Pride Month is Fading

There’s something different about June 2026.  There are fewer rainbows.  No, I’m not talking about the sign of God’s covenant that appears in the sky after a storm.  I’m talking about the rainbow flag that has become the symbol of Pride Month.

For years, June brought a predictable wave of corporate logos, advertising campaigns, themed merchandise, and public celebrations.  Parents learned to pay closer attention to commercials in family programming, sports fans grew accustomed to Pride-themed uniforms and promotions, and many city streets became venues for often indecent displays at Pride parades.

This year is noticeably different.  The symbols are not gone, but they are far less prominent. It’s premature to say Pride has fallen, but it is fair to say the appeal of Pride Month has faded.

Corporations are rethinking their public affiliation with a cultural agenda that, according to a Gallup poll released last week, is losing support among Americans.  The Obama-Biden era push to promote transgenderism among children, while limiting treatment options to experimental drugs and surgeries, has prompted many Americans to reconsider the movement’s underlying motives.

Increasingly, Americans see Pride parades not merely as expressions of tolerance but as demonstrations of cultural influence reaching into every corner of society.  For many, concerns over gender identity policies involving children became the point at which broader questions about sexuality, marriage, parental rights, and cultural authority converged.  As many warned years ago, the debate was never simply about the right to marry the person one loves; it was also about redefining longstanding social norms, including those governing parent-child relationships.

When schools withheld information from parents about a child’s social gender transition, many families saw the connection between what was happening in the classroom and the broader redefinition of marriage and family.  As a result, public opinion began to shift.

That shift is showing up in the corporate world.  Companies are not only scaling back Pride Month promotions; many are abandoning participation in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.  The 2026 index lost 65% of its Fortune 500 participants.  Whether driven by conviction, consumer pressure, or shareholder concerns, many corporations are recalculating their public association with LGBT activism.

By itself, that would not prove a cultural realignment.  But combined with developments in states across the nation, it suggests something more than a temporary retreat. Republican leaders have moved beyond symbolic resistance to Pride Month and are increasingly advancing proclamations and policies promoting the nuclear family.  Among the arguments they cite is extensive social science showing that, across numerous measures, children do best when raised by their married mother and father.

Here is why I believe this is more than a passing fad: corporate leaders and elected officials are responding to the people.  For several years, parents refused to back down. They attended school board and city council meetings, despite being called domestic terrorists. They opposed policies involving boys in girls’ sports and mixed-sex bathrooms and locker rooms, and in many cases ran for office themselves.  Across the country, they won seats, changed policies, and reshaped local government.

There are fewer rainbows this June.  That alone does not mean the cultural debate is over. But it does suggest that millions of Americans who refused to surrender their convictions are beginning to see the impact of their perseverance.  Parents and patriots are prevailing not through outrage, but through persistence.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

DoW Removes About 180 Belief Systems as Recognized Religions

The Department of War (DoW) recently dropped approximately 180 belief systems from its list of recognized religions for U.S. military personnel, including Wicca and other neo-pagan faiths.

A May 20 memo issued by the Undersecretary of War Elbridge A. Colby and signed by Anthony Tata, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, trimmed the list from 211 faiths to 31, according to Military.com.

The move intends to “streamline the DoW collection of religious preferences for service members to enhance the delivery of targeted religious support from the Chaplaincy,” said the memo, which ordered the revision of the “religious affiliation codes” to go into effect within 60 days.  “The new list will provide chaplains with clear, readily available information that will better enable them to anticipate the religious support needs of service members and to provide religious support activities that align with service members’ personal faith and practices,” the memo added.

Some of the belief systems that have been removed from the list include atheism, which was replaced by a general “no religion” or “agnostic” designation; pagan or Earth-based faiths such as Wicca, Druidism, Heathenism and members of The Troth; New Age beliefs such as Eckankar, Rosicrucianism, shamanism and spiritualism; as well as other alternative belief systems, including Deism, Unitarian Universalism and practitioners of “magick.”

The religions that remain are various denominations of Christianity, Buddhism, Mormonism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and the Baha’i faith.

The directive ultimately came from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who pledged last year to overhaul the military’s Chaplain Corps by refocusing it on religious ministry and eliminating what he called secular influences.  Hegseth announced the initiative in a video message on December 16, 2025, that promised to “make the Chaplain Corps great again” and condemned New Age notions in the “Army Spiritual Fitness Guide” that he ordered eliminated.

Hegseth, an Evangelical whose church is affiliated with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), has repeatedly promised to root out diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and other “woke garbage” from the Pentagon.  He has drawn scrutiny during his tenure as Secretary of War for his use of Christian rhetoric, such as invoking imprecatory psalms against the enemies of the United States, weeks after the U.S.-Israeli attack against Iran.

An anonymous U.S. Army veteran who is ordained as a priest in Wicca and the neo-pagan faiths of Ásatrú and Druidism expressed anger to Military.com about the new list. The individual, who served three tours in Iraq, claimed it “rekindled that anger” they felt upon allegedly being discriminated against by military chaplains 20 years ago for being a self-described pagan.

Mikey Weinstein, who serves as president of the nonprofit Military Religious Freedom Foundation, condemned the reduction of recognized religions as “middle finger to the United States Constitution’s separation of church and state,” according to Military.com.  Weinstein, who has been outspoken in pushing back against what he has characterized as Hegseth’s overtly “Christian nationalist” overtures at the Pentagon, described the latest directive as “another absolute, clear, filthy and disgusting, unconstitutional, immoral and unethical attempt to force only the approved solution, getting closer and closer to Christian nationalism.”

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Why Christian Persecution is Trump’s New Foreign Policy Roadmap

During his first term, President Donald Trump made fighting Christian persecution around the world a foreign policy priority.  In his second term, it has become something more than that.

The complications stemming from this virtuous decision during the first Trump Administration were real.  Relationships with adversaries and allies involved in Christian persecution were strained, and strategies became muddied.

Do you sanction Egypt, a critical partner in a volatile region, over its treatment of Coptic Christians?  Do you let jihadist networks consolidate in Nigeria while you debate religious freedom benchmarks with Abuja?  Do you refuse to engage China over its “Sinicization” of Christianity and targeting of pastors?  A principle that cannot survive in world of realpolitik is a liability.

Whether by design or coincidence, Trump’s second term reflects a more calibrated approach to dealing with this scourge.

The question now is whether Washington can do something harder than either ignoring the issue or championing it: employ it as both a policy indicator and guide.

This is already being tested.  In late 2025, after several attacks on Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, Trump designated the West African nation a Country of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act.  The Administration went as far as ordering strikes on Islamic State targets on Christmas Day.  More recently, the White House counterterrorism strategy listed defending Christians as one of its two main priorities in Africa. Washington also eliminated the Islamic State’s number two in Nigeria, whom Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, “was killing Christians.”  Meanwhile, on his visit to Beijing earlier this month, Trump brought up the case of imprisoned Pastor Ezra Jin.

Washington is no longer seemingly trying to fix Christian persecution wholesale.  It is asking where persecution is happening, who is behind it, and whether those actors threaten American interests.  These are the correct questions, and the answer is almost always the same.

The persecution of Christians abroad is often a concentrated expression of the very forces American foreign policy opposes: jihadism, authoritarianism, lawlessness, and anti-democratic repression.  It’s no coincidence that the policies necessary to stymie Christian persecution often overlap with steps Washington would like to take regarding these same countries and nonstate actors.

The pattern holds across vastly different contexts.

Washington maintains a significant aid relationship with an Egyptian government that has chronically failed to protect Coptic Christians, an estimated 15 to 20 million people, from targeted violence and systematic legal discrimination.  The pattern reflects the same tolerance for extralegal violence and sectarian hierarchy that makes Egypt an unstable and ultimately unreliable partner.  Washington need not rupture the relationship, but measurable progress on Coptic protections, including fast-tracking stalled church construction permits, prosecution of sectarian violence, and working toward legal equality, should be a condition of the aid relationship.  Currently, it is a mere footnote in the Washington-Cairo relationship.

But in Nigeria, the problems Christians face extend beyond organized Islamic terrorist groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province to the Fulani, a largely Muslim West African ethnic group.  Across the Middle Belt, Fulani militant attacks — which are often described as “farmer-herder violence” or “ethnic conflict” — have ravaged Christian communities.  While there is some truth to the farmer-herder dynamics, that language can obscure the religiously charged violence carried out with near-total impunity.

The 2023 Christmas massacres in the north central Plateau State, where Fulani terrorists murdered more than 200 Christians, while reportedly shouting “Allah Akbar, we will destroy all Christians,” should have forced a reckoning with anti-Christian violence. But massacres of Christians on holy days in their places of worship continue.

A government that cannot protect Christian villages from repeated attacks is failing at the basic tasks of governance.  For Washington, which sees Nigeria as a partner in stemming terrorism in West Africa, this is also a strategic problem.  The steps Nigeria must take to stabilize its north and Middle Belt are the same steps required to protect its Christian communities.  Better intelligence cooperation, targeted counterterrorism pressure, security-sector reform, and aid conditioned on measurable results. Washington can pursue all of these goals together, increasing assistance in proportion to Nigeria's proven willingness to protect vulnerable communities.

In China, the Communist Party’s suppression of Christianity is not incidental to its foreign policy posture.  It is an expression of the same logic driving it.  Beijing demolishes crosses, detains pastors, rewrites religious materials, and places churches under supervision.  Beijing fears Christianity so much that it has built a mass surveillance apparatus around containing it. Churchgoers have their identities catalogued by facial recognition cameras placed in churches around China.  These same cameras were originally tested on Uyghurs in Xinjiang who are facing genocide, according to the United States and others.

A regime that cannot tolerate independent churches is unlikely to tolerate independent institutions, civil society, or democratic pluralism anywhere it gains influence.  And, key to American policymakers, Beijing’s fear of Christianity is not irrational.  A faith premised on loyalty to a higher authority than the state is a structural challenge to totalitarian control.

With adversaries, the tools available are different.  Washington should further sanction China’s United Front Work Department (UFWD), an organ of the CCP that leads enforcement of Chinese religious laws, under the Global Magnitsky Act.  Doing so fits into Washington’s broader strategic vision for confronting Beijing.  The U.S. has already sanctioned members of the UFWD for human rights abuses in Xinjiang and espionage in Hong Kong.  Designating officials responsible for Christian persecution would add to Washington’s toolkit in combatting the department Chinese leader Xi Jinping calls his “magic weapon,” and signal that Washington is reading the right foreign policy roadmap.

None of this requires Christian solidarity as a foreign policy posture.  It requires a foreign policy attentive enough to read what Christian persecution is pointing to.

That is the standard against which Trump’s second term should be measured.  Not whether he champions Christians loudly enough, but whether his administration followed the roadmap where it led, asked the right questions of the right governments, and let the answers shape policy.

This approach claims that Christian persecution often reveals where America’s enemies’ priorities lie, where its partners are weakest, and where its policy is least effective.

Whether in Egypt, Nigeria, or China, the persecution of Christians is rarely the whole story. Trump’s first term treated it as a cause that demanded resolution.  His second term is treating it as a roadmap that underpins America’s strategic goals.  Washington ought not to look at Christian persecution as an isolated problem that needs an isolated remedy.  It needs to ask, consistently and seriously, what the presence of persecution tells us about the governments we fund, the partners we arm, and the threats we are not yet naming.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Are We Inventing a Fake God?

Before his passing in 2017, the late theologian R.C. Sproul remarked, “the greatest spiritual need in people’s lives today is to discover the true identity of God.”  Those words are just as convicting today, if not more so, than they were a decade ago.  Though many in our world would never reject God outright, multitudes are content to reinvent Him.

Modern versions of Christianity continue to shrink God to a size that is more manageable to our senses.  We prefer a tame deity who stays in the background. One who shows up when we need Him because He fancies us the center of the universe.  This god is anxious to take his marching orders and eager to remain quiet when we disagree with him.

Isaiah 6 offers a much different picture.  With a vision of the Lord enthroned, untamed, glorious, and burning with holiness (Isaiah 6:1-4), Scripture confronts us with the unrivaled identity of the only true God.  This prophetic picture shatters our sentimental preferences.  The living God far exceeds the watered-down mascot who cheers our every ambition, no matter how misguided.

The background of Isaiah’s glorious image was a season of national uncertainty in Judah. After a reign of more than 50 years, King Uzziah died, leaving a hole inhabited by instability and anxiety (2 Chronicles 26:3).  Yet, when God’s prophet looked toward Heaven, he did not see the Lord panicked or pacing, but reigning from His throne without interruption (Daniel 4:34-35).  History does not rattle Him.  Evil does not overcome Him. The future does not intimidate Him (Isaiah 46:9-10).

Around the throne flew seraphim — angelic servants — who antiphonally sang, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3).  We prefer to speak more casually about the God we serve, eagerly reducing Him to the man upstairs, our life coach, or even worse, our co-pilot.  Yet, Isaiah’s description leaves no room for such frivolities.

The seraphim did not chant, “Love, love, love,” even though God is love (1 John 4:8). Nor did they cry, “Merciful, merciful, merciful,” even though the Lord delights in mercy (Micah 7:18). Instead, they selected the single attribute that most fully captures God’s essence.  Holiness does not stand beside God like one trait in a list of many.  Holiness defines God, along with all the glory and majesty that accompany Him (Leviticus 11:44-45; 1 Samuel 2:2; Psalm 99:3, 5, 9).

Even the repetition matters. The three-fold declaration marked the emphasis that should grip us.  Our God is in a category all His own, without rival or equal.  The scene echoed Sinai, where the mountain quaked and smoke rose like a furnace due to Yahweh’s awesome presence (Exodus 19:18).  The glorious holiness of God is heavy, and none swagger into His presence.

Isaiah certainly did not.

With a confession that cut through every self-illusion of righteousness, he lamented, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!  Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5). Notice that there is no excuse for or dismissal of his sin.  Holiness means that God stands completely separate from wickedness.  Evil cannot corrupt Him.  The darkness of our transgressions has no fellowship with the light of His purity. We cannot celebrate our sins and embrace God at the same time.

Tragically, our contemporary efforts to rush toward God’s love with no mention of His holiness forfeit the very grace we desperately need.  Yet, the greatest testimony of God’s compassion for sinners is not His affirmation of our waywardness, but His transformation of our lives. Though we were formerly dead in our trespasses, walking according to the course of this world, God has made us alive together with Jesus (Ephesians 2:1-5). Christ did not die to save us from nothing, but to rescue us from our vile disobedience.

In his humility, Isaiah experienced what countless Christ followers would later find out for themselves.  When one of the seraphim took a burning coal from the altar and touched the prophet’s lips, his iniquity was taken away (Isaiah 6:6-7).  Therein is a picture of the same Gospel Christians preach today.

Notice that God took the initiative.  The coal came from a place of sacrifice where the consuming fire of God cleanses our shame (Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29).  The Lord does not negotiate with sin; He destroys it.  Thus, God transferred Isaiah’s guilt to the offering, satisfying His holy wrath.  Simultaneously, God covered His servant with grace and forgiveness.

The same mercy is available to us through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus.  He was pierced through for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, as God transferred our guilt upon Him (Isaiah 53:5-6).  Through His scourging we find healing and by means of His chastening He purchased our well-being (Isaiah 53:5). Christ became sin for us, not because the Lord was eager to embrace our rebellion, but so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).  God loves us enough to send His only begotten Son, not to wink at our sin, but to do something about it (John 3:16).

How holy is our God?  So much so that He put His Son to death to save sinners like you and me.  Our world does not lack opinions about God.  What is missing, though, is reverence (Romans 3:18).  Many laugh at the idea of holiness.  Others rewrite reality altogether (Isaiah 5:20).  Far too many demand affirmation, then punish dissent. Thankfully, our God does not take cues from this fallen age.  He reigns from His throne in strength and power, knowing that He will have the last word (Psalm 2:1–4).

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Franklin Graham Blasts Talarico for Claiming “Bible is Silent” on Abortion

Evangelist and Samaritan’s Purse CEO Franklin Graham joined a chorus of Christians who pushed back against U.S. Senate candidate and Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico for recently claiming “the Bible is silent” on the morality of abortion.

Talarico, who will be facing off against Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the state’s U.S. Senate race this November, went viral earlier this week for claiming during an interview with podcaster and former L’Oréal CEO Jamie Kern Lima that his Christian faith leads him to believe the government should stay out of legislating against abortion.

“I trust Texas women to make decisions about their own bodies, to shape their own destinies in consultation with their family members, their doctors, their faith leaders.  I don’t believe that’s a place for government.  I don’t believe it’s a place for politicians.  I don’t believe it’s a place for the state.  And that’s a belief I hold not despite my faith, but because of my faith,” said Talarico, who has studied at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with the mainline Presbyterian Church (USA).

“Jesus never talks about abortion.  The Bible is silent on abortion.  And when that happens with a social issue as important as abortion, we Christians have to take Scripture as a whole. And we’ve got to try to make some kind of ethical determination,” he continued, adding that Texas’ abortion ban prohibits victims of rape and incest from getting an abortion.

Graham was among the many who responded by rebuking Talarico’s assertion that the Bible has nothing to say on the issue of killing the unborn.  “Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico couldn’t be more wrong!  The Bible is not silent on abortion as he claims — that’s an absolute lie.  God commands us, ‘You shall not murder’ (Exodus 20:13).  Abortion is taking a life — it is murder,” he wrote in a Wednesday social media post.  “The Word of God tells us we are created in the image of God and consistently underscores the value of human life.  Jeremiah 1:5 says, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart...’  In 2021, this same Democratic candidate opposed a bill to ban men from women’s sports, saying that ‘God is non-binary.’  Don’t be deceived by wicked politicians spouting lies like this,” Graham added.

Other Christians echoed Graham’s take, including Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, who accused Talarico of trying “to hide behind Jesus to defend abortion.”

“‘The Bible is silent,’ he says.  Yeah, that’s not how this works.  The Bible is explicit.  God didn’t stutter when He commanded us not to kill innocent humans.  Scripture makes it completely clear how He feels about preborn babies, explicitly stating that He knit us together in the womb and knew us before we were even born,” Hawkins wrote.  “The spiritual gaslighting here is unreal.  You can twist the words all you want, but the Bible isn’t silent about killing innocent humans who are all created in the image of God.  And, [Talarico], you will be held responsible for this perversion of the Gospel,” she continued, adding that Jesus offered an especially severe warning against those who sin against children.

Broadcaster Glenn Beck, who is a Mormon and not a Christian, laughed at Talarico’s implication that Jesus had no opinion on abortion and warned the lawmaker is “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” in a Wednesday X post.

In the accompanying video from his show, Beck cited multiple Bible verses that suggest an unborn baby is a human being, while noting that sexual immorality and child sacrifice were presented as the evil rites of Baal worship that God detested in the Old Testament.

Beck also warned Texas Republicans against dismissing Talarico and his political potential in a Democratic Party he claimed has become “radical” and wants to flip the populous state.  “I won’t be surprised if the Democrats turn his campaign into Beto-level funding on steroids.  The Democrats know the stakes in Texas.  And now, they have to convince Texans that a radical leftist who believes abortion is Christian is a moderate. Texans CANNOT relax after Paxton’s victory.  Stand up.  Get out there and vote.  We CANNOT let Texas flip into the hands of radicals,” he said.

Since winning the Democratic U.S. Senate primary in March against Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, Talarico has drawn intense scrutiny for his liberal theological assertions, which he has repeatedly defended by claiming Jesus is not on record explicitly prohibiting certain behaviors such as abortion or homosexuality.

Robert Gagnon, who serves as visiting scholar at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Ridgeland, Mississippi, dismissed such a tactic as “juvenile hermeneutics” in a lengthy X post in March. He noted that “the Bible doesn’t mention every issue in society,” but that its position on issues such as abortion can easily be inferred from both Testaments and the unified witness of early Christian texts.

Christian satire site The Babylon Bee mocked Talarico’s hermeneutical approach with a Wednesday headline that read: “‘Jesus Never Said You Can’t Do This!’  Shouts James Talarico While Dropkicking Labradoodle.”

Graham’s mention of Talarico claiming God is non-binary was a reference to a speech Talarico delivered in 2021 on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives in opposition to a state bill requiring students to play on sports teams that align with their biology.

Talarico claimed the law would drive trans-identifying children to suicide before asserting that “God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between; God is non-binary,” which some have pointed out is a Gnostic concept.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Thousands of Churches Promote Immigration Lawlessness

“Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.  For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people” (1 Peter 2:13).

That is an explicit command from the Apostle Peter to Christians to live in submission and obedience to local and national governing authorities.  It is not to be taken as a suggestion but as a rule.

And the reason, as Peter notes in the proceeding verse, is to be a witness to the unbelieving world that “they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

Christians are to be known not only as a loving people but as a holy people who share the message of the Gospel — salvation through Jesus Christ — with everyone.  And the Bible is clear that everyone includes both friend and foe.

Sharing the good news of the Gospel is the church’s primary mission.  It’s not societal transformation or the construction of some form of heaven on earth.  Christians recognize that they are ambassadors representing Christ’s kingdom and his coming reign.

Unfortunately, a corrupt human-centric worldliness has infected and taken over a significant number of American churches, and in so doing has turned Christianity on its head.  This liberal “Christianity” has usurped biblical fidelity, replacing it with a leftist social ideology promulgated under the guise of the Christian commitment to love and do justice.

American Christian theologian and apologist J. Gresham Machen identified this liberal Christianity as not being genuinely Christian at all, but rather an entirely new religion. Machen wrote that liberal Christianity “seeks to spread the blessings of Christian civilization (whatever that may be), and [is] not particularly interested in leading individuals to relinquish their pagan beliefs.”

To put it more bluntly, liberal Christianity has rejected and replaced the worship of God with the worship of man.

This is how our nation ends up with thousands of churches deluded into declaring themselves “sanctuaries” against immigration enforcement.  It seems that they misunderstand the word “sanctuary.”

Some 5,320 churches across the country have designated themselves as places where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are not allowed.  Among these churches are the American Baptist Churches USA, the Alliance of Baptists, and the Metropolitan Community Churches.  Ironically, some of these churches have sought legal protection for illegal aliens.  How about that for a twisted sense of justice — using the legal code in an effort to protect lawbreakers?

Practically, when it comes to immigration enforcement operations, ICE doesn’t target churches.  Instead, as the Center for Immigration Studies’ Jessica Vaughan notes, “Most of their work is done in jails or in carefully planned fugitive operations.  They’re not patrolling the streets or looking to arrest people on their way to church or who are attending church.”

The only reason ICE may show up on church property would be in pursuit of an individual previously identified as a criminal alien.  In other words, ICE agents don’t stake out churches hoping to round up some illegals who may show up there.

Given this reality, why would so many churches advertise themselves as “sanctuaries” for illegals?

Simply put, it’s a virtue signal aimed at their congregations.  Vaughan observes, “They want to signal that they’re trying to protect people in their congregations, but more than likely those are not going to be people that ICE is chasing.”

They have also used their sanctuary declaration to explain dwindling rolls, claiming that fear of ICE has led to fewer people showing up in the pews.

As noted above, Christians are called to obey the governmental authorities that God, by His providence, has placed over them.  The only time Christians are justified and even duty-bound to disobey such authorities is when they are explicitly directing people to disobey God’s moral law.

There is no scriptural prohibition against nation-states and borders.  There is nothing in Scripture that declares that people are free to move and live anywhere and in any country of their choosing without hindrance or process.  Freedom to abide anywhere one desires is not a God-given right.

Furthermore, the U.S. does provide a means for foreigners to legally visit, reside, and even immigrate.  Those who refuse to follow our nation’s laws do not get a pass legally because someone feels sorry for them.  We may sympathize with the hungry thief who steals a bag of chips to satiate his hunger, but that does not justify his breaking the law.

Similarly, the person who illegally enters and resides in the U.S. is not justified simply because he is seeking a better life.

Scripture teaches that law and order matter.  Christians should be people who are fastidious about following the law while also having a spirit that’s quick to forgive.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The Abduction and Forced Marriage of Christian Girls in Pakistan

Each year in Pakistan, roughly 1,000 young girls — many of whom are Christians — are kidnapped from their homes.  These girls are often found months later, after they’ve been forced to convert to Islam and marry older Muslim men.  When a girl’s parents attempt to claim their daughter in court, they are often unable to provide a birth certificate to prove that she is underage.  As a result, the judge often grants the man custody of the girl, denying the parents any chance of seeing their daughter again.

While this reality is nothing new in Pakistan, stories of girls in these situations are increasingly coming to light.  International Christian Concern (ICC) is helping Christian girls and their families escape these scenarios, providing safe shelter, legal support, and the care they need to break the cycle.

Below are the stories of five Christian girls whose lives have been upended and threatened because of their society’s acceptance of child brides.

Adan Sabir

After Sabir rejected his marriage proposal, Usman Ali kidnapped her at gunpoint on July 3, 2025.  When her parents challenged him in court, Ali presented a forged marriage certificate, claiming Sabir had converted to Islam and married him of her own free will.  Although the judge allowed Ali to take Sabir home, Sabir’s family continued fighting. They appealed to the Lahore High Court in September 2025.  After examining evidence of threats and coercion, the court ordered Ali to return Sabir to her family.

Earlier this year, Sabir got engaged to a Christian man.  When Ali learned of her engagement, he fired gunshots at her family’s home on April 20.  Since then, her family has moved from place to place every few days to survive.

Maria Shahbaz

In July 2025, Shahbaz was kidnapped from her home, forced to convert to Islam, and married against her will.  After her parents fought tirelessly to bring her back, a judge ruled against them.  On March 25, 2026, Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court declared that Shahbaz was of “mature age” and could legally remain with the 40-year-old man accused of abducting her. The court validated her conversion and ruled that the marriage was governed by Islamic law.

Shahbaz’s father told the court she was about 13 years old at the time of her abduction and presented documents to prove it.  Judges deemed the records unreliable, saying her appearance suggested she was older.

Farah Shaheen

Six months after 12-year-old Shaheen was taken from her Christian family in Faisalabad, Pakistan, authorities found her chained and confined to a cattle pen at the home of a 45-year-old Muslim man.  The man, Khizar Ahmad Ali, forced Shaheen to convert to Islam and marry him against her will.  When authorities found her on December 5, 2020, she had bruises and other marks on her body.  “Her ankles and feet were wounded,” Lala Robin Daniel, a local activist, told the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN).  “They were bandaged at the police station.  She was in trauma and couldn’t talk about the torture.”

Shaheen later testified in court, likely out of fear, that she had converted to Islam and married Ali of her own free will.  Her parents feared the court would grant Ali custody of their daughter. In February 2021, following an eight-month legal battle, a court ordered Shaheen to be returned to her family.

Huma Younus

On October 10, 2019, then-14-year-old Huma Younus was abducted from her home in Karachi while her parents were away.  She was forced to convert to Islam and coerced into marrying her captor, Abdul Jabbar.  Despite her family’s desperate attempts to seek justice, the courts disregarded her suffering.  Younus’ parents, devout Christians, filed a police report challenging the legitimacy of her abduction, forced conversion, and marriage.  They presented school and baptismal records proving that she was only 14 years old at the time, far below the legal age for marriage under Pakistan’s Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act of 2013.  ICC hosted a #JusticeforHuma petition that garnered more than 3,000 signatures, calling on Pakistan to return Younus home to her parents. Despite the outcry, the Sindh High Court shockingly ruled that since Younus had already had her first menstrual cycle, her marriage was valid under Sharia law.

Laiba Masih

Masih, a 10-year-old girl from Faisalabad, was abducted by a 40-year-old man practicing polygamy with three wives.  Eventually, he gave her to another man named Shoukat Shah. Laiba’s parents tirelessly searched for her and eventually found her with Shah. They approached him and asked him to return their daughter.  Shah declined, arguing that he had converted Masih to Islam; therefore, she could not be returned to her Christian parents. Christian activists publicly expressed their dismay and assisted the family in filing a complaint against Shah.

While they were able to prove that Masih was underage, Masih insisted in 2024 that she would remain with her Muslim husband.  “We wept uncontrollably,” Masih’s mother, Balqees Bibi, told the British Asian Christian Association.  “There are no words to describe the agony. It was as if we had been told our daughter had been violated and murdered.”

Stories like these are all too common in Pakistan.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

What is Pentecost?

The Day of Pentecost is a holiday celebrated 50 days after Easter by many Christians around the world.  This year, the date was yesterday (May 24, 2026).  This day serves as a reminder to reflect upon the remarkable acts of God that followed the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus and the mission we carry — events we read about in the book of Acts.

Acts 2 begins with the disciples celebrating what they must have anticipated to be a normal Pentecost, their Jewish festival.  A special day to be sure, perhaps like our Christmas or Easter, but they could never have imagined what would unfold on this particular Pentecost.

For many of us in the church, we hear about Pentecost in relation to Acts 2, but it is first mentioned in Exodus 23:16 and explained in Leviticus 23:9-14.  In the Old Testament, Pentecost is known as the Festival of Harvest or the Festival of Weeks.  The Jews celebrated Pentecost 50 days after Passover to commemorate God’s provision for His people.  Its observance is tied to God’s rich agricultural blessings as well as His giving the law to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  These details highlight the intentionality and significance of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the day of Pentecost — God is in the details.

Since the Holy Spirit is the One who equips God’s people for His service, a clear filling of the Spirit was vital at the start of this new era in Christian history.  This extraordinary event starts out with the disciples gathered in the most ordinary of spaces.  They were together in a house. We might have expected them to be in the temple, the place of gathering and worship for God’s people at that time.  The fact that God met them in a house instead marks a seismic shift in God’s relationship with His people.  God’s presence among His people would no longer be only at the temple.  Because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, when God’s people are gathered, a mere house can turn into a holy sanctuary.

Imagine the scene.  As the disciples were gathered (most likely this was the 120 who were together when Matthias was chosen, Acts 1:15), the rushing sound of wind roared through, and tongues like fire rested on each worshipper.  Both wind and fire are important symbols in Scripture.  Wind often represents the Spirit’s presence, while fire indicates the Lord’s holiness, cleansing and judgment (2 Samuel 22:16; Exodus 3:2; Luke 3:16).  The disciples were swept up in this holy phenomenon, filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in other languages.

Meanwhile, the visiting worshippers in Jerusalem suddenly heard this large group of Galileans praising God.  The astounding part is that each heard the outpouring of praise in his or her own language or vernacular.  How could this be?  Questions arise. Confusion abounds. Some are drawn in, while others turn away.  In the midst of this supernatural event, Peter stood up and delivered a clear explanation.

Peter explained this was all a fulfillment of the prophet Joel (Acts 2:17-21; Joel 2:28-32). Up to this point, God’s Spirit was typically given to prophets, priests and kings and on a very limited basis.  Now, all people — men and women, young and old, slave and free — can receive the permanent power of the Spirit through belief in the Person and work of Jesus Christ.  Moses’s words were inspired when he cried, “If only all the LORD’s people were prophets and the LORD would place his Spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29).  Neither gender, age nor social class could prevent a person made in God’s image from being filled with His Spirit.

The initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit was a confusing event for the Jews who were present that day, which is why Peter began his explanation with a passage from the prophet Joel. Peter aimed to demonstrate from their very Scriptures that what they were witnessing was indeed part of God’s plan all along.  But Peter wouldn’t stop in the Old Testament.  He would continue to draw his listeners forward to the work of Jesus, the dividing line between those with the Spirit and those without.  

One of the goals of Peter’s sermon was to help his listeners understand the connection between Jesus’s resurrection and ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Peter argued that when David wrote in Psalm 16 about his body never decaying nor being abandoned by God, he was prophesying about Jesus, the Messiah (2:22-28).  That God had made the crucified Christ both Lord and Messiah was the most significant news the Jewish community could hear.  The extraordinary event at Pentecost testified to God’s presence in and among the disciples, but it also equipped them to carry on Jesus’s work and ministry.  It revealed and empowered.  The Spirit’s presence has the same impact on our lives today.  The Spirit testifies to God’s presence with us and helps us know Him more, and the Spirit fills and empowers us with what we need to carry out His work in our lives.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit came upon all kinds of people, an event the prophet Joel foretold.  There is no way to overhype this moment in history.  Men and women, young and old, rich and poor could all partake of the Spirit of the living God in such a way that they were said to be filled by Him.  This is possible because of Jesus’s death, resurrection and ascension.  As the vindicated Lord, Jesus poured out His Spirit on those who bore witness to Him.

This moment in history precipitated the gift of the Spirit we get to experience today — together.  Each day, take the time to ask the Spirit to fill you with a greater awareness of Himself.  Ask Him to make you more aware of His activity.  Be on the lookout for Him. What an exciting time to be alive.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

‘American Idol’ Winner’s ‘String Cheese’ Song is the Pro-Family Anthem We Need

An unassuming 25-year-old stay-at-home mom from rural Missouri was crowned the winner of American Idol last the weekend.  She didn’t win with a power ballad or a showstopper cover. She won with a song about reheating her coffee for the third time. About Hot Wheels on the floor.  About postpartum depression — and the small hand that reached up from the couch and asked, “Mama, can you open my string cheese?”

Hannah Harper is an overnight household name.  “String Cheese” has now been viewed more than 120 million times as her “ordinary” lyrics moved judge Carrie Underwood to tears. Country legends, famous actresses and exhausted moms alike flooded social media to say the same thing: this song is my life.

The vocation Harper is singing about — faithful, exhausted, purposeful motherhood, sustained by a husband who sacrifices, a faith that anchors, and a community that shows up — is so much of what God designed family life to look like.  And yet millions of people heard it and wept because it felt like a dispatch from a world they’re not sure exists anymore. 

They’re not wrong to wonder.  Many opinion elites flat-out reject Harper’s life choices. They encourage a “me-first” approach to life and tell you that being married in your early to mid-20s is foolish.  This mindset proposes to our young people that the real path to happiness is staying single as a young adult while rejecting the sacrificial love of marriage and parenthood. Your 20s are really for careers, cubicle farms, nightclubs and weekend brunches.

Professor Brad Wilcox’s research and writing provide powerful pushback, showing instead that the happiest people in America reject this “wisdom” and pursue the meaningful love of marriage and parenthood.  Now, Harper has given us a powerful anthem championing Wilcox’s case through the clever storytelling of a song written from both the feelings of physical fatigue and life-giving love.

It’s an apologetic America badly needs.

According to the latest American Community Survey, the age of first marriage now stands at 30.  People are not only getting married later, but so many today will never marry.  The Institute for Family Studies estimates that one in three young adults today will never marry by age 45.  This drives shorter life spans and epidemics of loneliness and mental illness.

It robs many women of the deep joys Harper sings about.  This young mom grew up singing bluegrass gospel in small Missouri churches.  Her musical foundation was formed not in performance, but in connection — in the kind of community where people show up for each other.  “It truly does take a village,” she said after her win.  “If it wasn't for the village, it wouldn't have ever happened.”

The village in Harper’s case is the family of families — the small town and the local church.

“String Cheese” isn’t just a song about one mom’s hard season.  It’s a cultural cry for the place that was once commonplace but today only exists in hidden pockets of American life.  This village is the web of relationships, mentorship, and shared faith.  That village has been slowly displaced: by screens, by a rejection of sacrificial love, by the quiet erosion of institutions built to hold it all together.  The local church is the one institution with both the mandate and the relational infrastructure to rebuild it.

And I’m seeing it come back in both small and large ways.

Asked about her plans going forward, she didn't talk about record deals or tour dates first. "Every stage I step on is another ministry opportunity,” she said. “And it will always be like that for me.”

The hunger for what she’s singing about is real.  The longing for the meaning that comes from family, from vocation, from a love that costs something and means everything.

While others have attacked, it’s not going away.  Harper reminds us that God has hardwired us for this sort of love, which we are now seeing on unexpected stages, reaching people who haven’t set foot in a church for years.

The question for every pastor and church leader watching this cultural moment is simple: when young people begin pursuing the meaning that comes from this sacrificial love — the love of married life — will you be ready for it?

This is exactly what the Church was built for.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

3 Unhelpful Responses to False Prophecy

The Church at large is reeling from more and more exposure of sin in the lives of its leaders, whose greed, sexual immorality, abusive behavior, and lust for attention have left many weary and wary.

In the charismatic world, the list of problems includes failed “prophecies” from those claiming to speak for God.  It’s no wonder that even many continuationists have become gun-shy about the supernatural.  To be clear, by “continuationists” (more commonly, charismatics), means those who believe the Holy Spirit still distributes spiritual gifts today, including supernatural gifts like prophecy.  People who believe the Holy Spirit ceased distributing spiritual gifts after the apostolic age are called cessationists.

Scripture takes these issues seriously.  Jesus warns of false prophets (Matthew 24:11, 24), as does John (1 John 4:1).  Likewise, Peter and Paul warn of false teachers, prophets, and apostles (2 Corinthians 11:13; 2 Peter 2:1), and all their warnings are relevant for this moment.

With that said, the pendulum has swung too far the other way when it comes to the operation of supernatural spiritual gifts, especially prophecy.

Amid the fallout from the scandals and frustration, overcorrecting responses are reemerging regarding false prophecy, and they all fail to consider the whole counsel of Scripture.  The three that follow are typical.

1. “A failed prophecy is proof of a false prophet.”

Deuteronomy 18:18-22 speaks of this.  For brevity, here’s verse 22: “When a prophet speaks in the LORD’s name, and the message does not come true or is not fulfilled, that is a message the LORD has not spoken.  The prophet has spoken it presumptuously.”

While it is true that one way to spot a false prophet is when their words do not come to pass, before we grab an isolated Pentateuch passage to deal with false prophecy, we must consider the major differences between the first covenant and the new one.

In the Old Testament, prophecy focused on sin, God’s holiness, and the people’s need to return to covenantal faithfulness.  The Spirit came upon specific individuals at specific times to prophesy warnings, usually to kings, as well as promises of future blessings like messianic promises.  God’s people lived under the law and were required to obey His prophets.

In the New Testament, the focus is on grace and mercy.  The Spirit indwells every believer all the time.  The emphasis of prophecy is the regular building up of God’s people.  Believers are no longer under the law.  We are to evaluate prophecy as a community.

Huge differences exist between the Old Testament and New Testament covenants, and that extends to the nature of prophecy.

Nowhere in the New Testament do we find believers in Christ labeled as false prophets, nor do we find any punishment for inaccurate prophecy.  The term “false prophet” refers to unregenerate people who deny the incarnation and the basic teachings of the faith.

Thus, we must hold two truths in tension:

1. Beware of false prophets, who seem like real Christians.

2. Sincere believers who prophesy amiss aren’t false prophets.

How do we manage this tension?  By testing all prophetic utterances before receiving them.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 admonishes: “Don’t stifle the Spirit.  Don’t despise prophecies but test all things.  Hold on to what is good.  Stay away from every kind of evil.”

This is the Scriptural antidote to prophetic abuse — not shutting down prophecy altogether.

Sadly, many Christians treat those who prophesy today like Old Testament prophets and never question their prophecies.  This results in confusion, pain, and even loss of faith.

2. “The Bible says false prophets should be executed.”

This is taken from Deuteronomy 13:1-5.  Verses 1-3a, 5 read: “If a prophet or someone who has dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you, and that sign or wonder he has promised you comes about, but he says, ‘Let’s follow other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let’s worship them,’ do not listen to that prophet’s words or to that dreamer ... That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has urged rebellion against the LORD your God … You must purge the evil from you.”

Sometimes, Old Testament false prophets prophesied accurately, but their motive was still to incite God’s people into rebellion.  Their most egregious sin was not inaccuracy, but seducing others into idolatry.  Negative character traits of false prophets included corruption, adultery, deceitfulness, greed, and many more (Jeremiah 23:11, 14; 14:13-16; Micah 3:11).

Idolatry is offensive to a holy God.  Character, not charisma, is the fruit to evaluate in the lives of those claiming to speak for God.

These truths are timeless.  However, the punishment prescribed in Deuteronomy is part of Mosaic law.  It was not used in New Testament church life, nor should we imply it is the “biblical mandate” for dealing with false prophets today.

3. “Prophecy still happens, but it shouldn’t be considered normative.”

This one is for my fellow continuationists: For Paul, there’s no such thing as a church without spiritual gifts in operation.

Concerning prophecy, he writes, “Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy ... the person who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation … the one who prophesies builds up the church” (1 Corinthians 14:1, 3).  Of all the spiritual gifts, prophecy is arguably the most important.  It is the most mentioned, explained, and promoted of the gifts; it edifies the whole church, reveals God’s will, and is the most used by the Spirit and connected with Jesus.  Prophecy helps believers endure hardship.  It offers specific direction and guidance beyond (but not in conflict with) Scripture.  It lets people know God sees them.

Why, then, should prophecy not be considered normative?

Do Christians no longer need strength, encouragement, or comfort?  Do we not need clarity when making decisions today?  Are we somehow better off only hearing from God through one another rarely, not regularly?

To put it another way, if prophecy should not be considered normative, should mercy or teaching or generosity also not be considered “normative?” (see Romans 12:4-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:7-11)

We can’t arbitrarily divide the gifts when the text does not do so.

Prophecy is a normal part of a healthy Christian life.  Yes, it’s powerful and must be handled carefully, but not by marginalizing the gift or applying Old Testament consequences to false prophets.

Rather, as believers living in the new covenant, we must take responsibility for testing prophecy — in community, with wisdom and discernment, no matter who the prophet claims to be.

Church, it’s well past time for us to get this right.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Pastor Jeffress Says Trump Knows Biblical View of Gov’t Better Than the Pope

Last week, Pastor Robert Jeffress said President Donald Trump has a better grasp of what the Bible teaches about government than Pope Leo XIV, specifically on the question of military action against Iran, entering a public dispute that has already seen Trump call the pontiff weak on crime and foreign policy.  The senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas, TX, made the comments on “Fox News Live,” two days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with the pope at the Vatican.

While he called Leo a “good man” and said the pontiff was “sincere in his faith,” Jeffress said the pope was “sincerely wrong when it comes to Iran,” according to a video clip he shared on X.  “It looks like President Trump has a better understanding of what the Bible teaches than the pope,” Jeffress added.

He noted that God created government for a distinct purpose from the church, citing Romans 13. “The role of government is to protect citizens from evildoers,” he said.

Jeffress said he was present in the Oval Office three days after the conflict with Iran began, alongside Trump and other faith leaders, and that Trump told the group Iran had been weeks away from having nuclear weapons capable of destroying Israel and threatening the United States.

Tensions between Trump and the pope preceded Jeffress’ comments.

After Leo urged prayers for peace in the Iran conflict, Trump called the pontiff “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” in a Truth Social post.  Trump also expressed a preference for the pope’s brother, Louis Prevost, describing him as “all MAGA” and noting that Prevost had visited the White House the previous year.

Leo addressed Trump’s criticism directly while speaking to NBC News on a flight to Algeria.  “I have no fear of either the Trump Administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel,” the pope said.  He added that the Catholic Church wasn’t trying to make foreign policy and that he didn’t see his role as political.

In a subsequent Truth Social post, Trump said he didn’t want a pope who thought it was acceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, or one who criticized American military action against Venezuela.  He also claimed that Leo had been selected by the Catholic Church solely because he was American, and that the Vatican had calculated this would be the best way to manage his presidency.  “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” Trump wrote.

Leo denied Trump’s claim that the Vatican supported Iran’s nuclear ambitions and said the Catholic Church’s mission was to preach peace and oppose all nuclear weapons.

Trump also criticized Leo for meeting with David Axelrod, a Democratic political consultant and former senior adviser to President Barack Obama and called on the pope to “get his act together” and “stop catering to the Radical Left.”

Jeffress is a long-standing Trump supporter.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

1620 vs. 1619: Why the Mayflower Compact is America’s Real Founding Date

As we, as a country, celebrate our 250th birthday this year, we also celebrate the 406th anniversary of the Mayflower Compact, originally signed aboard the Mayflower on November 21, 1620, before the passengers disembarked to begin their new settlement, New Plymouth, in what is now Massachusetts.

It was originally called “Agreement Between the Settlers at New Plymouth.”  This was the first attempt at self-government in the English-speaking New World, and it was done by Pilgrims who were refugees from severe religious persecution under King James I in England.

These were freeborn Englishmen who arrived while escaping religious persecution, and they set up self-government in the Western World.  These refugees from religious persecution set out consciously to have what President Abraham Lincoln would later call “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”  This is a far better founding date for the experiment in self-government that became America than the preposterous New York Times’ “1619 Project” date.

These were freeborn Englishmen who arrived in the New World seeking to escape religious persecution and set up self-government, a government in which they elected their own representatives and were responsible to each other.  This is our priceless heritage of self-government and freedom of religion.

I suspect that those Pilgrims who had braved the North Atlantic in the middle of the stormy gale season to arrive on shores they had never seen before and begin to carve out a new nation on a new continent would say to us, the recipients of this priceless heritage, “Embrace this freedom, exercise it, and zealously protect it!”

And when the government tells you to “cease and desist,” reply, “We are Americans!  We are free men who will worship or not worship how we please.”

When the Pilgrims arrived on the shores of what is now Massachusetts, some passengers who were not religious said they would not abide by others’ authority once they landed.  So, before they disembarked, the Pilgrims drafted and signed the Mayflower Compact, and all the adult males aboard the Mayflower agreed to abide by the laws enacted under the Compact. The Pilgrims who composed and signed this document were Separatists in England, which meant they had already jettisoned a thousand-year unity of church and state in Western civilization.  They believed the church was a visible, separate body of saints, a local congregation of those who had professed belief in Jesus as their Savior, as opposed to the medieval parish church concept that had dominated Europe.  So, the Mayflower Compact inaugurated a secular, civic government, which protected religious freedom far more than the parish church concept.

There is a direct line of descent from the Mayflower Compact to the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.  The Mayflower Compact is indeed the American Magna Carta.  Future President Calvin Coolidge, while he was governor of Massachusetts, made the following statement about the Mayflower Compact:

“The compact which they signed was an event of the greatest importance.  It was the foundation of liberty based on law and order, and that tradition has been steadily upheld.  They drew up a form of government which has been designated as the first real constitution of modern times.  It was democratic, an acknowledgment of liberty under law and order and the giving to each person the right to participate in the government, while they promised to be obedient to the laws.”

As we celebrate our 250th birthday, let us always remember that it was the rich tradition our forefathers inherited that enabled them to declare their “independence” as “freeborn Englishmen.”

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel