Bible banned in several Utah schools due to ‘vulgarity and violence’

June 5, 2023  — The Jerusalem Post reports: “The Bible was banned in several schools in Utah after a complaint from a parent made its way to the Davis School District in the northern part of the state, multiple sources reported on Friday.

The parent was reportedly frustrated with the book bans in their district and so decided to submit a complaint of their own. The parent’s complaints also cited the state’s law passed last year that bans books that contain material considered ‘pornographic and indecent,’ stating that it’s one of the ‘most sex-ridden books around.’

…The district ultimately removed the Bible from elementary and middle schools, citing ‘vulgarity and violence’ in its texts, but would allow it to be limited to high school libraries…”  (For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. – Hebrews 4:12,13.  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. – Romans 1:16,17.  Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. – Psalm 119:105.  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. – II Timothy 3:15-17.  Thankfully, the school district changed their plans – see the next report.)

Bible Returns to Utah School District Shelves After Public Outcry Forces Backflip

June 22, 2023  — Breitbart.com reports: “The King James Bible will return to shelves in a northern Utah district that sparked a public outcry last month after banning the sacred text from middle and elementary schools after a single complaint from a parent alleging ‘violence and profanity’ were contained in its pages.

AP reports officials from the Davis School District, which educates 72,000 students north of Salt Lake City, informed a board meeting Tuesday the district had determined the King James Bible was age-appropriate for all district libraries.

The backflip means the board sided with 70 people who filed appeals after the Bible was banned earlier this month, as Breitbart News reported…”

Report: North Korea Sentences 2-Year-Old to Life in Prison after His Parents Are Caught with a Bible

May 30, 2023  — ChristianHeadlines.com reports: “According to a new report by the U.S. State Department, North Korea has carried out severe persecution against Christians, including one 2-year-old child who was sentenced to life in prison after his parents were caught with a Bible.

The finding was revealed in the State Department’s recently released 2022 International Religious Freedom Report, which highlighted Christian persecution in North Korea, including the imprisonment of an estimated 70,000 Christians.

In 2009, an entire family, including a 2-year-old child, was sentenced to life in prison for their faith and for possessing a Bible. Sentences for Christians in North Korea can range from 15 years to life in prison.

Korea Future, a nonprofit organization working on advancing human rights in North Korea, states that the country’s government persecutes people who practice religious rituals, own religious items, or associate with religious individuals, by subjecting them to arrest, detention, torture, forced labor, deportation or the denial of the right to life…”  (…whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him [or her] that a millstone were hanged about his [or her] neck, and that he [or she] were drowned in the depth of the sea.  Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man [or woman]  by whom the offence cometh!  Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire – Matthew 18:6 – 8.)

Texas Christian University offers ‘Queer Art of Drag’ course requiring students to create a ‘drag persona’

June 23, 2023 — FoxNews.com reports: “Texas Christian University (TCU) offered a course in the spring semester of 2023 titled, ‘The Queer Art of Drag,’ which requires students to develop a drag persona and ‘engage queer theories in relation to performance practice.’

The class, which is offered through its Women and Gender Studies Department and is taught by Nino Testa, whose drag persona goes by the name Maria von Clapp, will explore ‘drag performance as an outlet for social critique, pedagogy, and queer worldmaking,’ according to the class syllabus. In addition, students will explore the history of the ‘queer art of drag,’ meeting with drag performers and experts and create their own drag personas to debut at TCU’s Annual Night of Drag…”  (For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;  Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,  Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,  Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:  Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. – Romans 1:18-32.)

U.N. ‘Expert’: Religious Liberty Must Yield to LGBT Demands

June 23, 2023  — Breitbart.com reports: “A U.N.-certified ‘expert’ on sexual orientation and gender identity declared Wednesday that religious communities must yield to the demands of LGBT persons to avoid charges of violence and discrimination.

Freedom of religion or belief need not be incompatible with equality for LGBT persons, Victor Madrigal-Borloz asserted in his address to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, as long as religious groups accept the claims of gay and transgender persons.

Religious narratives clashing with the beliefs and lifestyle choices of LGBT persons, however, are ‘beyond the scope of the right freedom of religion or belief,’ said Madrigal-Borloz, dubbed by the U.N. ‘the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.’

Predictably, the U.N. Council did not call on an expert in religious freedom to offer a counterpoint to the position of Madrigal-Borloz…”  (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! – Isaiah 5:20.  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away – II Timothy 3:1-5.) 

Street preacher arrested for reading Bible verses at LGBT pride event

June 8, 2023  — The Christian Post reports: “A Pennsylvania man was arrested after he began preaching from the Bible on public property during a protest against a nearby pride event.

The incident happened June 3 at a pride month rally in the city of Reading, located more than 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia, where a crowd that included drag performers and small children gathered in front of the City Hall building.

Video from the event showed a couple of protesters standing on the opposite side of the street as marchers held LGBT-themed flags while Reading police officers looked on.

By early afternoon, Damon Atkins, 41, was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct after he was involved in a conversation with Reading Police Officer Bradley McClure, according to court documents.

The now-viral video shows Atkins holding a sign which reads ‘Jesus said go and sin no more’ while telling McClure ‘This is public property.’ Atkins responds, ‘It is public property…let them have their day,’ in an apparent reference to the marchers…”  (How sad that merely quoting the Bible can be classified as a ‘hate crime’.  It is because it shines the light of God’s perfection on the thoughts and acts of sinful mankind.  Jeremiah 23:29 states: Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?  And Hebrews 4:12 states: For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.) 

Uganda: Jihadists Burn Christian Students Alive, Hack Them with Machetes in School Attack

June 20, 2023  — Breitbart.com reports: “A gruesome terrorist attack on a boarding school housing secondary (high school) students left at least 42 dead in Kasese district, southwest Uganda, this weekend, 37 of them students, and many of them ‘burnt beyond recognition.’

The Ugandan government immediately blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamic State affiliate, for the attack, which occurred on Friday night local time. Eyewitnesses said they heard shouts of ‘Allahu akbar!’ as the terrorists hacked girl students to death and burned the boys alive. Neither the ADF nor the greater Islamic State organization has taken responsibility for the attack, however, and some senior officials have begun speculating publicly that outside forces attempting to seize ownership of the school used the jihadists to create a situation where the current owners, an NGO reportedly under Canadian control, would lose legitimacy as administrators…”  (“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” – Hebrews 11:1.  Hebrews 11 is called the “Hall of Fame of Faith” and it lists many Old Testament saints and the victories they had through faith.  But not all had victories in their lives: …others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection; And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: – Hebrews 11:35b – 39.  Read Revelation 2:10 again: …be faithful unto death; and I will give thee a crown of life.  See the next report.)

Report: Fulani Jihadists Slaughter 700 Christians as ‘Farewell’ to Nigeria’s Buhari

June 20, 2023  — Breitbart.com reports: “Islamist Fulani militants slaughtered some 700 defenseless Christians during May 2023 as a parting gift to outgoing Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, a leading human rights organization reports.

Emeka Umeagbalasi, a Catholic human rights activist and chairman of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, declared in a June 12 report that Plateau State was the worst hit, accounting for the murders of 350 Christians, while another 110 Christians were massacred in Benue State.

Going back slightly further, the report notes that at least ‘1,100 defenseless Christians were hacked to death by Nigerian Government backed Islamic Jihadists in the past 60 days or between 12th April and 12th June 2023,’ an ongoing slaughter translating to a ‘daily average of 17 Christian deaths.’

The period under review represents ‘one of the bloodiest in anti-Christian attacks in Nigeria,’ the report added…”

Turkish ‘Princess’ Vows That Islam Will ‘Break the Western Cross’

May 30, 2023  — PJMedia.com reports: “Resorting to jihadist rhetoric, Esra, the daughter of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan—who just gained another five years as president—recently attacked the West and Christianity.

In a tweet written, not in her native Turkish, but in Islam’s tongue, Arabic, the ‘first daughter’ declared that ‘There is little left for the Islamic crescent to break the Western cross.’

This phrase is as universally understood by Muslims, as it is universally misunderstood by Westerners, and is, therefore, emblematic of Muslim continuity and Western confusion.

It has both a literal and figurative meaning…”  (The clash between the Cross and the Crescent has been in existence for centuries.  Dr. Erwin Lutzer wrote in his book The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent: “We should note that Muslims were destroying crosses long before the Crusades… When Muslim invaders entered Jerusalem in 637, they did away with all crosses and would not allow them to be displayed.  The symbol that lies at the heart of the Christian faith was utterly abolished.  And that’s the way it has been ever since.”)