Leo Varadkar Elected as Ireland's First Gay Prime Minister

Leo Varadkar Elected as Ireland's First Gay Prime Minister


June 14, 2017, at 9:30 a.m.

 







Leo Varadkar is congratulated by colleagues as he leaves Government buildings after being elected by parliamentary vote as the next Prime Minister of Ireland (Taoiseach) to replace Enda Kenny in Dublin, Ireland June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Reuters




By Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries


DUBLIN (Reuters) - Leo Varadkar was elected Irish Prime Minister on Wednesday, making the 38-year-old son of an Indian immigrant the first gay premier of the once-staunchly Catholic country and the youngest person to hold the office.


Despite inheriting Europe's fastest-growing economy, he will face immediate challenges in the shape of neighboring Britain's exit from the European Union, a political crisis in Northern Ireland and a housing crisis at home.


Varadkar succeeded Enda Kenny earlier this month as leader of the Fine Gael party. Colleagues pinned their hopes of an unprecedented third term on the straight-talking Varadkar, who they believe can widen their appeal in elections that may be triggered as soon as next year.


"Enda Kenny's leadership enabled me to become an equal citizen in my own country two short years ago and to aspire to hold this office, an aspiration I once thought was beyond my reach, at least if I chose to be myself," Varadkar said in reference to Ireland's 2015 vote to legalize gay marriage.
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"The government I lead will not be one of left or right. The government I lead will be one of the new European center as we seek to build a Republic of opportunity, that is a Republic in which every citizen gets a fair go and in which every part of the country stands to share in our prosperity."


Varadkar's elevation marks another chapter in the social change that has swept through the country of 4.6 million people that only decriminalized homosexuality in 1993 and legalized divorce two years later.

Watch Live: Jeff Sessions Testifies Before Senate Committee

The Teenage Spiritual Crisis

Children often begin to question their faith and spirituality when they reach the teen years. Jon Krause


Life
Turning Points 
 

As adolescents form values and ideals based on personal experiences, many question their religious beliefs more intensely




By
Clare Ansberry
Updated June 13, 2017 11:07 a.m. ET
 

Thomas Ramey quit praying a few years ago when he was 16 years old because it didn’t seem to matter.

The 18-year-old, who was baptized and confirmed as a Methodist, doesn’t believe in an afterlife, but still believes in a God. He goes to church regularly because he likes playing in the youth band, volunteering and listening to people who have different opinions. “I doubt everything,” says Thomas, who plans to study engineering.

That is true of many teens, who grew up praying, going to houses of worship, and studying religious texts. As 6-year-olds, they were convinced there was a God and heaven and that everything in the Bible was true, for example. Now they aren’t so sure.

The teen brain grows rapidly, and with it the ability to think more abstractly and critically. In early adolescence, teens begin to establish their own ideals and recognize hypocrisy in people and institutions around them. They deal with heartbreak and social cliques, see suffering in the world and wonder if there is a God who cares. They are trying to figure out their place and how and if something like religion belongs.

Inquisition

Secret Terrorists Story: Pastor Bill Hughes.

Mr Doom's End Times Report & Current Events (June 11, 2017)

Do We Treat Sunday the Way the Earliest Christians Did?

BOOK REVIEW | CT MAGAZINE


Historian Justo González charts how observance of the Lord’s Day has changed over time.

MATTHEW BARRETT | MAY 26, 2017

Image: Xtian Designs / Lightstock

OUR RATING:

BOOK TITLE: A Brief History of Sunday: From the New Testament to the New Creation

AUTHOR: Justo L. González

PUBLISHER: Eerdmans

RELEASE DATE: 2017-05-23

PAGES: 176

PRICE: $11.75
Get Free Weekly Updates from CT:


I never miss the opportunity to read Justo González. The eminent Cuban American church historian has long provided a wealth of insight into the development of Christian doctrine as it has spread across the globe.

At first, I was puzzled by the title of his latest book, A Brief History of Sunday: From the New Testament to the New Creation (Eerdmans). Could 150 pages really do justice to such a massive subject? Yet the book, though small in size, packs a substantial punch, correcting a number of misconceptions long held by historians and theologians alike.

The second half of the book covers expected topics, like how the British Puritans approached the Sabbath, and how secularization has influenced Sabbath observance in modern times. But in the first half, González makes a provocative claim: that the argument for naming Sunday the Sabbath day might not be as obvious as we suppose. “Many may be surprised,” he writes, “to learn that connecting Sunday with the fourth commandment [‘Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy’] finds very little warrant in the early church, and that calling Sunday ‘the Sabbath’ is a relatively new phenomenon.”

FINALLY! Methodist Church Ordains First ‘Non-Binary Trans Person’ As Deacon

gay pride flag Shutterstock/iri Flogel

ERIC OWENS

Education Editor


5:31 PM 06/10/2017


The United Methodist Church — a mainline Protestant denomination boasting some 12 million members worldwide — has commissioned its first brazenly “non-binary trans person” as a deacon.

The newly-minted “non-binary trans” deacon is the Rev. M Barclay, according to United Methodist News Service.

That’s her first name: M. She’s a woman — born with the name Mary Ann Kaiser — who refuses to identity as either female or male. She’s totally just neutral.

Also, she wants everyone to use plural pronouns — they, them and theirs — to refer to her.

Barclay received her commission as a provisional deacon from the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church on June 4.

Scottish Episcopal Church votes to allow same-sex marriages

by Staff Reporter

posted Friday, 9 Jun 2017





80 percent of the church’s bishops and laity voted in favour of the change as well as 68 percent of the clergy

The Scottish Episcopal Church has voted to allow same-sex marriages.

Needing a two-thirds majority to pass, 80 percent of the church’s bishops and laity voted in favour of the change as well as 68 percent of the clergy.

“I am very pleased for the couples who can now have their relationships recognised by the church and blessed by God,” the Episcopal Church’s Bishop of Edinburgh, the Right Reverend Dr. John Armes, said in an interview with BBC.

The vote amended church rules to remove the stipulation that marriage must be between a man and a woman. It also includes a conscience clause stating that priests may refuse to marry a same-sex couple.

“In light of the fact that there are differing understandings of marriage in this church,” the clause reads, “no cleric of this church shall be obliged to conduct any marriage against their conscience.”

While gay marriage has been legal in Scotland since 2014, many still object to marriage between same-sex couples.

“The attempt to redefine marriage is not one that a faithful Christian can support,” Archbishop Foley Beach, a senior member of the group, said in an interview with BBC.

Source

Pope sees women’s role as key to inter-religious dialogue

June 09, 2017

In a June 9 address to members of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, Pope Francis called for “greater recognition of women’s capacity to educate in universal brotherhood.”



Women play a key role in inter-religious dialogue, the Pope said, because of their capacity as educators. “The woman has always been at the center of family education, not only as a mother,” he said. “The contribution of women in the field of education is inestimable.”

The Pontiff expressed regret that “today the figure of the woman as educator in universal fraternity is obscured and often not acknowledged.” He remarked that women and their children “are indeed among the most frequent victims of blind violence.” Yet at the same time, he said, “women are often the only ones who accompany others, especially those who are the weakest in the family and in society, victims of conflicts, and those who must face everyday challenges.”

Finally, the Pope said: “Women are engaged, often more than men, at the level of ‘dialogue of life’ in the inter-religious sphere.”


Source

References:
Pope Francis: central role of women interfaith dialogue (Vatican Radio)
Audience with participants in the Plenary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (Vatican press office)

A Firm Platform

I saw a company who stood well guarded and firm, giving no countenance to those who would unsettle the established faith of the body. God looked upon them with approbation. I was shown three steps— the first, second, and third angels’ messages. Said my accompanying angel, “Woe to him who shall move a block or stir a pin of these messages. The true understanding of these messages is of vital importance.

The destiny of souls hangs upon the manner in which they are received.” I was again brought down through these messages, and saw how dearly the people of God had purchased their experience. It had been obtained through much suffering and severe conflict. God had led them along step by step, until He had placed them upon a solid, immovable platform. I saw individuals approach the platform and examine the foundation. Some with rejoicing immediately stepped upon it. Others commenced to find fault with the foundation. They wished improvements made, and then the platform would be more perfect, and the people much happier. Some stepped off the platform to examine it and declared it to be laid wrong. But I saw that nearly all stood firm upon the platform and exhorted those who had stepped off to cease their complaints; for God was the Master Builder, and they were fighting against Him. They recounted the wonderful work of God, which had led them to the firm platform, and in union raised their eyes to heaven and with a loud voice glorified God. This affected some of those who had complained and left the platform, and they with humble look again stepped upon it.

A World Government On The Horizon

Volume XXXVI Issue VI June 2017
Last Trumpet Ministries, PO Box 806, Beaver Dam, WI 53916
Phone: 920-887-2626 Internet: http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org

"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring."

Acts 17:24-28

"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

II Corinthians 6:17-18

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils."
I Timothy 4:1

"And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"

Luke 18:7-8

In this issue of the Last Trumpet Newsletter, we will once again examine the present condition of our world, which has been undergoing a conditioning process for decades. The hearts and minds of the people have been educated, indoctrinated, and prepared to accept globalism, and by extension, a one world government. I can recall my father, Pastor David J. Meyer, warning on many occasions that efforts were underway to establish a global government. In the past such discussion was written off as a "conspiracy theory" by a majority of people, but for those who care to look, we can see globalist forces in plain sight and out in the open today.

In February 2017 prominent globalists from around the world gathered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for a three-day event known as the World Government Summit. (1) This gathering was attended by representatives from more than 130 countries and featured more than ninety famous speakers including, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, (2) and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. (3) Guterres, who is openly and proudly a socialist, was the prime minister of Portugal from 1995 until 2002. (4) Speaking at the summit in Dubai, Guterres told his audience, "Improving governance and improving confidence between governments and people is essential, and it is a condition to improve the confidence in the relations between countries. We live today in a world that is no longer bipolar, no longer unipolar, but it is not yet multipolar. It's really chaotic." He then later went on to say, "In a world in which everything is global, in which the problems are global - from climate change to the movement of people - there is no way countries can do it by themselves. We need global responses, and global responses need multilateral institutions able to play their role." Of course, if you read between the lines, it is obvious that Guterres is calling for a one world government. In a nod to the United Nations' 2030 Agenda, Guterres also declared that sustainable development is necessary for peace and security to take hold in our world. (5)

As a result of the Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates in collaboration with the United Nations has now established what they call The World Council of Happiness. This rather strange entity seems determined to foist their version of happiness on the entire world. "Happiness is a commendable infection. We want the peoples of the world to be afflicted with it so they could be blessed with goodness. This may require a tangible change in the culture of the government work," said Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai. He further went on to say, "Our initiative to launch the World Council of Happiness has been derived from our values and our conviction that it is necessary to bring happiness and positive values to people." (6) Truly, the United Nations is an organization with many tentacles, insomuch that it can be difficult to keep up with all of its offshoots. The United Nations branch known as the Sustainable Development Solution Network is providing administrative support to the World Council of Happiness, (7) which is then further divided into the following six sub councils: The Council of Happiness and Health, The Council of Happiness and Education, The Council of Personal Happiness, The Council of Happiness in Work Environment, The Council of Happiness Measurement, and The Council of Happy Cities. (8)

Trump: ‘It’s time to put a stop to attacks on religion’

evangelicals

By Lauren Markoe | June 8, 2017




President Trump addresses the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s "Road to Majority" conference in Washington, D.C., on June 8, 2017. Photo courtesy of Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON (RNS) President Trump told his political base of evangelical Christians that he would continue to restore the religious liberty many of them feel they’ve lost.

“It is time to put a stop to the attacks on religion,” Trump said in a speech Thursday (June 8) to the Faith and Freedom Coalition that began shortly after former FBI Director James Comey questioned the president’s integrity at a Capitol Hill hearing.

“We will end the discrimination against people of faith. Our government will once again celebrate and protect religious freedom,” Trump, a Presbyterian not known to be particularly religious, told more than 1,000 people in a hotel ballroom across town from the hearing.

He said he and his audience were “under siege.”

READ: What’s next for the pro-life, religious liberty crowd?

The sentiment resonates with evangelicals, who often charge that American politics and culture has shunted them aside. Across the divide, other parts of the electorate accuse conservative Christians of using the government to impose their values on others.

So far, Trump’s most loyal supporters seem to care more about his positions on their core issues than on the questions about his leadership raised in Comey’s testimony.

Country Living (SDA)

Religious Liberals Sat Out of Politics for 40 Years. Now They Want in the Game.

The Rev. William J. Barber II, organizer of the “Moral Mondays” protests in North Carolina, in April at Riverside Church in Manhattan, where he preached on building a national movement. Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times



Faith leaders whose politics fall to the left of center are getting
more involved in politics to fight against President Trump’s policies.


By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

JUNE 10, 2017




In Nashville, a crowd of ministers carrying palm fronds occupied the governor’s office during Holy Week, demanding the expansion of Medicaid to cover more of the uninsured. In California and 16 other states, an interfaith network has organized thousands of volunteers to swoop into action when immigrants are arrested or houses of worship are vandalized.

Across the country, religious leaders whose politics fall to the left of center, and who used to shun the political arena, are getting involved — and even recruiting political candidates — to fight back against President Trump’s policies on immigration, health care, poverty and the environment.

Some are calling the holy ruckus a “religious resistance.” Others, mindful that periodic attempts at a resurgence on the religious left have all failed, point to an even loftier ambition than taking on the current White House: After 40 years in which the Christian right has dominated the influence of organized religion on American politics — souring some people on religion altogether, studies show — left-leaning faith leaders are hungry to break the right’s grip on setting the nation’s moral agenda.

Frustrated by Christian conservatives’ focus on reversing liberal successes in legalizing abortion and same-sex marriage, those on the religious left want to turn instead to what they see as truly fundamental biblical imperatives — caring for the poor, welcoming strangers and protecting the earth — and maybe even change some minds about what it means to be a believer.

“We’re in a real battle for the soul of faith, of Christianity, of this nation,” said the Rev. Troy Jackson, executive director of the Amos Project, a multifaith social-justice coalition in Cincinnati.


The last time the religious left made this much noise was in protesting the Vietnam War, when the members of the clergy were mostly white men. Now, those in the forefront include blacks and Latinos, women and gays, along with a new wave of activist Catholics inspired by Pope Francis. And they include large contingents of Jews, Muslims and also Sikhs, Hindus and Buddhists in some cities — a reflection of the country’s religious diversity.

Most surprising of all, perhaps, is that religious progressives are being joined at the ramparts by a noticeable number of energized young evangelicals.

Such a loose alliance of people of many faiths, many causes — and no small number of intractable disagreements — may never rival the religious right in its cohesion, passion or political influence. And its mutually standoffish relationship with the Democratic Party, dating to the 1970s, stands in stark contrast to Christian conservatives’ sway over the Republican Party.

But those on the left say that they do not need to mirror the Christian right’s strategic alliance with the Republican Party to gain a healthy measure of political influence — and that they are undaunted by how long it might take.

From the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church on earth

The church is God's fortress, His city of refuge, which He holds in a revolted world. Any betrayal of the church is treachery to Him who has bought mankind with the blood of His only-begotten Son. From the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church on earth. In every age the Lord has had His watchmen, who have borne a faithful testimony to the generation in which they lived. These sentinels gave the message of warning; and when they were called to lay off their armor, others took up the work. God brought these witnesses into covenant relation with Himself, uniting the church on earth with the church in heaven. He has sent forth His angels to minister to His church, and the gates of hell have not been able to prevail against His people.

The Acts of the Apostles, p. 11.

THE VATICAN'S PLAN FOR YOU TO JOIN THE ONE WORLD RELIGION: DEATH OF PROT...

POPE FRANCIS (Jorge Bergoglio) - What the media has hidden from you (Part1)

Jesuits Control The CIA

Muzak

Published on Apr 2, 2017


"I will, when opportunity present, make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all Protestants and Liberals to extirpate and exterminate them from the face of the whole earth"
Jesuit Extreme Oath of Induction


The Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits, with their Sun Worship logo, operate in the highest echelons of the Jesuit Illuminati, or rather their leaders do. It is the Jesuit leadership that controls the Knights of Malta, Knights Templar, Knights of Columbus in the USA, and works closely with another secret order of the Roman Church, Opus Dei, which was created by the Jesuits.

The Society of Jesus was the creation of Ignatius Loyola, who was born at the Castle of Loyola in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa in Spain on Christmas Eve 1491. He and a group of associates founded the Jesuit Order in 1537 and it was given papal approval in 1540.

From there it expanded its influence until it reached its present status as one of the most powerful secret societies on earth. Loyola became the first Jesuit Superior General, also know as the 'Father General', and he sent his agents far and wide to set up schools, colleges, and seminaries.

The Jesuits now have some 17,000 members in 112 countries and the worldwide structure consists of region known as assistances, which are themselves made up of provinces.

The Superior General has absolute authority and is again chosen for life, or until he decides to resign. The Jesuit Constitutions were written by Loyola and created a dictatorship that demanded absolute obedience to the Pope and 'superiors' with the Order.

He said that Jesuits should be 'well-disciplined like a corpse'. Loyola produced a book call Spiritual Exercises(modern day psychology) in 1548 and it is still at the heart of Jesuit 'education'. It tells Jesuits to suspend their own judgement and the thirteenth rule says it is virtue to believe only what the Catholic Church tells them even if it's not true.

The example is given of seeing something that is obviously white, but believing it is really black if the Catholic hierarchy says it is..

On top of the Jesuit power structure stands the superior-general of the order.

Below him is probably the ex superior-general who is still alive.

Under him are the four assistants of the superior-general and three of these assistants are also regional assistants.

Below these assistants there are seven regional assistants and in total there are ten assistancies.

Below him there are six presidents of the Conferences.

And the list goes on and on. This is probably the power structure in the top of the Jesuits:

Superior-General:
Arturo Sosa Abascal

Ex superior-general:
Adolfo Nicolas

Assistant Ad Providentiam & president Conference European Provincials:
John Dardis

Assistant Ad Providentiam, Admonitor & Regional Assistant US & Canada:
Douglas Marcouiller

Assistant Ad Providentiam & Regional Assistant South-Asia:
Vernon D'Cunha Assistant

Ad Providentiam & Regional Assistant Africa:
Fratern Masawe

Regional Assistant South Asia:
Lisbert D'Souza

Regional Assistant Pacific Asia:
Daniel Patrick Huang

Regional Assistant Latin America South:
Claudio Paul

Regional Assistant Central & East-Europe:
Tomasz Kot

Regional Assistant South-Europe:
Joaquín Barrero Díaz

Regional Assistant West-Europe:
Victor Assouad

Regional Assistant South-America North:
Gabriel Ignacio Rodríguez

President Conference US & Canada Provincials:
Timothy Kesicki

President Conference South-Asia Provincials:
George Pattery

President Conference Pacific-Asia Provincials:
Mark Raper

President Conference Latin-America Provincials:
Jorge Cela

President Conference Africa & Madagascar Provincials:
Michael Lewis

Subscribe for all the videos with the best info about the Jesuits, Knight's of Malta & papal bloodlines.

The False Revival

June 9

Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. 2 Thessalonians 2:8, 9.

Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, points to the special working of Satan in spiritualism as an event to take place immediately before the second advent of Christ. Speaking of Christ's second coming, he declares that it is “after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9.

Before the final visitation of God's judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children. At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His word. Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept those great truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the Lord's second coming. The enemy of souls desires to hinder this work; and before the time for such a movement shall come, he will endeavor to prevent it by introducing a counterfeit. In those churches which he can bring under his deceptive power he will make it appear that God's special blessing is poured out; there will be manifest what is thought to be great religious interest. Multitudes will exult that God is working marvelously for them, when the work is that of another spirit. Under a religious guise, Satan will seek to extend his influence over the Christian world.

Young men and women will be lifted up, and will regard themselves as wonderfully favored, called to do some great thing. There will be conversions many, after a peculiar order, but they will not bear the divine signature. Immorality will come in, and extravagance, and many will make shipwreck of faith.

Maranatha, p.168

Bernie Sanders Doesn’t Think Christians Are Fit For Public Office

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

During a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders tried to impose an unconstitutional religious test, calling Christianity 'hateful.'

By John Daniel Davidson


While the nation’s capital was twittering with excitement on Wednesday about former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, something far more outrageous was underway in another Senate hearing: Sen. Bernie Sanders, in a blatant violation of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, was applying a religious test for an office of public trust.

Specifically, Sanders doesn’t think Christians are fit to serve in government because they’re bigots. Basic Christian theology, in Sanders’s view, “is indefensible, it is hateful, it is Islamophobic, and it is an insult to over a billion Muslims throughout the world.”

VP Pence full National Catholic Prayer Breakfast speech

Happy Sabbath

PBS Profiles Andrews Grad’s Bible App Aimed at Supporting LGBTQ Christians

June 6, 2017: A June 4 article on the PBS Newshour website has profiled the efforts of Crystal Cheatham, an Andrews University graduate, to launch a Bible app aimed at supporting LGBTQ Christians.

The Our Bible app will offer a minimum of 20 Bible translations and more than 300 devotional readings, podcasts, meditation exercises and other resources. It is set to be released this fall.

The goal of the app is to provide encouragement for LGBTQ Christians and others who feel that they do not fit in with mainstream Christianity.

The PBS article relates Cheatham’s story of growing up Seventh-day Adventist and going to Andrews University.

Cheatham shares the devastation she felt in being told that her being lesbian could conflict with her Christian religious identity.

“When I came out, I was told by ministers so far above me that I couldn’t be an out lesbian and also be on the stage as a leader, and it crushed me. It crushed me so hard,” she Cheatham.

“I felt like I was at an impasse at the road in my life and I had to decide between this love for my God and my personal identity.”

Since then, Cheatham has become a writer and an activist and she has set out to create a digital resource with which LGBTQ users can grow in their spiritual practice without having to compromise any part of their identity.

Cheatham has advocated extensively for LGBTQ acceptance on Christian campuses.

She says that when Christians schools exclude LGBTQ persons from their communities it forces people to choose between hiding their identities and giving up their social support network.

She added that current devotional apps tend to offer conservative Bible interpretations that provide little support for LGBTQ Christians.

Responding to this lack of resources, Rodney McKenzie, a gay Christian minister, has curated readings to accompany the other devotional resources on the Our Bible app.

The readings are designed to connect people “to the love and the truth that is everpresent wherever they are,” said McKenzie.

On June 30, Cheatham will release the app to a small group of donors that supported the Our Bible app project. A wider release is planned for September.

Source

Trump shores up evangelical support but alienates gays

President Trump speaks at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road To Majority conference, assuring evangelicals they were bigger, better and stronger than ever. (Associated Press) more >

By S.A. Miller - The Washington Times - Thursday, June 8, 2017


President Trump played to a friendly crowd Thursday at a Faith and Freedom Coalition conference, solidifying ties to evangelical voters who were instrumental in his election but also alienating gays that he has strived to embrace.

The president highlighted accomplishments for which the religious leaders had clamored, including an executive order that allows churches and other religious organizations to become more politically active.

“You didn’t let me down, and I will never, ever let you down. You know that,” he said to applause at the coalition’s Road to Majority Conference at a Washington hotel.


Mr. Trump vowed to keep fighting to protect religious liberty, expand the role of religion in public discourse and make schools more welcoming to religion.

“Faith inspires us to be better, to be stronger, to be more caring and giving, and more determined to act in selfless and courageous defense of what is good and what is right,” he said. “It is time to put a stop to the attacks on religion.”

The Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said the president’s speech inspired him to redouble his efforts to energize pro-life voters in the 2018 elections.

“I could not help but think that there are so many in the church who do not yet realize what a blessing this president is for the church,” he said.

Gay rights leaders, however, said that Mr. Trump had let them down.

The president’s appearance at the conference, which was packed with anti-gay crusaders, coincided with criticism that he has yet to recognize June 2017 as Pride Month despite celebrations this month in cities and states across the country to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York that are considered the birth of the modern LGBT movement.

Mr. Trump has already proclaimed June as National Homeownership Month, National Ocean Month, African-American Music Appreciation Month and National Caribbean-American Heritage Month.

The White House did not respond to questions about not officially recognizing Pride Month.

“It’s shameful that the president of the United States has failed to recognize such a historically significant time for the LGBT community,” said David Kilmnick, CEO of the LGBT Network. “Millions of people across the country recognize and celebrate June as LGBT Pride Month, which is important not only to LGBT Americans, but to any American who believes in civil and human rights for all.”

Mr. Trump’s speech came two days before the “Pride Parade” in Washington, part of a weekend of gay pride events in the city. The New York parade is at the end of the month.

The speech also was delivered less than a week before the first anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, where 49 people were killed at the gay nightspot. The attack by a Muslim who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State was the deadliest mass shooting, the worst domestic terror attack and the deadliest anti-gay violence in U.S. history.

In the wake of the shooting, Mr. Trump made a direct appeal to gay voters, based in part on his tough line against radical Islamic terrorists, who advocated death for homosexuals.

However, gay leaders have actively opposed his presidency. The gay rights group Human Rights Campaign declared June as #UniteResistEnlist Month in opposition to the Trump administration.

Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson released a statement recognizing Pride Month. The statement affirmed the State Department’s “solidarity with the human rights defenders and civil society organizations working around the world to uphold the fundamental freedoms of LGBTI persons to live with dignity and freedom.”

The Human Rights Campaign said the statement “stands in stark contrast to the silence from the White House.”

Source