What’s Next … If SCOTUS Rules to Re-Define Marriage?

How should the God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians respond if the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) rules to re-define marriage in June?  What do we do if same-sex 'marriage' becomes the law of the land?

We must respond just as we did when Roe v. Wade legalized abortion-on-demand in 1973 – devoting ourselves (all the more) to stand for what is right and to be agents to right the wrong.

If you are reluctant to respond in this way, let me ask you the reverse: What would gay activists do if, quite unexpectedly, the SCOTUS rules against same-sex 'marriage' … even invalidating all same-sex ceremonies performed to date?  Do you think gay activists would throw in the towel?  Do you think they would say, “Hey, we gave it our best shot, but the law is the law”?  Not a chance.  A ruling like that would energize them all the more.

Why should it be any different for those of us who embrace God’s Word as the absolute authority in all things?

The idea that we are swimming against the inevitable tide of history is completely ludicrous.  Listen: It is gay activists and their allies who are swimming against the tide of history – more than five millennia of history – while we who are on the side of God’s definition of marriage as between one man and one woman are simply standing our ground against the newest social experiment (a recent innovation of barely 15-years worldwide).

More importantly, we do not abandon our convictions simply because we have a series of setbacks … however serious those setbacks may be.  We do what is right because it is right, not because it is successful.  We do what is right because of our sacred obligation to God and to the next generation … regardless of the opposition we encounter.

In this regard, we can learn much from the pro-life movement, which suffered a crushing blow when the SCOTUS legalized abortion in 1973.  How fractured was the movement at that time?  How discouraged were the leaders?  How bleak was the outlook?  And in the aftermath of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, how certain did the embrace of abortion seem to be?  History was apparently on the side of the pro-abortion side.  Not so!  More than 40-years later, despite the agonizing loss of more than 56-million babies, the pro-life movement is more vibrant than ever … with more and more young people joining the cause.  Who would have imagined?

Abortion clinics continue to close at unprecedented rates; laws continue to be passed to protect the unborn; and the abortion practitioners continue to be unpopular in the medical field.  And while there is a tremendous amount of work that remains to be done, it is the pro-abortion camp that is concerned about how the SCOTUS might one day rule … should the right case come before the court again.

For the moment, given the SCOTUS’ recent ruling on gay ‘marriage’ in Alabama … underscored by the dissenting opinion of Justice Clarence Thomas … it seems to indicate that the justices are postured to make homosexual ‘marriage’ the law of the land in June.  While we may expect the worst, let us pray and work for the best … recognizing that this is just one battle in a multi-generational war.  The greater the opposition, the greater need be our resolve.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Court Victory for Christian’s Non-Compliance with Abortion Mandate

Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge John E. Steele issued an order halting enforcement of the HHS Abortion Pill Mandate against six Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) ministries that would otherwise be forced to assist the federal government’s provision of abortion-inducing drugs and devices.

Liberty Institute and volunteer attorneys Christopher A. Roach and Stephanie M. Martin represent four retirement community ministries of the CMA and two of its affiliated colleges.  The ruling provides these ministries relief from the federal government’s Abortion Pill Mandate that requires even CMA church-affiliated ministries to facilitate insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs and devices.

“Today’s ruling reaffirms our government’s responsibility to never force any religious ministry to violate the very faith that motivates their ministry,” said Matthew Kacsmaryk, Liberty Institute’s Deputy General Counsel.  “This is an important victory for CMA ministries dedicated to protecting innocent human life from conception to natural death and training Christian students for lives of service.  Under the Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the federal government may not force these ministries to abandon the sincerely held religious beliefs that motivate their service to God and man.”

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

God Remains in the Pledge Despite Atheist Attempts to Remove

Samantha Jones, a high school student in New Jersey, successfully protected the right of all her fellow students to continue reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in its entirety.  After hearing Samantha and her family’s case for the words “one nation under God,” a state judge has decided to dismiss the American Humanist Association’s (AHA) latest effort to take “under God” out of the Pledge.

“I’m so grateful the court decided that kids like me shouldn’t be silenced just because some people object to timeless American values,” said Samantha – a senior at Highland Regional High School.  “Ever since I was little, I’ve recited the Pledge of Allegiance because it sums up the values that make our country great.  The phrase ‘under God’ protects all Americans — including atheists — because it reminds the government that it can’t take away basic human rights because it didn’t create them.”

This is the second time a state court has stopped the AHA from outlawing the federal Pledge.  Their first state-level suit, raising identical claims, was unanimously rejected by Massachusetts’ highest court earlier this year.

When the Jones family found out about the lawsuit against the Pledge, they intervened to defend their children’s rights.  They are represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.  Historic defenders of the Pledge like the Knights of Columbus (the world’s largest Catholic fraternal organization) and the American Legion also intervened in the case.

“The message today is loud and clear: ‘God’ is not a dirty word,” said Eric Rassbach, Deputy General Counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.  “The Pledge of Allegiance isn’t a prayer, and reciting it doesn’t magically create an official state religion.  The Pledge — in the tradition of Washington’s Farewell Address or Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address — is not a prayer to God, but a statement about who we are as a nation.  Dissenters have every right to sit out the Pledge, but they can’t silence everyone else.”

This is the 5th time the Becket Fund has successfully defended the Pledge of Allegiance.  Courts have pointed out that the Pledge is a voluntary patriotic exercise that teaches American history and civics, and that no schoolchild is required to recite the Pledge against his or her conscience. Becket Fund attorney Diana Verm argued the case to Judge Bauman, and James Paone of Freehold, NJ, acted as co-counsel.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

MS Bans Shariah Law

Recently, the Mississippi legislature voted 116-1 to pass House Bill 177, which bans the use of foreign law.  Legislators are concerned about improper foreign and international influence on American affairs.  And proponents of the foreign-law measure fear courts might allow the use of the Muslim religious law known as Shariah.

Robert Spencer, director of JihadWatch, says MS lawmakers have a right to be concerned.  “It’s when they start to plot to bring Shariah to the United States or to commit violence against Americans [that we need to be very concerned],” Spencer argues.  “And that’s what the anti-Shariah laws are designed to prevent.”

Spencer insists that the new legislation is in no way an anti-religious freedom bill.  “[These laws are] not designed to keep people from praying to Allah or reading the Koran,” he insists.  “They’re designed to keep people from imposing the Shariah oppression of women, the Shariah oppression of non-Muslims, the Shariah denial of freedom of speech.”

But the terrorism expert is concerned, on the other hand, about Texas allowing Islamic tribunals, which will judge cases supposedly on a voluntary basis — and only in matters that don’t conflict with American law.  [read my blog posting of February 18 – “‘Mission Creep’ of Islamic Shariah Law in U.S.”]  “These are exactly the same assurances that the British public was given when Shariah courts were established in Britain,” Spencer warns.  He fears that the concession made in TX to appease Muslim activists will open up the floodgates to the same problems the United Kingdom and France have had with their Islamic populations.  “Those assurances were then immediately disregarded and contravened,” Spencer notes.  “And I suspect it will be the same in Texas.”  Spencer closes by sharing that he hopes TX law-makers will shut down these courts as soon as they begin to cross that line.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

‘Mission Creep’ of Islamic Shariah Law in U.S.

A group of Muslims in northern Texas has created what may be the first official Shariah law system in the United States.  The new Shariah tribunal in Irving, TX, is trying to assure Americans they’re not planning to follow the type of Shariah law practiced in Muslim countries.  But critics aren’t convinced.

Dr. Frank Gaffney, who leads the Center for Security Policy (CSP) in Washington, DC, has studied what happens when Shariah law enters into state court decisions.  “I think what we will see is a coercion of Muslims to participate in this program,” he said.  Dr. Gaffney said he thinks that some in the Muslim community think they’re following Shariah law to some extent, but they’re not following the authoritative version of it.

If Shariah law continues to encroach into our legal system, how might it affect the constitutional rights of Americans, particularly women?  Dr. Gaffney said it is a kind of totalitarian system.  It is “brutally repressive — very hostile to women, hostile to homosexuals, hostile to Jews, hostile to Christians,” he said.  In some Muslim countries, severe punishments are common, women have very few rights, and blasphemy against Mohammed can result in a death sentence.

Tribunal Judge Imam Moujahed Bakhach is denying that will happen in America.  “The misconception about what they see through the media is that Shariah means cut the head, chop the heads, cut the hands and we are not in that,” he said.  “We are not here to invade the White House or invade Austin.”

But Robert Spencer of JihadWatch writes: “There is no school of Islamic jurisprudence among either Sunnis or Shiites that does not mandate stoning for adultery, amputation of the hand for theft and the subjugation of women.”

Imam Bakhach and three other Muslim judges are planning to bypass the traditional legal system of TX to handle civil cases on their own.  They plan to start by administering their own rulings for cases like divorce and business disputes.

CSP has found that at least 146-cases have been identified where the U.S. court system has allowed a Shariah court to judicate.  “In about 20% of those cases the court agreed to use Shariah instead of American laws with our constitutional guarantees respected,” Gaffney said.

Critics caution that allowing Shariah tribunals to operate in the U.S. essentially allows Islamic law to replace U.S. law, and will undermine the established U.S. rights of some of the victims.

The CSP issued a report in 2011 documenting how Shariah law is already being applied in official state courts across America.  “The facts are the facts: Some judges are making decisions deferring to Shariah law even when those decisions conflict with constitutional protections,” states CSP.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

U.N. ‘Watchdogs’ Report on ISIS’ Child Abuse

In issuing its first report since 1998, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child reveals a horrifying glimpse into how the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists are beheading, crucifying, and even burying alive religious minority children.  The report, which was recently released, was written by a committee of 18-independent experts.  They found that not only are ISIS militants massively killing religious minority boys, but they’ve also found a way to take advantage of the mentally weak Iraqi children … by using their harmless bodies in jihad attacks.

 

Committee expert Renate Winter said at the press conference (introducing the report) that the militant group is using mentally-challenged children as suicide bombers, and he thinks many of them go into their fatal suicide plots without even knowing that they will die as a consequence.

 

The committee also found that it isn’t just mentally-challenged children who are being used as suicide bombers, as many other boys under the age of 18 are also being used to carry out suicide missions.  Other children are being forced to donate their blood to battle-wounded ISIS militants.  [read my blog posting of December 8, 2014 – “The Other 5-Million Children Crossing the Border”]

 

The report also finds that children, mostly religious minority children, also face the most brutal forms of death such as being buried alive, beheaded and crucified.  “We are really deeply concerned at torture and murder of those children, especially those belonging to minorities, but not only from minorities,” Winter said.  He concludes, “The scope of the problem is huge.”

 

It's not just the Christian and Yazidi children who are subject to ISIS’ brutality, as the report claims that Shiite and Sunni Muslims are often victims also.  Many religious minority children who are not killed are often sold as sex slaves.  [read my blog posting of December 17, 2014 – “Newly Revealed ISIS Pamphlet Authorizes Enslaving …”]  Winter said that ISIS militants often sell children in marketplaces by putting a price tag on them for everyone to see.  “Children of minorities have been captured in many places ... sold in the marketplace with tags, price tags on them, they have been sold as slaves,” Winter said.

 

The committee also finds that children who are not killed by ISIS often die from extensive starvation or dehydration, while others died as a result of shelling from air strikes conducted by the Iraqi security forces.

 

The U.N. committee has denounced ISIS and wants to bring awareness to what it labeled as “the systematic killing of children belonging to religious and ethnic minorities …”  And where is the U.S.?  President Obama says global warming is more critical and deserving of our national attention.  Anyone who believes that is as stupid as this Administration!

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

A Mom Finds Her Trafficked Daughter

Never underestimate the life-changing power of a mother’s bond with her child.  What a Washington state mom did when she discovered her missing daughter had been sold into a human trafficking ring, is worthy of sharing.

 

In at least one news report, this mother’s teenage daughter (names not disclosed) was described as a runaway; but that didn’t stop mom from continually searching for her girl.  Thinking she may have been caught into human trafficking, the mom began poring over websites like Backpage and Craigslist that have been used by traffickers to advertise girls for sex.  Her efforts were rewarded when she discovered her own daughter’s photo on one of the sites; and that’s when she took it upon herself to get her back.

 

The Washington mom called the number on her daughter’s photo and asked how much she could get for $200.  She was then told where to go.  The mom successfully retrieved her daughter, and then reportedly led police to two of the suspects; effectively breaking up a human trafficking ring near Tacoma that police say may have otherwise gone undetected.

 

Lt. Ron Mead, with the WSP Exploited and Missing Children Task Force noted, “She really kind of did her own sting and located the hotel they were using and set up a ‘meet’ and recovered her daughter.”

 

Besides this mom’s recovery of her daughter, there were at least two other teens recovered.  According to the KATV report, possibly more by the time it’s all over.

 

Apparently, these suspects in human trafficking never learned that you ‘don’t mess with the queen bee’ or you’ll get stung … that mama bear won’t be happy if you mess with her cubs … that mothers have eyes in the back of their heads!

 

Way to go, mom!  Thanks for a good news story in the midst of all the human depravity of our times.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Nigeria’s ‘Valentine’s Day Massacre’ of Christians by Muslims

As if Nigeria hasn’t seen enough violence lately.  [Read my blog postings for February 6th and 8th.]  Experts are warning that elections being held this week may trigger even more bloodshed.  The country, which is divided pretty equally between Muslims and Christians, is going to the polls on February 14th to choose from a number of presidential candidates.  The main contenders, however, are Christian incumbent Goodluck Jonathan and Muslim opponent Mohammadu Buhari.  But depending on the results, February 14th could turn into “a Valentine’s Day massacre for the poor Christians in northern Nigeria,” said human rights lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe during his testimony Tuesday to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations.

 

“The circumstances that surrounded the 2011 elections are quite similar to the political atmosphere in the run-up to the 2015 elections,” Ogebe explained.  “Akin to the 2011 elections, the 2015 elections appear to be polarizing into essentially yet another Christian versus Muslim contest.”

 

In 2011, Jonathan’s victory over Buhari triggered widespread violence against Christians in the Muslim north.  When Muslim challenger General Mohammadu Buhari lost the 2011 presidential election, violence erupted in 12-northern states where he commands a large following from the Muslim population.  The final toll for the Christian community was staggering. In a 48-hour period: over 700-church buildings were burned; hundreds of Christians were confirmed killed; more than 3,100 Christian-operated businesses, schools, and shops were burned; and over 3,400-Christian homes were destroyed.  Thousands of Muslim youths in 12-states with machetes, knives, matches and gasoline carried out this slaughter.

 

Leading up to the 2015 general election, Nigeria is dealing with a number of issues that are heightening tensions, including, but not limited to: religious considerations of the candidates; the continued Boko Haram insurgency; fear of disenfranchisement among a large segment of the voting population; and the staggering number of internally displaced persons.  Because of these factors, which inhibit free and fair elections, lawyer Jadegoke Badejo said at the hearing that the “fear of political explosion is real.”   “In the past, such gathering clouds have fizzled away with deft political maneuvering and appeasement of the contending forces,” Badejo continued.  “It seems that this time around, the forces of inefficiency, regional and religious sentiments, systemic and structural defects in the political configuration and the endemic corruption have finally consumed the country beyond redemption.”

 

And what is the U.S. response?  Secretary of State John Kerry recently visited Lagos to meet with Jonathan and Buhari, both of whom gave their assurances that they’d urge their supporters to accept the election’s results and abstain from post-election violence.  If the elections are democratic and peaceful, Kerry promised the U.S. would do more to help in the fight against Boko Haram.

 

So, Mr. Kerry, the U.S. won’t get involved in fighting the Islamic extremists called Boko Haram if the elections are corrupt and violent?

 

Listen: Christians know no borders.  Brothers and sisters are not based upon nationality or geographic locale, but mutual relationship with Christ Jesus.  Christians are not governed by diplomatic rapport.  The Christian cannot sit idly by while another portion of the Body of Christ is being persecuted.  When we come to the aide of “one of the least of these our brethren” we’ve rendered it unto the Lord.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Christian Pastor ‘Butchered’ by Muslims

I wouldn’t expect you to know this man who is well known by those recipients of his Godly compassion.  His ministry hasn’t gotten a 30-second sound bite on our televisions.  In fact, his brutal execution didn’t get a drop of ink in our newspapers.  But I’m devoting this blog posting to his life and death … as yet another example of Muslim persecution of Christians.  [Take Note: This has nothing to do with American ‘values’ or ‘foreign policy.’  Read my blog of Feb 6 – “Islam is Responsible for Christian Persecution …”]  Let me introduce you to Adah.  

 

After pulling over, Adah then called his mechanic who came to the scene to see if he could fix the car.  When it was determined that the mechanic could not fix the car, the mechanic then left the scene to call a tow truck. After calling for assistance and returning to the scene, the mechanic could not find Adah.  Upon conducting a long search, the mechanic was able to find Adah’s slain body.

 

“A few kilometers from Jalingo, he had car issues along the Wukari-Jalingo road,” the ministry supporter said.  “He was mercilessly hacked to death by Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram.”

 

A local police spokesman, Joseph Kwaji, confirmed that Adah was killed by Fulani herdsmen.  Although the police spokesman didn’t provide details about the exact manner in which the herdsmen murdered Adah, his wife told Morning Star News that he was indeed “butchered.”

 

One ministry supporter recounted Adah’s sacrifices and his commitment to providing for the poor after being ‘born again’ in 2000.  “Not too long after he got born again, he left the comfort and ‘luxury’ of city life for a remote village on a hill without light or potable drinking water, not even a well in sight,” the supporter explained.  “He was there with his humble wife and kids to answer the call of God at this time when larger cities meant greener pastures, fatter offerings and sizeable tithes to others doing ministry.  He continued to preach the Gospel and hold campaigns; not in the urban areas, but mostly in rural areas.  I don’t know why God allowed Boko Haram to cut his life short.  Even when it became dangerous, he refused to get out but kept preaching Christ in villages where many will not go,” she added.

 

Adah became well known in the Taraba state as he was dedicated to providing food, shelter, money and medicine to the less fortunate villagers in the province.  “He shared his meager resources with the poor. He clothed them.  He showed love to them.  His home was theirs.  I can’t keep the tears away,” the supporter said.  “I’m still hoping to wake up and realize it has all been a bad dream.  If only I can see and speak to my friend, my big brother just one more time.  [He was] a rare gem.  I remember all the times he prayed with me and encouraged me.  I feel so shattered.  I am crushed.”

 

Although there’s no clear evidence that Boko Haram was involved in Adah’s murder, it was reported in 2014 that many Fulani herdsman have confessed membership to the Boko Haram.  In October, Muslim extremists stormed two Taraba churches, interrupting worship services, and killed 31-people.  Last March, Fulani herdsman in the Nigerian state of Kaduna burned down three Christian villages and hacked and burned to death over 100-people.

 

As the saying goes – “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck … then it probably is a duck.”

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Islam is Responsible for Christian Persecution, Not American Values or Foreign Policy

Since the outset of the Global War on Terrorism – and possibly well before – there has been much debate as to why Islamic militants have set their sights upon America and the West.  George W. Bush expressed the consensus among most Republican politicians and commentators when he remarked that they hate us because of our ‘values.’  Ron Paul, in contrast, represents most Libertarians when he attributes to America’s enemies a hatred of, not American liberties, but American ‘foreign policy.’  According to Jack Kerwick, a professor of philosophy, both groups are both right and wrong.  For failing to see this, they argue past one another.

 

Kerwick says Ron Paul and others are indeed correct when they note that jihadists in places like Iraq and other Middle Eastern lands despise America because of what has been called an “interventionist” foreign policy.  Yet they are sorely mistaken insofar as they assume that if only America disappeared from the Islamic world, so too would our problems with Islamic violence disappear.

 

Republicans, too, are correct in charging jihadists with despising American and Western values, according to Kerwick.  But they are incorrect inasmuch as they imply that Islamic militants have a problem with liberty, equality, etc. as such.  In other words, they are incorrect insofar as they imply that it is the specific content of these value that elicit the homicidal rage of jihadists.  The latter certainly do hate our values; but that’s only because they are our values … and not theirs.  In short, they hate our values because they are not Islamic values.

 

Kerwick goes on to say that this gets to the heart of the matter: The “Bush” and “Paul” camps argue past one another because both fail to reckon with the role played by Islam – not “Islamism,” “Islamo-Fascism,” “Islamo-Nazism,” “radical Islam,” “Islamic extremism,” or some other politically acceptable fiction; but Islam – in these violent clashes with Muslims.

 

Muslims around the world routinely engage in unspeakable acts of cruelty toward their neighbors in contexts that obviously have nothing whatsoever to do with American values, American foreign policy, or, for that matter, America.

 

The fierce persecution of Christians … courtesy of their Muslim neighbors … is an epidemic.  Yet, it is among the least talked about forms of contemporary oppression.  In Nigeria, for instance, the persecution is “extreme,” according to Open Doors – an organization dedicated to combating anti-Christian persecution.  There are 183-million Nigerians, of which 89-million are Christian.  Yet Boko Haram (Islamic militants) has rendered peaceful co-existence impossible.  In northeastern Nigeria, Muslims have declared a caliphate.  Hundreds of children (boys and girls) as well as women have been abducted; and thousands more have been rendered homeless upon the destruction of their homes.  In the twelve northern Sharia states, Christians have been all but squeezed out.

 

Oliver Dashe Doeme of Maiduguri, a bishop and the head of a diocese in northeastern Nigeria, gave an interview with Catholic On-Line.  He relays how over the last 5-years, Muslims have all but reduced his diocese to ashes.  Over 50-churches and chapels have been ruined, and hundreds have been abandoned.  More than 1,000-Catholics have been murdered.  The Bishop reports that Catholics are forced at gun-point or knife-point to convert to Islam.  If they fail to do so, they are slaughtered.  For the sake of saving the lives of Christians, not just in Nigeria, but in the region, he pleads with ‘Western powers’ to intervene.  Only something of a military onslaught against Boko Haram can stop it, he believes.

 

But it isn’t just the Christians of Nigeria that agonize at the hands of Muslims.  Nigerians have it bad: According to Open Doors, out of 50-countries worldwide, Nigeria is the 10th worse place for Christians.  And it’s true that Muslims aren’t the only persecutors of Christians.  But in 40 of the earth’s 50-countries where Christians are made to suffer because of their faith, Muslims are the culprits.  In none of these instances of Islamic violence and oppression does American ‘values’ or ‘foreign policy’ play a role.  Islam, however, most certainly does.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Mainstream Media Dismisses Pro-Life March and Highlights ‘Black Lives Matter’ Rallies for the Wrong Reasons

Just two weeks ago (January 22), an estimated 200,000 of pro-lifers showed up in Washington, D.C. for the annual ‘March for Life’ rally commemorating the 56-million babies destroyed since the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion on demand.  In attendance were people of all races and creeds; young and old; both male and female … all to defend and lift up their voices for the unborn.  Of course, they encountered some unhappy and virulent pro-choice activists along the way.  Despite the seriousness of this issue, the major news networks devoted little attention to it.  Of the three mainstream television networks, only CBS mentioned the 2015 March for Life – allotting just 15-seconds.  That’s one second for every 13,000 people who put work and school aside, and traveled from as far away as the West Coast; that’s one second for every 3.7-million babies aborted each year over the last 42-years.

 

Yet, look at the media attention given to the ‘Black Lives Matter’ rallies.  After the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, protesters took to the streets across the nation.  “Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise,” BlackLivesMatter.com states.  “It is an affirmation of Black folks’ contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.”

 

They are right: Black lives are intentionally targeted for demise—though not necessarily in the way they are protesting.

 

CNSNews.com explains: For every black murder victim in 2011 there were 19-blacks killed by abortion, according to data from the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  [2011 is the latest year for which the data is available.]  The CDC’s Abortion Surveillance Report for 2011 shows that 117,293-black babies were aborted that year in the 32-states and the District of Columbia that report abortion numbers to the CDC.  The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2011, shows that 6,329-blacks were murder victims that year (5,416-males, 910-females, and 3-unknown gender).  In other words, for every black American killed by homicide in 2011, there were 19 (18.5) blacks killed by abortion … and that’s just in the jurisdictions that report their abortion data.  In short, the 117,293-black babies aborted is 1,753% higher than the 6,329 black murder victims in 2011.

 

Black lives do matter — beginning in the womb.  It’s well past time the movement shift its focus.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Christian Scouting on the Rise – BSA on the Decline

I wrote about it rather extensively over the past 2-years.  [read my blog dated April 11, 2014 – “BSA Experiences Budget Shortfall & Membership Decline”]  I even foretold this outcome [read my blogs dated June 5, 2013 – “The BSA Will Pay a Price for Policy Change” and July 12, 2013 – “Scouting that is JC Focused – Rather than PC Fixated” and April 15, 2013 – “Boy Scouts Must Stand Firm”]

 

Trail Life USA – a Christian-based scouting program – is thriving while the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) may be declining more than reported.  BSA membership declined another 7% in the last reporting period.  But worst yet, there was apparently a drop of over 14% in Cub Scouts … which grooms future members and leaders of the BSA.  It can’t be denied that part of the loss is due to the BSA’s decision (May 23, 2013) to allow homosexuals as members.

 

Trail Life USA was established in response to the BSA’s decision to accept homosexuals.  Executive director Mark Hancock shares the group’s success.  “We finished the year up with 534-troops chartered in 48-states and just under 20,000-members, so I feel like we’ve seen some tremendous growth there for an organization that’s just a year old,” he says.

 

The process of qualifying for a troop is not easy, and Hancock points out more than 300-troops are waiting in line to be chartered.  Trail Life USA is taking the time to ensure faith is the focus.  “There’s a temptation to say, ‘Wow, we can grow really fast if we want to.’  But from the board of directors on down, there’s such an emphasis on understanding that we are building something for long-term effect on generations of young men,” he says.  “We feel like we could grow explosively overnight if we lowered our standards - but we have no desire to do that.”

 

Meanwhile, Trail Life USA is working on plans for the boys for this spring and summer, including camping and the end of the year Freedom Convention in Washington, DC.

 

As a BSA Eagle Scout, Vigil Honor Member of the Order of the Arrow, and recipient of the National Council’s Young American Award, I pray for the continued success of Trail Life USA.  May God honor their faithfulness with increased membership, chartered partners, and financial donors.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel