TENNESSEE DECLARES JULY A MONTH OF PRAYER AND FASTING AFTER PRIDE MONTH

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The state of Tennessee has called its citizens to spend the month of July in prayer and fasting as a way to “reclaim our nation” after Pride Month, we ask that “the Holy Spirit fill our halls of government,” and renew our nation in God’s image and likeness.

The resolution asks God to deliver the state and our nation “from violence committed upon our citizens by non-citizens,” as well as “human trafficking,” “deadly fentanyl” sales, family breakdown, and “corruption in our federal government.” “We hold that ‘Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain,’” the resolution says, quoting Psalm 127:1.

“As public servants in the Tennessee General Assembly, we seek God’s [m]ercy upon our land and beseech Him to not withdraw His Hand of blessing from us,” the resolution declares. “We recognize that God, as Creator and King of all Glory, has both the authority to judge and to bless nations or states. … We recognize our sins and shortcomings before Him and humbly ask His forgiveness.”

Importantly, it concludes with a petition for the renewal of the state and the entire country: “[W]e ask that the Holy Spirit fill our halls of government, our classrooms, our places of business, our churches, and our homes with peace, love, and joy,” says the resolution. It asks all Tennesseans to engage in a month of “prayer and intermittent fasting” as “a means of seeking God’s blessing and humbling ourselves to receive His [g]race and [m]ercy, transforming ourselves, our communities, our [s]tate, and our [n]ation.”

Tennessee State Rep. Jason Zachary (R), a co-sponsor of the bill, told “Washington Watch” Tuesday that legislators passed the bill in the spring with July in mind, because “this is the month of our independence. To be transparent: We are following Pride Month, which was part of the conversation — how we reclaim our nation? And the way we as believers approach that is through prayer,” said Zachary. “We know that we are facing an enemy looking to steal, kill, and destroy. And we serve the Author of all things, the King of Kings.”

Delegates envisioned “the people of our state being unified. Believers calling out, saying, ‘Lord, we need You. We’re a land that has lost its way. We’re still the greatest nation in the world, the freest and wealthiest people. We’ve done more to advance the Kingdom and further the cause of Christ than any other nation in the history of the world,” said Zachary on Tuesday.

“But we’re very different” than the faith-filled generations that carved the United States out of an undeveloped wild and founded a constitutional republic rooted in biblical principles, Zachary told “Washington Watch” guest host, former Congressman Jody Hice. “Even in the 10 years that I’ve been serving,” America has become “a very different nation.”

Elected officials saw this resolution as their way of putting into effect 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Hice, the former U.S. representative turned senior vice president of Family Research Council, called the bill’s passage “a great source of encouragement” and “certainly a story that you are not going to hear about from the legacy media.”

The state House of Representatives passed the legislation, House Joint Resolution 803, by an overwhelmingly bipartisan 82-6 vote on March 4. All six no votes came from Democrats. The bill passed the state Senate 27-1 on April 8. Governor Bill Lee (R) signed the prayer resolution into law on April 16. The signature reflects the governor’s personal relationship with God, said Zachary, who declared, “Governor Lee loves the Lord.”

“We need the Lord to hear us and heal us and have grace on us once again,” said Zachary.

God does answer prayer, so watching the state of Tennessee will be interesting but as for the USA it is already under God’s judgement which will only escalate. Biblical prophecy shows us that the USA does not feature in the events of the last seven years when the Antichrist rises to power and this is understandable considering the godless state of the nation: abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage, transgenderism. The country is debt-ridden with corruption rife and its government is currently run by a senile President. It has already lost credibility with the rising powers China, and Russia, as well as the U.N.

THE WORLD IS ON AN UNSUSTAINABLE PATH

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The world is on an unsustainable path,  Dr. Voddie Baucham, pastor and best-selling author points out. “People are at war with the God of the universe, and they will face his wrath. [They’re] running headlong toward a cliff, and the loving thing to do is to shout as loud as we can, put up as many signs and warnings as we can, and if necessary, grab people you know before they go over the cliff. That’s the loving thing to do, even when it doesn’t feel like it’s loving. … We’ve got to show people the car that’s about to run them over.”

When Family Research Council’s, Joseph Backholm asked Baucham how this movie ends, he shook his head. “It ends badly. We’ve seen this before [when] empires fall. And this culture is devolving.” But there’s still hope that the Lord will intervene, that there’s revival and awakening. “And that’s my prayer,” he said. “I’m not praying for the destruction of the West. I’m praying for revival.”

Christians have seen the impact they can have when they refuse to embrace the agenda that’s saturating our education system, marketplace, government, sports, entertainment, and so many other areas. We’ve watched the entire script flip on LGBT activism in board rooms we never thought would change just because we were determined to make our voices heard.

So what’s the mindset we should have now? “Two things,” Baucham insisted. “One, the Kingdom of God is undefeated. It has never lost, and it never will lose. And the second thing is that we have dual citizenship and that our heavenly citizenship trumps whatever other citizenship we hold. If we hold on to those two truths, we will take heart and we will be encouraged even during dark days.”

No matter what, we’re still in the world, he wanted people to know. “But not of the world.” In other words, “You can’t hide — so stop trying. Besides that, some people desperately need what we have — and we can’t give it to them if we run away from them.”

This article is taken from an article in The Washington Stand – A Christian Response to Pride Month, June 5th, 2024.  Family Research Council’s Joseph Backholm interviews Dr. Voddie Baucham.

Fortunately, we know how the story ends. God has given us in His Word, the BIBLE, the entire story from start to end. We can use the end times prophecies to get people into the Kingdom. They prove the Bible is true and the loving but righteous God it portrays exists. If you would like to learn how to use apocalyptic evangelism can I suggest you go to Reggie Kelly’s website http://www.mysteryofisrael.org where you can join others to develop your skills to evangelise using end times Scriptures. The following quote is taken from his website.

We want to state, firstly, that you will not be regarded so much as students as “participants” in our mutual engagement and interaction over the material. You, the participant, will play a formative and influential role in the content and direction of the course. Your response and feedback is critical towards the final product that will take its character from the many. We desire to approximate as much as possible that organic and corporate involvement that so uniquely characterizes the body of Christ, hearing the Lord in one another, the supply that every member supplies, co-contributors towards that sacred last day’s prophetic task to make the vision “plain upon tables” that to read (with understanding) is to run (compare Hab 2:2-3; Dan 12:4,9).

“READ WITH PRIDE” FROM THE WORLD’S LARGEST CHILDREN’S BOOK PUBLISHING COMPANY

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Conservative Americans are sounding the alarm on Scholastic, the world’s largest children’s book publishing company, for releasing the 2024 guide to their “Read With Pride” initiative.

The guide considers itself to be a “resource” for K-12 students, as well as teachers and other figures of authority, “for supporting LGBTQIA+ youth and books.” The recommended books, which are aimed at kids as young as pre-school, contain content promoting transgenderism, same-sex couples, and parents, the concept of “friends with benefits,” traveling to a “spirit realm,” and taking relationships “to the next level” with sexual intercourse.

Scholastic’s 2024 guide begins with a “letter to educators, caregivers, [and] advocates,” expressing their motivation for the 12-page document. It’s full of extreme LGBT ideology, and it makes no attempt to mask the progressive agenda. 

The first lie is a stark statement found in the letter, where it specifically states that biological reality and biblical mandates are not the “default” and must be challenged.

“Books and literature are never neutral; by engaging with queer literature for children and young adults, you are disrupting the status quo that implies being cisgender, heterosexual, and allosexual are the default.” It should go without saying that our birth sex, the male or female God created us to be, is the default. Moreover, being born a boy or a girl is also a permanent biological reality.

No one can change their gender. No one was born in the “wrong body.” No amount of hormones, surgeries, or feelings will ever change this fact. And so, while Scholastic broadcasts this lie that there is no default, let those of us who care for children boldly and lovingly share that everyone is made in the image of God with innate dignity and value. How we are born is exactly how we were supposed to be born, and it’s a beautiful truth to embrace. God doesn’t make mistakes, and He won’t start now.

Unfortunately, Scholastic’s guide continued to make another patently false claim. They wrote, “Everyone benefits from books with authentic representation of queer identities.” This simply isn’t true. I’d argue no one benefits from these LGBT, rainbow-plastered alphabet books because they are harmful, not helpful. Especially since these books target kids at an age where they don’t fully understand what reality is. Their minds are malleable, giving these dangerous ideas a better chance to take root. And yet, the “truth” they’re told is completely contrary to nature.

To add to the concern, these books expose innocent, young, and vulnerable children to inappropriate, explicit content. No child needs to be reading a book about LGBT ideology, much less books discussing pornographic content. But the guide chose to amplify debunked statistics that suggest increased support for transgenderism decreases the likelihood of suicide among those who self-identify as such. However, this claim falls flat when compared to what credible sources have discovered.

This book published by Scholastic reveals how far the world has transgressed from God and His commandments. The Bible reveals God judges nations, the nation He established for His purposes, Israel, He has judged repeatedly, and He is judging nations today. God poured out His wrath on the earth once before with the worldwide flood of Noah’s day. Moreover, Biblical prophecy tells us that He is going to pour out His wrath again on a world that has embraced the lies of the evil one, Satan, and his Antichrist.

We are given a lot of detail in Revelation on the coming Trumpet and Bowl judgements so we should use this information to present the Gospel Message to show family and friends that they need to get right with God then they will not need to face His wrath.

TRUMPET JUDGEMENTS: Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed… Revelation 8:6-9

PASTOR BAUCHAM PREACHING END TIMES TRUTH

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Pastor Voddie T. Baucham warned that the pervasive sexual sins of the prevailing culture are signs of divine judgment, but that the Gospel still offers hope and that American Christians should plead with God for revival while preparing for persecution.

Baucham, who is on leave in the U.S. from his position as Dean of Theology at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia, preached from Romans 1 during an event last Saturday at Lamar Baptist Church outside Dallas.

Reiterating some of the points in his new book, It’s Not Like Being Black: How Sexual Activists Hijacked the Civil Rights Movement, which was released Tuesday, Baucham noted the irony that he was making his remarks on the first day of pride month, which he referred to as “pride goes before destruction month.”

Noting that the Apostle Paul ultimately spends much of the first chapter of Romans explaining how the wrath of God manifests in the world by giving mankind over to sexual depravity and “a debased mind,” Baucham also observed that Paul lays the foundation of his difficult arguments on the hope and reality of the Gospel.

Starting at Romans 1:16, Baucham read: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.'”

“That’s the foundation for all of this,” Baucham said. “That’s our foundation for thinking about all of these issues. We start there. We start with the reality of the Gospel and our need for the Gospel. We start with the reality that the righteous shall live by faith.”

“We are living in a time, in an era when there are people who are desperately wicked, and in desperate need of repentance and faith, in desperate need of the Gospel. And we’re being told that the wickedness is, in fact, the Gospel,” Baucham said.

Baucham noted that such a worldview is destructive because it not only calls good evil and evil good but also “alienates people from the only hope they have.”

Despite the culture’s clarion call for people to embrace the supposed freedom of sexual liberation, he said the evidence suggests that such behavior is enslaving even children at this point.

Lifting up his phone, Baucham added, “We’re giving them to 9- and 10-year-olds. Number one use of the internet is still pornography, and we’re giving unlimited, unfettered access to it to 9- and 10-year-olds in the palm of their hands.”

“So we’ve got a generation of people who’ve been raised with sexual material, who have been raised with libertine views towards sex, who are engaging in sex younger and younger, and we’ve got young people entering into marriage who can’t even enjoy sex anymore, because their ability to enjoy it has nearly been destroyed.”

Baucham further explained that a deeper layer of the destruction includes “willing Christians” who attempt to accommodate the idea of sexual sin as an identity by claiming the Bible failed to understand the complexity of sexual orientation and that dishonorable passions are not actually dishonorable.

Baucham said rampant transgenderism is another consequence of such depravity and went on to warn that the push for pedophilia “is just a matter of time.” He also urged Christians to steel themselves for the last stage of a culture under judgment, which involves the wicked attempting to suppress the truth of God by approving of those who are evil while condemning and trying to silence those who resist.

Baucham concluded his remarks by urging his listeners to pray for revival, but conceded that he cannot personally see any way out of the spiritual darkness into which the culture has plunged itself.

“We’re going to have to pray that God would send revival, because He’s already sent judgment,” Baucham concluded. The wrath of God is here; the judgment of God is here. Plead with Him for His mercy. Plead with Him that all would not be lost.”

Baucham failed to say that God has told us in advance that what is playing out in the world precedes Jesus’ return to restore righteousness. Incredible detail is given by the Old Testament prophets, Jesus in the Olivet Discourse, and Revelation of the events that precede Jesus’ return. The good news is our redemption is close so we need to make sure we like Jesus are saying to God not my will but yours be done each day. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, He has work for you to do if you are in prayer and attentive.

KNOW YOUR ENEMY: SATAN PERVERTS WHAT GOD HAS ORDAINED

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The devil takes whatever God has ordained and perverts it so that it is totally corrupted from what was first intended. He perverts

  • Marriage—corrupting this from the true marriage of one man and woman to two men or two women or other perversions.
  • Sexuality—corrupting the created rightful place for sex within marriage for one man and one woman to whatever is right in one’s own eyes.
  • Gender—corrupting this from the created two genders, male and female, to however one wants to define gender.
  • Dominion—corrupting man’s created dominion over the creation to the creation having dominion over man, as seen in the modern climate-change religion.
  • Rainbow—corrupting this from the meaning of the rainbow given by God after the flood to instead be associated with the anti-biblical LGBTQ worldview and other perversions. The ultimate perversion is in the USA where June is celebrated as PRIDE month.
  • Church – churches and church leaders have adopted the devil’s perversion of the rainbow and support the sinful lifestyles of those who reject true marriage as God-created (one man and one woman) and reject God’s created genders for humans (only two: male and female). 

Jesus told us in the Olivet Discourse what the end times will be like before He returns to restore righteousness. His laws and commandments will be rejected, and lawlessness will abound. The USA now celebrates that they are proud of their sin. They are already under God’s judgement and it will only escalate.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away, betray and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:9-12

USA: A NATION UNDER JUDGEMENT

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In the United States, June now brings a more sinister side. The nation celebrates June as “Pride Month.” Desecrated rainbows fill store displays and social media feeds. Sexual deviancy and perversion are celebrated as a virtue. Baseball teams host “Pride nights” at their stadiums. Government buildings are lit up with the colours of the rainbow. The US Navy joins in, changing their entire Twitter avatar and bio to boast of wickedness.

As Christians, we might easily look at June as a month where the darkness has overtaken the light, where godless people brazenly mock God by taking His rainbow and using it to celebrate what He describes as an abomination. But we do well to remember that God in His sovereignty rules over the darkness and that God is not mocked, no matter how vigorously men may try.

While the godless of society take this month to celebrate their ungodliness, we must acknowledge the sovereignty of God in that they label this celebration with a sin that is even worse than the one they are promoting: PRIDE. Proverbs 6:16-17 says, “There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him; Haughty eyes…” Haughty eyes are the visible, outward manifestation of a heart of pride. The Lord hates pride. The Lord says that pride is an abomination to Him. Peter wrote, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). To celebrate pride is to celebrate what God hates and to put yourself in a position where God is opposed to you. That includes all pride, not just pride in sexual immorality.

When our nation celebrates Pride Month, it is a manifest indication of God’s judgment against us. The reason it is such a clear indication of judgment is not because of the rejoicing in unrighteousness that occurs, although that in itself would qualify, but because this rejoicing in unrighteousness is done under the banner of another sin that God hates, the sin of pride. God’s judgment is manifest in taking those who love sin and doubling their guilt. They no longer are guilty before God for one sin — sexual immorality — but two sins that God hates, as pride becomes their adornment. The judgment of God is manifest when He not only condemns sinners in their sin but aggravates their condition so that they become even more guilty before Him.

We see this throughout all of Scripture. Pharaoh hardened his heart before God, and God hardened Pharaoh’s heart as well. When Pharaoh refused to repent, God hardened his heart to such an extreme that Pharaoh drove his army to their death in the sea (Exodus 14). We see this with Herod in Acts 12. Herod was guilty before God for executing the Apostle James. His unrepentant heart became so hardened that he exalted himself over God, and God executed him for it. When Eli rebuked his sons for their godless behavior, including sexual immorality, “they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the Lord desired to put them to death” (1 Samuel 2:25).

Besides the judgment of God, we also see the sovereign providence of God over all of these events. God is no mere bystander, watching helplessly or disinterestedly as His creatures defy His authority and flout His law. God is intimately involved in ruling His world and reigning over His creation. Part of that sovereign providence is bringing specific and terrifying judgment from which there is no escape. From that vantage point, we can say as Christians that pride month is not merely a manifestation of the wicked heart of man but an indication of the righteous judgment of God. That means as Christians we realize that God is sovereign over pride month and that He has a good purpose in what man means for evil.

A heart of pride might be the most terrifying judgment of all because it is the judgment from which there is no path of escape. The necessary element for salvation is the opposite of pride. God delights in a broken and contrite heart, not a proud countenance. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:3-4). The poor in spirit are those who recognize their spiritual poverty, and they are connected with those who mourn because they grieve over their sins. They are not proud, and they do not celebrate what God condemns. Their hearts are broken over their sins, and they are humbled to the dust before a holy and righteous God who judges everyone impartially.

The only way anyone can be saved is by abandoning their pride, their self-reliance, their delight in disobedience to God’s Word, and humbling themselves before the cross of Christ, seeking mercy through faith in His sacrifice for sinners.

God’s judgment becomes clear when the Lord begins to aggravate people’s sinful condition so that one sin begins to pile on top of another. That is what is happening during pride month, and that is why June is for judgment. The USA is a nation already under judgment and with much of the church compromised with the world on gay marriage, LGBTQ, and transgender issues it will also be deceived by the false prophet when the Antichrist comes to power. How foolish, when Jesus’ return is so close first to rapture the Saints but then to pour out His wrath upon an unrepentant world.

The USA church is the church of Laodicea. The church that will be left behind to face the wrath of God.

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:15-20

The church of Philadelphia represents the church that is raptured look what God says to it.

“‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name… Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon.” Revelation 3:8, 10-11

PROPHESIED END TIMES APOSTATE CHURCH PROUD OF OUR SIN

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The Supreme Court of Finland confirmed Friday that Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen will face trial a third time over her five-year-old Bible verse tweet that criticized the Finnish Lutheran Church for promoting LGBT “pride month.”

Police began investigating the grandmother of 11 shortly after her 2019 tweet in which she posted a photo from the book of Romans and questioned how the Finnish Lutheran Church could agree with “shame and sin” being presented as “a matter of pride.”

Räsänen, who led Finland’s Christian Democratic Party from 2004 to 2015 and served as the country’s interior minister from 2011 to 2015, is being dragged into court again despite having been acquitted twice by lower courts on hate crime charges, according to a statement from lawyers at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International.

“In a democratic Western nation in 2024, nobody should be on trial for their faith — yet in Finland throughout the prosecution of Päivi Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola, we have seen something akin to a ‘heresy’ trial, where Christians are dragged through court for holding beliefs that differ from the approved orthodoxy of the day,” Paul Coleman, executive director of ADF International said.

The state’s persistence in going after Räsänen and Pohjola for nearly half a decade despite multiple acquittals is “alarming,” Coleman said, fearing “the process is the punishment in such instances, resulting in a chill on free speech for all citizens observing.”

“Their right to speak freely is everyone’s right to speak freely,” he added.

European governments have increasingly clamped down on speech critical of homosexuality in recent years.

Earlier this month, France’s gender equality minister Aurore Bergé called for the prosecution of Father Matthieu Raffray, a Roman Catholic priest who drew the ire of the state for describing homosexual inclinations as “a weakness” that must be fought like any other sin.

In Malta, Matthew Grech faced criminal charges under the country’s conversion therapy ban last year for giving his Christian testimony about leaving a homosexual lifestyle on a radio show. The radio hosts who gave him a platform were also charged.

Speaking about proposed anti-hate speech legislation in Ireland that would apply to sexual orientation, ADF CEO Kristen Waggoner told The Christian Post in December that her organization perceives “a global trend toward censorship.”

“And it’s not just a disregard for free speech; it’s an active targeting to silence speech by the government,” she said, adding that the United States is not immune to such trends despite the U.S. Constitution.

We should not be surprised at these actions as Jesus told us that great tribulation would precede His return.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:9-12

Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post.