.

Some of these findings are documented in an August 4, 2021 report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, also known as “Intersociety,” a nonprofit human rights organization based in Nigeria.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org