CP magazine_vol 7

M AGA Z I N E N o v 2 0 2 3 . Vo l 7

‘Conspiracy of Silence’ Enabling Genocide

Voddie Baucham on How to Survive a Post-Christian Culture

Pastors, Churches Still Struggling Post-Pandemic

FROM THE EDITORS This season has been a difficult time for believers worldwide as we read daily accounts of the horrors inflicted upon Israeli families ambushed, tortured and murdered by Hamas terrorists. Several Americans were also killed and taken hostage by radical Islamic extremists who seek the annihilation of Jews and Israel, and the United States.

As our nation prepares to celebrate Thanksgiving, a time when, despite our present individual hardships, we give thanks to our Creator for the blessings He has bestowed upon us and our nation, we encourage you to pray for persecuted Christians worldwide who cannot freely worship and express their faith in Jesus Christ. We also ask that you pray for the welfare of all who are being held hostage in Gaza.

In this fall issue of The Christian Post magazine, Dr. Richard Land, the executive editor of The Christian Post, responds to those in the U.S. who claim there is a “moral equivalency” between Hamas terrorists and the Israeli government (p. 8). We also look at the ongoing conflicts Christians face in India (p. 22) and Nigeria (p. 24) that one Catholic bishop decried as a “conspiracy of silence” in his testimony to members of Congress about the genocidal violence targeting Christians in his country.

Stateside, we delve into the ongoing battles between parents and public schools as Missouri parents work to remove sexually inappropriate books from school libraries (p.

14). We also look at a father’s fight to save his son in the ‘trans sanctuary state’ of California (p. 18).

In entertainment news, CP interviews “Chosen” actor Nick Shakoour, who shares his encounter with the Holy Spirit (p. 26), and Ian Giatti reviews of “Haunted Mansion” that he says mocks Christianity, promotes praying to the dead and demonic possession (p.

28).

We hope you find these stories and many others in this edition of CP’s magazine informative and engaging.

— CP Editors SUPPORT our mission with a paid subscription to CP Magazine FOLLOW our social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Apple News, Google News, Smart News, Flipboard, Telegram, Gettr)

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November 2023, Volume 7

EDITORIAL Executive Editor: Richard Land Senior Managing Editor: John Grano Managing Editor: Melissa Barnhart

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CO N T E N TS

CHURCH & MINISTRIES: 4 /

Nick Vujicic challenges 'delusional' American Church to repent: 'Demons are laughing in your face'

6 /

Pastors, churches still struggling in throes of ‘uncertainty and unsettledness’ postpandemic: study

6 Pastors, churches still struggling in throes of ‘uncertainty and unsettledness’ post-pandemic: study

OPINION: 8 /

Cover story: The ethical bankruptcy of ‘moral equivalency’

12 / Do all dogs (and people) really go to Heaven?

US: 14 / Missouri parents say school district 'stonewalled' them about 'naughty books' in school libraries 18 / Inside a father's fight to save his son in ‘trans sanctuary state’ of California

WORLD: 22 / Violence against tribal Christians in Manipur escalates despite military interventions 24 / 'Conspiracy of silence' enabling Christian 'genocide' in Nigeria, Catholic bishop tells Congress

24 'Conspiracy of silence' enabling Christian 'genocide' in Nigeria, Catholic bishop tells Congress

ENTERTAINMENT: 26 / 'The Chosen' actor details his encounter with the Holy Spirit: 'From the outside in, He overtook me' 28 / Review: 'Haunted Mansion' mocks Christianity, promotes prayers to the dead, demonic possession

BOOKS: 32 / Did a momentous event occur in the predestination vs. free will debate?

37

34 / Voddie Baucham on how faith can survive post-Christian culture that 'detests' biblical Christianity

TRAVEL:

3 churches to visit in the US

37 / 3 churches to visit in the US

CHRISTIANPOST.COM

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NICK VUJICIC CHALLENGES 'DELUSIONAL' AMERICAN CHURCH TO REPENT: 'DEMONS ARE LAUGHING IN YOUR FACE'

BY LEAH MARIEANN KLETT

▲ Nick Vujicic | The Christian Post

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of debt for buildings that are half empty,” he emphasized. “We have half a million kids waiting for a foster mom and dad or an adoptive mom and dad. Where are we?”

Churches must stand up and serve as the “hands and feet” of Jesus, he said, working on the ground level to tackle issues. He urged Christians to actively participate in city councils, school boards and other local political committees to use their voice for good.

“Christians [need to go to] school boards,” he said. “Instead of just complaining about what's happening in your school districts, go and get your church to be a part of that. I really believe with media, politics and business, it's Christians being the light in the dark place.”

He also stressed the importance of pastors tackling sensitive topics like “pornographic addiction in the Church” and sex trafficking from the pulpit: “This is a problem; we need to start talking about this,” he stressed. “There are many things that we need to talk about.”

“I hope that this wakes us up as a people of God, to come together in unity like never before, pray for our country, pray for a man of God to lead our country and put our country back under God,” he said.

Vujicic’s passion for the Gospel is evident in his ongoing efforts to create positive change in society. His ministry’s program, "Champions for the Brokenhearted," trains churchgoers to support those dealing with trauma and pain in a small group setting, helping them heal and find strength in Christ.

“We're training the average person going to church who has a heart for veterans, foster kids, women with PTSD from abortions that they've never told anybody about, to actually have a small group that's thematically based on a situation they've gone through to heal the brokenhearted,” he said.

“I think the American Church hasn't stopped to heal the saved people. When you're healed, now you’re complete [and strength comes] out of the overflow to then go help someone else in need. I think it's important. I think we need to go back to the basics,” he said.

But evangelism begins in the home, he said. As a devoted father of four, Vujicic emphasized the importance of communication and open dialogues with children. He encouraged parents to seek out resources, like videos and testimonies, to reinforce biblical values.

He applauded those addressing controversial topics like gender identity and sexual orientation, adding: “I'm thankful for the remnant that is speaking out. Go out and feed them the truth.”

“We’ve got to grow a little bit more of a strong spine and tell them the truth; tell them the truth in love,” he said.

Open communication is also key to building strong families, he added, and creating an environment where children feel loved, cherished and encouraged daily.

“One out of three girls in America have been sexually abused. One out of five boys have been sexually abused. Think about that. It's unbelievable,” he said.

“Fentanyl everywhere. Kids are dying at parties, getting high, getting drunk like never before. We've got to be watching, be a little bit more strict. But then tell them the truth. Have conversations with them.”

In a society that places little value on family, the evangelist urged Christians to invest in nurturing strong family bonds: “Like never before, demons are rockin’ out unapologetically laughing in your face,” he warned. “So pray, learn how to pray. Learn how to connect with your kids, teach them stuff, show them things.

Tell them every day, ‘You're beautiful.’”

“Tell them to dream big. Tell them to go further than you,” he added. “Tell them, because they won’t if you don’t."

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CHURCH & MINISTRIES

RLANDO, Fla. — Evangelist Nick Vujicic has issued an urgent call to what he sees as an increasingly “delusional” American Church: Repent and speak boldly against pressing issues like abortion, porn addiction and sex trafficking before it’s too late.

“I think most churches are delusional,” the 40-year-old Life Without Limbs founder told The Christian Post in a sitdown interview during the annual National Religious Broadcasters Convention.

“I don't pray for revival; I pray for repentance. I don't think America deserves a single more blessing from God; not one. We need to repent. Not only do we need to turn away from things, but we also need to equip and encourage the Church to go toward this: How do you stay out of your pornographic addiction? How do you now engage … the one family in the church [that] ends up fostering and adopting?”

“It ain't rocket science to preach to 8 billion people,” he continued. “We can have an army of churches coming together and teaching people how to evangelize and do street evangelism, just like we did years ago. When was the last time you heard a pastor say to his church: ‘This is what you say to someone about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is how you share your testimony in three minutes. This is the reaction that you give to someone who's Islamic who tells you that we're serving the same God.’ We don't even talk about that anymore.”

Vujicic, who has traveled to 78 countries and preached to crowds as large as 800,000 people, expressed concern over the state of many American churches, noting that a significant number are burdened with massive debts as the country faces pressing social issues.

“We have 100,000 churches in America that represent $498 billion worth

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PASTORS, CHURCHES STILL STRUGGLING IN THROES OF ‘UNCERTAINTY AND UNSETTLEDNESS’ POSTPANDEMIC: STUDY

BY LEONARDO BLAIR

I

n a time of “uncertainty and unsettledness” following the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, churches are still struggling to attract young people to the pews, address concerns about aging clergy and congregants, and commit to doing what it takes to ensure their future survival, a new study conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford International University shows.

“It is always helpful when a new study or survey paints a consistent picture that points in a clear and unambiguous direction. However, such is not the character of the times we are living in currently. Much of society is still unsettled and remains in flux,” explained Scott Thumma, professor of sociology of religion and director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, in the study released in August titled "Back to Normal? The Mixed Messages of Congregational Recovery Coming Out of the Pandemic."

“This varying reality is evident in the results of this survey.”

The study, which includes 4,809 survey responses from 58 Christian denominational groups gathered from January to May, is part of a larger fiveyear research project known as Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations, funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. While the data show that approximately one-third of the 4,809 churches in the study say their attendance has increased since the pandemic began in 2020, more than half

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say they have suffered a slight or severe decline in attendance compared to where they were before the pandemic.

“This finding raises the question of what impact the pandemic has had on congregational growth and decline trajectories. While the pattern of decline isn’t dramatic at this point, neither is the pandemic impact over,” the study notes.

“Congregations remain optimistic about their future, but it is also apparent they are continuing to wrestle with the troubling conditions that were in existence long before COVID-19 arrived.”

One condition the churches had been wrestling with prior to the pandemic was their aging clergy and the increasing share of their members over 65.

The average age of senior church leaders increased from 57 in 2020 to 59 in 2023, while the share of churchgoers over 65 increased from 33% to 36% over the same period, according to the study.

For Mainline Protestant churches, almost half the average congregation was found to be over 65.

“Christian churches and their leaders are significantly older as a result of having insufficient representation from younger generations. During these three time periods, the percentage of attendees under the age of 35 (all children, youth, and young adults) decreased from 37% in 2020, to 35% in 2021, and to 32% in 2023,” the study noted.

The study also found that with the aging demographic, churches have not shown a “willingness to change to meet

new challenges” as they emerge from the pandemic, even though they had expressed an interest in doing so at the start of the pandemic.

Since the first survey in spring 2021, this important indicator of adaptation and innovation has been trending downward both in terms of overall agreement and the percentage of churches strongly agreeing with this statement,” the study says.

“This is especially troubling because this measure indicated a greater inclination in 2021 post-pandemic churches to do what was necessary to adapt compared to pre-pandemic responses, with nearly 50% strongly agreeing to that attitude. But by 2023, both the total congregations in agreement and those strongly in agreement had dropped significantly and are now below where they were in early 2020,” it continues.

“Obviously, congregational dynamics and worship patterns have changed in many churches in the past three years, but this finding seems to indicate that their earlier flexibility and creativity in response to the pandemic is beginning to diminish.”

HYBRID CHURCH Despite the diminishing willingness of churches to adapt to change, most churches have embraced hybrid worship,

▲ Members of the congregation participate in a mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception June 22, 2020, in Washington, D.C. | Getty Images/Alex Wong

the study notes.

“Embracing a hybrid church model means that leadership must look beyond minimal efforts to livestream services and begin to find virtual ways to provide fellowship, stimulate volunteering and service, and deliver discipleship, education, and pastoral care to online participants,” it adds. “Unfortunately, even though nearly three-quarters of churches use hybrid worship practices, most congregational programs have gone back to an in-person only model.”

CLERGY EXHAUSTION As American pastors continue to skew older, with a majority recently reporting that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find mature, young Christians willing to do their jobs as they prepare to retire, the new Hartford study provides some insight into this trend.

The study notes that in 2023, more than half, or 51% of the pastors surveyed, said they had thought about quitting their jobs compared with 37% two years earlier. Younger pastors were found more

likely to entertain this thought, along with other factors.

“While relatively few of these clergy dwell on this thought often, over a quarter have considered it more than once or twice in moments of stress.

Likewise, this survey doesn’t capture those ministers who may have already left their congregations or the pastoral ministry. While there are no clear figures on how many are departing their church or profession, it certainly is happening.

The data from this study shows that those who might have left are not alone in their exhaustion,” it explains.

“An in-depth look at who is most likely to think about quitting the pastoral ministry shows it is more likely clergy with any of the following traits: younger, female, part-time, bi-vocational, more recently hired, and those who see a poor fit between themselves and the membership.

“Ministers in more challenging circumstances are also more prone to consider quitting,” the study adds. “Those clergy in congregations that are financially challenged, less willing to change, have a negative outlook on the future, and have higher conflict are more likely to consider leaving the ministry.

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CHURCH & MINISTRIES

constituting members online and inperson in varying degrees.

Hybrid worship “has the potential to reform a static place and time-based physical worshiping community into a congregation beyond the walls with the potential for revolutionary adaptation,” the study says. Some 73% of the churches in the study offer both in-person and virtual worship compared with just 20% of churches that said they offer online streaming worship in 2019.

The study shows that hybrid worship has become a mainstay of congregations today partly because some church members have demanded it, but churches that offer this model of worship were found to have a higher median attendance and higher per capita giving.

Researchers noted, however, that churches will need to invest in better utilizing the technology to increase engagement among those who attend virtually, beyond streaming worship services, religious education for adults, and prayer groups.

“Finding ways to enhance the commitment of virtual attendees remains a challenge for congregational leadership, yet it holds great promise both to grow and strengthen churches,”

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▲ Scott Olson/Getty Images

THE ETHICAL BANKRUPTCY OF ‘MORAL EQUIVALENCY’

BY RICHARD D. LAND

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It would be unfair to besmirch Islamic civilization as being represented by Hamas terrorists. It must always be remembered that 90% of the victims of radical Islamic jihadists are fellow Muslims who refuse to accept their radical, cultic misinterpretation of Islam.

I know how uncomfortable Christians feel when the KKK or some other extremist group perpetrates evil and seeks to wrap themselves with Christianity through burning crosses. I suspect millions of Muslims worldwide are lamenting the terrible Hamas atrocities committed in the name of their Islamic faith.

I am extremely grateful that the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has taken the lead in releasing an “Evangelical Statement in Support of Israel” in which the numerous Evangelical signees “unequivocally condemn the violence” against innocent Israelis and “fully support Israel’s right and duty to defend itself against further attack.”

The Evangelical Statement proclaimed:

“Since the inception of the modern state of Israel in 1948, Israel has faced numerous attacks, incursions, and violations of its national sovereignty. The Jewish people have long endured genocidal attempts to eradicate them and to destroy the Jewish state. These antisemitic, deadly ideologies and terrorist actions must be opposed.”

OPINION

T

he grotesque, gruesome and obscene atrocities committed

by Hamas terrorists against innocent Israelis on Oct. 7 have outraged and nauseated decent, civilized people across the globe.

Let us all be clear: there can never be any justification for murdering innocent civilians (including infants, children and

grandmothers, with children being butchered in front of their parents and vice versa).

Those who claim a “moral equivalency” between the Hamas terrorists and the Israeli government betray either a lack of integrity or a seriously demagnetized moral compass.

There is no more moral equivalency between Hamas and Israel than there was between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The U.S., like Israel, was not perfect, but if the Soviet “Evil Empire” had desired peace as much as America did in the Cold War, the Cold War would have ended far sooner and more peacefully than it did.

Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to eradicating the Jews in the Holy Land and “driving them into the sea.” Israel cannot peacefully coexist with a terrorist group that denies the Israelis’ right to exist in the Holy Land.

Some have responded to the dastardly Hamas attacks by claiming that they are emblematic of the “clash” of civilizations prophesied and articulated famously by Samuel P. Huntington in Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order (1996).

Huntington’s thesis was written in response to his former student Francis Fukuyama’s assertion in The End of History and the Last Man that man had come to the end of history in a Hegelian model where human rights and a capitalistic free market economy dominate in a post-Cold War world.

Huntington responded that a clash of competing civilizations instead would be dominated by cultural conflict among civilizational models such as Western civilization and Islamic civilization.

Huntington’s thesis is a provocative and interesting theory, but Hamas’ wonton and criminal attack on Israeli civilians is not an example of a clash of civilizations.

Hamas’ current blood-curdling assault on Israeli citizens is a clash between civilization and barbarism.

One could make the case that Hamas is worse than the Nazis. At least the Nazis tried to hide their crimes, whereas Hamas promotes their horrible brutalities on social media. Slaughtering infants in their cribs is about as barbarous as it gets.

The statement further declared, “In keeping with Christian Just War tradition, we also affirm the legitimacy of Israel’s right to respond against those who have initiated these attacks as Romans 13 grants governments the power to bear the sword against those who commit such evil acts against innocent life.”

The statement concluded by proclaiming “the dignity and personhood of all persons living in the Middle East” and their recognition of “the difficult ministry of Jewish and Palestinian believers who labor for the Gospel.” This was followed by a call for American authorities “to take all forms of terrorism

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seriously” and “to confront evil work to prevent future attacks.”

When one observes the pro-Hamas rallies in our country (as well as others) with crowds celebrating the attacks and chanting “Gas the Jews!” it becomes clear why the Evangelical statement and much more are necessary and imperative.

Make no mistake, these atrocities would never have happened without Iranian financing, planning and encouragement. In addition to their demonic hatred of Jews, they were desperate to derail the developing “rapprochement” between Israel and Saudi Arabia, an event that would devastate Iranian plans to rule the Middle East. The Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, declared, he “kisses the hands” of the Hamas murderers, rapists and baby killers.

The reaction to these dastardly attacks among left-wing groups in America and around the world is most disturbing and yet instructive.

I have often marveled at the apparent loss of the ability to understand or accept implacable moral evil that accompanies the embracing of the moral relativism of left-wing philosophies.

How else do you explain these leftwing groups celebrating the horrendous blood lust of Hamas? They are celebrating Hamas, which has promoted a society based on hatred of Jews, a society that pays a bounty to mass murderers and their families and has a street celebration whenever Jews are killed.

Is this what American and Western proPalestinian supporters desire? Walter E. Block and Alan G. Futerman have captured the dilemma:

‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!’ chant the useful idiots of elite institutions and parades in the West. Who are these people?

Atheists who support theocratic lunatics, democrats who endorse medieval tyrants, feminists who defend misogynists who parade with the desecrated corpses of women, gays who defend maniacs

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who would joyfully hang them or toss them off the roof of tall buildings? They talk of a secular, democratic and socialist Palestine.

As George Orwell observed: ‘One has to belong to the Intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a Fool.’ But the world has now seen what ‘from the river to the sea’ actually means. It is nothing less than a remake of Nazi Einsatzgruppen.”

Abba Eban, the eloquent, long-time Israeli Ambassador (1950-1959) to the United Nations once explained to the U.N. Assembly that there was an Arab refugee problem and it needed to be dealt with humanely. On the other hand, he observed, if the Arabs had won in 1948, there would not be a Jewish refugee problem because they would all be dead. Based on what happened in the few Jewish settlements that were overrun

by Arab forces in the 1948 war, he was tragically correct in his assessment.

Cries of “moral equivalency” tell us more about those voicing such nonsense than they tell us about the PalestinianIsraeli conflict.

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OPINION

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DO ALL DOGS (AND PEOPLE) REALLY GO TO HEAVEN?

BY ROBIN SCHUMACHER

I

’d say it’s a good bet that nobody alive right now thinks they’re going to die and go to Hell. At least there’s nobody mentally competent who thinks it and also isn’t actively working on changing that end result, such as by obeying Acts 2:21.

Admittedly, the idea of Hell isn’t accepted as much as it used to be, so let’s step back from it to something less ‘hellish’ and ask a similar question. Have you ever met a person who believed in life after death and thought that, once they died, they’d for sure experience something awful?

Me neither.

The folks at Pew Research say that only 17% of people think that this life is all there is, meaning 83% believe we live on in some way.

And I’ve never met one who felt that their “Round Two” was going to be bad.

The ultimate expression of this thinking in Christianity is found in the teaching of universalism, also called ultimate reconciliation. It’s the idea that God will eventually reunite with every soul at some point so that everyone willingly spends their eternity with Him. No eternal punishment. No everlasting separation.

Instead, as the title of one book on universalism reads, All Shall Be Well.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? There’s only one problem: all won’t be well. At least, not for “the many” who Jesus said would be going through the gate that is wide and traveling on the way that is broad, which leads to destruction (Matt. 7:13).

Which means universalism is a lie.

THE OLDEST LIE IN THE BOOK The concept of universalism can be

“Doesn’t God want everyone to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4) and doesn’t God get what He wants?

Doesn’t the Bible say that Jesus died for everyone (1 John 2:2) and that God will reconcile all to Himself (Col. 1:20)?”

▲ iStock/Norima

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traced back to the Garden and is the oldest lie in the Book. After mocking God’s prohibitions and His consequences to our first parents, Satan snidely asserted, “you surely will not die!” (Gen. 3:4).

Interesting, isn’t it, that the first everdenied doctrine was judgment? And it’s as hot as ever today.

From a church history standpoint, scholars point to Origen of Alexandria (AD 185-254), an African theologian, as the first to defend universalism. Origen took an allegorical approach to Scripture, was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy, and poo-pooed the eternal suffering of sinners in Hell.

Flash forward thousands of years to the popular release of Rob Bell’s book Love Wins. Following Origen’s thinking, Bell asked the following questions as his primary arguments for universalism:

walk away thinking anything else other than Christ considered Hell a very real destination for some people.

So, given that, why does anyone believe in universalism?

The primary struggle of those espousing the teaching is in reconciling God’s mercy and the reality of eternal judgment. The antidote for their confusion comes in the form of getting a clear understanding of God’s antecedent and consequent wills.

God antecedently desires all to be saved, but consequently wills a gracerejecting person to experience His punishment. Or, as Thomas Aquinas explained it, “Hence it may be said of a just judge, that antecedently he wills all men to live; but consequently wills the murderer to be hanged. In the same way, God antecedently wills all men to be saved, but consequently wills some to be damned, as His justice exacts.”

Thankfully, Christ takes our place on those gallows and satisfies God’s justice for our sin.

But that isn’t the case for those who reject Him. So, while 87% of people may believe in life after death and think their next life will turn out well, Scripture says that won’t necessarily be the case.

The teaching of ultimate reconciliation/ universalism is appealing to our human kindness, but it is simply wrong and unbiblical. Scripture teaches that beyond this life, there are no second chances.

Instead, the Bible declares, “Today is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). Love does indeed win for those who turn by faith to Christ in this life and embrace Him as Savior.

Those who don’t and dismiss the concept of Hell will find out that eternity is an awfully long time to be wrong. Or, as writer Os Guinness put it, “For some, Hell is simply a truth realized too late.”

CHRISTIANPOST.COM

OPINION

If these things are true, asked Bell, how is universalism not the inevitable conclusion?

The answer is that Jesus said Hell is real, a fact acknowledged even by nonChristians. To prove my point, the defense calls to the stand the skeptic Bertrand Russell who wrote, “There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ’s moral character, and it is that He believed in Hell. I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment.”

A plain reading of Scripture shows that Russell is right in his conclusion that Christ preached Hell. You can’t read His account of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19–26), His ending to the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:13-14, 2123), many of His parables (e.g., Matt.

13:40-41, 22:13), His admonitions of sin’s consequences (Mark 9:43), and more and

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MISSOURI PARENTS SAY SCHOOL DISTRICT 'STONEWALLED' THEM ABOUT 'NAUGHTY BOOKS' IN SCHOOL LIBRARIES

BY RYAN FOLEY

A

group of concerned citizens in Missouri are accusing their local school district of misleading them about the presence of what they say are sexually explicit books in school libraries and keeping them in the dark about the process it undertakes to review such materials.

Seven concerned residents in the city of Cameron, part of the Kansas City Metropolitan area, are seeking to remove what they describe as "naughty books" from the Cameron R-1 School District.

They have a combined eight children or grandchildren who attend schools in the district.

The group has put together a Facebook page outlining their concerns with the material accessible to students in the school district's libraries. The page documents their interactions with school district officials.

After reviewing and retaining handfuls of books at the local middle and high schools, the school district maintains that it has followed Board of Education policy and is doing its best to give parents the authority to determine what books are accessible to their children while ensuring access to such books for students whose parents "desire a broader selection of materials."

Three of the group's members, Dan Landi, Heath Gilbert and Colleen Hardy, spoke with The Christian Post about their efforts and the roadblocks they encountered. Of the three, Gilbert is the only one with a child attending school in the district.

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'THE NAUGHTY BOOK LIST' As a father of a child in high school, Gilbert first began inquiring about the presence of titles that made it onto "a naughty book list" circulating via email around the Kansas City area in September 2022.

"I went to the school district twice, asking how I could get into the library because I was concerned about the books I was seeing in the news, and they stonewalled me and wouldn't give me an answer," he said.

Gilbert recalled how "it was in February when Dan [Landi] learned of [an] online resource," allowing them to examine the contents of the school district's libraries without actually going there in person.

The group ultimately discovered "85 books between three different schools, with a majority of them being in the high school."

Gilbert discussed the most concerning aspects of the books as "very graphic depictions that read like a textbook of acts of deviant sex, the normalization of sex outside of marriage, pedophilia" as well as "bestiality" and "the normalization of drugs" and "abortion."

He claimed that there are rape, graphic depictions of violence and "promotion of racist ideas" in some of the books.

"Grooming is going on in the books," he contends.

The father expressed concern about "stories of grooming where the victim

doesn't report it and ends up deep into frequent and deviant sex acts."

THE BOOK REVIEWS In response to concerns about the material available in the school district's libraries, book reviews of selections available at both Cameron Veterans Middle School and Cameron High School have commenced.

The committee in charge of the book reviews, which consists of the high school principal, assistant principal, librarian, an English teacher and a parent from the district, has only reviewed five books in the Cameron High School library so far. Another five are currently under review.

"It took them three months to review five books," Gilbert lamented. "At that rate, we're going to be three to four years before they complete the review of the books that we have currently found."

The committee voted 3-2 to retain all five books in the high school library with no restrictions. The committee also voted to allow the library at Cameron Veterans Middle School to retrain three books without restrictions while letting it retain one book with restrictions.

One book at Cameron High School that the committee voted to retain, All Boys Aren't Blue by George Johnson, drew particular ire from those who spoke with CP. "That book contains incest and samesex relationships, the normalization of sex

▲ Unsplash/Banter Snaps

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outside of wedlock and there's some drug use in there, and there's Marxist ideas that are pushed and racist ideas that are pushed," Landi asserted.

"In it, the boy is groomed as a young man by his cousin, told not to tell, and he does not tell," Gilbert stated. "They're putting this information in front of our kids. And at no point, by the way, have they told the public or the parents that this content is being made available to the kids and that the librarian is promoting it to the kids to give us the option to opt out. They were doing all this behind closed doors essentially."

Booklooks.org, which assigns ratings to books on a scale from 0-5 based on the amount of mature content in them, has given All Boys Aren't Blue a rating of "4," indicating that it contains "explicit sexual nudity" and "'obscene' references to sexual activities."

Booklooks.org suggests that books with ratings of "4" constitute "adult content" and that "no child under 18" should read them.

Other books at the Cameron High School library given the green light by the committee include Juliet Takes a Breath and Speak, both of which were given ratings of "3" by Booklooks.org. The website recommends that children younger than 18 receive "guidance of parent or guardian" before reading books with a "3" rating.

The remaining books on the list range from Go Back to Sleep, which Booklooks. org awarded a "0" rating, to Lucky, which received a rating of "5."

An excerpt from Lucky provided to The Christian Post features a graphic description of a rape. It also includes an explicit description of male genitalia.

While books that receive ratings of "0" are deemed "appropriate for all ages," those awarded a "5" rating are labeled "aberrant content" and contain "explicit references to aberrant sexual activities," including "sexual assault/battery, bestiality, or sadomasochistic abuse."

Most books on this list in the Booklooks. org database received ratings of "3" or

"4."

On the other hand, Booklooks.org assigned other books the residents want reviewed, such as Cat Woman: Soul Stealer, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, Rhymes With Witches andThrone of Glass, a "2" rating.

At Cameron Veterans Middle School, the committee will allow the library to retrain three books without restrictions while letting it retain A Child Called It by David Peltzer with restrictions.

Booklooks.org gave A Child Called It a rating of "3."

The other three books at Cameron Veterans Middle School subject to a book review — Ghost Boys, Lily and DunkinandPet — received a rating of "2."

Books that receive a rating of "2" contain material that "may not be appropriate for children under 13," including "moderate violence, moderate hate, moderate profanity, non-sexual nudity involving genitalia, inexplicit sexual nudity/sexual activities, drug or alcohol use, explicit sexuality and explicit gender ideologies."

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The way each member of the committee voted remains unknown to the public. Gilbert described the secrecy of the committee's vote as a "violation of the Missouri Sunshine Law," stressing that "this should be an open record and the vote should be public record."

While the concerned citizens have submitted Sunshine Law requests, the school district has insisted that "the official committee's vote is not subject to our Sunshine Law," an assertion he characterized as "not true." The district later reversed course and promised that committee votes would be "public record" going forward.

Landi contends that the school district also violated another state law declaring that "a person commits the offense of providing explicit sexual material to a student if such a person is affiliated with a public or private elementary or secondary school in an official capacity and knowing of its content and character, such person provides, assigns, supplies, distributes, loans, or coerces acceptance of or the approval of the providing of explicit sexual material to a student."

CONFLICT OF INTEREST? Landi raised his concerns about the books available in the school district's libraries in February.

When he contacted the school district, he was told to "call each individual librarian because they're in charge of their own respective libraries." This prompted him to reach out to Cameron High School Librarian Tonya O'Boyle, whom he presented with the list of books and asked if any were in her library.

He claims she assured him that they don't have "anything like that" in the library. After his conversation with O'Boyle, he looked at the school's online catalog and found the books there.

"The librarian flat out lied to me on the phone and … the evidence is out there on their own website," he concluded.

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Upon investigating O'Boyle's social media, the group discovered that she was "using her personal Instagram account to push and promote books, a lot of it transgender stuff and same-sex stuff onto the students at the high school."

Gilbert detailed how she "uses hashtags like #BannedBooksWeek and offered rewards to the first student that can come in and tell her why a book is being banned or why it is being challenged to be banned." He also brought up her documentation of a display she put up in honor of LGBT pride month.

O'Boyle also appears to have played a role in bringing some of the books into the school library by reaching out to a nonprofit organization called Hope in a Box, which works to send "trans and raceaffirming books to small rural libraries."

Gilbert identified All Boys Aren't Blue as one of the 15 books the school received from Hope in a Box. Gilbert illustrated that school district policy "requires a panel of three individuals to recommend the books before they go to the superintendent for approval and purchase." He raised a concern that O'Boyle's presence on the committee constitutes a "conflict of interest" in light of her outspoken support for LGBT ideology on social media. He unsuccessfully requested that school district leadership replace her with another librarian, as the policy requires at least one of the committee members to be a librarian.

THE SCHOOL DISTRICT'S RESPONSE In a statement to The Christian Post, Cameron R-1 School District Superintendent Matt Robinson defended his school district's actions regarding the book review process and responded to allegations that the district was violating state law by maintaining sexually explicit books in school libraries.

"The district has been in the process of

reviewing books via our internal selection and reconsideration process set forth in board policy, in light of the concerns of patrons, bearing in mind not only the criteria in our policy but also the restrictions set forth under RSMo 573.550."

"The district has also utilized its book review committee process under Board of Education policy with regard to specific submitted concerns, but has temporarily suspended that process in order for the board to determine the best course of action for moving forward to ensure first, that parents and guardians have authority to determine what library materials are accessible to their own students, and second, how to ensure that the district is providing appropriate access for students whose parents desire a broader selection of materials," he added.

Members of the group voiced their concerns about the books available in the libraries throughout the Cameron R-1 School District at a Board of Education meeting in March, with Hardy reading aloud excerpts from Lucky and All Boys Aren't Blue. Gilbert told CP, "I think we had over 300 people that showed up at the Board of Education meeting."

"Predominantly, the folks there were concerned about the books," he said.

"There [were] some folks that were OK with it, but the majority of people that were at that meeting were deeply concerned about the content that's being made available to our kids with our tax dollars."

Hardy said several parents thanked him for reading aloud "because they thought we were kind of just overacting."

"But after hearing what was in those books, they were very thankful that we were exposing this," he claims.

Gilbert said the Board of Education implemented new rules at "the very meeting where we were addressing the Board of Education about our concerns in the books." Under the new board policy, "if a topic has been addressed to the board by a single individual, that topic cannot be broached again for another three months."

Landi tried to take his concerns about the books in Cameron School District libraries to statewide elected officials,

including Missouri's Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Missouri's Republican Gov. Mike Parson.

Bailey responded to Landi by saying, "This office will monitor this situation and determine what actions would be available to us to protect students from obscene materials within schools."

Bailey also encouraged Landi to reach out to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which he did.

"DESE sent me a letter and basically said that there's nothing they can do, that it's a local matter, we're supposed to take it up with our school board," he asserted.

"Since my complaint was about the school board, they said they have no control over school boards. So, I would have to resolve this at the local level, which we've already tried to do unsuccessfully."

"At no point has our school district or any of our school board members made

a public statement of any kind addressing the book issues," Gilbert declared.

WHAT'S NEXT? Gilbert pushed back on the narratives that opponents of sexually explicit material in public schools want to "ban books."

"I have never said I want to ban books.

I believe that the school district, or in this case, the librarian, is acting as a parent in deciding what content my child is going to be exposed to," Gilbert said. "I don't believe the school district or the librarian has that right. The power needs to be returned to the parents, and the parents given the power and the ability to decide what content is appropriate for their children."

Gilbert believes some books "should be restricted the same way we restrict

alcohol, tobacco, tattoos, body piercing and firearms."

"These things should be ageappropriate, and the parent is the only one that is capable of truly determining if or when their child is ready for this type of content," he asserted.

Landi vowed to continue his efforts: "We've got candidates in mind we'd like to run against some of these folks on the school board. … And then maybe we can turn the ship at that point. But … right now, we don't have any friendly people on the school board."

"The school board, they're not afraid of us, they don't respect us, they don't care about us," he maintained. "And until they feel some outside pressure, I don't think anything's going to change."

The next school board elections will take place in May when two of the seven members will be up for re-election.

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INSIDE A FATHER'S FIGHT TO SAVE HIS SON IN ‘TRANS SANCTUARY STATE’ OF CALIFORNIA

BY BRANDON SHOWALTER

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introduced similar legislation this year, and the status of those bills remains pending. Concurrently, progressiveleaning states such as Vermont and Minnesota are going in the opposite direction and are either considering or are in the process of enacting laws similar to California's to become a sanctuary state for trans sex-change procedures.

What appears to be emerging is an extremely fractious culture war dividing deep-blue and deep-red states on this matter. "Especially if it becomes an intersection with the family court situation," Hudacko stressed. Family courts, he adds, "are a giant racket."

Hudacko has not seen his transidentifying son, Drew (whose name has been changed in this report to protect his identity), for over three years. He retains shared custody of another son — who does not suffer from gender confusion — and has been forced to navigate the complex world of Bar complaints against the attorney who represented Drew to facilitate a hormonal "gender transition" against his father's wishes.

In 2020, California Superior Court Judge Joni Hiramoto stripped Hudacko of shared custody of Drew following a contentious court battle. His lengthy ordeal was detailed in a 4,800-word investigative piece published in CityJournal in February 2022 by journalist Abigail Shrier, the author of the 2020 book Irreversible Damage. Hiramoto happens to be the mother of a transidentified child. But it was her appointment of Daniel Severin Harkins — the minor child's counsel who Hudacko says undermined him at every turn — that was, as Shrier put it, "the final nail in the coffin of his parental rights."

Documents shared with The Christian Post reveal previously unknown details about Harkins' identity and his role in the case.

For example, in an Aug. 3 response to Hudacko's complaint to the California State Bar, deputy trial counsel Mark Harvey of the California Bar referred to Harkins 17 times using the feminine prefix "Ms" and is repeatedly referred to with female pronouns "she" and "her." Until then, the Hiramoto-appointed minor child's counsel had been referred to with

male identifiers, and there had been no indication that the lawyer, who is a man, was experiencing gender discordance and himself identified as female.

Harkins did not respond to The Christian Post's requests for comment.

In response to CP's questions about the case, the State Bar of California said in an emailed statement that it has "no authority over any local, state or federal courts, or the judges who oversee them" and it "cannot share or confirm any personal details of any licensed attorney other than what is available on their attorney profile, or via any publicly available discipline reports." The Bar added that it could not find any discipline record for Harkins.

Hudacko now retrospectively wonders if this had been hinted at during a custody hearing in June 2020 when Hiramoto first announced her intention to appoint Harkins as his son's attorney.

Court transcripts show the judge mentioned Harkins' "transgender experience" and that he had "special training," but she did not clarify what "experience" or "training" actually meant.

Hudacko, after initial setbacks, requested that the California Bar grant an extension of the investigation period for a good cause pursuant to several provisions outlined in the California Bar's Rules of Procedure. The response letter from Harvey characterizes Hudacko's complaint as pertaining to Harkins' "duty to perform legal services" on his behalf, when Hudacko maintains the crux of his grievance is about code of ethics violations, none of which were ever addressed.

If the California dad's case is indicative of the prevailing "trans sanctuary state" climate, parents with similar complaints about their minor child's appointed counsel in the family courts are unlikely to get traction with the State Bar. In fact, only a minuscule number of lawyers found guilty of misconduct ever face repercussions, according to state records. Appendix A in the California State Auditor's Report shows that from January 2010 to November 2021, 221,185 complaints were filed against lawyers for malpractice. Only 2% resulted in disbarment and 2.8% resulted in

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fter a state family court severed Ted Hudacko's joint custody from his trans-identifying son, the California father was left twisting inside a legal straitjacket while his son underwent a procedure that even violated a California court order protecting the child, a scenario countless parents across the U.S. might face given the state's commitment to being a "sanctuary state" for underage sex change procedures, he says.

Legal recourse for parents who object to "gender-affirming" care and seek to prevent irreversible bodily harm to their children seems all but impossible in light of systemic changes in California law — of which Hudacko's is a case study.

The Bay area father told The Christian Post that his plight is a harrowing example of what other parents across the U.S. can expect to happen if their child who's struggling with gender confusion moves to California.

Last September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 107 into law. In the Golden State, minors can obtain experimental puberty blockers, oppositesex hormones and body mutilating surgeries, effectively creating what some call a "trans sanctuary" state.

That law, which went into effect in January, amended California's Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). Changes to the statute permit California state courts to trump the jurisdiction of other states' courts where the parents might be prosecuted because harming children via chemical or surgical sex-change procedures is prohibited.

States that have passed laws protecting children from trans procedures or where state medical boards have ruled against allowing such experimental practices to be performed on children and teenagers younger than 18 include Arkansas, Alabama, Arizona, South Dakota, Mississippi, Utah, Florida, Nebraska, Montana, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Idaho, Kentucky, Iowa, Texas and Tennessee. Some of these states' laws are presently being contested in the federal court system.

A handful of other states have

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suspension, 0.2% received public reproval, and 0.1% resigned with charges pending.

A SURGERY THAT VIOLATED THE COURT ORDER While going back and forth with the California Bar over ethics questions, Hudacko was astonished to find a nearly $210,000 bill that had been charged on his insurance statement in October 2021.

He subsequently confirmed with his exwife that a hormone-blocking implant had been placed in his son's arm and that his son had also started taking cross-sex hormones, both of which were administered without Hudacko's knowledge or consent. Unlike other hormone blockers, which can be injected or taken orally, the hormone-blocking implant was inserted into Drew's arm via a surgical procedure in August 2021. It was thus a violation of the court's order.

Section 7b of a follow-up order dated Aug. 26, 2020, where the court awarded sole temporary legal custody and physical custody of Drew to Hudacko's ex-wife, a restriction was included, specifically that the boy "will not be permitted to undergo any gender identity related surgery until they are 18 years of age, absent a written agreement by both parties."

According to medical records reviewed by CP, four different types of blockers, also called gonadotropinreleasing hormone agonists (GnRhA), were discussed at the clinic where his son was treated, the Child and Adolescent Gender Center of UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital. Leuprolide acetate (Lupron) and triptorelin are injections and spironolactone is an oral tablet. By contrast, the subcutaneous implant (histrelin acetate) requires a surgical procedure.

The surgery to insert the hormoneblocking implant occurred months before Hudacko realized it had happened when Drew was 17, violating the court order. Its contribution to the child's eventual sterilization might also violate the

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California Family Code Section 6925(b)1, which does not authorize a minor child to be sterilized without the consent of the child's parent or guardian.

That law has been upheld and reaffirmed in several state court cases, including in American Academy of Pediatrics v. Lungren, a 1997 case that centered around an underage girl obtaining an abortion. The California Supreme Court also held in that ruling that the disclosure of medical information to a child's parent was minimal and necessary and did not impede on the underage girl's decision to have an abortion.

Similarly, in a 1978 case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, Stump v.

Sparkman, the decision held that regarding the sterilization of a minor, not only is it inappropriate, but it's also not protected by judicial immunity. By this established precedent, while Hiramoto is immune since she is a judge, Hudacko maintains that Harkins is partly culpable and thus subject to further recourse, given that his underage son's sterilization was enabled.

Among Hudacko's main grievances to the California Bar is that he alleges Harkins violated Rule 4.1 in the California Rules of Procedure for attorneys. That rule states that when representing a client, a lawyer "shall not knowingly make a false statement of material fact or law to a third person." Likewise, it adds that failing "to disclose a material fact to a third person when disclosure is necessary to avoid assisting a criminal or fraudulent act by a client" is prohibited.

Hudacko believes Harkins allegedly did this by advising Drew and his ex-wife to pursue going ahead with the medicalization, despite the violation of the court order. The California Bar, however, concluded in correspondence with him that he did not "present sufficient facts to support an investigation" into Harkins.

In an interview with Lynne Kohm, a professor of family law at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, CP asked about the legal ethics pertaining to judicial disclosure when a family court judge appoints counsel to represent a trans-identifying minor, and it's later

disclosed that the appointed counsel had been in the process of changing their own "gender identity," particularly if gender medicalization is an issue in a custody dispute. She replied that it certainly sounds like a conflict of interest, referencing the professional code of conduct all lawyers must abide by at all times.

"And conflict of interest is not a political thing," Kohm stressed, noting that lawyer misconduct is delineated in Rule 8.4 in the American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and every state has adopted some version of them.

A key portion of Rule 8.4 section G states that it is misconduct to engage in conduct that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know "is harassment or discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or socioeconomic status in conduct related to the practice of law."

But today, Kohm said, this rule is being used "as a hammer to make people not be able to have any opinions opposing gender identity."

"The whole idea of this rule is to not undermine the public confidence in the legal profession but it's doing exactly that because it's carving out special treatment for those who are ideological [about these issues]," she said, adding that parental rights are "especially precious as they are pre-Bill of Rights and inalienable."

"To have your parental rights restricted there had to be abuse, abandonment, or neglect. Now, 'abuse' is being defined differently," Kohm explained.

This is becoming even more complicated as some states are passing laws restricting trans medicalization for minors while others are enabling parents to take their children to states that permit it, such as California.

Progress note documents prepared by the UCSF gender clinic's medical director, Dr. Stephen Rosenthal, show that Hudacko's ex-wife and Drew were "navigating [a] complex family situation," notably insurance issues as Drew was using his father's plan. The notes show that Hudacko was not in support of

the identity of particular counsel. Nor does the Court's case management system identify a case based on the gender identity of a minor or of particular counsel. Thus, the Court has no responsive records," Malone said.

The court lacks any information to assess whether the gender identity of particular counsel is public knowledge, he added.

Hudacko says he will continue to pursue every possible avenue, but the environment is bleak.

"It would be very easy to want to crawl up in a corner and lick my wounds and go away and hide. But that doesn't solve anything. Not myself, not for Drew [or anyone] who may currently be entrenched in this. As much positive reinforcement in accolades he is being given and is reinforced, starting with his mother, and the first licensed marriage and family therapist ... and then of course, the canard that parents [of trans-identified children] are told: 'Do you want a trans daughter or a dead son'?" Hudacko said.

"And the pressure and tools used as a bludgeon to separate and label parents such as myself who have questions and seek a proper differential diagnosis, and [who want] to look at a panoply of possible causes [rather] than just simply jumping to the conclusion that, 'Aha! He's trans, we've got to social transition him.

And then, the subsequent steps,' basically, labeling parents such as myself as toxic or unsafe. And then, a concerted gang effort to separate that child from the parent."

Patricia Campbell, Hudacko's former attorney, was a great lawyer for him, Hudacko recalls. Sadly, she died from cancer last year.

"One of the great challenges I had throughout the entire proceeding from the get-go — I talked to many attorneys — was finding attorneys who didn't conflate transgender with being gay. Very few attorneys seemed to get that these procedures are sterilizing. And if they don't understand that they're sterilizing procedures, they don't understand the child endangerment issues."

Hudacko continues searching for lawyers with the courage to take on a broken and abusive system. "How are we

going to stop this? How are we going to change? Is this thing stoppable or not? I see mixed signs," Hudacko said, noting increased coverage in more mainstream outlets.

He added: "It's very Orwellian; it's very upside-down, the new-speak. I don't think we'll have much of a society for very long if we don't do something about this trend.

It really comes down to how do we change this. We're certainly trying through the legislative process."

"But the process in California is broken."

As if to underscore that very point, the process is so dysfunctional that it has led some elected California state officials to urge parents to move out of the state, lest they want to be changed with child abuse for trying to save their children from medicalized gender transition.

Speaking before a group of parents at a state Senate Judicial Committee, California state Sen. Scott Wilk, a Republican, warned against language in yet another pending bill, AB 957, which a Democratic state senator had amended to change the California Family Code to include "gender affirmation" alongside a child's need for "health, safety, and welfare." Critics of the bill believe that failure to affirm a child's "gender identity" and wishes to undergo experimental sexchange procedures will put parents at risk of being charged with child abuse.

"In the past, when we've had these discussions, and I've seen parental rights atrophied — I've encouraged people to keep fighting," Wilk said on June 13, adding that he has since changed his mind on that approach.

"If you love your children, you need to flee California. You need to flee," he said.

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Drew's "gender care" and that his ex-wife had "complete medical custody."

When Hudacko first learned of these experimental protocols for youth expressing gender dysphoria or temporary confusion about their sex, he reached out to Dr. Erica Anderson, a gender psychologist based in Oakland, California, and Dr. Michael Laidlaw, an endocrinologist in private practice in Rocklin, California, both of whom, he said, informed him about how these drugs contribute to sterilization.

All hope that Hudacko had that the sterilization of his son might be reversed is gone, as it has now been many months since his son was launched on a path of experimental medicalization. A pediatric endocrinologist from Georgia said in an email to CP that, assuming the drug regimen was consistently followed, the combination of a hormone blocker implant plus opposite-sex hormones makes infertility permanent, adding that surgery to remove the genitals would, naturally, "seal the deal."

Hudacko maintains that Hiramoto's deliberate selection of Harkins to be Drew's legal representative, coupled with a formal Bar complaint process where few filings ever materialize in any meaningful action, leaves parents with virtually no options and no hope for accountability. State officials with whom he has interacted have used frustratingly bureaucratic language that leaves considerable wiggle room for evasion; few non-lawyers can understand it.

CP asked Matt Malone, public information officer for the Contra Costa County Courts, how many cases where there has been a custody dispute around a trans-identified child did Hiramoto appoint Harkins as the child's counsel.

Malone replied in an email that such inquiries fall under the public records request provision in California called Rule 10.500, which "obligates the Court to provide records when they are obtainable from inquiry into a single court-maintained database, such as our case management system. (See Cal. Rules of Ct., rule 10.500 (e)(1)(B).)"

"But the Court's case management system is not capable of searching for and/or selecting cases based solely on

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VIOLENCE AGAINST TRIBAL CHRISTIANS IN MANIPUR ESCALATES DESPITE MILITARY INTERVENTIONS; OVER 131 KILLED

BY ANUGRAH KUMAR

I

NDIA — Violence against the tribal Christian Kuki-Zo community in Northeast India's Manipur state has escalated despite military interventions since its onset on May 3.

The conflict has recently claimed eight more lives and left 29 injured. To date, 131 Kuki-Zo Christians have been killed, with 200 of their villages and over 360 of their churches either burned or destroyed.

The latest incidents occurred in the border areas between Bishnupur district, which is home to the Hindu majority Meitei community, and Churachandpur district, where Kuki-Zo Christians live, according to The Print, which said the deceased include four from each community.

Kuki-Zo leaders told The Christian Post that people from the Meitei community are being killed only when they enter tribal areas to initiate deadly assaults.

The violence erupted in Manipur following a controversial court order for the state to consider extending special economic benefits and quotas, previously reserved for the tribal Kuki-Zo people, to the Meitei population. It would also give the state government-backed Meiteis the right to buy land in the hills where the Kuki-Zo people live.

The government has deployed about 50,000 soldiers, armed police and other security personnel to enforce buffer zones between the two communities.

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Despite these measures, mobs have looted more than 4,000 weapons and half a million rounds of ammunition from police in Manipur, according to official estimates.

Lt. General P.C. Nair, director general of the federal paramilitary force Assam Rifles, described the situation as “unprecedented,” highlighting the “large number of weapons” within both communities as a key concern, according to The Wire. “Mobs surrounding forces, women blocking roads are new hurdles for the force trained to fight armed insurgents,” he said.

Nair added, “We are here only to curtail the levels of violence. … But more importantly, we are talking to multiple civil society organizations and various stakeholders to get them to hold talks.”

The Supreme Court of India also remarked that there was “no law and order left in Manipur.”

Cases of violence have been shifted to courts in Assam. The state police’s role in controlling violence and allowing the “looting” of armories has been criticized.

More than 131 people from the Kuki-Zo community have been killed, and their 200 villages, 7,000 houses and 360 churches have been destroyed or burned, according to the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, which says at least 41,425 people remain displaced.

However, the bodies of only 35 victims

are in hospitals in the Kuki-Zo Churachandpur district, which the local people have named Lamka. Dozens of bodies are lying in hospitals in the Meiteidominated Imphal area, where the majority of the Kuki-Zo victims were killed during the initial days of violence.

A tribal leader told CP earlier that the mass burial of the deceased Kuki-Zo people would be conducted after the bodies lying in Imphal were transported to Churachandpur.

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party governs both Manipur and the federal government.

In July, the European Parliament passed a resolution urging the Indian government to urgently restore peace in Manipur.

“There have been concerns about politically motivated, divisive policies promoting Hindu majoritarianism, and about an increase in activity by militant groups,” the resolution stated. There are also “accounts of partisan involvement by security forces in the killings have increased distrust in the authorities.”

Top: A Wall of Remembrance in the Kuki-Zo Churachandpur area featuring empty coffins and photos of the 130 tribal Christians killed thus far in the ethnic violence in India's Manipur state, which began on May 3, 2023. | The Christian Post Bottom: The burned house of a Kuki-Zo Christian family in Imphal, Manipur.

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▲ Christians gather at a religious ceremony in Akure, Nigeria, August 12, 2012. | iStock/agafapaperiapunta

'CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE' ENABLING CHRISTIAN 'GENOCIDE' IN NIGERIA, CATHOLIC BISHOP TELLS CONGRESS

BY RYAN FOLEY

W

ASHINGTON — In testimony provided to a U.S. congressional subcommittee, a Nigerian Catholic bishop decried a "conspiracy of silence" from his government and the international community in response to what he says is genocidal violence targeting Christian communities in the African nation.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations held a hearing on July 18 titled "The Dire State of Religious Freedom Around the World."

Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Makurdi in Benue State, Nigeria, was scheduled to testify about the mass killings in his diocese but was unable to attend the hearing.

The written version of the remarks he was slated to make, which were shared

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with The Christian Post, was entered into the congressional record.

"For a long time, attacks by Islamic militants have not only killed thousands but have also displaced millions who now take refuge in camps scattered across the State," he explained in his written testimony.

"Schools, clinics, churches, markets, etc., have all been destroyed in some areas. Since 2014, when I became bishop, I have lost territory to the Islamic militants masquerading as herdsmen, I have had to close 14 parishes because of the danger," he added.

Anagbe also detailed how Benue state has been greatly impacted by mass killings that have led to "displacement and occupation of lands" since 2009.

But since 2014, he and other bishops in Benue have "lost parishioners on an almost daily basis." "[T]he killings of people, even pregnant

women and children, and the occupation of their lands to cause the cessation of all economic activities mirrors the pattern of Jihadi elements like the Boko Haram in other parts of Nigeria," Anagbe stated.

For years, human rights advocates and Nigerian Christians have raised concerns about the violence that has led to the killings of thousands across Nigeria's Middle Belt states, including Benue, in recent years, saying that radicalized herdsmen have attacked predominantly Christian farming communities.

While Christian leaders believe that the attacks have a religious element, the Nigerian government contends that the violence is part of decades-old farmerherder clashes and has firmly pushed back against claims the violence amounts to religious "genocide."

In his testimony, the bishop characterized the occurrences as a "calculated genocide," sharing the

middle belt and southern regions of Nigeria."

As he concluded his remarks, Anagbe called for Nigeria again to be placed on the U.S. State Department's list of "countries of particular concern" for engaging in or tolerating egregious violations of religious freedom.

He also signaled support for the "appointment of a Special Envoy to the Sub-Saharan Region of Africa to enable the truth about the issues we have been trying to bring to the attention of the West to come out."

Anagbe's testimony comes as the Biden administration has faced criticism for keeping Nigeria off the State Department's annual list of Countries of Particular Concern, a designation for governments that engage in or tolerate egregious violations of religious freedom.

While the Trump administration added Nigeria to the list of CPCs in December 2020, the Biden administration removed that designation to Nigeria the following year, even though religious freedom advocacy organizations have repeatedly raised concerns about the level of religious persecution there.

On its 2023 World Watch List, which ranks the countries of the world based on the degree of persecution and discrimination Christians are subjected to, Open Doors US identified Nigeria as the sixth-worst country for Christian persecution.

It cited Nigeria as the source of 89% of the total number of Christians killed for their faith in 2022. In an interview with The Christian Post at the time of the report's release, Open Doors US Interim CEO Lisa Pearce described the country's absence from the CPC list as a "difficult thing to reconcile."

A petition delivered to the White House last year urging the State Department to designate Nigeria as a CPC received 32,000 signatures. The petition, spearheaded by Revelation Media and Alliance Defending Freedom, came shortly before the State Department released its list of CPCs in 2022. For the second year in a row, the State Department's list of CPCs did not include Nigeria.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the chair of the

U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which makes recommendations to the State Department, spoke about the situation in Nigeria at Tuesday's hearing. He echoed Anagbe's call to place Nigeria on the CPC list and establish a Special Envoy for Nigeria.

"Nigeria has become a country steeped in religious freedom violations where people of faith and those of no faith at all increasingly live in fear of harassment, imprisonment and violence," he insisted. "It meets clearly the CPC standard under [the International Religious Freedom Act] as evident in the State Department's own [International Religious Freedom] Report released in May." "It is also why USCIRF recommended the appointment of a Special Envoy for Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin to maximize U.S. diplomatic efforts, to address the atrocity risks and religious freedom violations."

Cooper called on members of Congress to pass House Resolution 82, which would express "the sense of Congress regarding the need to designate Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern for engaging in and tolerating systemic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom" as well as "the need to appoint a Special Envoy for Nigeria and the Lake Chad region."

Introduced by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, the measure has attracted 13 cosponsors: Reps. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., Ben Cline, R-Va., Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Mark Green, R-Tenn., French Hill, R-Ark., John James, R-Mich., Doug Lamborn, RColo., Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., Jake LaTurner, R-Kan., Michael McCaul, R-Texas and Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla. Republican Delegate Aumua Amata Coleman of American Samoa, a nonvoting member of the U.S. House of Representatives, has also signed on to cosponsor the legislation. The House Foreign Affairs Committee has yet to bring it up for a vote in the nearly six months since it was introduced on Jan. 31.

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definition of genocide, according to the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, as "acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

"It is disheartening to note that since the atrocities started, nothing serious has been heard to happen to the perpetrators," Anagbe lamented. "Our national government has not shown convincing signs or real commitment to ending the killings. The inaction and silence about our plight by both government and powerful stakeholders all over the world prompts me too often [to] conclude that there is [a] conspiracy of silence and a strong desire to just watch the Islamists get away with genocide in Benue State and other parts of Nigeria."

Anagbe urged committee members to "come to the aid of the Christian community in Benue, and indeed in Nigeria as a whole, before it becomes too late."

The bishop argued that the violence against Christians, constituting a 97% majority in Benue, amounts to a religiously motivated jihad.

"In 1989, a gathering of Muslims in Nigeria adopted what is today known as the 'Abuja Islamic Declaration,'" he stated.

"It is a declaration that has been adopted by the Islamic Council of Nigeria. The declaration outlines a vision for the role of Islam in Nigerian society, and it calls for the establishment of an Islamic State in Nigeria."

"The Abuja Islamic Declaration is strongly influenced by the ideas of the Egyptian Muslim [B]rotherhood and the Iranian revolution. The Declaration argues that Islam is a complete way of life that should guide all aspects of society, including politics, economics, and culture."

Anagbe attributed the "steady decline into religious bigotry" that has come to define his country to the Abuja Islamic Declaration. He maintained that "the blatant killing and displacement of Christian communities in Nigeria is done in fulfillment of the long-time promise by fundamentalist Islamic groups in Nigeria bent on 'dipping the Quran into the Atlantic Ocean,' a euphemism for conquering the Christian states of the

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'THE CHOSEN' ACTOR DETAILS HIS ENCOUNTER WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT: 'FROM THE OUTSIDE IN, HE OVERTOOK ME'

BY JEANNIE ORTEGA LAW

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IDLOTHIAN, Texas — Actor Nick Shakoour, who plays Zebedee in the hit series “The Chosen,” recently described an encounter with the Holy Spirit at the end of season three that took him from believing in God to knowing that Jesus is real.

The young adult actor, who plays an older fisherman who is the father of two of Jesus’ disciples, James and John, shared his experiences with The Christian Post during a set visit.

"I did not think I had a shot in a million years to play a 50-year-old fisherman in Capernaum. From there, it was a journey of 'I don't know what this is going to be about.' But I knew it felt good coming here,” Shakoour said.

"At the time, I called it the vibe. In hindsight, it was the Holy Spirit guiding us throughout this whole process because there's no way that all of this would have happened if it wasn't for God." Created by Dallas Jenkins, “The Chosen" has grown into a global phenomenon, having been streamed by over 500 million people worldwide.

Season four of the history-making series is now underway, and a recent partnership with Lionsgate is expanding the show's reach.

Shakoour revealed that, prior to “The Chosen,” he had never felt led to act in a faith-based production.

"How many faith-based projects are out there? There's a lot, and I've never been interested in being a part of any of them, let alone acting in them or watching them. This has just been mind-blowing.

Zebedee has become my favorite oncamera character to play. It's so fun getting to be him,” he shared.

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Taking on the role of Zebedee has changed how Shakoour views his faith in Jesus, with him declaring, "I don't even [just] believe in Him anymore. I know Him!” "I was invited to a church conference when I was here last September during season three, a few days before I flew back to California. I had people lay their hands over me, and it was at a point in time where I realized I wasn't exactly happy even though I was on a successful show and something was missing,” the performer explained.

"I called out to God that day, desperately wanting to meet Him." Shakoour described a supernatural encounter with the Holy Spirit that changed him.

"I ended up at this conference, and the next thing I knew, my organs felt like they were being burned away. [It felt like] I was being vibrated and microwaved at the same time. And from the outside in, He just overtook me, and I fully came to understand who He is," Shakoour testified.

"Since then, it's been one encounter after the next, one relationship after the next. The reason I say I don't believe in Him anymore is because I know Him now.”

The Hollywood actor believes “The Chosen” was what God used to bring him to that closeness in relationship with Him. "I don't have to try and believe in Him anymore like I used to. I used to always believe in God and Jesus, but it's been amazing,” Shakoour continued. "This show has been a conduit, I believe, to get me here for this specific encounter that I had, which I never thought.”

He described it as a spiritual surgery and says he now understands why he

was so comfortable in his role as Zebedee.

"When I'm stepping into this role, and then with the layers of the costume department so brilliantly designing that specific getup for Zebedee, and the makeup and hair department, how they can age him to look the way he does.

When I step into him, I'm literally overtaken by this overwhelming warmth and protection. And, in hindsight, it was always God.” Shakoour said God has “made me feel what it feels like to be a dad. I feel like a dad on the show. I genuinely feel like I'm a dad. I've never been a dad yet. But I feel what it's like to be a dad.”

The sensation, the love that he feels while on set with his on-camera sons, is “natural," and it is "something I never thought I'd be able to fulfill. Like, I can't relate to this guy. He's a fisherman in his 50s, and he's a dad."

Season four of “The Chosen,” set to premiere in 2024, delves into the realities of life’s dark moments, painful moments, and even death. Shakoour said the show is perfect for the times we're living in.

"What I've come to realize is our world is paralleling so much what's happening in 'The Chosen,' and in 'The Chosen,' people are starting to take cover under the wings of Jesus,” he added.

“Some things that I've been telling a lot of close friends and relatives recently is that, in my heart, I keep hearing, 'Take cover under His wings now.' Based on everything we've been through, we don't know what the future holds, but we do know that if we know Him, then no matter what's thrown in our faces by evil, that He is going to triumph eventually, just like He did back then and He will once again."

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► 'The Chosen' actor Nick Shakoour | The Christian Post

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▲ Father Kent (Owen Wilson) is confronted by two spirits in "Haunted Mansion." | Screenshot: YouTube/@DisneyMovieTrailers

REVIEW: 'HAUNTED MANSION' MOCKS CHRISTIANITY, PROMOTES PRAYERS TO THE DEAD, DEMONIC POSSESSION

BY IAN M. GIATTI

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ALLAS, Texas — Let’s get one thing clear right off the bat: I am a product of Disneyland.

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As a Southern California kid, trips to the Magic Kingdom were transcendent, supernatural even, like stepping foot on foreign soil for the first time.

It was a place repeatedly unknown and rediscovered, the scent of popcorn and white chocolate luring us past the sweatsoaked costumes of Mickey and Goofy

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▲ Madame Leota (center) speaks from beyond the grave in "Haunted Mansion." | Screenshot: YouTube/@DisneyMovieTrailers

and into the rush of Tomorrowland.

Going to Disneyland was, appropriately enough, a ritual of sorts for kids where I lived, those who didn’t need a plane to reach the Happiest Place on Earth — just a parent willing to brave the 5 Freeway at rush hour.

That was all, of course, before I knew Heaven was much more than a fun park with gates and a sky-high price of admission.

So when it came time to watch Disney’s latest re-imagining of one of its most popular rides, I readily admit I didn’t quite know how it would go.

OK, well, maybe I knew a few things.

Disney, once considered the untouchable gold standard in family entertainment, is a brand on the decline, both culturally and fiscally. The company’s seemingly insatiable obsession with promoting homosexuality is driving away average Americans; and the house that Mouse built hasn’t shied away from hiring actors and promoting messages that are

openly satanic.

So as a self-identified child of Disneyland, I was pleasantly surprised to find Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” proved to be undeniably faithful to the theme park ride, even as I was completely unsurprised by the film’s pervasive occult themes and general hostility toward a biblical worldview.

(Note: spoilers ahead) “Haunted Mansion,” not to be confused with an entirely different 2003 movie starring Eddie Murphy, boasts an A-list cast that includes Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Lee Curtis and even a virtually unrecognizable Jared Leto as the Hatbox Ghost.

The movie centers on widow Gabbie (Dawson) and her son Travis, who decide to leave life in the big city for Gracey Manor, a French Colonial-style home in Louisiana. Upon moving in, however, the single mom and her son realize they have supernatural squatters and recruit a team

of so-called “spiritual experts” to cleanse their home.

In the real world, for the last 2,000plus years, priests, pastors and other men of the cloth have been sought out for comfort, for counsel, and for prayer. They are fallen and sinful men, just like the rest of us, who have, for the most part, committed their lives, however imperfectly, to pointing people to the gift of God in Christ Jesus.

At least, that’s how it’s supposed to be.

But in Disney World, the priest character, Father Kent — in this case, played by Wilson in a dependably onbrand performance — is a hapless fraud, a swindler who wears a collar and comically oversized cross around his neck as a costume rather than a lifestyle.

Far from being a righteous shepherd of the flock, Kent is a passive, almost apathetic figure, deferring on most matters to atheist freelance photographer Ben Mattias, played by LaKeith Stanfield, and Tiffany Haddish’s psychic Harriet.

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Like much of today’s contemporary preaching, Kent has an affinity for sounding more spiritual than he actually is — he tosses out nuggets of "Churchianity" like “The Lord works in mysterious ways” and even quotes lyrics from “Amazing Grace.”

In one scene, Kent tells an alreadyannoyed Ben that the “Big Man upstairs is always watching. He keeps me on a short leash.”

"Not short enough,” Ben replies.

In another scene, before an overtly demonic “seance” session in which Harriett is possessed by a spirit, Kent offers a prayer that, ironically enough, mocks the whole point of prayer: “God, give us a break! We don’t want to be haunted. There are so many bad people.

Haunt them.”

Not quite the same as “forgive those who trespass against us,” is it?

It’s only later that we learn Kent is not a priest but rather a common fraud who works at a Halloween costume store, conveniently enough. While the others plan how they will take back the house from the spirit squatters, “Father” Kent helps himself to some booze and defers to the atheist and the psychic to figure things out.

In fact, it’s during this seance session in which Harriet leads the others in prayers to the dead — a practice specifically forbidden in Scripture in Deuteronomy 18:11 and 1 Chronicles 10:1314 — that “Mansion” begins to take a noticeably more sinister turn.

After all, necromancy, or making contact with the dead, is at the heart of “Haunted Mansion.”

Divination, rather than being condemned as it is in Leviticus 19:26 and elsewhere, is normalized; psychics, Harriett tells us, prefer to be called “mediums,” in an unexpected hat-tip to transgender ideology and its preference for language over scientific accuracy.

Later in the film, we learn Ben's wife, a spiritualist herself, died in a car accident.

The property’s late landowner, who now haunts its halls, reveals he held a seance every night for years in an attempt to contact his own dead wife — a practice which resulted in the arrival of unwanted spirits.

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“We had summoned a terrible evil,” he says.

Only after these repeated seances are the floodgates to “the other side” opened, allowing in spirits like the Hatbox Ghost (Leto), a dead tycoon who offers advice such as “You know life has no meaning” and “Suffering is for the weak.”

The motivation behind Hatbox Ghost’s haunting spree, it turns out, is that he’s managed to trap 999 souls and is now working on securing number 1,000 by deceiving Travis into thinking he can communicate with his own dead father.

For anyone who’s been on the Haunted Mansion ride, the number 999 — which, just saying, does happen to be an upside-down 666 — evokes the ride’s “happy haunts” song, which always finishes with the Ghost Host’s invitation: "We have 999 happy haunts here, but there's room for a thousand. Any volunteers?”

It's pretty dark stuff for a movie inspired by a kid’s theme park ride at the Happiest Place on Earth.

And maybe, despite all the darkness, that’s where “Haunted Mansion” buys itself a bit of goodwill with its audience: apart from the cast and plot, the film is careful to correspond to the Haunted Mansion ride itself, including details down to the same vertically-striped wallpaper from the Stretching Room at Gracey Manor.

There are allusions to the ride’s “doom buggy” seating, the Mansion’s three hitchhiking ghosts, Ezra Beane, Professor Phineas Plump and Gus, and the crystal ball head of Madame Leota (Curtis). Such details for products of Disneyland, for ones like me, carry with them a sort of recognizable comfort that doesn't quite fit with the film’s otherwise unsettling and dimly-lit narrative.

And while there might be enough references for some parents to wax nostalgic about the old days at Disneyland, I’m not sure younger people who have never been to one of the Disney parks will necessarily connect with the movie beyond a few sight gags.

Then again, as the culture loves to tell the Church, "who am I to judge?"

So what if, prior to the film, a preview for another occult-themed film, “A

Haunting In Venice,” is shown alongside a "Paw Patrol" trailer?

So what if crucifixes and crosses permeate “Haunted Mansion” from the first frame to the last in an obvious glorification of death and a mockery of the cross of Christ, the only One to ever triumph over death?

So what if the film’s plot hinges on an unholy ghost antagonist who seeks to claim the soul of a widow’s only child?

So what if experiencing a taste of nostalgia means exposing your kids to crude Christian mockery?

These are just a few of the questions you may want to ask yourself — and the Holy Ghost — before buying a ticket to “Haunted Mansion.”

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DID A MOMENTOUS EVENT OCCUR IN THE PREDESTINATION VS. FREE WILL DEBATE?

BY RICHARD D. LAND

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ven a casual observer of the Evangelical American landscape over the past half-century would be aware of the consistent, comprehensive, recurring and often combative discussions, debates and conversations about predestination versus free will concerning God’s plan and purpose for the eternal salvation of human beings.

It would be way too simplistic and misleading to outline the debate as being between polar opposites of Synod of Dort 5-point Reformed Calvinism and its polar opposite, Wesleyan Methodism.

However, in its simplest form, the Synod of Dort formulation of T.U.L.I.P. (Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints) represents the theological formulation most frequently associated with the 16th century Protestant Reformer John Calvin.

The opposite of these “5 points” would describe the Wesleyan-Arminian position.

As one reads or listens to the discussions and debates, it is clear that American Evangelicals understand the importance of the questions at issue, and significant numbers of Evangelical Christians embrace and advocate for both positions as well as for numerous variations between the two opposite poles. Consequently, you have

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“moderate” Calvinists and semiArmenians.

In my own Southern Baptist faith tradition, you have had, and do have, numerous variations of these two theological formulations, with the exception that confessionally, Southern Baptists have always insisted on the “eternal Security of the Believer” or “once saved, always saved,” their terminology for “Perseverance of the Saints.”

Personally, I have always been quite fond of the great English Victorian Baptist pulpiteer Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s terminology, the “Perseverance of the Savior.”

Such variations of understanding help explain mediating statements like the following in the Baptist Faith & Message, the Southern Baptists’ confessional statement:

“Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable.”

Theology is words (logos) about God (Theos). These particular words deal with issues of critical importance such as the extent of the atonement of Jesus on the cross. Who can be saved and how much choice does an individual have concerning his eternal destiny? In a larger context, it can be seen as a form of theological “determinism” versus “free will.” Can anything happen that God has not freely predestined?

Once in a while, as brilliant and devoted people apply themselves with determination and dedication to the issue, a truly exciting, provocative, extremely helpful, and instructive study surfaces which makes a major contribution to everyone’s greater and deeper understanding of the issues under contention and discussion.

I am delighted to announce that just such an event has occurred within the last year. Dr. Robert Picirilli, long-time professor of New Testament of Welch College (in the Free Will Baptist tradition) has produced a volume that I believe will be his magnum opus.

Titled, God in Eternity and Time. A New Case for Human Freedom, this volume has been well received by most of the participants in the discussion of these issues for its originality and insight.

Dr. Picirilli has applied a lifetime of biblical scholarship to the issues involved

BOOKS

▲ Getty Images

and produced a book that makes compelling reading for anyone interested in a truly biblical theology.

Picirilli argues that to construct a truly biblical theology, one should start with the Bible itself as the best evidence of God’s plan, believing that “it is better to infer what God has decreed in eternity, from the Bible’s account of how God acted in the history … of man and the cosmos” rather than starting with the classical “decrees” and imposing them on biblical revelation.

This Scripture-first approach has produced powerful and important insights into such thorny issues as God’s will, human freedom and divine foreknowledge.

God in Eternity and Time has been well received by all segments of the Evangelical community, and its irenic spirit has been much appreciated,

drawing accolades from across the Evangelical theological spectrum. Dr. Tom Nettles, longtime esteemed Southern Baptist scholar, professor and strenuous advocate for the T.U.L.I.P., described God in Eternity and Time this way:

Robert Picirilli has written … about the most important subject human beings can discuss — God and his relation to time and eternity. ... The author’s style invites conversation with the text. It is fun to read and will help one reason with humility, always deferring to Scripture over philosophy and biblically unwarranted assertions. … Picirilli takes issue with confessional Calvinism (determinism), middle knowledge, and open theism as outside the demands of the biblical

text. ... I heartily recommend this book to all who want to engage a mind-clearing, spirit-elevating, theologically challenging, Bibleendearing exercise that will bear eternal fruit and give great clarity to what is at stake on the several sides of this important discussion.

And remember, Dr. Nettles is in significant disagreement with Picirilli’s conclusions.

I cannot recommend this book more highly than I do now. It is quite simply the best book on the subject I have ever read, which takes in some territory.

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VODDIE BAUCHAM ON HOW FAITH CAN SURVIVE POST-CHRISTIAN CULTURE THAT 'DETESTS' BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY

BY LEAH MARIEANN KLETT

▲ Voddie Baucham | Courtesy of Salem Books

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hen Voddie Baucham first penned The Ever-Loving Truth: Can Faith Survive in a Post-Christian Culture? in 2004, he was concerned that the dominant ideology of the day, secular humanism, was making biblical truth all but obsolete.

Fast forward nearly two decades, and, according to the 54-year-old dean of theology at African Christian University in Zambia, truth is still under attack in today's society, much like it was back then, with a shift from secular humanism to a radical Marxist approach.

“But really, at the end of the day, it's the same thing,” he told The Christian Post. “It's the idea that either there is no truth or that truth is a social construct; knowledge is even a social construct. And in both instances, Christianity, and really anyone else who proclaims that there is absolute truth, becomes the enemy of the ideology of the day.”

In September, Baucham is releasing a revised and updated version of his bestselling book, which he hopes serves as a valuable resource for Christians seeking to navigate increasingly turbulent cultural waters.

In his book, Baucham draws parallels between the early Church's experiences in pre-Christian Rome and the present-day challenges, highlighting the pressure to conform to prevailing ideologies while avoiding interfering with cultural norms.

“In the early Church, there was this pressure to conform to the religious ideologies of the day,” he said. “There was this pressure that said, ‘It’s OK for you to practice your Christianity; your Christianity just can't be allowed to interfere with our Roman religion.’ Today, we see the same thing. People are saying, ‘Listen, I don't have a problem with Christianity, per se, as long as that Christianity stays within the four walls of the church and does not try to impose itself on the broader culture, and as long as that Christianity does not prevent you from bowing to the idols of the day.’”

“The minute your Christianity causes you to oppose same-sex marriage or causes you to oppose abortion, or causes you to oppose so-called ‘gender-affirming care,’ and so on and so forth, those things that really are the idols of the culture today — when your Christianity steps into that realm, that's the minute that you experience the various forms of opposition and potentially persecution.”

According to Baucham, in post-Christian America, only certain versions of Christianity are “acceptable," the “watered down social gospel, the food bank, and liberal political activist kind of version of Christianity.”

“These things have always been OK because they remove the offense of the Gospel,” he said. “Once the offense of the Gospel is there, then all of a sudden, we're outside the camp.”

The early Church, the pastor said, knew how and when to draw lines because they were outsiders in the larger cultural context. In contrast, Christians in the Christian West have been the dominant ideology for a long time, shaping

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the culture and assuming that everyone else shares their perspectives.

With the cultural shift away from Christianity, Baucham contended, Christians are now unsure how to respond and navigate in a world where their assumptions are no longer dominant but perceived as detestable.

“We don't know how to respond. We really don't know what to do. We don't know how to play the game when it's not in our stadium,” he said. “We have no idea how to approach people and culture when our assumptions are not only no longer dominant but are perceived as vile and completely detestable by our culture. We have a tendency to recoil and be caught off guard.”

Much of the problem stems from within the modern church itself, said Baucham, who previously led Grace Family Baptist Church in Texas. He contends that many pastors in the West have contributed to the challenge by shifting away from Gospelcentered foundations toward gathering people based on nonessential commonalities.

"We begin to build churches — and really, I use that term loosely because, in many instances, they aren't churches — and gather people based on commonalities that were not Gospelcentered. We gathered people because we liked the same kind of music or we were in the same social class. We had those things as our foundation instead of having the Gospel as our foundation.”

Perhaps the biggest culprits in removing biblical truth from society, according to Baucham, are universities and places of higher education. In his book, he highlights the need for Christians to be aware of the biases present in academia, an environment he said not only promotes godless agendas but “despises” the Gospel.

“Not only does the Academy despise the Gospel, but the Academy also despises the biblical worldview more broadly,” he told CP. “For example, if you're a person who believes that there is a God who created the world — forget Young Earth, just a person who believes that God created the world — you don't deserve to breathe, let alone call yourself an academic. The Academy not only despises the Gospel but a Christian worldview, Christian cosmology, Christian morality.”

The Academy is the “church of the modern age,” he said, adding: “The Academy is where we find the priests of the modern age. The Academy is where you go in order to experience the sacraments of the modern age. It is the church of the secular humanist, postmodern, and Neo Marxist worldview.

Biblical Christianity stands in stark opposition to that particular religion and those gatekeepers.”

In light of this reality, believers must draw a line in the sand, like the early apostles, Baucham said, and this begins with Christians in the West recognizing that their historical dominance and cultural influence have been remarkable but not the norm throughout Christian history.

“We have to recognize we've had a great run. And we need to praise God for that and pray that that great run is not just completely over, but we need to recognize it for what it is,” he said.

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“We need to recognize that this opposition does not mean that we've done something wrong,” he said. “One of the misconceptions is that we've experienced this great run because we've been somehow unusual and special and remarkable. And we're not; we're no more godly, we're no more special, we're no more remarkable than people who live in places where they're persecuted and where the Gospel has never really taken root or taken hold. We’re just providentially placed in this particular setting. We have to remove this notion that somehow, we've been great and we've deserved the favor that we've experienced.”

Baucham urges Christians to prepare for the opposition they will face in a post-Christian culture by knowing what they believe and being ready to defend their faith. He encourages believers to be prepared to face the consequences of standing firm in their beliefs, even if it means unpleasant repercussions.

The pastor, whose 2011 book Family Driven Faith tackles how to raise sons and daughters to walk with God, highlighted the role of parents in spiritual formation. He emphasized the responsibility of raising children to know and fear the Lord, especially in today's ever-shifting cultural landscape.

“We need to get our children out of the government schools,” he said, citing Luke 6:40. “We’ve got a lot of people going to war with the school system today because of the things that we see that are outrageous. But there have been outrageous things that we haven't seen for decades, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. We need to not only be serious about discipling our children in terms of teaching them what thus saith the Lord, but also be serious about discipling our children in terms of giving them a full Christian education, bathed in a Christian worldview so that they can be prepared to face this culture as opposed to baptized in it.”

Biblical truth never changes regardless of the shifts in culture, Baucham stressed. He expressed hope that his book will awaken and challenge faithful Christians and encourage them to stay firm in their faith despite challenges.

“My hope is always that people will see, hear and encounter the person and work of Jesus Christ, and that they will see the powerful implications and applications of the truth of the Gospel in what I write,” he said.

“Ultimately, I hope it will wake up some people who need to be awakened in this moment, that it will encourage some people who need to be encouraged and to be reminded that there are hundreds of prophets who haven't bent the knee to Baal, and that it will bolster and equip those who are willing to stand in the midst of this opposition.”

TRAVEL: 3 CHURCHES TO VISIT IN THE US

BY DENNIS LENNOX

TRAVEL

▲ The Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist, a Roman Catholic cathedral in San Juan, Puerto Rico. | Dennis Lennox

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▲ An interior view of the nave looking toward the high altar at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Spokane, Washington. | Dennis Lennox

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ontrary to popular belief, a passport isn’t required to visit beautiful churches.

There are countless examples of notable church architecture right here in the United States — some of them even rival Europe’s great cathedrals.

Among this columnist’s favorites are the following three churches, which are listed in no particular order.

CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST One of the finest examples of Gothic

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revival anywhere in the U.S. is the Episcopal (Anglican) cathedral in Spokane, Washington.

The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist is what the acclaimed architect Augustus W.N. Pugin called true Gothic.

That’s because, unlike other examples of Gothic revival, the cathedral is constructed entirely of masonry in the same manner as the original medieval edifices that inspired its design.

The pointed arches aren’t merely decorative or stylistic details, which is pretty impressive considering the fact that traditional church architecture was well out of fashion by the time of its construction between 1925 and 1961.

If you go: Visits outside Sunday services are possible during normal weekday business hours. No admission is

charged. Stay at the Hotel Indigo in downtown Spokane.

METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL BASILICA OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST The oldest church in the U.S. is the Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist (Catedral Basílica Metropolitana de San Juan Bautista) in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Roman Catholic cathedral dates to the decades after Christopher Columbus discovered the island in 1493 and Juan

TRAVEL

▲ The oldest part of the Roman Catholic cathedral in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a chapel that dates to the early 16th century. | Dennis Lennox

Ponce de León established the first colony in 1508. Located in what is today San Juan’s touristy but quaint Old Town, it was one of the first buildings erected under Ponce de León. The tomb of the conquistador, who wokists have attempted to cancel, is inside.

The oldest part of the cathedral — it was extensively altered in the 19th century — is the small chapel at the east end. Constructed out of sandstone, this vernacular adaption of medieval Gothic architecture is one of only two examples of period Gothic anywhere on U.S. soil.

If you go: Open daily, self-guided visits to the Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist are free. Book a room at the Palacio Provincial Hotel.

▲ The Sky Chapel at First United Methodist Church in Chicago, Illinois, which claims to be the world’s tallest church. | Dennis Lennox

FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH The Chicago Temple, as it’s unofficially called, has the distinction of being the world’s tallest church, even if it actually consists of two distinct worship spaces.

The first, accessible through the street level, is used by the First United Methodist congregation every day. It consists of a nave in the style of what could be called Art Deco Gothic.

Called the Sky Chapel, the second space is located at the very top of the 23story skyscraper. To visit, one must climb a couple flights of stairs as the building’s elevator doesn’t reach the floor.

Inside, the focal point is the ornate

carved communion table or altar that depicts Jesus weeping over Chicago’s cityscape.

If you go: Tours of the Sky Chapel are offered after the two weekly Sunday services at 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Among the nearby hotels is the iconic Palmer House Hilton.

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