In recent years, the Democratic Party has only become increasingly supportive of abortion. In the 1990s, under then-President Bill Clinton, the Democrats sought to ensure abortion was “safe, legal, and rare.” It has since, though, been rebranded as a “reproductive right” to be celebrated and shouted.
Hence it was to be applauded that at the close of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, a prominent progressive Catholic priest mentioned the sanctity of life during a prayer in which he asked God to “open our hearts to those most in need.”
Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest, delivered the following prayer:
“Loving God, open our hearts to those most in need,” he prayed. “The unemployed parent worried about feeding his or her children; the woman who is underpaid, harassed, or abused; the black man or woman who fear for their lives; the immigrant at the border, longing for safety. The homeless person looking for a meal; the LGBT teen who is bullied; the unborn child in the womb; the inmate on death row. Help us to be a nation where every life is sacred, all people are loved, and all are welcome, Amen.”
Democratic National Convention
In October 2019, it should be noted, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, a professed Catholic, was denied communion at a South Carolina church over his support of access to abortion. Biden has also reversed his position on the Hyde Amendment.
Explaining why he denied Biden communion, Father Robert Morey of Saint Anthony Catholic Church in Florence said the sacrament “signifies we are one with God, each other, and the church.” “Our actions should reflect that,” he continued. “Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of church teaching.”
He went on to note he would keep the former vice president “in my prayers.” And we should pray, that the prayer offered up by James Martin laid Holy Spirit conviction on many of the Democrats present at the Democratic National Convention.
If you read my recent post “Does God Exist” then you will know a little about the timely new book written by Richard E. Simmons 111, Reflections on the Existence of God. If you want to learn more about the book and why Richard decided to write it at this time then listen to the Eric Metaxas interview below. It is excellent you will learn heaps from both men about their journey of faith.
Reflections on the Existence of God is a timely book for this time. God is no longer considered relevant by most politicians, and academia teach the new generation that evolution and billions of years is truth. As foolish as it is, God is not even considered necessary for life. We now make up our own rules and believe we shape our own destiny.
This book is a series of short essays seeking to answer life’s most enduring question: Does God exist? It is a well-researched book that is easy to read and understand. Each essay can be read in less than 10 minutes. In the end, it is important to know whether God exists or whether He does not. There is no third option. This book seeks to determine which of these beliefs is true and which one is not.
The author Richard E. Simmons 111 is the best-selling author of The True Measure of a Man, Reliable Truth, The Power of a Humble Life, and more. His approach is structured and methodical, and his passion is transforming lives through gaining wisdom and applying truth to every area of life. In late 2000, he founded The Center for Executive Leadership, a not-for-profit, faith-based ministry in Birmingham, Alabama.
His challenge to the reader: “follow the truth wherever it leads, always remembering that the truth is your friend. It enables you to believe responsibly. It leads to your ultimate well-being.”
A God story to encourage all believers to pray more. This is how God works. The Chosen Film series has been a phenomenal success but the Chosen Team had no idea of where to from here. Hence, Dallas Jenkins, Director, Chosen Team, request for prayer.
A month ago, Dallas released a video titled “I’m in a tough spot” (https://youtu.be/Px-FPr–nRQ) expressing a need for prayer and direction for Season Two. Go view it before you view the video below revealing the result of all the prayer.
Once prayer started things started to happen that were unexplainable. A must see video.
The headlines read “It seems like all Hell has broken loose in California
Governor Newsom Declares Statewide Emergency Due to Wildfires. Aug 19, 2020
Newsom’s order states that “there are currently hundreds of fires actively burning during these extreme weather conditions throughout California.” And “the number of fires actively burning statewide, as well as throughout other Western states, has resulted in a strain on California’s mutual aid system, making it increasingly difficult for jurisdictions to obtain the necessary in-state and out-of-state firefighting resources to respond to these fires.”
Developing: Fires explode across Bay Area, burning homes and sparking mass evacuation. Aug 19, 2020
(ETH) – Fierce and fast-moving fires caused by lightning storms are sweeping across the Bay Area of California and elsewhere in Northern California and the fires have exploded overnight, burning homes and causing thousands to flee.
According to the latest reports, The most recent fires stretched from the wine country to the Santa Cruz Mountains, moving at dangerous speed amid an intense heatwave that also has produced rolling blackouts in the cities. According to Yahoo News, “Officials have ordered the evacuation of the western edge of Vacaville — a city of 100,000 residents about halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento — in the area of Alamo Drive north of Interstate 5 and west of North Orchard Avenue, according to a Facebook post by Vacaville police.
California struck by nearly 11,000 lightning strikes in past 72 hours. Aug 19, 2020
(ETH) – It seems like all Hell has broken loose in California over the past week with wildfires, coronavirus, earthquakes, wildfires and now some experts are warning that a series of fast-moving fires in the San Francisco Bay Area and other locations in Northern California was caused by intense lightning storms — that exploded overnight, burning homes and causing thousands to flee.
In fact, a recent report is indicating that nearly 11,000 lighting strikes took place in a span of just 72 hours. According to KTLA 5, Northern and Central California experienced an unusually active sequence of largely dry lightning strikes on Sunday morning, and was the most widespread and violent in recent memory in the Bay Area on one of the hottest nights in years, This report comes from Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UCLA and the National Center for Atmospheric Research
Juan Riesco and his brother, Jose, were heirs to a flourishing family business — Nini’s Deli — in downtown Chicago. But it all came crashing down in early June, when the beloved eatery, owned by their foreign-born parents, found itself in the crosshairs of the increasingly progressive Black Lives Matter movement.
Having since left Chicago in the wake of the restaurant’s forced, permanent closure, Riesco told Faithwire he and his brother are focusing on ministry.
“If they’re gonna protest,” he said, “we’re gonna preach.”
Riesco, whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from Cuba and Mexico, was once lauded by numerous publications as an up-and-coming entrepreneur with a knack for viral branding. He had enjoyed so much success with the deli and his personal business, Chicago Native, that brands like Nike and Adidas launched collaborations with him. But when Riesco refused to wholly endorse the official Black Lives Matter movement, he and his family were made villains on blogs and news outlets, many of which labeled them as “racist” and “homophobic.”
NINI’S DELI BEFORE CLOSURENINI’S DELI BEFORE CLOSURE WITH FIVE STAR RATING ON YELPNINI’S DELI AFTER CLOSURE
Rather than kowtow to the demands of a movement with which they harbor many disagreements, the Riescos stood firmly by their convictions. In early June, after being asked if they “believe Black Lives Matter,” Riesco published an official statement on the deli’s since-shuttered Instagram account. In it, he wrote he and his family believe “all people were created equal in the image of God.” The lengthy statement continued, “We believe that all black lives matter and we know that only God can bring about justice that is deserved.”
Riesco told Faithwire that, because of the success of Nini’s Deli, which had a five star rating on Yelp, locals were eager to see the restaurant throw its weight behind the Black Lives Matter campaign. Rather than totally embrace the movement, though, Riesco said it was important to use his platform to share his faith.
“I had felt in my spirit that I needed to, yes, take a stand [against] injustice, but also take a stand, most importantly, for Christ,” Riesco explained. “Because my business was so successful, by God’s grace, we had a lot of eyes waiting on us to make a statement about what was happening.”
“We used that platform — all those eyes on us, waiting to make a statement — to say, ‘We believe black lives matter, but we believe that because they’re made in the image of God,” he added.
However, by distancing themselves from the overarching Black Lives Matter movement, as other Christians have done, the Riescos drew the ire of many progressive protesters. After posting a statement to the restaurant’s Instagram handle on June 3, Riesco said “all hell essentially broke loose.
The Christian entrepreneur recalled receiving an onslaught of threats and promises to protest his family’s restaurant as a result of his statement on racial injustice. On Friday, June 5, just two days after the initial post to Instagram, Nini’s Deli shut down permanently as liberal protesters descended on the once-popular eatery.
Tensions only rose when Riesco’s brother Jose began brashly preaching during the raucous protest outside the deli, calling out many of the protesters for their “wicked agenda.” With his at times confrontational style, he talked about how his brother once identified as gay but “Jesus fixed him, straightened him
He also spoke out against the Black Lives Matter campaign’s affiliations with Planned Parenthood, the LGBT movement, and calls to defund the police.
Ultimately, the social pressure proved to be too much: the constant protests, the endless stream of social media posts slandering the restaurant, and the cancelled partnerships with big-name brands resulted in Nini’s Deli having to permanently closed its doors after a decade of business.
The pain of what they’ve lost remains fresh. Through tears, Riesco said he and his family “poured our hearts into loving our community, despite gender, despite sex, despite whatever you want to identify as.”
Nevertheless, even though the family company is gone, the Riesco brothers — both of whom became Christians at the deli — said they are “blessed.”
“I was just sharing with our team yesterday that my circumstances have changed, but my identity in whom I trust hasn’t,” Riesco said, adding he is still in “a position of gratitude toward our God.”
Moving forward, Juan and Jose Riesco plan to dedicate themselves to ministry.
Maranatha Movement is about encouraging and challenging us to live out our lives as Christ calls us to live in these last days. We need to live lives that will bring great reward throughout eternity.
Daniel 9 has two sections 1. 70 years Babylonian captivity which is coming to an end and 2. 70 weeks – future events. Dalton explains how significant Daniel 9 is to understanding Biblical eschatology (end times prophecies), the events that are unfolding in our day. Daniel was living at the end of the Babylonian captivity and we are living at the time of the start of the 70 weeks – prophesied future events. Dalton will challenge you about how you are living your life now in relation to the events that are unfolding in our time. Are you going to be a shining star and earn eternal rewards? I hope I have given you sufficient that you want to spend time with Dalton in Daniel 9.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck off southern Alaska’s coast late Tuesday, shaking the Alaska Peninsula and briefly sparking tsunami concerns before officials said no destructive waves were coming. The earthquake was centered in the Pacific Ocean about 60 miles southeast of Perryville on the sparsely populated Alaska Peninsula, striking around 10:12 p.m. local time (2:12 a.m. Wednesday ET). The Alaska Peninsula protrudes from mainland Alaska and is flanked to the southwest by the Aleutian Islands. Reports of significant damage, if any, weren’t immediately available. A tsunami warning initially was issued for south Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula, but was canceled by early Wednesday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The warning sent people to higher ground in cities like Sand Point, an island community of about 1,000 people off the peninsula, the Anchorage Daily News reported. People in Sand Point gathered at a high school until shortly after midnight, when officials gave an all-clear, Jordan Keeler, an Anchorage-based city administrator, told the newspaper.
More than 20 aftershocks followed the quake late Tuesday to early Wednesday, ranging from magnitudes of 2.8 to 6.1.
How is it that “coveting” is such a severe sin that it rates inclusion in the Ten Commandments? Coveting does not overtly harm our neighbour. Desiring what my neighbour has does not hurt him, unless coveting gives way to actually acting on that desire, by, for example, violating the commandment against stealing. But coveting is a sin that harms me, even if I never act upon it. Coveting is not a matter of committing external actions, as in other commandments. Rather, it is a condition of the heart.
Coveting is not just as an action but an internal state is the point Jesus makes in the Sermon on the Mount. Not just murder but hatred and contempt violates the commandment against killing. Not just actual fornication but lust violates the commandment against adultery (Matthew 5:21-28).
In fact, the sinful inner state is the prior cause of the other sins. Before you steal, you first covet what belongs to your neighbor. Before you commit adultery, you covet your neighbor’s wife. The original sin of Adam and Eve involved coveting – wanting to be like God (Genesis 3:5).
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:5
How is coveting idolatry? To sinfully desire what your neighbor has is to be discontented with what God has given you. It is thus a failure to “fear, love, and trust in God above all things,” Both have to do with the lack of faith.
Faith made possible by Jesus sacrifice on The Cross
Graven images can distract us from trusting the true God, and so can our desire for possessions or relationships. But we can trust God to meet all of our needs. And, in fact, He has already given us gifts that are right for us, and He will continue to do so. We do not need to covet what He has done for someone else.
The Law leads us inexorably to the sin within our own heart. And the cure is faith, made possible by the Cross of Jesus Christ, who has atoned for both our external and our internal sins. He offers both forgiveness and an inner transformation wrought by the Holy Spirit that bears fruit in love for both God and our neighbor. Thus the Law leads to the Gospel. As Luther said, if we can just fulfill the first commandment, to have no other gods before the God of the Bible – that is, to have faith in Him–all of the other commandments will take care of themselves.
Their website blacklivesmatter.com says, BLM’s mission is: “Imagining and creating a world free of anti-Blackness, where every Black person has the social, economic, and political power to thrive.” (Obviously, most everybody wants Black lives to thrive). They then say they want to “connect Black people from all over the world,” so this is a global organization, “who have a shared desire for justice to act together in their communities.”
They see the fundamental problem as this, and it’s why BLM’s founders say they exist, is because there is “rampant and deliberate violence inflicted on us [Black people] by the state.” This persecution by the State is what they call systemic racism. Systemic racism can be defined as “a system or structure with an unfair impact upon a particular group, even if no law mentions the race.” So, BLM believes that it is not just racism against Black people from individuals or small groups around the world, but that governments are organized to inflict systemic racism against Black people.
BLM is clearly a political party, so don’t get that wrong. They say right on their website that they are a “political home for many,” and have “ousted anti-Black politicians, won critical legislator to benefit Black lives,” and so on.
Black Lives Matter’s motive, it says right there on their website, desires to “continue the work of our ancestors in fighting for our collective freedom” and “healing ourselves and each other.”
When I read that motivation, it sounds like they are connecting the racism their ancestors experienced, speaking of the slavery that existed in the United States and around the world that ended over 150 years ago, to a wound that continues to be felt and a desire to right a wrong that happened many decades ago.
They also believe that racism is almost just as bad now as it had been back in the 1800s and that racism can only be purged systemically, in other words, by overthrowing all existing governmental systems.
If you go to Black Lives Matter website and you listen to the comments of some of their leading organizers and the people who originated this movement, they are unashamedly Marxist. The Marxist ideology is built upon the notion that there is class oppression, and that the masses are being oppressed by the bourgeoisie middle and upper classes. The Marxist ideology foments the idea that the poor are oppressed by the rich, and therefore, they need to overcome oppression by seeking a new form of justice. But, in the process of doing that, they create terror. Terror is exactly what has happened on many of the American streets as of late. A lot of people have gotten sucked up into that mob mentality because, as you say, who can be against justice?
Patrisse Cullers, who is the founder and head of BLM, is a blatant outright Communist. Yusra Khogali, who is the head of the Toronto branch, has been texting that she wants to murder White people. She has been saying that White people are genetic defects. She prays to Allah that she won’t kill Whites. So, there’s an Islamic influence there as well.
Looking again at the Black Lives Matter website on their What We Believe statement, they say BLM “affirms Black women and is free from sexism, misogyny…” Misogyny is the latest PC word that now means being against anything doing with men being in charge, where the word once used to mean men who hate women. They continue, “…and environments in which men are centered…. We dismantle the patriarchal practice.” In other words, BLM seeks to end men having any kind of authority.
We dismantle cisgender privilege
“We make space for transgender brothers and sisters to participate and lead.” It also says, “We dismantle cisgender privilege.” Here is one of those new PC words. Cisgender means you identify with the sex you were born with, and often means heterosexual in orientation, not same-sex. BLM also says, “We foster a queer-affirming network… freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather the belief that all in the world are heterosexual.” They want to stop people thinking of heterosexuality as the norm, but rather to make homosexuality equal in thinking in our society.
In summary, freedom to the BLM movement means freedom from God and His moral restraint. Justice instead means revenge. BLM takes these words and makes them mean the opposite.
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 