THE CHURCH MILITANT
Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
LANSDOWNE, Pa. —Unbeknownst to local residents, a “Gay-Straight Alliance” at a high school in Pennsylvania presented a drag show on Wednesday during school hours as part of a day-long event entitled “Coming Home: A Place for Everyone to Feel Safe.”
An anonymous tipster alerted The College Fix about the event at Penn Wood High School in Lansdowne, and provided photographs of a promotional flyer posted in various locations at the taxpayer-funded educational institution.
Morning sessions held at the school library centered on “Being an Ally,” “Navigating the World: College and Beyond” and “LGBTQ+ Health Issues.” In the afternoon, students could attend “singing and runway performances” in the auditorium, as well as a video on the Stonewall riots and a presentation on “the history of drag.”
Students reportedly could choose to go to class or attend one or more of the events. The drag show included three male students who dressed as females and danced to songs such as “Killing Me Softly” and “Level Up.”
“At first I was [like], I don’t know if I should do it. It’s a little weird,” one 18-year-old performer, who had participated in the school’s production of “Rent” earlier this year, said of the show. “[But] it was fun. It’s just dressing up.”
An alumni of the school who is now a vogue dancer, Kemar Jewel, also delivered a performance and “pep talk” to the students. Jewel’s YouTube page includes a music video entitled “G.A.Y. (God Accepts You).”
The show ended with an all-on-stage sing-along to Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.”
“We’re not saying, ‘Oh, everybody be gay,’” she told the Philadelphia Enquirer. “We have straight kids who are in the show and beautiful young people [who] haven’t told us what their sexuality is, and it’s none of our business. They all want to have a fun day.”
Boyle
Boyle remarked that the few who complained about the Alliance programs are “kind of still in the Dark Ages.” The events were stated to be in commemoration of Pride Month, Harvey Milk Day and the 50th year since the Stonewall riots in New York.
An overview of the group from the headquarters of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network outlines,”In addition to support, some GSAs work on educating themselves and the broader school community about sexual orientation and gender identity issues.”
“They may bring in outside speakers to cover a particular topic such as LGBTQ history. They may organize a ‘Pride Week’ or ‘LGBTQ Awareness Events’ and offer a series of educational workshops, panels, and pride celebrations.”
The concerned individual who contacted The College Fix opined that there has seemingly been an “LGBT explosion” following the retirement of Superintendent Joe Bruni.
“Bruni seemed to keep the more egregious LGBT genies in the bottle. He did not allow drag shows. He also turned down the drama director when she originally proposed ‘RENT’ as a school musical,” they stated.
“Since Mr. Bruni’s retirement years ago, … the high school has offered special scholarships for LGBT students [and] there has never been any significant pushback against the LGBT agenda in this school. Trans and gay kids are [now] quite open in their expression at the school.”
Current superintendent, Jane Ann Harbert, defended the offering, stating that some students may not have supportive homes and she wants the school environment to be a “safe place.”
“I am happy that our students are able to be free in their thoughts and the ways they want to live their lives,” she told the Philadelphia Enquirer. “Many of our children come from homes or cultures that may not be as supportive, and we want to make sure our school is a safe place for these students.”
However, the informant advised that there are “many religious people” in Lansdowne, and that “[m]ost of them have pulled their kids out of Penn Wood High School and sent them to parochial or Christian schools, but they still pay taxes to the school district. There are also many African Christians, who would be alarmed [at this program].”
Christian News Network spoke with some of the students at the school, and found that there were varying opinions about the event. Some supported the programs, while others said that they chose not to attend.
One local Christian distributed gospel literature outside of the school on Thursday and explained to students why God created male and female, which stirred discussion during the after-school outreach.
Lansdowne, a borough just outside of Philadelphia, is known for its “progressive” leadership and mindset. In 2002, it was marked as a “No Place for Hate” community by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). In 2005, Kevin Lee became the first open homosexual on the borough council.
However, as previously reported, William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania and the namesake of the William Penn School District that oversees the Penn Wood High School, was a street preacher and was once put on trial for causing a “tumultuous assembly” with his preaching.
“If men loved the cross of Christ, His precepts and doctrine, they would cross their own wills, which lead them to break Christ’s holy will and lose their own souls in doing the devil’s,” he wrote in the publication. “Had Adam minded that holy light in Paradise more than the serpent’s bait and stayed his mind on his Creator, the rewarder of fidelity, he [would have] seen the snare of the enemy and resisted him.”
“Did Christ submit His will to His Father’s, and for the joy that was set before Him, endure the cross and despise the shame of a new and untrodden way to glory? Thou must also submit thy will to Christ’s holy law and light in thy heart, and for the reward He sets before thee, to wit, eternal life, endure His cross …”
Editor’s Note:Those wishing to express their concerns about the event may contact Superintendent Jane Ann Harbert at 610-284-8005.
11:54 p.m. This article has been updated to include information reported by the Philadelphia Enquirer.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
“Islamic terrorists have carried out an estimated 76 attacks in nearly 15 countries since the beginning of Ramadan this month, killing at least 364 people and injuring 404 others in the first two weeks of the holiest month for Muslims.” The lives of these victims are worth no less than the lives taken in the errant Christchurch massacre in New Zealand but the silence over “Ramadan rage” murders is deafening.
The first great battle the Muslims fought, they were vastly outnumbered and yet they won….And so in the Koran, it is repeatedly said that you did not win that victory, that Allah won that victory for you, because you were righteous….the Battle of Badr was waged during Ramadan, and as such “Allah’s favor came to them {Muslims} only because of their piety {and this} only increases the ferocity and the fanaticism of Muslims in waging jihad against unbelievers.”
“Ramadan Rage 2019: Jihadis Massacre 364, Injure 404 in Two Weeks”, by Edwin Mora, Breitbart, May 21, 2019:
Islamic terrorists have carried out an estimated 76 attacks in nearly 15 countries since the beginning of Ramadan this month, killing at least 364 people and injuring 404 others in the first two weeks of the holiest month for Muslims, a Breitbart News tally shows.
That means, on average, jihadis killed at least 25 people and injured about another 30 each day since Ramadan began at sunset on May 5. This year, the holy period is expected to last through sundown on June 4.
Breitbart News’ count this week covers the 14 days of May 6 through May 19.
The tally includes a total of 768 casualties (364 deaths, 404 injuries) in 14 countries: Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Kenya, Somalia, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Syria.
Afghan Taliban narco-jihadis surpassed their Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) rivals as the world’s chief perpetrators of terrorist attacks during Ramadan this year, with 29 attacks that killed 146 and wounded 156.
ISIS closely trailed the Afghan Taliban with 23 assaults that resulted in 105 fatalities and 132 injuries.
The Taliban is responsible for 40 percent of all fatalities while ISIS was behind an estimated 30 percent.
Overall, the Taliban carried out nearly 40 percent (302) of all casualties, including injuries.
Breitbart News found that, so far, Afghanistan (160 deaths, 189 injuries), Nigeria (50 deaths, 33 injuries) and Iraq (46 deaths, 54 injuries) are the bloodiest countries during the holy month.
Jihadis and other Islamists encourage their followers and supporters to escalate attacks during the holy month, arguing that Allah exceptionally rewards martyrdom during Ramadan.
The Afghan Taliban rejected a Ramadan ceasefire offer by the Afghan government this month. Instead, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the narco-jihadi group, proclaimed, “As jihad is … the best part of worship, doing it on Ramadan is rewarded more than in other months.”….
Dark times in Canada. “Anti-hate” – who decides what’s good and what’s forbidden? Terror tied groups like CAIR? Antifa? Freedom of speech is the foundation of a free society. Without it, a tyrant can wreak havoc unopposed, while his opponents are silenced.
Putting up with being offended is essential in a pluralistic society in which people differ on basic truths. If a group will not bear being offended without resorting to violence, that group will rule unopposed while everyone else lives in fear, while other groups curtail their activities to appease the violent group. This results in the violent group being able to tyrannize the others.
Islamic law forbids criticism of Islam, Quran, Muhammad. If they cannot be criticized, we are in effect accepting Islamic law as overriding the freedom of speech. This would establish Muslims as a protected class and prevent honest discussion of how Islamic jihadists use the texts and teachings of Islam to justify violence and supremacism.
The concept of Islamophobia has two meanings. Few ever make any distinction between them. One is the brutalization of innocent Muslims, which is never justified. The problem is that the label is also used to refer to an analysis of how Islamic texts and teachings incite to violence.
Any criticism of jihad terror that examines its ideological roots in Islam is called Islamophobia, The word is used to intimidate people into thinking there is something wrong with opposing jihad terror. This deforms our response to terrorism by placing off-limits any examination of its guiding ideology and effectively enforces Sharia blasphemy laws in the US by placing Islam, Quran, Muhammad beyond criticism.
If speech that offends a group is outlawed, that group has absolute power, and a free society is destroyed. A group that cannot be criticized cannot be opposed. It can work its will no matter what it is, and no one will be able to say anything to stop it.
Inoffensive speech needs no protection. The First Amendment was developed precisely in order to protect speech that was offensive to some, in order to prevent those who had power from claiming they were offended by speech opposing them and silencing the powerless.
A free society is by its nature one in which people put up with others being uncivil and offensive. The alternative is a quiet authoritarian society in which only one opinion is allowed and the others are silenced, and ultimately sent to the camps.
The quran is full of hatred and violence. Will Trudeau ban the quran?
Canada Moves to Ban Christians From Demonstrating in Public Under New Anti-Hate Proposal
The Canadian province of Ontario is considering legislation that would officially criminalize Christianity.
Legislation proposed in the Canadian province of Ontario would criminalize public displays by Christians deemed hateful to Muslims, the LGBT community and other victim groups designated by the left.
The bill, “Prohibiting Hate-Promoting Demonstrations at Queen’s Park Act, 2019,” bans any demonstration, rally or other activity that is deemed hateful by the Speaker from being permissible on legislative grounds – effectively insulating the government from Christian speech.
Life Site Newsexplains that the nebulous nature of Canada’s anti-hate laws essentially give leftist legislators carte blanche to ban all Christian protest:
The problem with this bill, however, lies in the fact that the definition of “hate” is uncertain under Canadian law. As a result, unfortunately, the use of the word “hate” can be a useful tool for some to prevent differing views from being expressed. That is, the word “hate” can be used to silence opposing views expressed when, in fact, the views are simply a reasonable expression of belief.
This concern is based on actual experience. Canadians have already experienced the contempt shown by the Supreme Court of Canada towards Section 2 of the Charter of Rights which provides for freedom of opinion, expression and religion. In the Trinity Western Christian University case (2018), a private Christian university’s moral covenant was deemed hateful and discriminating. In the Bill Whatcott case (2013), the Supreme Court of Canada concluded that the effects of an expression used, not the communicator’s intent, are what is relevant. The court went on to conclude that “truthful statements and sincerely held beliefs do not affect the finding of “hate”. Mr. Whatcott merely expressed in his pamphlet the well-established facts about homosexuality which the court held to be “hateful”. It is worth noting that the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, presumably consisting of equally learned judges, had previously concluded that the pamphlet was not hateful. The Supreme Court of Canada prides itself on being a “progressive” court and has an established bias as evidenced in a series of decisions that have struck down laws based on traditional values. There is little likelihood that the court will protect tradition-based groups if they are denied the right to demonstrate at the provincial legislature.
As Canada becomes more restrictive toward Christianity, they open their arms for the LGBT agenda and Islam to take a foothold in their culture.
The Royal Canadian Mint issued a commemorative coin last month to celebrate homosexual love as a core principle of Canadian society.
“Marking 50 years since a landmark decision that began a process of legal reforms to recognize the rights of LGBTQ2 Canadians is a powerful way to recognize Canada’s profound belief in equality and inclusion,” said Marie Lemay, president and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint.
Meanwhile, the far-left Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been revealed to be plotting different ways to bring ISIS terrorists to his nation and possibly be re-introduced in public life.
“None of the options are ideal and all present different challenges and risks,” said the three-page secret paper, which was heavily redacted after its release through the Access to Information Act.
As globalism and liberalism takes a stronger hold in Canada, the government can be expected to become even more hostile to Christianity and more hospitable to subversive agendas.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
In an act seething in partisanship and lack of regard for the clear wording of the Constitution and the principles found therein, the New York State Assembly voted Tuesday, by 90-52, to allow the state to prosecute a person pardoned of a federal crime, in certain cases. Those certain cases vividly illustrate the blatant partisanship of the bill: If someone was working for or was related to Donald Trump at the time of the pardon, they’re fair game.
No, the bill does not actually name Donald Trump, but it does provide that a person working for or related to the president at the time of the pardon can be prosecuted — and everyone voting on the bill knew the legislation was aimed at thwarting any potential pardon of the present occupant of the White House.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, a very liberal Democrat, has already expressed support for the legislation, and is expected to sign the bill. Cuomo, in a statement in August of last year, said, “President Trump has shown that he is willing if not eager to abuse his executive authority, including pardon power, to protect himself.”
Adding evidence to the case that can be made that the New York Legislature is targeting Trump, and not just some generic president of the United States, the Legislature is considering another piece of legislation requiring the New York Tax Commissioner to turn state tax returns over to Congress, if requested. Again, it just so happens that the U.S. House of Representatives, run by the Democratic Party, are wanting to obtain the supposedly private tax returns of President Trump.
Democratic Assemblyman Joe Lentol lamely tried to spin the bill providing for prosecution in spite of a federal pardon as somehow nonpartisan. “This new law will confront any president — not just this one — who thinks he or she can get away with washing away illegal behavior.”
The minority leader of the New York State Assembly, Brian Kolb, a Republican, criticized the effort. “The job of the State Legislature is to develop measures that help New Yorkers. This bill does absolutely nothing to achieve that. The endless political grandstanding involved in targeting President Trump at a state level is a total waste of time, energy and taxpayer money.”
No doubt what Assemblyman Kolb has to say is true, but what the New York Legislature has done is far worse than simply a waste of time and money for New York.
When delegates met in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 and drafted what became the Constitution of the United States, they infused the document with certain principles, such as limited government, liberty, federalism, separation of powers, and checks and balances. Under the principle of checks and balances, the framers gave to each of the three branches (legislative, executive, judicial) certain powers designed to check the powers of the other two branches.
To the president, the Constitution gives the power to veto an act of Congress. While not an absolute veto, since Congress can override any such veto by two-thirds vote of each house of Congress, less than 10 percent of presidential vetoes are ever over-ridden. Even the threat of a veto can force changes in the bill. The purpose is not to so much to give the president more power, but to limit the power of the Congress.
Likewise, the president was given the power to pardon individuals convicted of federal crimes. Clearly, this power was intended as a check on potential abuse of power by the federal courts. The president’s power in this area is absolute — for federal crimes. A president cannot pardon someone for speeding through a little town in South Dakota, as that would violate another principle found in the Constitution known as federalism.
New York’s action also violates the clear wording of the Constitution, found in Article I, Section 10, in which states are expressly forbidden from enacting an ex post facto law. An ex post facto law makes criminal an action which was not criminal at the time of the action. In this case, being convicted of a federal crime while working for President Trump was not against the law in New York at the time the action took place, but New York is proposing to criminalize such after the fact, or ex post facto.
While not required, since it was a proposal to amend the Constitution, when Congress passed the 22nd Amendment in 1947 to limit the president to two terms in office, the Republicans who were in the majority of both houses of Congress opted to not make the two-term limit apply to the present occupant of the White House, Democrat Harry Truman. In other words, even after the amendment was ratified in 1951, Truman was free to run again in 1952. Congress clearly recognized the unfairness of applying a law to Truman, ex post facto.
But the New York Legislature evidently does not recognize fairness, constitutional restrictions, or the principles embedded in our federal Constitution.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
Boys in girls’ bathrooms, and vice versa; “drag queens” in demonic getup reading storybooks to pre-schoolers and elementary-school kids; compulsory LGBTQ indoctrination; brainwashing in global-warming hysteria; programming in global citizenship; mandatory Islamic studies and prayers to Allah; hatred of America, America’s Founding Fathers, and traditional American heroes: Increasingly, this is the reality of what passes for education in the government school system across America.
Our nation’s academic decline has been on a disastrous course for decades. Parents and conservative activists have repeatedly demanded reforms, so “progressive” politicians and educators have promised reform — but have instead accelerated their programs of perversion, subversion, and indoctrination. The state-run high schools regularly turn out millions of graduates who are functionally illiterate and innumerate, but who are reliably zealous crusaders for socialism. Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ilhan Omar are their heroes. It does not take a graduate degree in soothsaying to predict that our end as a free republic is fast approaching unlessthis is reversed.
Author Alex Newman, contributing editor and foreign correspondent for The New American, has embarked on a heroic effort to tackle this existential threat to faith, family, and freedom. The multi-talented, multi-lingual Newman has started on a nationwide, coast-to-coast “Rescuing Our Children” speaking tour that will be reaching more than 40 cities over the next three months.
To see the schedule, click on the following ad.
Newman warns parents that if they hope to protect their children against intellectual dumbing down as well as the rampant cultural-moral-spiritual subversion, then sending them to public schools is no longer an option. “Right now,” he says, “the government schools are systematically indoctrinating and dumbing down children, turning them against their parents, against their families, against their churches, against our country, against the Founding Fathers of our country, against our Constitution and our freedoms, and our Republic will not survive too far into the future if we allow this to continue.”
“There is a silent struggle raging right now upon which the future of America and her liberties depends — literally,” he wrote in that Special Report. “At its core, the struggle revolves around who will be responsible for children and their upbringing.... The end goal goes far beyond education and touches every aspect of life.” The battle for our children is the most important political battle facing America. Without confronting the reality of this crisis straight on, Christians and conservatives will lose every single battle in the decades ahead, he warns.
“We recognize that calling for a mass exodus of children from government schools is still considered a radical proposal by some,” notes Newman. “But as we show clearly in this Special Report, it is time for radical solutions to this existential crisis. Our country, our churches, our freedoms, and our families are all on the line here. We cannot ignore this any longer. We must take urgent action now to rescue our children — along with our churches and our nation.”
Of necessity, Alex Newman’s message is alarming. How could it be otherwise, considering the headlong rush toward the infernal abyss that our government school system is leading our entire nation into? However, his message is also hopeful and encouraging.
“In fact, there is a lot of great news, and cause for celebration,” he wrote, in an article co-authored with Dr. Duke Pesta in the “Rescuing Our Children” Special Report. “The good news is that it has never been easier or more cost-effective for Americans to take back their power and their children. With a growing array of options available, ranging from homeschooling materials and parent-led cooperatives to independent private, online, and Christian schools to suit every need, virtually every parent can do it.”
Alex Newman is an online instructor at Freedom Project Academy, the fully accredited online school led by Professor Pesta that offers a classical education for kindergarten through high school. “We are spending more money and committing more resources to public education than at any time in our history,” Dr. Pesta says. “We have more educrats, federal bureaucrats, technocrats, businessmen, educational foundations, 501C3 watchdogs, and corporate sponsors focused on revamping education than ever before. And yet our kids remain ignorant about our history, are far less literate as readers, and become more math deficient with every year that passes.”
“The real problem,” Dr. Pesta notes, “is that actual education is far down the list of priorities for our government co-opted public schools. The only option is to embrace alternative forms of education that empower students with genuine knowledge and the skills they need to succeed in life. Time to leave parenting to the parents, psychology to the professionals, and ideology to the universities, and recommit to teaching a rigorous course of ABCs and 123s.”
“Reform of the government’s indoctrination centers is not an option,” Dr. Pesta and Newman write in their article, “Get Them Out (of Public Schools)!” “Conservative organizations and Christian activists have squandered countless millions of dollars on “’reform’ efforts with nothing to show for it. At best, all they did was delay the inevitable by perhaps a few years.”
They assert: “Government schools today are the fruit of a poison tree — they cannot be reformed; they must be abandoned. Reforming a bad idea is a bad idea. Ultimately, separation of school and state is needed. And not only is it possible, it is better on every front, as the nation proved in the 18th and 19th centuries.”
Over the past several decades, millions of American families have voted with their feet, leaving the toxic public-school wasteland for homeschool, private-school, and Christian-school options. However, the fact remains that over 85 percent of American children remain in the government-run brainwashing factories. Education leader Lt. Col. E. Ray Moore (Ret.), a retired chaplain and the founder of Frontline Ministries, says this unsustainable situation demands an all-hands-on-deck effort to rescue the children — a sort of “Dunkirk” operation. But instead of using all available boats to rescue Britain’s fighting men from destruction on a beach during World War II, our dire predicament demands Americans must use every resource at their disposal to rescue American boys and girls from destruction at the hands of rogue government schools controlled by totalitarian bureaucrats. Lt. Col. Moore praised The New American’s “Rescuing Our Children” Special Report for its ground-breaking work exposing this crisis and offering real solutions to it. “Well done, factual and timely too,” said Moore, director of the Exodus Mandate Project, who is featured in an exclusive interview in the Special Report and has been the leading figure calling for an exodus from public schools. “This report shows the need to exit the government system and rescue children through growing K-12 private, Christian and home schools. The New American has led the way nationally with this issue.”
Israel Wayne, a nationally renowned home-education leader, author, and speaker, makes the case for homeschooling and Christian education in the TNA Special Report. “Scripture and church fathers clearly state that education should be God-centered, but God is banned from public schools,” he explained. “It is my sincere hope that people of faith will increasingly remove their children from State-dominated schools, and choose an education that supports and encourages the faith and beliefs they want to impart to their children.”
Alex Newman’s nationwide tour got off to an auspicious start on May 15 with a global radio interview with Generations Radio host Kevin Swanson, heard live on Christian AM and FM stations and the Internet, as well as on a podcast available here. Other Christian radio shows, educators, and homeschool organizations are getting excited about promoting the tour. Don’t miss the Newman “Rescuing Our Children” tour when it comes to your area, and check the tour schedule to make sure you alert your friends, relatives, co-workers, pastors, and co-religionists around the country to this rare opportunity to hear this important presentation when Alex comes to their region.
