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12/16/2022 BILLY HALLOWELL/FAITHWIRE

Evangelist Franklin Graham decried the current state of political "hatred" gripping the nation, calling it "disturbing" and pleading with the American people to turn to God to heal associated wounds.

"I'm not a Republican; I'm an independent. I've been an independent probably for about 20 years," Graham said during a ribbon-cutting event Tuesday at the Billy Graham Library in North Carolina.

He was joined by former Vice President Mike Pence, delivering his remarks as the two stood nearby one another.

"So, I'm just disappointed in politics in America," Graham continued. "When you think of the divisions that we have, we need to be coming together to try to solve the problems that we face as a nation."

The evangelist who, like his father the late Billy Graham, travels the world preaching the gospel, decried this division and said there's "almost a hatred" he's never seen before in politics.

"It's very disturbing to me, and I think the only hope for this nation is God and to turn to Him and to ask Him for His wisdom," Graham said. "And that's my prayer—that this nation will turn to God, because He's the only one who can lead us out of the problems we're facing."

But it was Graham's comments about the 2024 Republican primary that might raise some eyebrows.

When asked by WHNS-TV to react to former President Donald Trump's recent announcement he'll seek the presidency again in 2024, Graham was clear he won't be taking sides in the primary.

"I'm staying out of the Republican primary and debate and that sort of thing," he said. "I'm focusing on what God has called me to do, and that's to preach the gospel."

For the rest of this article, visit our content partners at Faitihwire.com.

https://www.charismanews.com/culture/90977-franklin-graham-slams-political-hatredgripping-the-nation

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CP VOICES | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2022
By Ryan Bomberger, Exclusive Columnist

There are just some things in life that cannot occupy the same space.

Old Twitter and free speech.
Hillary Clinton and honesty.
BLM and ethical accounting.
LGBTQ+++ “rights” and the First Amendment.

We’ve seen all of these play out before our very eyes. The last example now seems to be a daily occurrence as Americans face dire consequence for choosing not to bow to LGBTQ activists’ social, political and legal demands. If you’re an artist, they will force you to create against your will (here, here, and here). If you’re a florist, you must participate in a wedding ceremony against your will. If you want to keep your job, you must use wrong or fake pronouns against your will. If you’re a faith-based adoption agency, you must deprive vulnerable children of a married mother and father against your will.

Farewell free speech. Adios religious liberty. So long rights of conscience. Buh bye common sense.

A handful of House and Senate Republicans have handed the Left a dangerous victory — the redefinition of the bedrock of every civilization: marriage. The entirety of the Democratic Party voted to redefine what God designed. The Republicans who voted against their own Party platform, their constituents, the Constitution, and the institution of marriage helped to pass the (zero) Respect for Marriage Act. This bill sues those who won’t comply with a lie.

The legislation’s text starts off declaring: “No union is more profound than marriage.” This is true. Marriage between one man and one woman — and the family (whether biological or adopted) created by that union — is the foundation of every society. Sadly, this didn’t stop Congress and a self-identifying “Catholic” President Biden, who blatantly defies Catholic teachings on human sexuality and our fundamental right to life, from disrespecting and dismantling marriage.

Section 6 of the bill (which acknowledges the First Amendment’s individual religious freedom and conscience protections) contradicts the entire purpose of the law which forces persons “acting under color of State” to comply or be sued. Americans who work for the government, such as public school teachers, don’t lose their Constitutional rights. There is such painful and predictable irony that a “progressive” bill which claims to provide equal protection under the law proudly treats millions of Americans unequally.

The (zero) Respect for Marriage Act and the First Amendment cannot co-exist. They will always be at odds. This is evidenced by widespread Leftist efforts to force religious organizations and people of faith to bow to LGBTQ+ dogma or be fined, fired, deplatformed, sued and/or bankrupted.

Hollywood, news and social media platforms have been relentless in swaying 71% of Americans to support same-sex marriage.

According to Gallup, the only “holdouts” are those who attend church weekly. Yet even that resistance has dramatically waned.

In the last 20 years, support for same-sex “marriage” in that demographic increased from 20% in 2004 to 40% in 2022. Pew Research, unsurprisingly, shows a similar startling trend where 61% of Americans polled say same-sex “marriage” is “good for society.”

What changed? Biblical morality? Nope. Biblical fidelity? Yup.

In a 2020 study done by Dr. George Barna for Arizona Christian University’s Cultural Research Center findings revealed that only 6% of American adults have a biblical worldview. Tragically, a majority of evangelicals — 52% — reject absolute moral truth. That percentage is even higher with Mainline Protestants (60%) and Pentecostals and Charismatics (69%). Well, that explains a whole lot! If you don’t see things through a biblical lens, your vision is dangerously distorted. This is why, on every moral issue, the remnant that is faithful to enduring truths dwindles with each year.

The latest polling on Americans’ attitudes toward redefining marriage reminds me of a prominent poll back in 2013 by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News. When respondents were asked if they wanted Roe v. Wade to be overturned, a massive 70% said ‘No.’ Leftist news media, Planned Parenthood an  their proabortion allies touted the “7 out of 10” stat for years to justify the violence of abortion.

Yet, there was a stat that every mainstream news outlet ignored. It was the first question of that same survey (therefore really hard for so called journalists to miss) which asked: “Do you approve or disapprove the Roe vs. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision?”

Thirty-nine percent approved. Eighteen percent disapproved. But awhopping forty-one percent responded: “Don’t know enough to have an opinion.” So, in a poll that claimed 70% of Americans don’t want Roe overturned, 41% of those surveyed had no idea what the Roe decision was.

Once upon a time, the gay rights movement claimed it was merely seeking tolerance of homosexuality. Today, the LGBTQ+++ movement demands conformity and the politically-enforced confusion and coercion of language. The same activism that claims men can be pregnant, that sex is assigned at birth, and children know their gender identity “from the womb” understand that legalizing gay “marriage” legitimizes their entire LGBTQ+++ worldview.

Feelings and facts often tend to go their separate ways. This is, of course, to our own detriment because uninformed feelings become public policy. Public policy shapes behavior. And behaviors (mis) shape a society.

Policies have consequences. Bad policies have casualties. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, whose daughter is in a homosexual union, proclaimed: “No matter who you are or who you love, you too deserve dignity and equal treatment under the law.” Really? Then why didn’t Congress legalize bigamy, polygamy, incestual unions, objectophilia, or marriages between children and adults in the legislation?

Love is love, right?

Nope. God is love. When we understand that and how love is defined in 1 Corinthians 13, we can’t pretend that our culture’s brokenness is something to celebrate. Anytime a word, like marriage, means everything, it becomes nothing.

“Well, that ship has sailed,” we’re told by politicians, pastors and propagandists who want us to capitulate to the latest trends. Those who love people enough to speak and live the truth know the ship is sinking.

Ryan Bomberger is the Chief Creative Officer and co-founder of The Radiance Foundation.

LGBTQ 'rights' and the First Amendment cannot co-exist | Voice (christianpost.com)

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12/26/2022 MARIO MURILLO

Tweet 2023 will be a massive storm followed by a massive opportunity. It is the day after Christmas, and we are preparing for a storm. They say that tonight it will drop below zero. Not only that, but strong winds will make the wind-chill feel like 22 below zero. The news is filled with emphatic warnings and advice.

They are warning us to be prepared. It will be dangerous to go outside. We must pay attention to our water pipes. We should have water and supplies in case the roads are impassible and the power goes out—how very foolish it would be for us not to listen.

Yet there is even worse foolishness that takes place among Christians when God warns us of a coming storm. Divine warnings are ignored and are called "negative; and not of faith."

But if God is warning us—then it is truth! And there is nothing more positive and full of faith than truth. Whereas false promises of safety and blessing are the most dangerous of all lies.

Your mail and email box will be filled with messages from ministries prophesying to you about 2023. They will tell you that it will be all  blessings, breakthroughs, multiplication and favor.

It would amaze you how many ministries depend on marketing advice on raising money. Mario Murillo Ministries just ignores such advice, but those ministries that follow it are told: issue a cheery year-end letter. But that is just a fundraising ploy. The idea is, 'the more upbeat my message, the more money people will send me.

We hear these predictions every year. And every year, a large segment of God's people never bother to go back and see how wrong they were. In December of 2019, most of these "prophetic" voices predicted that a long list of blessings was ahead. Then the pandemic hit.

Near the end of 2020, we were told that 2021 would be the best of times. Then the election was derailed. And does anyone remember how great 2022 was supposed to be? Yeah, right.

Well, I am telling you that 2023 will begin as a massive storm, but it will end as a vast opportunity—perhaps the greatest opportunity of our lives. The massive storm will be in nature, our money and the condition of cities. A long overdue cultural correction is coming in the New Year.

God is judging America. We will be spared destruction, but not punishment. Why are we being punished? There is a long list of reasons. But I will answer that question with a question: Did many Americans increase their own misery by voting to keep incompetent criminals in office, because they wanted to save abortion?

Now, let's dig into the Word of God to see what it says about storm warnings:

Jesus said in Matthew 7:24-27, "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

In simple terms, heeding the teachings of Jesus is like preparing for a storm.

The book of Timothy can be read as a storm preparation. The essence of the book is this—Paul is saying: "I am leaving soon. I want to prepare you for what is coming."

He then directs Timothy to take specific action to be ready, and that is exactly what I want you to do before 2023 arrives.

Paul tells Timothy about several coming storms:

Second Timothy 3:1, "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come..."

Then Paul describes the moral depravity of the last days that we are currently experiencing.

But there are two storms he predicts that will be within the church. The first one is fake ministers and the second one is fake audiences. These too are bringing down judgment on the church.

Fake ministers: 2 Timothy 3:13, "But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."

Years ago, when I was a young preacher, I thought that the scandals with Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart would dissuade men from sin, pride and foolishness. But instead, the scandals only got worse. The Bible was right!

Many prophetic words today are not just garish, they are patently screwball and embarrassing. My greatest shock is that the leaders of the prophetic movement are not correcting these charlatans. Especially when you consider that these false prophets are going to discredit the entire movement.

https://www.charismanews.com/culture/91064-mario-murillo-prophesies-2023-will-be-amassive-storm-followed-by-massive-opportunity

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CP VOICES | FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2022
By Michael Brown, CP Op-Ed Contributor

This is not hype or exaggeration. It is a simple, legal truth.

With the signing of the “Respect for Marriage Act” into law, if you do not accept or affirm same-sex “marriage,” you are now in the same category as a racist. And you can be assured that this will be used as a weapon against you in the days to come.

How can I make such statements?

Let me remind you of the exact language of the bill, beginning with the opening words: “This act provides statutory authority for samesex and interracial marriages.”

I have already discussed the reasons why this language was used since, in reality, interracial marriages were no more under potential legal threat in America than apple pie or baseball.

In this article, I want to point out how the language is being used to target and demonize those of us who affirm and welcome interracial marriage, which contains the fundamental elements of marriage (a man and a woman) but rejects the validity of same-sex “marriage.”

A headline on the CNBC website announced, “Biden signs bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriages,” one among countless, similar headlines. These two categories, quite disparate and fundamentally unrelated, are now joined together as one. Who but a racist or a bigot would have a problem with either?

As underscored by President Biden in his remarks at the signing of the bill,

“For most of our nation’s history, we denied interracial couples and same-sex couples from these protections. We failed. We failed to treat them with equal dignity and respect.

And now, the law requires that interracial marriages and same-sex marriage must be recognized as legal in every state in the nation.”

So, all of you who are convinced by Scripture or natural law or common sense that marriage is the union of a man and a woman are no better than a racist who opposes interracial marriage. In fact, under the law, you are now equal to a racist.

Of course, demonizing those who cannot affirm LGBT activism has been a proven, long-practiced gay activist strategy, spelled out explicitly in the late 1980s.

To quote directly from a well-known 1987 document, a subheading reads: "Portray gays as victims, not as aggressive challengers."

Specifically,

“In any campaign to win over the public, gays must be cast as victims in need of protection so that straights will be inclined by reflex to assume the role of protector. . . . A media campaign to promote the Gay Victim image should make use of symbols which reduce the mainstream's sense of threat, which lower its guard, and which enhance the plausibility of victimization.”

Or, from a watershed 1989 book, written by the same authors: “Jam homo-hatred by linking it to Nazi horror,” urge the authors. They also suggested associating all who oppose homosexuality with images like “Klansmen demanding that gays be slaughtered,” “hysterical backwoods preachers,” “menacing punks,” and a “tour of Nazi concentration camps where homosexuals were tortured and gassed.”

That’s why I devoted a whole chapter in A Queer Thing Happened to America to the subject of, “Jewish Hitlers, Christian Jihadists, and the Magical Effects of Pushing the ‘Hate’ Button.”

Now, thanks to Congress and the President, our federal law has taken this one step further. Dare to differ with same-sex “marriage” as an individual or a business (outside the protection of a religious organization), and you will be treated like a racist who refuses to affirm interracial marriage.

To repeat: this is now federal law.

As to President Biden’s remarks, he also said this: “Marriage — I mean this with all my heart — marriage is a simple proposition: Who do you love, and will you be loyal with that person you love? It’s not more complicated than that.”

May I ask, Mr. President, if this applies to two gay, adult brothers who are in love and want to spend the rest of their lives? Is it that simple?

And on what basis, given your “simple proposition,” can marriage be limited to two people who love each other? Why not more than two?

If you say, “But marriage is the union of two people,” my response is simple.

Marriage only requires two people because it requires a man and a woman. Otherwise, there’s nothing magic about the number two.Put another way: Why isn’t it bigoted and hateful to reject consensual polygamous relationships?

I could also mention the fact that the Respect for Marriage Act is part of a larger societal agenda, which is why President Biden invited a notorious drag queen to the signing. 

It’s also why he said this:

“We need to challenge the hundreds of callous and cynical laws introduced in the states targeting transgender children, terrifying families and criminalizing doctors who give children the care they need. And we have to protect these children so they know they are loved and that we will stand up for them and so they can seek for themselves.”

Here, he was speaking about those who stand against the medically sponsored chemical castration or genital mutilation of children who identify as transgender.

But let me simplify things here. The President put it all together in one sentence, making it clearer than I could in a whole article. These are the words of the President of the United States of America on December 13, 2022, at the signing of the bill: “Folks, racism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia — they’re all connected.”

Enough said.

Christians: The Respect for Marriage Act will be used against you | Voice (christianpost.com)

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CP VOICES | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2022
By Joshua Arnold, Op-ed contributor

After 813 years, the second-oldest English-speaking university has reinvented itself as an institution devoted to un-learning. Users of the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary awoke this week to find that the dictionary had added strange definitions of “man” and “woman” to appease transgender ideologues.

In addition to “an adult female human being,” Cambridge University now defines “woman” as “an adult who lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.” In addition to “an adult male human being,” Cambridge now defines “man” as “an adult who lives and identifiesas male though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.”

The Cambridge Dictionary already had a plain, functional definition of “woman” as “an adult female human being,” exactly the same as Collins Dictionary, and virtually equivalent to Oxford Learner’s Dictionary (“an adult female human”) and Merriam-Webster (“an adult female person”). Evidently, such clarity and utility are no longer desired.

Cambridge is mimicking the wokeness of other dictionaries like Merriam-Webster, which added a definition of “female” as “having a gender identity that is the opposite of male” in July 2022. The dictionary modifications followed closely on the nomination hearings of Associate Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who infamously refused to answer the question, “What is a woman?” by irrelevantly pointing out that she is not a biologist. Merriam-Webster was happy to provide cover to Brown Jackson by changing the definition of “female.” But when they did so, it put pressure on other dictionaries to make similar changes.

The strangest part about the Cambridge Dictionary change is that it chose to add a whole new definition. Thus, it implied a new use to the word, distinct from that described by “an adult female human being.” A person cannot become something he is not — heir to the British crown, an extraterrestrial lifeform, or six inches taller — simply because he “lives and identifies as” such. In fact, the definition all but admits to describing a non-female in the words “different sex.” Despite their best efforts, Cambridge cannot erase the fact that they now define men as women.

The last part of Cambridge’s contrived definition — “may have been said to have a different sex at birth” — deserves special ridicule, because normal people don’t and shouldn’t talk this way. Proper editing would pare these 11 words to two: “[though he] is male.” What is “a different sex” from female? Well, there are only two, so the process of elimination leaves us with “male.” How is a person “said to have” a certain sex? By corresponding physical characteristics, well-known to doctor and layman alike. These people say a person has a certain sex because they recognize that the person “is” that sex, and it is a truth so self-evident there is no point in lying. A person’s biological sex cannot change over time, so “at birth” can be struck as redundant. The conditional construction “may have been” is also redundant because another definition covers females.

Alas, the powerbrokers of our Era of Insanity deny that there are two sexes, that the sexes have corresponding physical characteristics, and that sex cannot change over time. So, such confused definitions are only what our culture deserves.

Cambridge’s new definition of “woman” is not a definition so much as propaganda. To “define” means “to explain and describe the meaning and exact limits of something,” per the Cambridge Dictionary. Its old definition of woman, “an adult female human being,” fulfilled this objective admirably. Every word except the article adds to the meaning by setting limits as to what “woman” does not mean. The word “woman” does not refer to non-adults, non-females, non-humans, or non-beings. How simple is that?

In contrast, Cambridge’s new definition capitulates to each individual’s momentary whims. It admits that at least some of the defining limits of “woman” are flexible — that the word has lost some of its meaning because it has lost some of its clarity. It is quite literally the un-definition of “woman.”

Cambridge Dictionary’s heterodox re-definition threatens its own purpose for existence. What is the point of a dictionary if definitions are unfixed, if words can mean everything and nothing at any given moment, if a passing emotion supersedes the authority of a printed and published volume? Or, alternatively, what is the point of a dictionary that doesn’t understand the fixed meaning of words?
What use can it possibly serve to anyone?

Originally published at The Washington Stand.

https://www.christianpost.com/voices/cambridge-dictionary-un-defines-man-andwoman.html

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Shelley Roberts Bendall December 16, 2022

Nobody likes to have their rights taken away. Liberals and conservatives can agree on that, but they can’t agree on which rights to protect and which ones to eliminate.

I’d been watching a woman on CNN make the argument she had a right to refuse to create a wedding website for a same same-sex couple. I wasn’t shocked at the case she was making as these are arguments we’ve heard before. What stunned me was the context through which weperceive personal freedoms in this country.

The woman said same-sex marriage goes against her religious beliefs and the government shouldn’t force her to create a unique piece of art (the website) that goes against the basis of her religion.

Here was a woman angry that her freedom to choose who she works with could be taken away when all over the country state legislatures, as well as the Supreme Court, are taking away the freedom of women to control their own bodies. While all rights are important, the discrepancy in immediate relevance to someone’s life is obvious.

Women and girls face life-threatening medical decisions involving reproductive healthcare every day. Their rights to control their own healthcare choices have been partially taken over by the government and the extremists within it. These same extremists would argue the government shouldn’t make a website designer work with gay people.

This is basically the argument the religious right continues to make: You can’t make me do something (make a website) because it offends my religion, but I can force you to do something (have a baby) because my religion says you have to.

Religion shouldn’t dictate laws.

Hypocrisy is nothing new in this country, but religious extremists are slowly eroding our individual rights. It appears they won’t stop until our entire government follows the same rules as their religions. And yes, the woman’s legal representation is provided by the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization that, according to its website, is a, “…world leader in defending…God’s design for marriage and family.”

The woman argued the state of Colorado, with its law against discriminating against people based on sexual orientation, would be “compelling” her to create speech that “goes against the core of who she is.”

It is OK for the government to compel an 11-year old girl to have her uncle’s baby, but boy are we offended that someone might have to recognize a different kind of family than the one the have.

How differently we view individual rights in this country. It’s all about personal freedom until they don’t agree with the kind of freedom you want.

There is no scientific or objective reason to outlaw abortion. The arguments are purely religious in nature. The religious right seems to think it should be legal to discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community because “freedom”, but it isnot OK to give women the right to choose whether to give birth to her rapist’s baby. Because religion.

What about my right to freedom from religion?

The woman is free to make her case and we’ll see what the courts decide. I do understand her position, even if I don’t agree with her point of view.

Constitutional arguments for rights to free speech and privacy aside, my point is this: we should care about compelling a woman to undergo the physical and mental trauma of an unwanted pregnancy and birth AT LEAST as much as we care about whether an artist can be forced to create a website.

No doubt cable news will continue to air debates about which rights are guaranteed in the Constitution. However, we should discuss them without the lens of religion getting in the way of individual liberty.

Shelley Roberts Bendall is a writer from Lexington.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/personal-free-religion-153026994.html

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CP WORLD | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2022
By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor

Scotland's Parliament passed a bill Thursday that, if enacted, will allow citizens as young as 16 to be legally recognized as transgender without requiring a gender dysphoria medical diagnosis.

Known as the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) bill, the measure was passed in a vote of 86 to 69. The proposed legislation still awaits royal assent.

According to its official overview, the legislation seeks to change the standards for Scottish citizens to acquire a "gender recognition certificate," a legal document stating that "a person's gender is not the gender that they were assigned at birth, but is their 'acquired gender.'"

The new provisions in the legislation include lowering the age of who can get a certificate to 16 years, removing the requirement of a medical diagnosis for gender dysphoria and reducing the time a person has had to live as their preferred gender identity from the current standard of two years to three months.

Alister Jack, the secretary of state for Scotland, said in a statement that the government might block the legislation due to various concerns.

"We share the concerns that many people have regarding certain aspects of this Bill, and in particular the safety issues for women and children," said Jack, according to The Telegraph.

"We will look closely at that, and also the ramifications for the 2010 Equality Act and other U.K. wide legislation, in the coming weeks — up to and including a Section 35 order stopping the Bill going for Royal Assent if necessary."

Bestselling author and Scottish citizen J.K. Rowling is among the bill's critics. In October, she expressed support for a protest against the bill by posting a photo of herself on social media in which she wore a shirt calling Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, a champion of the bill, a "destroyer of women's rights."

The reform bill was introduced in March to amend the Gender Recognition Act of 2004, which laid out the standards for which a person could be legally recognized as trans-identified.

"There have been international developments since the 2004 Act including the reclassification of gender identity health by the World Health Organization from 'Mental and Behavioral Disorders' to 'Conditions related to sexual health,'" states a policy memorandum in support of the bill.

"Since Argentina became the first country to do so in 2012, a number of other countries have moved to systems of legal gender recognition primarily based on an applicant's declaration of their gender, including Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, France, Ireland, Malta and Norway."

https://www.christianpost.com/news/scotland-passes-bill-allowing-teens-to-legally-changegender.
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12/24/2022 ARCHBISHOP JOSEPH D’SOUZA

For a couple of decades, Christmas has meant trouble for Indian Christians. During the holiday, Hindu extremists ramp up attacks on Christian churches and organizations, always with the same accusations of force and fraudulent conversions.

It appears that Hindu extremists just cannot understand or accept that there are Indians of various backgrounds, castes and religions who find Jesus Christ extremely attractive. Many of them freely choose to follow and believe in Him of their own accord. Perhaps these extremists don't watch the many testimonies shared on YouTube of Indians who have found Jesus.

Instead of enjoying freedom of religion, we get surprised by a news report that the Indian government has suspended even World Vision's license due to the FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act). World Vision in India is completely secular. They do not engage in anything related to evangelism, even at the expense of being criticized by other Christian groups.

How does anyone become so socially callous as to refuse to take into consideration the recipients of World Vision's charitable work? It's not just big non-government organizations like World Vision. In 2022, thousands of Christian groups found their licenses to receive foreign money suspended. Most of these NGOs are involved in great, compassionate social work that our people depend on. The lives of millions are nowaffected by today's growing economic crisis. The poor in India face the worst of it.

At the same time, there is an open door for investment in the business sector and the wealthy continue to become rich in the absence of a philanthropic social structure. The poor, the hungry and the unemployed are left to fend for themselves without a helping hand. A massive social crisis is brewing in India among the impoverished. The hunger index number given to India by independent agencies is very concerning.

Now, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader who has been forum shopping in the High Courts and Supreme Court has filed yet another petition in the Supreme Court falsely based on the existence of forced and false conversions and the changing demographics of India. A bench of the Supreme Court has allowed the petition.

Other petitioners are challenging this defaming of the Christian community in the Supreme Court. They point out that earlier petitions by the same person both in the High Court and Supreme Court have been rejected. The Supreme Court, however, has asked for a report from various states on the issue of forced conversions. That comes even after the states that have anticonversion laws have been unable to prove in a court of law that forced conversions even take place. This would be the appropriate time for the Indian government to appoint an independent committee consisting of respected leaders from different religions to present a white paper showing the extent of forced and fraudulent conversions.

At issue here is the fundamental religious freedom of Christians in India. Are Christians in India free to practice and share their faith in India? Or have we ignored human rights laws and banned certain religious groups altogether?

The practice of the Christian faith involves engaging in all kinds of social and compassionate activity because of Jesus' teachings. Is helping the poor now a crime? And if people who are touched by the love of Jesus decide freely to follow him, is that also a crime? It seems obvious, but decisions like that are clearly an Indian's individual right. Furthermore, our Constitution guarantees this.

The biggest question is whether the Supreme Court will protect the rights of Christians to freely propagate and practice their faith.

Most importantly, are they going to assume that poor and marginalized groups of people are incapable of making individual decisions regarding faith? The State appears to be interjecting itself into areas of personal freedom guaranteed by the constitution.

Even during Jesus' lifetime when people experienced the supernatural power of God, they turned to faith in Him. They were healed or touched by His compassion and began to follow Him.

Right-wing Hindu extremists who are working towards Hindu Nationalism are just as dangerous as those who advocate for Islamic nationalism or Christian nationalism. The message of Christmas, which is an offer of peace and goodwill towards men, is lost in this current context.

We see this rise of Hindu extremists spreading like wildfire across the globe. Just look at the case of the Frisco, Texas fundraiser, where one of the explicitly stated goals was to raise funds in order to demolish Christian churches in India. Foreign funding from Hindu extremists outside India is a startling reality.

In the end, if these legal maneuvers, private initiatives and government tactics prevail, there will be only violence against other religious faiths and minority communities—all with the tacit approval of local governments. India watchers are predicting these issues will escalate. Our great nation of India is sadly now even included on genocide watch lists.

As Indians who take pride in our country and its constitution, we need to decide if we will continue to ignore the extremists targeting Christians, and others. As peace-loving Indians, we need to determine if we will completely ignore this season's message of peace on earth and goodwill toward all people.

Archbishop Joseph D'Souza is the moderating bishop of the Good Shepherd Church of India. But more than being a bishop, he's a social justice warrior. He has spent the past two decades advocating for India's dalits (or "untouchables"), who are perhaps the most oppressed people on Earth. To this day they are beaten, killed, denied basic services and exploited because of their birth.

https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/91020-as-christmas-arrives-hindu-extremists-areyet-again-targeting-indian-christians

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12/22/2022 JAMES LASHER

Vladimir Putin is not happy with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's appearance before Congress. So much so that he has declared peace talks are now off the table, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

"The supply of weapons continues and the range of supplied weapons is expanding. All of this, of course, leads to an aggravation of the conflict. This does not bode well for Ukraine," Peskov said.

With Zelensky's visit comes the Ukrainian acquisition of the vaunted Patriot missile system. This surface-to-air missile system has an anti ballistic missile designation and is its primary mission. In response to this delivery of this SAM system to Ukraine, Putin has threatened to unleash Russia's "Satan-2" hypersonic intercontinental ballistic missile, which is capable of delivering a nuclear payload.

The Satan-2 could be ready for deployment as early as January according to Russian officials.

The potential damage from the "super-heavy" Satan-2 ICBM is staggering. Its capability to launch up to 15 independently targeted warheads that each can travel at speeds over 16,000 mph means it can strike targets in the UK within a matter of minutes.

In an address to the Russian Defense Military Board on Wednesday, Putin told them Russia has to maintain a military balance against Ukraine and its backing by the U.S.

"We are well aware of all the NATO forces and resources that they have been using against us over the course of the special military operation," Putin said Wednesday. "It is the main guarantee that our sovereignty and territorial integrity, strategic parity and the general balance of forces in the world are preserved." Some believe this is simply an empty threat designed to prevent military support to Ukraine.

In an interview with Newsweek, Dr. Ivan Gomza, academic director of the Public Policy and Governance Program at the Kyiv School of Economics, believes the talk coming out of Russia is mere "threatening rhetoric [that] is devised to shatter support for arm and munitions supplies to Ukraine.

"Russia has already taken all conceivable military moves," Gomza says. "As with Russian threats to tackle Patriot systems if they are delivered to Ukraine, such promises are used to plant fear precisely because Russia cannot make anything substantial to avoid the undesirable development [for Moscow]."

As reported by The Kyiv Independent, Russia's Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, left for an unannounced trip to China to meet with President Xi Jinping and discussed their "no limits" strategy between the two countries.

The two leaders also reportedly discussed the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

As the New Year looms, and with it many prophecies of what is to come, including World War III potentially looming in the shadows, Christians can take rest in God's Word. End Times Scriptures inform, equip and uplift believers, even as the world devolves into the chaos of a godless society. Yes, there will be wars and rumors of wars; famine; meteorological events that can't be explained; and evil will stain the world. 

But these things must come to pass for the return of the King. And Christians have a part to play in these events, sharing the gospel; loving their neighbors; praying; fasting; and wisely preparing for the hard times to come. Thank God He provided a survival guide during these tumultuous times.

James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
https://www.charismanews.com/world/91047-putin-threatens-to-unleash-satan-on-theworld