Sunday, February 28, 2021
The Absurd Criticism of Rand Paul’s Rachel (Richard) Levine Questioning
By MADELEINE KEARNS
February 26, 2021 12:25 PM
How likely is it that this dangerous ideological agenda is about to get worse?
Yesterday, I noted on the Corner the perplexing reaction (from all the usual suspects) to Senator Rand Paul’s entirely legitimate line of questioning aimed at Rachel Levine, Biden’s pick for assistant health secretary. The absurd headlines and “hot takes” keep on coming.
“Exchange between GOP senator, transgender nominee draws fire from Democrats,” reports the Washington Post. “Rand Paul’s ignorant questioning of Rachel Levine showed why we need her in government,” opines a writer for the same publication.
“1st transgender nominee deflects inflammatory questions from GOP senator,” reports ABC News. “Rand Paul Launches Into Transphobic Rant Against Trans Nominee,” opines The Daily Beast.
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“Rachel Levine Responds to Rand Paul About Transgender Medicine,” reports the New York Times, neglecting to mention that Levine’s “response” was one of sheer evasion.
Talk about burying the lede. Contrary to what progressive pundits insist, the real story of interest here is not Levine’s transgender status, but rather the fact that Levine refused to answer a crucial and highly topical question related to child welfare.
Here’s the real story. What Senator Paul asked and what Levine refused to answer was this: “Do you believe that minors are capable of making such a life-changing decision as changing one’s sex?” And this, “Do you support the government’s intervening to override the parent’s consent to give a child puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and/or amputation surgery of breasts and genitalia?”
As Senator Paul referenced, these are the very same questions that appeared before the High Court in England and Wales last year. In his questioning of Levine, Senator Paul cited the plaintiff in that case, Keira Bell:
I would hope that you would have compassion for Keira Bell, who’s a 23-year-old girl who was confused with her identity. At 14, she read on the internet about something about transsexuals and she thought, “Well, maybe that’s what I am.” She ended up getting these puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, she had her breasts amputated.
But here’s what ultimately she says now, and this is a very insightful decision from someone who made a mistake, but was led to believe this was a good thing by the medical community.
“I made a brash decision as a teenager, as a lot of teenagers do, trying to find confidence and happiness, except now the rest of my life will be negatively affected,” she said, adding that the medicalized gender transitioning was a very temporary superficial fix for a very complex identity issue.
Having reviewed the evidence from all sides, the judges in Bell’s case concluded that it was “highly unlikely that a child aged 13 or under would be competent to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers,” adding that it was also “doubtful that a child aged 14 or 15 could understand and weigh the long-term risks and consequences of the administration of puberty blockers.”
Accordingly, the court ordered a National Health Service moratorium on the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for gender-dysphoric young people.
Got that New York Times, et al.? The Keira Bell decision happened in Enlightened, secular Britain — and at the behest of impartial and liberal-minded judges. Unfortunately, in the absence of a similar judicial intervention — or indeed of a centralized health-care system — the situation in the United States is far more out of control.
There are currently 40+ transgender-youth clinics (and counting) in the United States, according to the Human Rights Campaign. The largest transgender-youth clinic in Los Angeles saw more than 1,000 patients in 2019; the youngest patient was four years old. And the director of that clinic has admitted to personally recommending double mastectomies for “probably about 200” adolescent females, a decision she has justified by the argument that “they don’t identify as girls,” thus breast removal is actually “chest reconstruction.” Similarly, a study entitled “Age Is Just a Number,” published in 2017 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, reveals that eleven out of the 20 surgeons interviewed admitted to having performed vaginoplasty — that is, castration followed by the inversion of the penis to form a pseudo-vaginal canal — “1 to 20” times on males under the age of 18.
If the British judges think that minors can’t consent to taking drugs and hormones to halt puberty, how likely is it that a minor can consent to having his or her sexual organs removed or mutilated?
Here’s another question worth pondering: If the Democratic nominee for assistant health secretary won’t answer basic questions related to child welfare — and the liberal media and political class won’t hold that nominee to account — how likely is it that this dangerous ideological agenda is about to get worse?
Rachel Levine appears during her confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., February 25, 2021. (Caroline Brehman/Reuters Pool)
How likely is it that this dangerous ideological agenda is about to get worse?
Yesterday, I noted on the Corner the perplexing reaction (from all the usual suspects) to Senator Rand Paul’s entirely legitimate line of questioning aimed at Rachel Levine, Biden’s pick for assistant health secretary. The absurd headlines and “hot takes” keep on coming.
“Exchange between GOP senator, transgender nominee draws fire from Democrats,” reports the Washington Post. “Rand Paul’s ignorant questioning of Rachel Levine showed why we need her in government,” opines a writer for the same publication.
“1st transgender nominee deflects inflammatory questions from GOP senator,” reports ABC News. “Rand Paul Launches Into Transphobic Rant Against Trans Nominee,” opines The Daily Beast.
MORE IN BIDEN ADMINISTRATION
The Absurd Criticism of Rand Paul’s Rachel Levine Questioning
Biden Signs Executive Order Allowing the U.S. to Fund Global Abortions
Rand Paul Demands Answers on Puberty Blockers for Minors
“Rachel Levine Responds to Rand Paul About Transgender Medicine,” reports the New York Times, neglecting to mention that Levine’s “response” was one of sheer evasion.
Talk about burying the lede. Contrary to what progressive pundits insist, the real story of interest here is not Levine’s transgender status, but rather the fact that Levine refused to answer a crucial and highly topical question related to child welfare.
Here’s the real story. What Senator Paul asked and what Levine refused to answer was this: “Do you believe that minors are capable of making such a life-changing decision as changing one’s sex?” And this, “Do you support the government’s intervening to override the parent’s consent to give a child puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and/or amputation surgery of breasts and genitalia?”
As Senator Paul referenced, these are the very same questions that appeared before the High Court in England and Wales last year. In his questioning of Levine, Senator Paul cited the plaintiff in that case, Keira Bell:
I would hope that you would have compassion for Keira Bell, who’s a 23-year-old girl who was confused with her identity. At 14, she read on the internet about something about transsexuals and she thought, “Well, maybe that’s what I am.” She ended up getting these puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, she had her breasts amputated.
But here’s what ultimately she says now, and this is a very insightful decision from someone who made a mistake, but was led to believe this was a good thing by the medical community.
“I made a brash decision as a teenager, as a lot of teenagers do, trying to find confidence and happiness, except now the rest of my life will be negatively affected,” she said, adding that the medicalized gender transitioning was a very temporary superficial fix for a very complex identity issue.
Having reviewed the evidence from all sides, the judges in Bell’s case concluded that it was “highly unlikely that a child aged 13 or under would be competent to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers,” adding that it was also “doubtful that a child aged 14 or 15 could understand and weigh the long-term risks and consequences of the administration of puberty blockers.”
Accordingly, the court ordered a National Health Service moratorium on the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for gender-dysphoric young people.
Got that New York Times, et al.? The Keira Bell decision happened in Enlightened, secular Britain — and at the behest of impartial and liberal-minded judges. Unfortunately, in the absence of a similar judicial intervention — or indeed of a centralized health-care system — the situation in the United States is far more out of control.
There are currently 40+ transgender-youth clinics (and counting) in the United States, according to the Human Rights Campaign. The largest transgender-youth clinic in Los Angeles saw more than 1,000 patients in 2019; the youngest patient was four years old. And the director of that clinic has admitted to personally recommending double mastectomies for “probably about 200” adolescent females, a decision she has justified by the argument that “they don’t identify as girls,” thus breast removal is actually “chest reconstruction.” Similarly, a study entitled “Age Is Just a Number,” published in 2017 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, reveals that eleven out of the 20 surgeons interviewed admitted to having performed vaginoplasty — that is, castration followed by the inversion of the penis to form a pseudo-vaginal canal — “1 to 20” times on males under the age of 18.
If the British judges think that minors can’t consent to taking drugs and hormones to halt puberty, how likely is it that a minor can consent to having his or her sexual organs removed or mutilated?
Here’s another question worth pondering: If the Democratic nominee for assistant health secretary won’t answer basic questions related to child welfare — and the liberal media and political class won’t hold that nominee to account — how likely is it that this dangerous ideological agenda is about to get worse?
Restoring Cornerstone Values a Solution to America’s Decline: Ben Carson
BY JANITA KAN
February 28, 2021 Updated: February 28, 2021
Reestablishing the cornerstone principles that America was founded on is the key to slowing down the country’s deterioration and addressing the acrimony that is dividing the nation, Dr. Ben Carson said on Saturday.
Carson, who served as the 17th Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), argues America can begin advancing toward the common good and away from socialist influences when solutions to the country’s pressing issues are guided by the principles of faith, liberty, community, and life.
“We want to get back to focusing on what is good, and what is valuable, and what leads you upward rather than what leads you downward,” Carson told The Epoch Times’s Crossroads program at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Florida. He is also the founder of the American Cornerstone Institute, a non-profit that seeks to promote and preserve individual and religious liberty.
“And, you know, we have history to tell us what is valuable and what isn’t. It’s one of the reasons that they’re trying to destroy our history as well.
“Your history gives you your identity and your identity provides you your belief system. And if you can destroy all that, you become a tabula rasa, you become a blank slate, which is very easy to manipulate,” he added.
Carson argues that there has been a very purposeful attempt to divide people in recent years by creating guilt and victimhood, in particular racial victimhood. When these groups teach people that they’re victims—that somebody else is the cause of their suffering—these groups can then offer themselves as their savior, which subsequently gives them power, he said.
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“Obviously, none of that is absolutely true at all,” Carson said. “And, you know, we’re in a situation where people are trying to divide us on the basis of race, income, age, religion, political affiliation, everything imaginable. Just divide the population and destroy them.”
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He said that by applying the cornerstone principles, people could learn how to interact with their fellow man through faith, become stronger through building and bonding as a community, learn to cherish life, and gain liberty by learning how to be self-sufficient instead of being reliant on the government.
“At HUD, one of the things that I wanted to do very quickly, is to change the attitude of ‘there, there you poor little thing, I’m going to take care of you’ to ‘how do we put you on a trajectory so that you become self-sufficient,'” he said. “That’s real Liberty.”
In contrast, guilt and victimhood lead to resentment and people doing things that “don’t make any sense,” he said.
He said that by applying the cornerstone principles, people could learn how to interact with their fellow man through faith, become stronger through building and bonding as a community, learn to cherish life, and gain liberty by learning how to be self-sufficient instead of being reliant on the government.
“At HUD, one of the things that I wanted to do very quickly, is to change the attitude of ‘there, there you poor little thing, I’m going to take care of you’ to ‘how do we put you on a trajectory so that you become self-sufficient,'” he said. “That’s real Liberty.”
In contrast, guilt and victimhood lead to resentment and people doing things that “don’t make any sense,” he said.
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“It’s not that they don’t have any common sense. But the guilt overrides their common sense, and they start doing stupid things,” he said.
He also commented on the difference between Democrat and Republican policies. He said that the two parties used to have the same goals but different ways to achieve them. However, in more recent years, Democrats have departed significantly from their previous positions.
“They think America was evil and it needs to be fundamentally changed. And that’s very different from people who think that America is good, and needs to learn from its past and become even better. Two completely different things,” he said.
The outcome of the two parties’ varying policy positions could be observed by comparing the last four years under President Donald Trump’s administration to past and the current administrations.
“All you have to do is look at the last four years and you look at the policies that really did change things for people, that put more money in people’s pockets, that saw the lowest unemployment rates ever, in the black community, and the Hispanic community, and the Asian American community,” he said.
“You know, those kinds of things make a difference in people’s lives. You can sit around with rhetoric all day long, and talk about unity, and how wonderful you are. But if you don’t have the results, it becomes empty clattering.”
Follow Janita on Twitter: @janitakan
“It’s not that they don’t have any common sense. But the guilt overrides their common sense, and they start doing stupid things,” he said.
He also commented on the difference between Democrat and Republican policies. He said that the two parties used to have the same goals but different ways to achieve them. However, in more recent years, Democrats have departed significantly from their previous positions.
“They think America was evil and it needs to be fundamentally changed. And that’s very different from people who think that America is good, and needs to learn from its past and become even better. Two completely different things,” he said.
The outcome of the two parties’ varying policy positions could be observed by comparing the last four years under President Donald Trump’s administration to past and the current administrations.
“All you have to do is look at the last four years and you look at the policies that really did change things for people, that put more money in people’s pockets, that saw the lowest unemployment rates ever, in the black community, and the Hispanic community, and the Asian American community,” he said.
“You know, those kinds of things make a difference in people’s lives. You can sit around with rhetoric all day long, and talk about unity, and how wonderful you are. But if you don’t have the results, it becomes empty clattering.”
Follow Janita on Twitter: @janitakan
Saturday, February 27, 2021
Senior Democratic Leader: ‘God’s Will has No Concern in this Congress.’
February 27, 2021 by Andy Roman
The Democratic Party is a God-hating party of death that promotes abortion, the LGBT+ agenda and the drugging and mutilation of children’s sexual organs through gender reassignment surgery. On February 25, 2021, Jerry Nadler summed up the Democratic Party when he said, “God’s will has no place in this Congress.” Jerry Nadler, a high-ranking member of the Democratic Party in the United States House of Representatives, was responding to Representative Greg Steube, who was quoting the Bible on the House Floor in opposition to the Equality Act that was recently passed by Democrats.
Greg Steube, a Republican, had stated that God created only two genders, male and female, and he also accused Democrats of trying to redefine what God had established. Then Greg Steube upset the God-hating Democrats in Congress with the following warning about the pro-LGBT+ Equality Act:
“Whenever a nation’s laws no longer reflect the standards of God, that nation is in rebellion against Him and will inevitably bear the consequences. And I think we are seeing the consequences of rejecting God in our country today. And this bill speaks directly against what is laid out in scripture…” (See video above).
It was then that Jerry Nadler, a prominent Democrat, stood up and claimed that God’s will does not concern them. And Mr. Nadler is absolutely right. The actions and policies of the Democrats show that God is not in their thoughts. Not only are the Democrats redefining sexuality through law, they also support the drugging and sexual mutilation of children’s sexual organs during sexual reassignment surgeries. The surgeries and drugs (hormone blockers) affect the innocent children for the rest of their lives.
Here is US Senator Rand Paul asking Rachel Levine, a transgender woman, about “her” views on permanently damaging children’s genitalia. This took place during the confirmation hearing for Rachel Levine, Joe Biden’s pick for Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
What was Rachel Levine’s response? She repeated the same answer twice and basically said, “Just confirm me now and later, I can sit with you privately in your office and tell you about transgender surgeries.” This unwillingness to answer these important questions in public shows that Joe Biden’s cabinet DOES support permanently damaging children by reshaping the genitals of young boys and removing the breasts of young girls to make them look like the opposite sex.
Democrats support taking healthy children and drugging them with hormones and mutilating their sex organs. How do people support this? Soon, they will use tax money to pay for these sex changes. They have declared war on truth, reality, morality and God. Legally, a minor child cannot give informed consent. Children are physically, emotionally, mentally and sexually immature and unable to give any information about these types of life-altering surgical decisions.
England used to do this, but had to reverse this policy because the children were changing their minds and regretting these decisions. This extremely radical policy was leaving many children with permanent health problems. [1] Anyone who supports giving young children these irreversible sex change procedures must be criminally charged with child abuse and endangerment. In the United States, you must be 18 to vote, 18 to get a tattoo, 18 to consent to sex and 21 to drink alcohol. Children should also be allowed to grow up and become adults, then they can decide what they want to do and pay for it themselves.
Today, kids have become confused because they are constantly being indoctrinated with the LGBT+ agenda thanks to the school systems, Hollywood, Disney and our culture in general. Because LGBT+ people cannot reproduce alone, they have to recruit members and they are beginning from kindergarten to confuse the minds of our children. This is the agenda of the “progressive” Democrats, and now that they are in full control of Washington D.C., nothing will stop their war against humanity.
May God have mercy on us all and on our nation. May He protect us from these godless Democrats and their supporters.
Sources
[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-lgbt-transgender-trfn/uk-court-rules-against-trans-clinic-over-treatment-for-children-idUSKBN28B3AV
The Vision Is Sure
February 27
The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
Habakkuk 2:3.
The faith that strengthened Habakkuk and all the holy and the just in those days of deep trial was the same faith that sustains God's people today. In the darkest hours, under circumstances the most forbidding, the Christian believer may keep his soul stayed upon the source of all light and power. Day by day, through faith in God, his hope and courage may be renewed.... In the service of God there need be no despondency, no wavering, no fear. The Lord will more than fulfill the highest expectations of those who put their trust in Him. He will give them the wisdom their varied necessities demand.
Of the abundant provision made for every tempted soul, the apostle Paul bears eloquent testimony. To him was given the divine assurance, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” In gratitude and confidence the tried servant of God responded: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10.
We must cherish and cultivate the faith of which prophets and apostles have testified—the faith that lays hold on the promises of God and waits for deliverance in His appointed time and way. The sure word of prophecy will meet its final fulfillment in the glorious advent of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as King of kings and Lord of lords. The time of waiting may seem long, the soul may be oppressed by discouraging circumstances, many in whom confidence has been placed may fall by the way; but with the prophet who endeavored to encourage Judah in a time of unparalleled apostasy, let us confidently declare, “The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.”
Let us ever hold in remembrance the cheering message, “The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.... The just shall live by his faith.” 42Prophets and Kings, 386-388.
Of the abundant provision made for every tempted soul, the apostle Paul bears eloquent testimony. To him was given the divine assurance, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” In gratitude and confidence the tried servant of God responded: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10.
We must cherish and cultivate the faith of which prophets and apostles have testified—the faith that lays hold on the promises of God and waits for deliverance in His appointed time and way. The sure word of prophecy will meet its final fulfillment in the glorious advent of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as King of kings and Lord of lords. The time of waiting may seem long, the soul may be oppressed by discouraging circumstances, many in whom confidence has been placed may fall by the way; but with the prophet who endeavored to encourage Judah in a time of unparalleled apostasy, let us confidently declare, “The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.”
Let us ever hold in remembrance the cheering message, “The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.... The just shall live by his faith.” 42Prophets and Kings, 386-388.
Maranatha, p.66.
Friday, February 26, 2021
Ahead of EU elections: what is next for work-free Sunday?
Brussels, 18 February 2019
In view of the EU elections, the European Sunday Alliance discussed with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and electoral candidates the importance of common work-free time and decent working hours. In view of the EU elections, the European Sunday Alliance discussed with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and electoral candidates the importance of common work-free time and decent working hours.
In a time of digitalisation and a rapidly changing world of work, participants agreed that Sunday is of unique value for the social cohesion of our society and the well-being of the citizens.
After an internal workshop session in the morning, the members and supporters of the European Sunday Alliance presented key challenges of their work, and then incurred into a debate with MEPs and EU elections candidates on possible actions for the next five-year mandate of the European Parliament and the EU Commission.
Markus Blümel, coordinator of the Austrian Sunday Alliance, reported that current changes in national legislation were undermining the network's objective of improving the work-life balance of Austrian citizens. He showed that the new law would allow for a maximum working time of 12 hours and presented how the Austrian Sunday Alliance, together with its member organisations and other like-minded actors, organised demonstrations and public actions to oppose the legal revision.
Representing the Croatian Sunday Alliance, Fr. Boze Vuleta ofm outlined how a network of different civil society organisations and social partners have joined forces in the youngest EU Member State and set up the alliance in 2018.
In the following discussion with MEPs Thomas Mann (EPP), Evelyn Regner (S&D), Marijana Petir (EPP) and the EP elections candidate Gabriele Bischoff (S&D), the participants exchanged on the outcomes of the negotiations of the recently agreed EU work-life balance directive and examined next steps towards EU policies that help citizens to find common rest time for recreation and life in society and family.
In a time of digitalisation and a rapidly changing world of work, participants agreed that Sunday is of unique value for the social cohesion of our society and the well-being of the citizens.
After an internal workshop session in the morning, the members and supporters of the European Sunday Alliance presented key challenges of their work, and then incurred into a debate with MEPs and EU elections candidates on possible actions for the next five-year mandate of the European Parliament and the EU Commission.
Markus Blümel, coordinator of the Austrian Sunday Alliance, reported that current changes in national legislation were undermining the network's objective of improving the work-life balance of Austrian citizens. He showed that the new law would allow for a maximum working time of 12 hours and presented how the Austrian Sunday Alliance, together with its member organisations and other like-minded actors, organised demonstrations and public actions to oppose the legal revision.
Representing the Croatian Sunday Alliance, Fr. Boze Vuleta ofm outlined how a network of different civil society organisations and social partners have joined forces in the youngest EU Member State and set up the alliance in 2018.
In the following discussion with MEPs Thomas Mann (EPP), Evelyn Regner (S&D), Marijana Petir (EPP) and the EP elections candidate Gabriele Bischoff (S&D), the participants exchanged on the outcomes of the negotiations of the recently agreed EU work-life balance directive and examined next steps towards EU policies that help citizens to find common rest time for recreation and life in society and family.
Thursday, February 25, 2021
Satan's Last Campaign
February 25
Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 1 John 2:18.
The enemy is preparing for his last campaign against the church. He has so concealed himself from view that many can hardly believe that he exists, much less can they be convinced of his amazing activity and power....
Man is Satan's captive and is naturally inclined to follow his suggestions and do his bidding. He has in himself no power to oppose effectual resistance to evil. It is only as Christ abides in him by living faith ... that man may venture to face so terrible a foe. Every other means of defense is utterly vain. It is only through Christ that Satan's power is limited. This is a momentous truth that all should understand. Satan is busy every moment, going to and fro, walking up and down in the earth, seeking whom he may devour. But the earnest prayer of faith will baffle his strongest efforts....
Satan hopes to involve the remnant people of God in the general ruin that is coming upon the earth. As the coming of Christ draws nigh, he will be more determined and decisive in his efforts to overthrow them. Men and women will arise professing to have some new light or some new revelation whose tendency is to unsettle faith in the old landmarks. Their doctrines will not bear the test of God's word, yet souls will be deceived. False reports will be circulated, and some will be taken in this snare.... We cannot be too watchful against every form of error, for Satan is constantly seeking to draw men from the truth....
Some men have no firmness of character. They are like a ball of putty and can be pressed into any conceivable shape.... This weakness, indecision, and inefficiency must be overcome. There is an indomitableness about true Christian character which cannot be molded or subdued by adverse circumstances. Men must have moral backbone, an integrity which cannot be flattered, bribed, or terrified....
God has set bounds that Satan cannot pass. Our most holy faith is this barrier; and if we build ourselves up in the faith, we shall be safe in the keeping of the Mighty One.39Testimonies for the Church 5:294-297.
Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 1 John 2:18.
The enemy is preparing for his last campaign against the church. He has so concealed himself from view that many can hardly believe that he exists, much less can they be convinced of his amazing activity and power....
Man is Satan's captive and is naturally inclined to follow his suggestions and do his bidding. He has in himself no power to oppose effectual resistance to evil. It is only as Christ abides in him by living faith ... that man may venture to face so terrible a foe. Every other means of defense is utterly vain. It is only through Christ that Satan's power is limited. This is a momentous truth that all should understand. Satan is busy every moment, going to and fro, walking up and down in the earth, seeking whom he may devour. But the earnest prayer of faith will baffle his strongest efforts....
Satan hopes to involve the remnant people of God in the general ruin that is coming upon the earth. As the coming of Christ draws nigh, he will be more determined and decisive in his efforts to overthrow them. Men and women will arise professing to have some new light or some new revelation whose tendency is to unsettle faith in the old landmarks. Their doctrines will not bear the test of God's word, yet souls will be deceived. False reports will be circulated, and some will be taken in this snare.... We cannot be too watchful against every form of error, for Satan is constantly seeking to draw men from the truth....
Some men have no firmness of character. They are like a ball of putty and can be pressed into any conceivable shape.... This weakness, indecision, and inefficiency must be overcome. There is an indomitableness about true Christian character which cannot be molded or subdued by adverse circumstances. Men must have moral backbone, an integrity which cannot be flattered, bribed, or terrified....
God has set bounds that Satan cannot pass. Our most holy faith is this barrier; and if we build ourselves up in the faith, we shall be safe in the keeping of the Mighty One.39Testimonies for the Church 5:294-297.
Maranatha, p. 64.
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
A Goal to Reach
February 23
The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23.
When Paul wrote, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly,” he did not exhort his brethren to aim at a standard which it was impossible for them to reach; he did not pray that they might have blessings which it was not the will of God to give. He knew that all who would be fitted to meet Christ in peace, must possess a pure and holy character.34Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 54.
If Seventh-day Adventists practiced what they profess to believe, if they were sincere health reformers, they would indeed be a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. And they would show a far greater zeal for the salvation of those who are ignorant of the truth.
Greater reforms should be seen among the people who claim to be looking for the soon appearing of Christ. Health reform is to do among our people a work which it has not yet done. There are those who ought to be awake to the danger of meat-eating, who are still eating the flesh of animals, thus endangering the physical, mental, and spiritual health. Many who are now only half converted on the question of meat-eating will go from God's people, to walk no more with them.35Counsels on Health, 575.
The controlling power of appetite will prove the ruin of thousands, when, if they had conquered on this point, they would have had moral power to gain the victory over every other temptation of Satan. But those who are slaves to appetite will fail in perfecting Christian character. The continual transgression of man for six thousand years has brought sickness, pain, and death as its fruits. And as we near the close of time, Satan's temptation to indulge appetite will be more powerful and more difficult to overcome.36Counsels on Health, 574.
Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original design—that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth. Among those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat-eating will eventually be done away; flesh will cease to form a part of their diet. We should ever keep this end in view, and endeavor to work steadily toward it.37Counsels on Health, 450.
When Paul wrote, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly,” he did not exhort his brethren to aim at a standard which it was impossible for them to reach; he did not pray that they might have blessings which it was not the will of God to give. He knew that all who would be fitted to meet Christ in peace, must possess a pure and holy character.34Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 54.
If Seventh-day Adventists practiced what they profess to believe, if they were sincere health reformers, they would indeed be a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. And they would show a far greater zeal for the salvation of those who are ignorant of the truth.
Greater reforms should be seen among the people who claim to be looking for the soon appearing of Christ. Health reform is to do among our people a work which it has not yet done. There are those who ought to be awake to the danger of meat-eating, who are still eating the flesh of animals, thus endangering the physical, mental, and spiritual health. Many who are now only half converted on the question of meat-eating will go from God's people, to walk no more with them.35Counsels on Health, 575.
The controlling power of appetite will prove the ruin of thousands, when, if they had conquered on this point, they would have had moral power to gain the victory over every other temptation of Satan. But those who are slaves to appetite will fail in perfecting Christian character. The continual transgression of man for six thousand years has brought sickness, pain, and death as its fruits. And as we near the close of time, Satan's temptation to indulge appetite will be more powerful and more difficult to overcome.36Counsels on Health, 574.
Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original design—that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth. Among those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat-eating will eventually be done away; flesh will cease to form a part of their diet. We should ever keep this end in view, and endeavor to work steadily toward it.37Counsels on Health, 450.
Maranatha, p.62.
John Boehner is touched by Pope Francis's words
Sep 24, 2015
Aleteia
U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehenr is moved to tears during Pope Francis's address from the balcony of the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. on Sept. 24, 2015.
Read more: John Boehner Moved to Tears by Pope Francis
Catholic cardinal and Tapper pause to pray over Covid-19 victims
-_-_-_-_-_-
Related
Tapper was born in New York City and was raised in Queen Village, Philadelphia.[8] He is the son of Theodore S. "Ted" and Helen Anne (née Palmatier) Tapper. His mother, who is originally from Canada,[9] retired as a psychiatric nurse at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center.[citation needed] His father, from Chicago, graduated from Dartmouth College and Harvard Medical School,[10] and went on to serve as the president of South Philadelphia Pediatrics and associate clinical professor of pediatrics at Jefferson Medical College.[11][12][13] His parents are Jewish; his mother, who was raised Presbyterian, converted to Judaism.[14] When Tapper was a kid he spent summers attending the Jewish summer camp Camp Ramah in the Poconos.[15]
Source: Wikipedia
Monday, February 22, 2021
President Joe Biden delivers remarks to the Virtual Munich Security Conf...
What did Biden mumble @ approximately 15:32 Mins.?
Sunday, February 21, 2021
Nashville church says Bible isn’t the Word of God, then draws ire
Nashville church says Bible isn’t the Word of God, then draws ire
By Leonardo Blair, Christian Post Reporter
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Pastor Josh Scott preaches at GracePointe Church in Nashville, Tennessee. | Facebook/GracePointe Church
A progressive Nashville church has drawn the ire of the internet after sharing a message on social media declaring the Bible isn’t the Word of God, inerrant or infallible.
Two Sundays ago, GracePointe Church, led by Pastor Josh Scott, shared a recap of the day’s message on Facebook, discussing the Bible and the question: “What Is Progressive Christianity?”
“As Progressive Christians, we're open to the tensions and inconsistencies in the Bible. We know that it can't live up to impossible, modern standards. We strive to more clearly articulate what Scripture is and isn't,” the church noted before stating what the Bible is and isn’t.
"The Bible," the church said, "isn’t: the Word of God, self-interpreting, a science book, an answer/rule book, inerrant or infallible." Rather, it is: "a product of community, a library of texts, multi-vocal, a human response to God, living and dynamic."
As of Wednesday evening, the post had attracted more than 1,200 emoji reactions along with 1,800 comments. Of the 1,200 emojis, more than half were angry faces, just over 300 were laughing emojis while more than 100 were sad faces. Just 157 reactions approved of the post.
When asked about the reactions to his sermon and if he felt it was a good conversation to start online, Scott, who grew up Southern Baptist, told The Christian Post in an interview that he believes it is a necessary one to have.
“You know, my intent really was, this is a conversation that we’re having in our community. So yeah, I do think it’s a good conversation and I think it’s a conversation that needs to happen within that sort of the broader Christian culture,” he said.
A progressive Nashville church has drawn the ire of the internet after sharing a message on social media declaring the Bible isn’t the Word of God, inerrant or infallible.
Two Sundays ago, GracePointe Church, led by Pastor Josh Scott, shared a recap of the day’s message on Facebook, discussing the Bible and the question: “What Is Progressive Christianity?”
“As Progressive Christians, we're open to the tensions and inconsistencies in the Bible. We know that it can't live up to impossible, modern standards. We strive to more clearly articulate what Scripture is and isn't,” the church noted before stating what the Bible is and isn’t.
"The Bible," the church said, "isn’t: the Word of God, self-interpreting, a science book, an answer/rule book, inerrant or infallible." Rather, it is: "a product of community, a library of texts, multi-vocal, a human response to God, living and dynamic."
As of Wednesday evening, the post had attracted more than 1,200 emoji reactions along with 1,800 comments. Of the 1,200 emojis, more than half were angry faces, just over 300 were laughing emojis while more than 100 were sad faces. Just 157 reactions approved of the post.
When asked about the reactions to his sermon and if he felt it was a good conversation to start online, Scott, who grew up Southern Baptist, told The Christian Post in an interview that he believes it is a necessary one to have.
“You know, my intent really was, this is a conversation that we’re having in our community. So yeah, I do think it’s a good conversation and I think it’s a conversation that needs to happen within that sort of the broader Christian culture,” he said.
GracePointe Church Lead Pastor Josh Scott preaches on "The Bible: What Is Progressive Christianity?" on February 7, 2021. | YouTube/GracePoint Church
“I think we definitely have a tendency to treat the Bible almost as an idol. And in doing so, we fail, I think, to see the real call, which is never for us just to read something but always for us to read it, wrestle with it and then embody the rest of it the way we live our lives in the world,” he explained.
“If there are any sort of conversations that are off limits in the Christian tradition then it probably just means we are afraid of them. We’re probably afraid to engage them because we are afraid of being labeled heretics, we’re afraid of people saying hateful things. In reality, these are important conversations. So yeah, I feel like it’s something that needs to be talked about."
“I think we definitely have a tendency to treat the Bible almost as an idol. And in doing so, we fail, I think, to see the real call, which is never for us just to read something but always for us to read it, wrestle with it and then embody the rest of it the way we live our lives in the world,” he explained.
“If there are any sort of conversations that are off limits in the Christian tradition then it probably just means we are afraid of them. We’re probably afraid to engage them because we are afraid of being labeled heretics, we’re afraid of people saying hateful things. In reality, these are important conversations. So yeah, I feel like it’s something that needs to be talked about."
In explaining his statement that the Bible can’t live up to modern standards, Scott noted that the problem isn’t “the fault of the Bible.”
“That’s our fault. I’m not saying the Bible has some sort of flaw in it,” he said.
“I think one of the greatest challenges that happens with the Bible is we bring expectations to it that it just isn’t intended to bear and can’t bear. Because if we go to the Bible and we’re looking for really up to date information on how the cosmos works, we’re not going to find it because I don’t think the Bible is a book trying to tell how things change. I think the Bible is trying to say to us why. The Bible isn’t necessarily the source of the how, the Bible is the source of why do we exist, why is there a world, what does it mean to be a human being in the world, how do we live our lives in the best way possible. I think those are more of the questions the Bible is trying to get at.”
While his church has been “completely shocked” by the reactions to the message, Scott said he wants people to see the Bible in a fresh light.
“I actually want to try to help people hear the story of the Bible, hear the stories and letters and poems in a fresh way, but a way that honors where that came from and the people that produced it,” he noted, while arguing that while parts of the Bible can be considered the “Word of God,” not all of it is.
“That’s our fault. I’m not saying the Bible has some sort of flaw in it,” he said.
“I think one of the greatest challenges that happens with the Bible is we bring expectations to it that it just isn’t intended to bear and can’t bear. Because if we go to the Bible and we’re looking for really up to date information on how the cosmos works, we’re not going to find it because I don’t think the Bible is a book trying to tell how things change. I think the Bible is trying to say to us why. The Bible isn’t necessarily the source of the how, the Bible is the source of why do we exist, why is there a world, what does it mean to be a human being in the world, how do we live our lives in the best way possible. I think those are more of the questions the Bible is trying to get at.”
While his church has been “completely shocked” by the reactions to the message, Scott said he wants people to see the Bible in a fresh light.
“I actually want to try to help people hear the story of the Bible, hear the stories and letters and poems in a fresh way, but a way that honors where that came from and the people that produced it,” he noted, while arguing that while parts of the Bible can be considered the “Word of God,” not all of it is.
He pointed to Old Testament prophets like Amos and Jeremiah who would preface messages from God with “the Lord came to Amos, or the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.”
“There is stuff in there (Bible) that I think really goes against the character of God. There are genocides that have been divinely sanctioned in the Bible. People have used the text in the Bible, plain readings of the text at times to support white supremacy, to defend slavery, to defend segregation,” he noted. “Saying the Bible is inerrant and infallible, it absolves us of our responsibility to do what our ancestors did, which is to wrestle.”
Source
THE SEQUEL TO THE FALL OF THE CABAL - PART 2
°
The Wrath of the Jesuit Council... From Weishaupt and the creation of the Order of the Illuminati to Napoleon and WWI.
Follow their trail of destruction in order to know whom we are dealing with. By Janet Ossebaard & Cyntha Koeter
The Fall of the Cabal - The Sequel - part 1
·
The Sequel To the Fall of the Cabal (2020) - p1
Saturday, February 20, 2021
With his inauguration, Biden makes his return to ‘Catholic Washington’
Between the institutions representing conservative and liberal Catholic Washington is a thriving local community of ordinary Catholics living out their faith.
President-elect Joe Biden is joined his wife, Jill Biden, as they celebrate Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle during Inauguration Day ceremonies Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
January 20, 2021
By Jack Jenkins
WASHINGTON (RNS) — When President Joe Biden took the oath of office on Wednesday (Jan. 20), he became only the second Catholic president in U.S. history.
But when he marched off the Capitol grounds later in the day, he reentered a much larger group: a peculiar, hyperpolitical faith community that makes the nation’s capital one of the most active and ardent Catholic centers.
Those believers who live in what locals call “the District” are a complex, multilayered web of cardinals and other churchmen, politicians, professors and everyday Catholics who also happen to regularly rub elbows with the most powerful people on the planet. It’s a community Biden has known for decades, but one that already looks markedly different from when he left the vice president’s official home, Number One Observatory Circle, to return to his home state of Delaware just four years ago.
Washington’s Catholicism is in part a reflection of the country: As the largest Christian denomination, with some 51 million members in the U.S., it’s statistically fitting that at least a quarter of Congress (around 30% this go-round, per Pew Research) usually claims a Catholic identity. Several recent House speakers — Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner and Paul Ryan — are Catholic. Their shared beliefs were on full display when Pope Francis addressed Congress in 2015, a moment that brought Boehner to tears.
RELATED: Joe Biden, president-elect at last, was shaped by a very American Catholic faith
Catholicism is the majority religion on the Supreme Court, and Catholic or not, the justices, along with many notables in the capital’s judicial community, typically attend the annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, celebrating those in the legal profession.
The Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington. Photo by Sarah Stierch (CC BY 4.0)/Creative Commons
Catholic priests and sisters can often be spotted on the streets of Washington and around the Capitol, as they go about the business of public welfare with the support of the federal government.
“For generations, Catholicism has had a very robust presence in American public life — through its social service agencies, schools, hospitals and the like — and also as a strong presence in conversations about major public topics of the day,” said Kim Daniels, a Washington-based religious-liberty attorney and former spokesperson for the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Conversations about topics of the day take place in different ways in a multitude of Catholic or Catholic-oriented organizations, schools and formal and informal get-togethers, some of which deepen Washington’s entrenched partisan divides.
Conservatives often flock to the annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, where prominent, mostly conservative Catholics such as Ryan, former Trump budget director and chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and now-deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia have promoted Catholic political causes.
Conservative-leaning Catholics also gaggle at gatherings hosted by the Federalist Society and the Catholic Information Center, an Opus Dei-affiliated bookstore where former Attorney General Bill Barr served on the board from 2014-2017. Besides forwarding their respective missions, these organizations, multiple Catholic Washingtonians said, often function as hubs of networking and intellectual life for conservative Catholics.
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, next to Catholic University of America, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Another locus for some conservative Catholics is Catholic University of America, which sits in Washington’s northeast quadrant next to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. A major sponsor of the Catholic prayer breakfast, the school has connections that are far-reaching in the U.S. government and national Catholicism. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote her controversial law review article on the responsibilities of Catholic judges, raised during her confirmation hearings, with CUA’s president, John Garvey, when he was her professor at the University of Notre Dame.
“There’s a significant and often overlooked Catholic presence in the Brookland neighborhood in D.C.,” Garvey told Religion News Service, “anchored by Catholic University, the Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and dozens of houses of study of religious congregations, which earned it the nickname Little Rome. It’s a significant presence in our nation’s capital that demonstrates the serious commitment of Catholics to be a vital part of this nation. It’s a privilege to form a part if it.”
Biden, a Democrat, will have plenty of liberal Catholic company in the city. Just south of CUA is the headquarters of Network, the social justice lobby founded by Sister Simone Campbell, a longtime ally of the new president. Nestled on a bluff above the Potomac River on the city’s northwest side is Georgetown University, a celebrated Jesuit institution whose Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life is led by John Carr, a former adviser to Catholic bishops who endorsed Biden last year.
Georgetown University’s main campus above the Potomac River. Washington National Cathedral is visible above campus, in the background. Photo by Patrickneil/Creative Commons
John Gehring, the Catholic program director at the liberal-leaning advocacy group Faith in Public Life, called Carr’s events “a focal point where social justice Catholics who are steeped in the church’s intellectual tradition meet to grapple with big theological and political questions in the context of our faith.”
Between these political poles is a thriving local community of Catholics living out their faith.
“Catholic Washington starts, for me, in my parish,” said Daniels. “It’s a very close-knit, active Catholic community with long-standing ties and long-standing service to the Washington community.”
The Rev. Ray Kemp, who grew up in Washington and works at Georgetown, agreed. He was reared among a generation of fellow white Catholics who were often passionate about their European ancestry.
“It was Irish and Italian and German and Eastern European and English,” he said. “It was a solid, hardworking, middle-class-to-lower-middle-class community of civil servants and people related to everything that supports a local and national government.”
Historic parishes dot the city. St. Augustine Catholic Church, a congregation founded by emancipated African Americans near Meridian Hill Park, is often referred to as the “mother” church of black Catholics in the region. It was at St. Augustine where Vice President Kamala Harris, while studying to get her bachelor’s degree at Howard University in the 1980s, reportedly used to slide into the pews to listen to gospel music and sermons by Black priests.
St. Augustine Catholic Church (est. 1858), located at the intersection of 15th and V Streets, NW, in the U Street Corridor of Washington. Photo by AgnosticPreachersKid/Creative Commons
Kemp pointed to crucial subsets of Washington’s Catholic core, including a growing population that hails from parts of Central and South America. Kemp recounted that Sean O’Malley, now a cardinal in Boston, used to work closely with the community when he lived in Washington, and several noted the importance of parishes such as Our Lady Queen of the Americas in northwest Washington.
As in any diocese, these local communities regularly interact with prominent church hierarchs. When Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the first African American cardinal in Catholic history, visited St. Augustine in 2019 as the newly minted archbishop of Washington, he reportedly declared: “I stand on holy ground.”
RELATED: DC’s Wilton Gregory, first African American cardinal, on Joe Biden, race and COVID-19
Unlike other dioceses, those local interactions are often removed only a few degrees from positions of global significance. This effect will likely be magnified under a Catholic president. Gregory and Biden are reportedly already in regular conversation, so much so that the cardinal delivered the opening remarks at the first event of Biden’s inauguration schedule: a memorial service Tuesday evening to mourn those who have died as a result of the pandemic caused by the coronavirus.
Archbishop of Washington Wilton Gregory poses for a portrait after Mass at St. Augustine Church in Washington on June 2, 2019. Gregory, who was elevated to cardinal in November 2020, is the first African American to lead the Archdiocese of Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Some of those interactions are just part of the daily routine.
“I happened to get my hair cut by the same barber as the apostolic nuncio,” Kemp said, referring the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States.
It remains to be seen how all these pieces will interact under Biden. For his part, Gregory told RNS in December that he hopes to have a relationship with Biden that “allows us to have a serious conversation, knowing full well that there are issues that he and I will be diametrically opposed (on), but hopefully also being able to capitalize on issues that we can advance together.”
Catholic Washington will be watching to see whether conservative Catholics — in Congress, the Supreme Court or the pews — who disagree with the new president on several core issues will offer that cooperation.
It’s sure that for all their differences, Catholics in Washington will continue to gather, worship and partake in the Eucharist. For Kemp, a Catholic Washington that worships together despite all its complicated layers is more than a democratic phenomenon.
“It’s home,” he said.
Coronavirus pandemic will not end until world is vaccinated,..
Coronavirus pandemic will not end until world is vaccinated, Germany's Angela Merkel says after G-7 meeting
A healthcare worker injects a dose of Covid-19 vaccine on an elderly man in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Feb 17, 2021.PHOTO: EPA-EFE
PUBLISHED
PUBLISHED
FEB 20, 2021, 2:15 AM SGT
BERLIN (REUTERS) - Germany and other wealthy countries may need to give some of their own stock of vaccines to developing countries in addition to money, since only vaccinating the whole world will end the coronavirus pandemic, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday (Feb 19).
Speaking after a video conference of leaders of the G-7 group of large developed economies, Merkel said they had not discussed specific percentages of their vaccine stocks that should be given to poorer countries.
But she told journalists: "I stressed in my intervention that the pandemic is not over until all people in the world have been vaccinated."
Merkel said new US President Joe Biden had already bolstered international cooperation: "The change of government in the United States of America, in particular, has strengthened multilateralism," she said.
Turning to diplomacy over Iran's 2015 nuclear deal, Merkel said: "I will at least try to bring new momentum into the negotiations... we now have to make sure that a problem does not arise as to who makes the first step."
Iran's foreign minister said earlier on Friday it will "immediately reverse" actions in its nuclear programme once US sanctions are lifted, reacting coolly to Washington's initial offer to revive talks with Teheran aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal.
BERLIN (REUTERS) - Germany and other wealthy countries may need to give some of their own stock of vaccines to developing countries in addition to money, since only vaccinating the whole world will end the coronavirus pandemic, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday (Feb 19).
Speaking after a video conference of leaders of the G-7 group of large developed economies, Merkel said they had not discussed specific percentages of their vaccine stocks that should be given to poorer countries.
But she told journalists: "I stressed in my intervention that the pandemic is not over until all people in the world have been vaccinated."
Merkel said new US President Joe Biden had already bolstered international cooperation: "The change of government in the United States of America, in particular, has strengthened multilateralism," she said.
Turning to diplomacy over Iran's 2015 nuclear deal, Merkel said: "I will at least try to bring new momentum into the negotiations... we now have to make sure that a problem does not arise as to who makes the first step."
Iran's foreign minister said earlier on Friday it will "immediately reverse" actions in its nuclear programme once US sanctions are lifted, reacting coolly to Washington's initial offer to revive talks with Teheran aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal.
Friday, February 19, 2021
How Joe Biden observed Ash Wednesday — and his message for Lent
President Joe Biden addresses staff at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., Feb. 11, 2021. (CNS photo/Carlos Barria, Reuters)
President Joe Biden received ashes at Georgetown University and released an Ash Wednesday message, urging Americans to continue holding in prayer those who have suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic while also “look[ing] with hope and anticipation toward Easter and brighter days ahead.”
“Today, I join Christians across our country and around the world in observing Ash Wednesday,” Mr. Biden said in a statement on Wednesday evening. “As we enter into the season of Lent, we know this moment of repentance, reflection, and renewal comes in the midst of a painful winter for our nation and the world.”
The nation’s second Catholic president continued: “On this Ash Wednesday and every day, we hold every family with an empty place at their table in our hearts. We pray for all those who have fallen on hard times and are worried about what morning will bring. Let us find strength in each other and faith that provides us purpose.”
Joe Biden urged Americans to hold in prayer those who have suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic while “look[ing] with hope and anticipation toward Easter and brighter days ahead.”
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Earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Biden visited the Jesuit residence at Georgetown University, where he was greeted by Ronald Anton, S.J., and received ashes from Brian O. McDermott, S.J.
Mr. Biden’s choice of Georgetown for his Ash Wednesday commemoration tracks with his close ties to the Jesuits.
While Mr. Biden has not officially selected a church since moving to Washington, he has already attended Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown, located adjacent to campus and run by the Jesuits.
On Inauguration Day, Mr. Biden, his family and invited guests gathered for Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle in Washington, where Kevin O’Brien, S.J., a friend of the Bidens, preached.
Still, Mr. Biden has faced early opposition from some Catholic leaders, including many bishops, who convened a special working group on Nov. 17 to look at how bishops could engage with the new administration, particularly in light of the president’s Catholic faith. That group was recently disbanded after two meetings, the National Catholic Reporter reported this week.
Following Mr. Biden’s inauguration, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop José Gomez, released a lengthy statement that highlighted areas in which bishops might collaborate with the new administration but also used sharp language to condemn Mr. Biden’s support for access to abortion and L.G.B.T. rights. The tone of the statement drew criticism from some other U.S. bishops, with Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, calling it “ill-considered.”
Following Archbishop Gomez’s statement, other leaders in the U.S.C.C.B. have issued a flurry of other statements, many of which praised early decisions of the new administration, particularly around the environment, immigration and the economy.
Following Mr. Biden’s inauguration, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop José Gomez, released a lengthy statement that highlighted areas in which bishops might collaborate with the new administration but also used sharp language to condemn Mr. Biden’s support for access to abortion and L.G.B.T. rights. The tone of the statement drew criticism from some other U.S. bishops, with Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, calling it “ill-considered.”
Following Archbishop Gomez’s statement, other leaders in the U.S.C.C.B. have issued a flurry of other statements, many of which praised early decisions of the new administration, particularly around the environment, immigration and the economy.
More from America
From 1965 to 2021, the Catholic share of the House rose from 22 percent to 31 percent, and the Catholic share of the Senate rose from 14 percent to 24 percent.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with Trudeau in first foreign leader call
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks after receiving her second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the National Institutes of Health on Jan. 26 in Bethesda, Md.
(Patrick Semansky / AP)
By ALEXANDRA JAFFE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED FEB. 1, 2021 UPDATED FEB. 2, 2021 10:08 AM PT
WASHINGTON —
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, marking her first call to a foreign leader since entering the White House.
During the call, Harris offered assurances that the Biden administration would “do everything it can” to secure the release of two Canadian citizens detained by China, according to a readout from the White House.
Beijing imprisoned Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018 on a United States warrant. The U.S. wants her extradited to face fraud charges.
Her arrest infuriated Beijing, and the Chinese government has made moves to punish Canada since then, including banning imports of some Canadian goods.
Feb. 2, 2021
The detained Canadians are a top priority for Trudeau, and Canada has pushed Washington to apply pressure on Beijing to release them.
A senior official familiar with the call said Harris proactively brought up the two detained Canadians herself — something that was appreciated by Trudeau and Canadian officials. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the call and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The two also discussed Canada’s contact tracing smartphone app that notifies Canadians of exposure to the new coronavirus. The app is voluntary and if someone tests positive, other users who have the app and have been in proximity are alerted they’ve been exposed to someone who has tested positive.
According to a readout from Trudeau’s office, Harris “recalled fondly” her years as a high school student in Montreal, and the two also discussed trade policies between the nations and “avoiding the unintended consequences of Buy America policies.” President Biden signed an executive order last week focused on strengthening compliance with laws requiring the federal government to use domestic materials and products.
Neither readout mentions the disagreement between the two nations surrounding the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Biden signed an executive order revoking a permit for the pipeline, which carries oil from Canada to the U.S. but has faced fierce opposition from climate change activists and Indigenous advocacy groups.
But Trudeau’s office notes that they spoke about a planned meeting between the two leaders set for this month. Canada has traditionally been the first foreign stop for new U.S. presidents, and Biden’s first call to a foreign leader was to Trudeau, made the Friday after he was sworn in.
It’s unclear whether the two will meet in person or whether the COVID-19 pandemic will force them to meet virtually.
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Democrats push reparations bill for Black Americans
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, opposes the Republican health care bill during work by the House Budget Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March, 16, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
By Jeff Mordock - The Washington Times - Wednesday, February 17, 2021
House Democrats pushed forward a reparations plan for Black Americans on Wednesday despite tepid support from President Biden and stiff opposition from Republicans.
As a first step to making the country pay for past racism, Democrats want to establish a commission to examine slavery and discrimination dating back to 1619 and recommend appropriate remedies.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who authored the reparations bill known as H.R. 40, said no level of opposition would discourage the quest.
“We believe in determination, and we believe in overcoming the many bad balls that we have been thrown; we’ve caught them, and we’ve kept on going. That is not the point of H.R. 40,” the Texas Democrat said at a hearing on the bill. “Now more than ever, the facts and circumstances facing our nation demonstrate the importance of H.R. 40 and the necessity of placing our nation on the path to reparative justice.”
The push for reparations, which could include financial compensation and education initiatives to make amends for past injustices to Black Americans, presents a major test for President Biden’s allegiance to racial-justice activists.
His tepid support for the measure separated him from the other Democratic presidential candidates, including Vice President Kamala Harris who enthusiastically endorsed the bill.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday said the president supports the essence of the bill. She would not say whether the president backs reparations.
“He supported a study of reparations, which I believe is what is being discussed and studying the continued impacts of slavery, which is being discussed in this hearing,” Ms. Psaki said.
Asked whether Mr. Biden would support the bill itself, Ms. Psaki said, “We will see what happens through the legislative process.”
Kamm Howard, the national male co-chair of the National Coalition of Blacks For Reparations, said at Wednesday’s hearing that Mr. Biden eventually won’t have any choice but to support reparations.
“The president would have a duty to move the legislation that his party in Congress is favorable to,” he said.
Reparations have been discussed before in Congress but did not advance far in the legislative process. This time, the idea gained steam after last year’s police-brutality protests and Democrats’ takeover of Washington power.
Still, the legislation will need significant backing to clear the narrowly divided House and Senate.
Republicans on the Judiciary Committee called the bill “divisive and polarizing.”
Rep. Burgess Owens, a Utah Republican who is Black, blasted Democrats for holding the hearing, saying it gave Black Americans false hope.
“It is impractical and a non-starter for the U.S. government to pay reparations. It is unfair and heartless to give Black Americans hope that this is a reality,” he said.
Mr. Owens, whose great-great-grandfather came to America aboard a slave ship, said the commission threatens to perpetuate racial stereotypes.
“The reality is that Black American history is not one of a hapless, hopeless race that is oppressed by a more powerful White race,” he said, adding that “millions of wealthy and middle class” Blacks have achieved the American dream.
Tom McClintock, California Republican, said the reparations effort would further divide the nation.
“I can’t imagine a more divisive, polarizing or unjust measure than one that would by government force, require people who never owned slaves to pay reparations to those who never were slaves based not on anything they’ve done but because of what race they were born,” said Mr. McClintock, who is White.
However, a parade of witnesses called by the Democratic majority testified that reparations are necessary to compensate for myriad inequities facing Black Americans. Those disparities include wages, benefits and almost every other measure of economic well-being, they said.
Scholars testified that health disparities in communities of color can be traced back to slavery.
They pointed to statistics showing Black Americans died from COVID-19 at a higher rate than their White countrymen and Black Americans have received disproportionately fewer vaccinations.
“The issue of slavery is one that did not end with the stroke of Abraham Lincoln’s pen and the Emancipation Proclamation,” Hilary O. Shelton, head of the NAACP’s Washington office, said during his testimony. “Many of the residuals of the trans-Atlantic slave trade sadly, as we look at the disparities in data, are still very much with us.”
A bill to create a federal reparations commission was first introduced by Rep. John Conyers, Michigan Democrat, in 1989.
Although the measure had been introduced several times over the past three decades, it has never received a floor vote. Congress last held a hearing on the legislation two years ago.
The new reparations bill appears to have more momentum along with other racial justice measures. Mr. Biden made racial justice a top priority as soon as he arrived in the White House, taking executive action to advance fair housing, overhaul federal prison policies and seek “equity” in agency actions and programs.
The reparations bill garnered support from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, and a total of 162 Democratic co-sponsors.
A companion bill introduced in the Senate has 17 co-sponsors.
No Republicans in the House or Senate have signed on to the bills.
The legislation also is backed by more than 300 organizations, including the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union.
• Seth McLaughlin contributed to this report.
Source
Catholic Church divided over Biden
VOLTAIRE NETWORK | 17 FEBRUARY 2021
The U.S. Catholic Church is still trying to figure out how it should position itself in the face of President Biden’s initiatives. It is not so much a question of doubting the good intentions behind his executive orders on climate or immigrants, but rather of not allowing itself to be manipulated for political ends.
Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a long letter calling on the faithful to support new President Biden, but warning them of his approach to various ethical issues such as abortion and marriage.
Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago and close to Pope Francis, immediately qualified this text as "ill-considered" and lamented that it was not coordinated within the Conference. Several bishops and another cardinal then made a public statement, disclosing the internal debate which is rattling the leaders of the U.S. Catholic Church.
Such a crisis is without precedent since the 1980s.
HH Pope Francis, who clearly supported Joe Biden during his electoral campaign, gave a private audience at the Vatican to Cardinal Cupich, whose pastoral line he endorses. He spoke on the phone with Mgr. Gomez whose line he had, in private, characterized as "too orthodox."
Although the Holy See seems satisfied to have helped a Catholic gain entry to the White House, it is nevertheless wary of the initiatives that he might take.
This crisis delayed by two weeks Joe Biden’s restoration of the Office for Faith-Based Initiatives (renamed the White House’s Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood-Based Partnerships) which should have been created upon his taking office.
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Monday, February 15, 2021
Max Lucado apologizes for past sermon on homosexuality after critics slam National Cathedral invitation
By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor | Monday, February 15, 2021
Max Lucado preaches at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville, Tenn. on Feb. 20, 2012. | Photo: The Christian Post/Anna Charles
Christian author and pastor Max Lucado, who holds biblical Christian views on marriage, issued an apology for “disrespecting” and “hurting” the LGBT community in his past sermons after the Washington National Cathedral was criticized for inviting him as a guest speaker.
“In 2004 I preached a sermon on the topic of same-sex marriage. I now see that, in that sermon, I was disrespectful. I was hurtful,” wrote Lucado, pastor of Oak Hills Church, a nondenominational Christian church in San Antonio, Texas, in a letter last week to the Episcopal Church’s Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Paul in the City and the Diocese of Washington, also known as the Washington National Cathedral.
“I wounded people in ways that were devastating,” Lucado, who spoke at the National Cathedral on Feb. 7, continued. “I should have done better. It grieves me that my words have hurt or been used to hurt the LGBTQ community. I apologize to you and I ask forgiveness of Christ.”
Some members of the Episcopal Church, a denomination known for holding liberal views on marriage and sexuality issues, launched a petition asking the cathedral’s dean, Randy Hollerith, to rescind Lucado’s invitation to preach.
“Lucado’s teachings and preaching inflicts active harm on LGBTQ people,” the petition read. “To cite one example, in 2004 he wrote of his fears that homosexuality would lead to ‘legalized incest’ and likened same-sex marriage to incest and bestiality. Fear-mongering and dehumanizing messages from powerful speakers like Lucado have been used to justify rollbacks of LGBTQ rights and to exclude LGBTQ people from civil protections and sacred rites. To our knowledge, Lucado has not publicly renounced these views.”
Christian author and pastor Max Lucado, who holds biblical Christian views on marriage, issued an apology for “disrespecting” and “hurting” the LGBT community in his past sermons after the Washington National Cathedral was criticized for inviting him as a guest speaker.
“In 2004 I preached a sermon on the topic of same-sex marriage. I now see that, in that sermon, I was disrespectful. I was hurtful,” wrote Lucado, pastor of Oak Hills Church, a nondenominational Christian church in San Antonio, Texas, in a letter last week to the Episcopal Church’s Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Paul in the City and the Diocese of Washington, also known as the Washington National Cathedral.
“I wounded people in ways that were devastating,” Lucado, who spoke at the National Cathedral on Feb. 7, continued. “I should have done better. It grieves me that my words have hurt or been used to hurt the LGBTQ community. I apologize to you and I ask forgiveness of Christ.”
Some members of the Episcopal Church, a denomination known for holding liberal views on marriage and sexuality issues, launched a petition asking the cathedral’s dean, Randy Hollerith, to rescind Lucado’s invitation to preach.
“Lucado’s teachings and preaching inflicts active harm on LGBTQ people,” the petition read. “To cite one example, in 2004 he wrote of his fears that homosexuality would lead to ‘legalized incest’ and likened same-sex marriage to incest and bestiality. Fear-mongering and dehumanizing messages from powerful speakers like Lucado have been used to justify rollbacks of LGBTQ rights and to exclude LGBTQ people from civil protections and sacred rites. To our knowledge, Lucado has not publicly renounced these views.”
Mentioning that the remains of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was murdered in 1998, were entrusted to the cathedral, the petition maintained that inviting “a man who preaches the kind of dangerous theology that promotes oppression of and violence toward the LGBTQ community does not honor that trust nor serve his memory.”
Lucado wrote that faithful people may disagree about what the Bible says about homosexuality, “but we agree that God’s holy Word must never be used as a weapon to wound others.”
“To be clear, I believe in the traditional biblical understanding of marriage, but I also believe in a God of unbounded grace and love," he said in his letter. "LGBTQ individuals and LGBTQ families must be respected and treated with love. They are beloved children of God because they are made in the image and likeness of God.
“Over centuries, the church has harmed LGBTQ people and their families, just as the church has harmed people on issues of race, gender, divorce, addiction, and so many other things. We must do better to serve and love one another.”
The cathedral’s dean also responded to the petition, which had been signed by over 1,600 people, falling short of its goal of 2,500 signatures.
Hollerith wrote, “When we only engage with those whom we agree on every issue, we find ourselves in a dangerous (and lonely) place. My hope is that all churches and faith communities will find ways to open their doors to perspectives different from their own.”
In his letter to the cathedral, Lucado clarified that he was invited to preach on the topic of the Holy Spirit. “My desire was to highlight the power of the Spirit to bring comfort in these chaotic times. However, instead of that sermon, many only heard my words from many years ago.”
Ugly truth about ‘Honest Joe’: Devine
By Miranda Devine
February 14, 2021 | 10:02pm | Updated
President Joe Biden addresses National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, on February 11, 2021.REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
Now that the election is over and President Biden is installed in the White House, it’s safe for the truth about his character to dribble out.
And what do you know? Turns out the ethical standards of “Honest Joe” aren’t worth a hill of beans.
Starting with the obvious, Hunter Biden is still in business with the Chinese Communist Party.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki admitted a little over a week ago that the president’s wayward 51-year-old son still owns 10 percent of Chinese equity firm BHR Partners.
So much for Joe’s promise that “no one in my family will . . . have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country. Period. Period. End of story.”
But that was B.E., before the election. Everything’s changed now.
Biden watered down his family’s ethics rules immediately after the election to a vague statement about “appropriate distance” from the presidency.
“My son, my family will not be involved in any business, any enterprise, that is in conflict with or appears to be in conflict, with the appropriate distance from, the presidency and government,” he told CNN in December.
Clear as mud.
Joe’s younger brothers, Frank and Jim, know what the rubbery rules mean: The Biden family’s influence-peddling business can continue as before, only better, with an actual sitting president to sell.
Frank wasted no time, with a two-page newspaper ad on Inauguration Day touting his relationship with “my brother” for the South Florida law firm which pays him as an adviser, even though he isn’t a lawyer.
Of course, there is still that pesky issue of federal criminal investigations hanging over the heads of Hunter and Jim, another truth bomb which stayed hidden from the American people until after the election.
But, wouldn’t you know it, on Day One as president, Joe installed the law partner of Hunter’s defense lawyer to lead the Justice Department’s criminal division, the very division which is investigating his son and brother.
“The president is committed to ensuring we have the most ethically vigorous administration in history,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at the start of the Biden presidency.
It’s a refrain we hear often from Biden and the White House, about just how honest and ethical he is.
But people who feel the need constantly to tell you how honest and ethical they are in life always turn out to be quite the opposite.
In an interview with People magazine published on Monday, the president and First Lady Jill Biden gushed that Joe was restoring “trust” in government and boasted about his unimpeachable ethical standards.
Asked about Hunter, Joe came up with a whole new formulation for Biden family ethics rules: “No one in our family and extended family is going to be involved in any government undertaking or foreign policy.” Hmmm. What happened to the ban on foreign business relationships?
Then Joe told People a curious tale, which raised more doubts than confidence in his personal integrity: “I remember years ago an accountant said, ‘You know, you can charge part of the gas you use in the vehicle at your home.’ And I said ‘No’.
“Here’s how I look at it: The foul line is 15 feet away from the basket. Never get me closer than 17 feet, because it really is a matter of the public trust.”
Look, if you have a legitimate business expense, such as the fuel you use while driving for work, then you are entitled to be reimbursed, as millions of Americans are each year. Few things are more black-and-white in expense claims than gas mileage.
Perhaps Joe is so wealthy that 57.5 cents per mile is chicken feed, but he didn’t say “No” to his accountant’s advice out of concern about the ethical ambiguity of claiming for gas, because there isn’t any.
There is no need to move his supposed ethical “foul line” two feet further away than everyone else’s, because the rules are utterly straightforward.
He was pretending, as he has his entire career, that he is more honest than the average Joe.
So the only rational response to such ostentatious virtue signaling is skepticism.
It’s not as if you have to peer far into the past to find a genuinely dubious ethical decision by Joe.
Just last Sunday, he promoted Hunter’s new book in a CBS interview on national TV played before a Super Bowl audience of 96 million, in the very week the publisher launched the marketing campaign.
Even Obama administration ethics czar Walter Schaub said it was wrong, in since-deleted tweets blasting Joe for joining Hunter’s “book promotion tour . . . This is not the way to model strong government ethics”.
Nope. Nor is the fact that another hyperbolic statement of self-virtue from “Honest Joe” has fallen apart in less than four weeks.
The immediate reaction to Biden Deputy Press Secretary TJ Ducklo hissing “I will destroy you” at Politico reporter Tara Palmeri, and deriding her with sexist vulgarities, was to send him home for a week without pay.
It was a far cry from Joe’s Inauguration Day threat to staffers: “disrespect or talk down to someone, I will fire you on the spot, no ifs, no buts.”
On Friday, the hapless Psaki tried to justify Ducklo’s abuse as a natural consequence of Politico reporting on his “private life”.
The penny finally dropped Saturday night and Ducklo resigned, but the delay says it all.
Talk is cheap in the Biden White House.
Subway spree is no shock
Are we surprised that the alleged A-train serial killer is a mentally ill, homeless drug abuser whose past arrests include an alleged assault on a cop? Of course not. This is Bill de Blasio’s New York, after all.
Rigoberto Lopez, 21, was arrested Saturday, less than 24 hours after a subway rampage in which he allegedly stabbed four people, two fatally.
Great work by the NYPD, but he never should have been on the streets after the last four times they arrested him.
Nor should we be surprised that the victims also were homeless. It was only 16 months ago when four homeless people were beaten to death in Chinatown by another vagrant. De Blasio did nothing and life just grew more dangerous for the city’s ballooning homeless population.
New York has been failed by destructive criminal justice reforms from woke lawmakers in Albany, a rabidly anti-cop mayor and lax judges and prosecutors batting for the wrong team.
They all pretend it’s compassion for the underdog that drives them, but any cop can tell you that going easy on criminals only hurts the vulnerable most.
Pelosi’s hatred poisons climate
It’s disgusting that the lawyers defending Donald Trump in his impeachment trial have had to hire private security after their homes were vandalized and their businesses assailed.
“My home was attacked,” Philadelphia attorney Michael van der Veen told Fox News after Saturday’s acquittal.
“My entire family, my business, my law firm are under siege right now.”
He begged the country to “heal” from the political hatred which spawned a summer of violent riots and the storming of the Capitol.
But there’s no chance of healing while Nancy Pelosi is House Speaker.
She looked unhinged when she burst into her impeachment managers’ post-mortem press conference Saturday to vent her spleen against the 43 senators who voted to acquit Trump.
They were “a cowardly group of Republicans” and losers who have “no options” for another job.
The Speaker’s role is supposed to be revered, but Pelosi is so hooked on hatred and spite she brings all of Congress into disrepute.
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