On My Mind: Current Events

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE PEOPLE OF HAWAII

AND IN GUATEMALA IN THE WAKE OF THE 

RECENT DEVASTATING VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS.

An aerial view of Hawaii's Kilauea Crater

The recent eruption of Guatemala's Fuego Volcano

on June 3rd has claimed nearly 100 lives.

ALSO PRAY THAT NEWLY FORMED 

HURRICANE ALETTA WILL NOT MAKE LANDFALL

AND WILL GO OUT TO SEA.

First Pacific hurricane of the 2018 season lingers 

off the coast of Mexico

"BUT NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST YOU

SHALL PROSPER, AND EVERY TONGUE THAT SHALL

RISE AGAINST YOU IN JUDGMENT YOU SHALL SHOW

TO BE IN THE WRONG."

Isaiah 54:17

Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips

This week the Supreme Court wisely ruled in favor of a Christian

baker from Colorado, Jack Phillips, whose First Amendment rights

were violated by the state's Civil Rights Commission after he

refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple.

In a 7-2 vote the court ruled in favor of Mr. Phillips, 

citing that Colorado's Civil Rights Commission denigrated

the baker's Christian faith, comparing his refusal to serve the

gay couple with being racist, or, like a white business owner
refusing to serve black customers during segregation.

 According to Kristen Waggoner, senior vice president and

 general counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom,

"It's a false and dishonest narrative. There's no case in this

nation that were aware of that's being litigated because someone

has declined someone just because of how they identify.

It always comes down to being forced to speak a message

out of your own mouth or with your own hands and

participating in a religious ceremony that violates

someone's core convictions."  

I think columnist Cal Thomas summed up this controversy

correctly when he opined, "No Kosher restaurant would-or-should-

be compelled to serve non-Kosher food to a customer. The same goes

for a Muslim baker, who might refuse to put a Star of David on a

cake in celebration of Israel's 70th anniversary."

Back in 2012, when Jack Phillips' Masterpiece Cakeshop was visited

by David Mullins and Charlie Craig, he told them he would gladly bake

them cookies, brownies, and even a cake, however, he could not,

in good conscience, design a wedding cake for them, 

which violated his beliefs as a Christian.

According to Jack Phillips, the gay couple left his bakery

very angry and within hours, Masterpiece was being boycotted and

 verbally harassed, with the baker and his family even receiving death threats,

which leads me to the conclusion that perhaps the bakery was deliberately targeted by

this gay couple because they knew in advance that the owner was a Christian.

In past years, activists in the LGBTQ movement  have routinely

and deliberately targeted Christian vendors, who, after refusing to

do business with them on the grounds of their faith, are held up

to public ridicule and harassment, as well as being subjected to

devastating state fines and lawsuits launched against them.

Unfortunately, the controversial, landmark decision made

by the United States Supreme Court to legalize gay marriage in all

50 states has only served to embolden activist gays in their campaign

to intimidate and harass people of Christian faith, who not only

believe that homosexuality is a sin, but, who hold fast to the tradition

of holy matrimony as a sacred, God-sanctioned union  
 between one man and one woman.

 Although I am glad the Supreme Court decided to rule in

favor of the baker in this case, thus vindicating Jack Phillips,

 I believe the battle for Bible-believing Christians, in regards to

their sincerely held beliefs being sustained and protected

 under the laws of individual states, is a long way from over.

This is no reason, however, for Christians in America to remain
  docile, and allow themselves to be bullied and/or marginalized
by some state tribunal, whose board members might harbor
 a deep-seated hostility towards traditional Christian beliefs,
 as in the case of the Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd., v. Colorado
Civil Rights Commission.

Remember my brothers and sisters, what the Lord Himself

told us, "In the world you have tribulations and trials and distress

and frustration; but be of good cheer, take courage, be confident,

certain, and undaunted! For I have overcome the world.

I have deprived it of power to harm you and have

conquered it for you."

John 16:33

PRESIDENT TRUMP SAVES MANY LIVES BY

DE-FUNDING INTERNATIONAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD

 AND ALSO SAVES AMERICAN TAX PAYERS ONE

HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS!

Thanks to President Donald Trump having a concerned conscience,

Planned Parenthood's international coffers have been dealt a 

 a devastating blow to the tune of 100 million US tax dollars.

According to LifeNews. com: "The funding cut to the International

Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is the result of the Mexico City

Policy, which President Donald Trump signed during his first week

in office. The policy prohibits taxpayer funding to international groups

that promote and/or provide abortions overseas."

Of course, abortion activists are incensed by the

 president's actions, citing that the loss of  this funding will

hurt women's healthcare all over the world, but, primarily
in underdeveloped and impoverished nations.

Theirs is a nauseous argument that makes no sense to me at all.

 Here's the 411: Abortion is not healthcare!

Furthermore, those groups committed to promoting global infanticide 

 almost always link abortion funding with the funding for treating HIV/AIDS.

However, the Trump Administration did not cut funding to international

organizations whose focus is on treating these diseases.

In reality, the Mexico City Policy only effects
 the abominable abortion industry worldwide.

On behalf of the unborn around the globe, thank you, President Trump

for caring and for being a powerful voice for the voiceless.
 God bless you, Sir!

SOMETHING PATRIOTIC GEORGIANS, REGARDLESS OF THEIR RACE,

 SHOULD DEFINITELY  HAVE ON THEIR MINDS...

Mariah Parker is a doctoral student at the University of Georgia at Athens.

 The Washington Times reports she recently won a seat on the Athens-Clarke
County Commission by a mere thirteen votes.
However, instead of a traditional swearing-in ceremony with the Holy
Bible, the newly-elected official opted to take her oath of office instead 
 on a copy of "The Autobiography of Malcolm X".
During the swearing-in ceremony, she also raised her fist in an 
 apparent gesture of defiance, as a salute to "Black Power".

Ms. Parker claims that she will provide, "bold, progressive leadership"

in Athens.   However, since she refused to be sworn in on the Holy Bible, or 

a copy of the US Constitution, I have to question just how effective her

 public service will be in the days to come, as well as the underlying
 motivation for running for a seat on the commission in the first place.

The very idea that she would raise her fist in salute to the militant Black

Power movement not only spells trouble to me, but, is as disturbing as if 
  a newly-elected, white official showed up to his or her swearing-in

 outfitted in a white sheet, as a show of solidarity with the Ku Klux Klan,
while being sworn in on a copy of "Mein Kampf".

Haven't we all had just about enough of these displays of divisiveness on parade?

AND FINALLY...SOME MUCH NEEDED

 INSPIRATION FROM

THE POETESS AND PREACHER'S WIFE

MRS. RUTH BELL GRAHAM

(1920-2007)

A GREATER PERSPECTIVE

Into the heart of the Infinite can a mere mortal hope to gain access,

what with no part of me geared to His greatness,

to His vastness my infinite less?

Yet the longing for Him was so wide and so deep,

by day it crowded life's thronging,

by night it invaded my sleep.

Then came the pain:

again...

and again...

and again...

As if a wing tip were brushing the tears from my face

for the breath of a second I knew the unknowable,

glimpsed invisible grace.

And I lay where for long in despair I had lain;

entered, unshod, the holy There where God dwells with His pain-

alone with the pain of the price He had paid

in giving His Son for a world gone astray

-the world He had made.

My heart lay in silence,

worshiped in silence,

and questioned no more.

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!

SHABBAT SHALOM ERETZ ISRAEL

SABBATH PEACE AND BLESSINGS
TO EVERYONE!

"A Greater Perspective"

From "Ruth Graham's Selected Poems"

By Ruth Graham Bell

1977, 1992, 1997

The Ruth Bell Graham Literary Trust