PP Admits They Exist for Abortion

Have you taken notice that Planned Parenthood (PP) tends to focus on some new service they are offering?  This is because the organization is trying to draw attention away from the fact that they exist to perform abortions.  PP claims to provide prenatal care; and in order to find out whether there was truth to this or not, Live Action decided to investigate and call dozens of PP’s across the country to ask for pregnancy care.  What they learned was troubling.  Not only does PP not provide prenatal care, but they openly admit to being available to expectant women for the purpose of terminating the pregnancy.  Watch the video and see for yourself [http://www.redstate.com/streiff/2017/01/24/planned-parenthood-admits-abortion-video/].

Remember: PP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that relies on federal tax dollars, individual donors, and on major corporations to achieve their twisted agenda.  I believe that we are on the verge of tax dollars to PP ceasing … at least for use in abortions.  And individual donors have the freedom to put their money where they so desire.  But corporate funding of PP is relative to investors and consumers.  Whether it be directly or through third party groups, many companies you shop with regularly are funding the abortion giant.  Click [https://www.2ndvote.com/plannedparenthood/] to see a listing of corporate supporters behind our nation’s number one abortion provider.

Note: In this past 2016 federal election (alone), PP spent $14,318,545.00 through their various affiliates [https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=Planned%20Parenthood].

 

Recently, Chili’s restaurants learned this as corporate needed to stop some Indiana/Kentucky franchises from fundraising for PP. 

Folks: The time has long since passed for pro-life people to make their convictions know.  Don’t let these corporations use your dollars to support causes for which you are opposed.   

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Conservatives Win a Battle of the Cultural War

About 8-months ago, I posted my first (of several) blogs urging the boycott of Target stores.  [read my May 4, 2016 blog entitled, “Take Aim at the Cultural War Target”]  I stated that if Target cared about the safety of women and children, they would reverse their policy … or go to the expense of establishing ‘unisex’ bathrooms apart from the male and female facilities.  Their policy ought to be the corporation’s expense, not the customer.

Foolishly, Target chose to align themselves with far-left LGBT activists, and open their bathrooms and fitting rooms to “gender identity” … as opposed to biological sex.  

According to 2ndVote Executive Director Lance Wray, in a recently released statement, “It’s obvious this [#AnywhereButTARGET campaign] affected Target’s bottom line and we think that retailers are realizing that it makes more business sense to remain neutral.”

According to the latest financial statement released from Target Corporation, the retail giant brought in a “softer-than-expected sales performance” during the holiday months of November and December 2016.  “[C]omparable sales during the combined November/December period decreased 1.3 percent,” says the report.  “For those two months, total sales decreased 4.9 percent, reflecting the impact of the December 2015 sale of the company’s pharmacy and clinic businesses.”  

As noted by Wray, “It’s not surprising Christmas shoppers decided to take their business elsewhere.”  

The immediate conservative push-back forced Target into spending $20-million on individual gender neutral bathrooms for their stores.  This is what they should have done from the beginning – the right thing!

Funny how Target could remain neutral during the Christmas season with employees saying, “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” … so as not to offend their shoppers [the majority of whom are Christians]; yet foolishly takes a stance with far-left LGBT activists.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Redefining Marriage Yet Again … This Time With Robosexuals

Years ago, I cautioned where this would go … upon giving license to same-sex ‘marriages.’  Now, the slippery slope has slid us to robots.  That’s right.  You’re reading it correctly.

Question: Do people have the right to marry the one they love, even if the one they love is a robot?  If not, why not?  After all, in the words of Lilly from France, who has fallen in love with her robot, “We don’t hurt anybody, we are just happy.”

Isn’t that what matters in the end, that people are happy?  That certainly is the argument of those who deny truth and have embraced relativism.

Lilly calls herself a “proud robosexual,” and she fully plans on marrying her robot, whom she named InMoovator.  As explained in the Daily Mail, “Lilly is reportedly engaged to the robot and says they will marry when human-robot marriage is legalized in France.”

As Dr. Michael Brown (host of the Line of Fire radio program) states, “But why should this surprise us?  People have not only married their same-sex spouses (which has the merit of joining together fellow-humans, albeit completely opposite to the God-ordained male-female pattern), but they have married animals and inanimate objects and, with increasing frequency, married themselves.”

Recently, Good Housekeeping ran the story, “WHY I MARRIED MYSELF.  Self-marriage is a small but growing movement around the world.”  The article speaks at length about “solo weddings” and references people like Dominique, who “is a self-marriage counselor and minister, offering services including consulting sessions and private ceremonies through her website, Self-Marriage Ceremonies, which she runs from her home in northern California.”  The article also includes self-marriage vows like these: “I will never leave myself.”  “I promise to ask for help when I’m suffering.”  “I promise to look in the mirror every day and be grateful.”  “I promise to give you the incredible life that you long for.”

If, then, you can “marry” yourself – since you’re not hurting anyone, which has been one of the loudest arguments used by advocates of same-sex ‘marriage’ – why can’t you marry a robot?  At least the robot can provide both companionship and unflinching loyalty, also helping to lighten your daily load by performing some menial chores.  And now, in ever increasing measure, robots can provide sex as well.

The other week, the BBC ran a story in its Technology section called “Sex Robots: Experts debate the rise of the love droids.”  The article begins with these words: “Would you have sex with a robot?  Would you marry one?  Would a robot have the right to say no to such a union?  These were just a few of the questions being asked at the second Love and Sex with Robots Conference hastily rearranged at Goldsmiths University in London after the government in Malaysia - the original location - banned it.”  The conference ended with a speech by Dr. David Levy, who said, “We have companion robots and a partner robot is the logical continuation of the trend.  In the next 10 years it is perfectly achievable in software to create a robot companion that is everything that people might want in a spouse - patient, kind, loving, trusting, respectful and uncomplaining,” he said.  He went on to say, “[However] some enjoy the friction of a relationship and may want to marry an aggressive robot, some people would find that exciting.”

If you think this is ridiculous, you’d better keep your thoughts to yourself … less you be labelled a robophobic.  After all, robot marriage harms no one, robot marriage makes people happy, robot marriage fills the void of loneness, and perhaps robot marriage will even help bring sexual release to people who might otherwise show their aggression in socially harmful ways.

All this is to say: Once you redefine marriage you render it meaningless.  The fact is that once you move marriage away from its divinely intended – one man-one woman union for life – you open the door to virtually anything … including robot marriage.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Pro-Life Legislation Introduced in U.S. Congress

On January 13, Rep. Steve King (IA-R) introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives a bill to prohibit abortions when a pre-born baby’s heartbeat can be detected.  [Pre-born babies’ hearts begin to beat as early as 21-days after fertilization.]

The Heartbeat Protection Act of 2017 (H.R. 490) mandates that abortionists check for a fetal heartbeat before performing an abortions.  They may not commit an abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected.  The only exception to this law would be if a mother’s life was in danger.  The bill specifies that this does not include “psychological or emotional conditions.”  Under this law, “A mother upon whom an abortion is performed may not be prosecuted,” but abortionists would face a fine and/or up to 5-years in prison for knowingly committing an elective abortion when a fetal heartbeat was detectable.

“Since Roe v. Wade was unconstitutionally decided in 1973, nearly 60-million innocent babies’ lives have been ended by the abortion industry, all with a rubber stamp by the federal government,” said King.  “My legislation will require all physicians, before conducting an abortion, to detect the heartbeat of the unborn child.  If a heartbeat is detected, the baby is protected.”  King continued, “America was founded on the concept that our rights come from God.  All human persons have a right to life.  How then could we confer that those rights allow the killing of a baby?  I believe our most important responsibility that God has bestowed upon us is to protect innocent human life, and I will continue to dedicate my life to that responsibility.”

The Ohio legislature tried a similar bill [read my blog of Dec 12, 2016 – “Are State and Federal Governments Starting (at last) to Recognize Abortion as Criminal?” and Dec 26, 2016 – “Pastors of 2,500 Churches Respond to OH Gov. Kasich’s Heartbeat Veto”], but OH Gov. John Kasich vetoed it.

Abortion activists are predictably decrying the legislation.  “Congressional Republicans feel emboldened by the dangerous abortion legislation making its way through the states and they know they have Trump’s support,” says Kate Black, a Vice President of the pro-abortion group EMILY’s List, wrote in an email to supporters.  “Republicans now feel like they have a shot at passing the most extreme anti-choice laws they can think of — and they might.”

Let’s hope and pray they do!  If so, it shouldn’t face a veto by the new President!

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The ‘D’ of Democrats Means Delusional

On this day in which the Republicans take control of the Executive Branch … with a Republican dominant Congress … I want to share an observation made by Matthew Continetti (Editor in Chief of the Washington Free Beacon):

“Democrats have been in power for so long that they’ve forgotten how to oppose. Their party has been on a roll since 2005 when the botched Social Security reform, the slow bleed of the Iraq war, and Hurricane Katrina sent the Bush Administration into a tailspin.  The Democrats won the Congress the following year and the White House two years after that.  And while they lost the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014, Democrats still had the advantage of retaining the White House, a president seemingly immune from criticism, the courts, the bureaucracy, and large portions of the media.  The correlation of forces in Washington has weighed heavily in favor of the Democrats for a decade.”

Well, today, this will be no longer the case.  The election of Donald J. Trump has brought unified Republican government to Washington DC and overturned our understanding of how politics works.

Clearly, the Democrats seem not to understand how to deal with Trump and the massive change he is about to bring to the nation’s capital.  During the general election they fell for the idea that Trump can be defeated by conventional means – spending hundreds of millions of dollars in negative television advertisements.  This strategy failed Trump’s Republican primary opponents; but Democrats figured that was simply because the GOP was filled with deplorables.  It was a rationalization that would cost them.

As of today, Republicans occupy the oval office, control both the House and Senate, 34 governorships, and 4,100 seats in state legislatures.

Yet, Democrats act like they run Washington.  Nancy Pelosi’s speech to the 115th House of Representatives was a long-winded recitation of the same liberal agenda that has brought her party to its current low.  And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is just being delusional in pledging to oppose Donald Trump’s nominee weeks before Inauguration Day.  “If they don’t appoint somebody good,” he said on MSNBC, “we’re going to oppose them tooth and nail.”  That would “absolutely” include keeping the seat held by the late Antonin Scalia empty, he said.  “We are not going to make it easy for them to pick a Supreme Court justice.”  Apparently, it’s too much to expect a graduate of Harvard Law School [Schumer] to grasp the difference between majority and minority.  And now, some 70 House Democrats are boycotting the inaugural of Mr. Trump.   

The blanket opposition to president-elect Trump extends to his appointments at large. Democrats can thank Harry Reid for allowing executive branch officials and lower-court judges to be approved by a majority vote.  But the Washington Post reports that Schumer wants to prolong the confirmation process so that some Trump cabinet officials are not confirmed until March.  The reason: “Democrats have been troubled by a lack of personal disclosure by Cabinet choices that they say mirrors Trump’s refusal to disclose personal tax information during the presidential campaign.”  The presidential campaign that, in case the Democrats have forgotten, Trump won. 

Yes, the first duty of the opposition is to oppose; and we can’t expect the Democrats to roll over for Trump.  But, aren’t you surprised by their hysterics?  They seem to have been caught off guard, to say the least, by their situation.  Take for example their willingness to stand on a podium beside a sign that reads, “Make America Sick Again.”  By embracing this message, such as it is, the Democrats associated … not Trump … but themselves with illness.  Who on earth thought that was a good idea?

Understandably, it takes time to adjust … after being in control for over a decade.  The Democrats may be counting on inertia and the media to slow the Republicans down and force them into a defensive crouch … because it’s worked in the past.  But here’s the thing about Trump: He doesn’t play defense.

Okay, Republicans, you’ve got the ball.  Now let’s score some touchdowns that “Make America Great Again!”

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

American Christians Being Persecuted … in the USA

No debt you’ve heard (all or a portion of) actress Meryl Streep’s political diatribe at the Golden Globes awards.  But that isn’t the only surprise attention-getting provocation from the event.  Nominee film ‘Hidden Figures’ – a box-office hit about the true story of 3-black women mathematicians who played important roles at NASA in the early days of the space program – is also generating unexpected controversy.

 

The controversy surrounds Kim Burrell, the black gospel singer whose song ‘I See a Victory’ appears on the soundtrack of the film.  Burrell, in addition to being a gospel singer is a pastor; and with the release of the film, a video emerged on the internet of her passionately preaching in her church against homosexuality.  Burrell was scheduled, as part of the film’s promotion, to appear and perform, along with the film’s soundtrack producer, Pharrell Williams, on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show.’  But DeGeneres, an open lesbian, canceled Burrell’s appearance as a result of the video.   Next, Burrell’s radio show, which is produced at Texas Southern University, was canceled.  Then she was disinvited from the BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards, where she was a co-honoree.

 

Williams, appearing on DeGeneres’ show, said Burrell is a “fantastic singer,” but “there’s no room for any kind of prejudice in 2017.”

 

Did you hear that?  It’s prejudice when a pastor condemns … in her own church … behavior that the Bible (as understood by multi-millions of Christians around the world) prohibits, yet it’s not prejudice when others make every effort to purge that person from the public space because of her faith?

 

Star Parker (founder and president the Center for Urban Renewal and Education) said, “As far as I know, Burrell just intended to sing on the DeGeneres show.  I don’t think she planned to preach a sermon about homosexuality.”

 

DeGeneres, and the many sympathetic to her point of view, believe it is just fine to crush Kim Burrell and destroy her career because of her Christian beliefs, but they are all for using the law to force a Christian baker to make a cake for a same-sex wedding or to force a Christian photographer to work at one.

 

It should be clear that what motivates the pro-homosexual movement is not advancing a free and tolerant society.  It never was their agenda.  It’s all about promoting a society that legitimizes their point of view and punishes, as severely as possible, those that reject it.  This is fascism, not freedom!

 

It behooves us to point out that rejection of homosexual behavior does not come from some bigot that woke up in the middle of the night and decided it’s not okay to be gay.  No, we are talking about Biblical scripture that has been guiding Christians for thousands of years.

 

Christianity, of course, is about faith, not about science.  It’s about what is true and false, right and wrong, and how to behave and live our lives.  It’s all about moral absolutes as established by the Creator God.

 

But if we want to bring science into the picture, data supports, in a powerful way, the importance of these traditional values.  Take the 2015 study, for instance, published by the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for Family Studies.  They showed that states with higher percentages of children living with their biological parents in a traditional family have the highest median incomes, the fastest income growth, the lowest rates of child poverty and the greatest upward mobility.

 

You see, we can bring to bear all the beauty and power of the Christian faith, and the data and research showing that following these truths lead, in the long run, to healthier and wealthier lives.  But we can’t make anyone follow the faith.  That’s what freedom is about.  Letting people choose.

 

But what we’re experiencing now is growing religious persecution in our country.  Those with anti-Christian values have considerable power through the media and are using it to eradicate traditional Christian values and presence.

 

This cannot be tolerated.  The time has long since passed for Christians to stand up and sound off – Enough, is enough!  I, for one, have no intentions of backing off or backing down in faithfully proclaiming the truth of God’s infallible Word.  How about you?

 

Jesus said in His sermon on the mount, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake.  Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”  (Matthew 5:10-12)

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

 

Repeal UN Resolution on Israel

Last week, a bipartisan coalition of US senators introduced a measure that seeks to repeal the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution passed last month that labels Israeli settlements illegal and calls for a complete halt to all construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  The Obama Administration refused to veto the resolution, allowing it to pass in a move that infuriated Israel.

Co-sponsored by Senators Chuck Schumer (NY-D), Ben Cardin (MD-D) and Marco Rubio (FL-R), the Senate resolution condemns the UN motion as “anti-Israel,” calling for it to be “repealed or fundamentally altered.”  The proposal also calls for the US to reject efforts made by outside parties to impose a solution on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and it demands the US ensure no action is taken at the Paris peace conference (January 15).

Expressing support for a 2-state outcome, the text declared that any final-status resolution to the conflict needs to be settled through talks between the parties.  The UN was not an appropriate venue for making progress on the issue, said Senate Minority Leader Schumer, one of the most prominent Jewish members of Congress and a fierce Israel supporter.  “Since the days of ‘Zionism is racism,’ the UN has been a fervently anti-Israel body and, unfortunately, that bias has never diminished,” he said in a statement.  “Knowing this, past administrations — both Democrat and Republican — have protected Israel from the vagaries of this biased institution.”  “Unfortunately, by abstaining on United Nations Resolution 2334, this administration has not followed in that path.” he added. “This Senate resolution reaffirms that peace must come through direct negotiations in order to achieve a sustainable two-state solution.”  Schumer’s Republican colleague Rubio echoed a similar sentiment.  “Efforts to delegitimize Israel have been underway a long time at the United Nations and have now sadly been aided by the outgoing administration,” he said.  “But the time has come to turn back the tide and renew America’s commitment to the Jewish state.”

UNSC Resolution 2334 was passed by a vote of 14-0 following a US abstention on December 23, a decision that effectively allowed the motion through.  The text calls for an end to all building in areas Israel gained after the 1967 Six Day War, territory that includes the Old City, with the Temple Mount and Western Wall.  It also calls on all states “to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.”

Israel fears such language will lead to an uptick in boycott and sanctions efforts, and Israeli officials have warned it will provide a “tailwind for terror.”

Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, voiced criticism that the resolution impedes an already stalled peace process.  The resolution, he said, is “a one-sided text that makes direct negotiations for a two-state solution more challenging.”  “Going forward,” he added, “Congress will take action against efforts at the UN, or beyond, that use Resolution 2334 to target Israel.”

Nineteen other senators have already signed on to support the resolution, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY-R), John McCain (AR-R), Richard Blumenthal (CT-D), Bob Casey (PA-D), Chris Coons (DE-D), John Cornyn (TX-R), Tom Cotton (AR-R), Joe Donnelly (IN-D) and Lindsey Graham (SC-R).

A House vote on a similar resolution is expected to pass.

Listen Congress: Mindful that the US is the financial source of about 1/3 of the UN’s budget, and since money talks, immediately stop our federal dollars from going to the UN … until UNSC Resolution 2334 is repealed.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

BSA Now Faces Transgender Scouts

Just as I had foretold in earlier blog postings [April 11, 2014 – “BSA Experiences Budget Shortfall & Membership Decline”], the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) are uncontrollably sliding down the slippery slope of cultural depravity.  It was inevitable … after their internal decision to allow for ‘gay’ Scouts in May 2013. 

The Cub Scouts are now facing a transgender controversy after an 8-year-old (born a girl) – who identifies as a boy – was asked to leave a Secaucus, New Jersey Cub pack.

The 8-year-old, who had been a member of the Cub Scouts for about a month, was kicked out of Cub Scout Pack 87 because she is transgender.  Local news accounts indicate an unknown number of parents were upset their sons were in Cub Scouting with a girl who identifies as a boy.

“How dare they judge me?” the child told The Record newspaper.  “I don’t have to explain it.  It’s the way I’m born.”

The New York Daily News (NYDN) reports it may be the first case of a child being prohibited from participating in Scouting activities because of gender identity.

But the BSA defended the child’s removal, pointing out to the newspaper the “child does not meet the requirements to participate in this program.”  “Gender identity isn’t related to sexual orientation,” BSA spokesperson Effie Delimarkos told the NYDN.  In other words, the child was not kicked out for being transgender, but for not being a boy.

“It made me mad,” the child told The Record.  “I had a sad face, but I wasn’t crying.  I’m way more angry than sad.  My identity is a boy.  If I was them, I would let every person in the world go in.  It’s right to do.”

The mother of the ex-Cub Scout told the newspaper she first thought her child was a tomboy “because he [she] liked climbing trees and digging in dirt to look for worms.”  But she said she knew it was more than that by the time he [she] was 5 and she [mom] began reading about what it means to be transgender, the newspaper reported.

Last year, the mother allowed the child to “come out as a boy” and get a short haircut. The Record published an editorial calling for the BSA to reverse its decision.  “There should be some common sense applied here with regard to an 8-year-old. (Name omitted) wants to be a Scout.  He identifies as a boy.  There should be no need for litigation or years of court battles.  He should just be allowed to be a Scout,” the newspaper wrote.

Sooner rather than later, the BSA will no doubt face a legal challenge over its transgender policy.  And the BSA will face further controversies when they are forced to confront non-binary scouts, gender-fluid scouts and genderless scouts.

The Girl Scouts of America (GSA) already allow boys who identify as girls; so don’t be surprised if the BSA capitulates.  After all, they’ve already done it once before – sacrificing their long-cherished values on the altar of tolerance and diversity.

That’s why so many families are getting involved in organizations like American Heritage Girls and Trail Life USA – both being faith-based scouting organizations built on a firm spiritual foundation.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

TX Court Defies WH Transgender Mandate

A Texas court has struck down a White House healthcare mandate that would reportedly force doctors to perform transgender surgeries on patients (including children) … even if it’s against the doctor’s medical judgment.

The court ruling comes after 8-states, an association of nearly 18,000 doctors, and a Catholic hospital system challenged the federal regulation.

“This is a common-sense ruling: The government has no business forcing private doctors to perform procedures on children that the government itself recognizes can be harmful …” said Lori Windham, senior counsel at Becket Law (which filed a lawsuit against the new federal regulation).  “Today’s ruling ensures that doctors’ best medical judgment will not be replaced with political agendas and bureaucratic interference,” she added.

The new regulation, if implemented, would have cost healthcare providers and taxpayers nearly $1-billion and forced close to 90,000 U.S. doctors to adhere to providing surgery for children and adults who want sex reassignment surgery.

Research shows that 94% percent of children with gender dysphoria grow out of it and lead naturally healthy lives without the need for surgery or lifelong hormones.

“This court ruling is an across-the-board victory that will ensure that the deeply personal medical decision of a gender transition procedure remain between families and their doctor,” said Windham.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Why Doesn’t Freedom of Association Equally Apply to Christians?

The inauguration of President-Elect Donald Trump is generating controversy … providing stories that are priceless to the talk-shows and tabloids.  But as Jeff Jacoby (an op-ed columnist for The Boston Globe) points out – they also provided a reminder of something too easily forgotten: Freedom of association is a vital human right.

According to news accounts, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is slated to sing during the inaugural festivities … while other musicians have let it be known that they’re staying away.  The Radio City Rockettes will also be part of the inauguration event … but any dancers who wish to opt out are free to do so.

Critics – both left and right – have been hurling attacks.  Liberals have inundated social media with hateful comments for agreeing to perform for Trump, while conservatives have mocked the entertainers steering clear of the Trump.

Phoebe Pearl, the Rockette who posted on Instagram that she was “embarrassed and disappointed” at the prospect of dancing for Trump was both praised and blasted after her message went viral.

The divisiveness doesn’t stop with the inaugural entertainment.  Heat Street reported that many Washington-area homeowners who had planned to rent out rooms through Airbnb pulled their listings once they realized that they wouldn’t be sharing their homes with Clinton enthusiasts.  “I have a visceral reaction to the thought of having a Trump supporter in my house,” one owner said.  “No amount of money could make me change my mind. It’s about moral principles.”

Others with anti-Trump principles are include fashion gurus Sophie Theallet and André Leon Talley, who announced that they will refuse to dress Melania Trump – a former model – out of revulsion for her husband.  “You make the choice to be in Trumpland or you make the choice to eject yourself from the horror of Trumpland,” Talley told the New York Times.  “I’ve made my choice not to be part of Trumpland.”

There are also the artists who have publicly asked Ivanka Trump to remove their artwork from her walls, and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who says he will boycott any restaurant in Trump’s hotels.

Listen: I support them all because this is much more than disassociating with Trump or Republicans or inaugurations.  This has to do with freedom of association.  The singers who refuse to sing or the fashion designers who refuse to design for the Trumps, the landlords who refuse to rent to Republicans, the dancers who refuse to dance at the inauguration should not be forced to play a role in a celebration they want nothing to do with, or to hire themselves out to clients they would prefer not to serve.  Additionally, if a caterer turns down a request to prepare the meals for Trump’s inauguration? … or a florist declines to provide the floral arrangements? … or a calligrapher says “thanks but no thanks” to addressing the invitations? … I’d back them, too – for reasons having nothing to do with Trump or Republicans or inaugurations, but everything to do with freedom of association.

Jacoby said it so well: “The right to discriminate — to choose with whom we will and won’t associate — is vital to human liberty.  A dressmaker who can’t say no to a commission to design a gown isn’t free, and it doesn’t matter whether the gown is for a First Lady or for the brides in a lesbian wedding.  A liberal baker who declines to create a lavish cake decorated with the words ‘Congratulations, President Trump’ is entitled to as much deference as a black baker who declines to decorate a cake with the Confederate flag, or a Muslim baker who declines to decorate a cake with the message ‘No Muslim Immigrants.’”

Freedom of association, like many freedoms, isn’t absolute.  Commerce that is open to the public are barred by law from refusing to serve customers because of their race, religion, or sex, for example; but when it comes to providing personal services to others — whether the service is baking a cake or taking photos — coercion is anathema.  It would be ludicrous for the Trump transition team to sue musicians who outspokenly refuse to perform or compel Phoebe Pearl to dance at the inaugural.  It is just as ludicrous, or ought to be, to sue florists and bakers to compel their involvement in weddings they prefer to avoid.

Tolerance and pluralism are important values in a free society.  So are choice and association.  Your choices may not be mine; my preferred associations may not be yours.  In a diverse, live-and-let-live culture, our differences are manageable — as long as government doesn’t interfere.  If the state can’t force a musician to perform where he/she doesn’t want, then the state shouldn’t be able to force anyone else to, either.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

God’s Plans Are Greater Than ISIS Leader’s Plans

Need to read some ‘good news’ not carried by the mainstream media?  Try this …

An lSIS leader planned to lure a team member from a Christian TV ministry into a trap to be killed, but the would-be assassin ended up turning to Jesus instead.

The incredible story is told on the Leading the Way (LTW) web page – a ministry of Egyptian-born pastor and Bible teacher Michael Youssef.

The ISIS leader — named “Muhammed” — saw an episode of the ministry’s TV channel and called the number on the screen.  “I need to meet with you,” he told the LTW team member over the phone.  While the ministry is careful to vet callers before meeting them in person, the team leader — named “Peter” — said God told him to “Go and meet this man — and be bold with him.”

Peter met with Muhammad and shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him.  After Peter left, God continued speaking to Muhammad, revealing Himself in a dream that brought great conviction on the ISIS leader.

When Muhammad decided to follow Christ, he shaved his beard, a symbol of his radical devotion to Islam, and reached out to Peter again.  “Peter I have a confession,” Muhammad said face-to-face.  “The first time I was going to meet you, I intended to kill you, and I am sorry.”  He then fell on his face and repented to God.

I serve a miracle-working God!  How about you?

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Atheists Demand Schoolkids Stop Sending Christmas Care Packages

Each December, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty (BFRL) calls out a person or organization that tries to take religion out of the holidays.  This year’s “winner” of “The Ebenezer Award” is the American Humanist Association (AHA), which has been quite the Grinch … attempting to stop public school children from volunteering for a program that sends care packages to other kids in need.

AHA went to court in Colorado in an effort to put an end to the distribution of the care packages, which also include religious messages about the meaning of Christmas.  “These boxes are filled with school supplies and basic hygiene items,” said Kristina Arriaga, Executive Director of Becket Law.  It’s heartbreaking enough that there are children who will receive nothing but a toothbrush for Christmas.  The American Humanist Association would deny them even that?”

The non-profit that coordinates the volunteers and sends the boxes, Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child, has been offending the AHA for years?  The ‘perpetrator’ of good deeds ask volunteers to pack shoe boxes for children of various age groups with items including: stuffed animals, small toys, school supplies, and basic hygiene items … like toothpaste and soap.  Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has provided more than 100-million shoebox gifts to children in more than 130 countries.

AHA has been on a crusade to stop public school children from volunteering for such programs since 2013 … when they sent “letters of warning” to school districts in Colorado and South Carolina where Operation Christmas Child was invited into public schools.

“We’re talking about school children putting together care packages for other children who are in need.  If we can’t support that at Christmas, we are truly living in Scrooge’s world,” said Arriaga of BFRL.

The time is long past due for this atheist group (and others like them) to look beyond their limited scope of understanding, and come to realize that unless you choose the rightful swords to fall on, you will die for insignificant causes.  Perhaps they should start up ‘Operation Godless Child.’  Let us know how that works out!

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Stand Fast NC! Let Your ‘Bathroom Bill’ Stay

Did you hear?  Last week’s attempt to repeal the North Carolina ‘Bathroom Bill’ crumbled … maintaining that men and women must use bathrooms that match their biological sex.

The North Carolina (NC) General Assembly was called into a special session about 9-months after they passed HB2 on March 23, 2016.  [read more at my postings: April 11, 2016 – “So Much for our 1st Amendment Right of Religious Liberty,” May 2, 2016 -“The Bathroom Battle is Bad Biology,” May 25, 2016 – “Obama’s Transgender Decree”]  It sparked controversy and a national conversation about transgender rights.  Supporters say the law protects women and children from sexual predators in public restrooms, while LGBT activists call it discriminatory.  As a result, major corporations decided to pull up stakes, entertainers cancelled concerts, and the NCAA and ACC moved sporting events away.

The special session was scheduled (last week) after NC Democratic Governor-elect Roy Cooper successfully lobbied the Charlotte City Council to gut a local ordinance that Republicans had blamed for necessitating the statewide law.  Republicans vowed if Charlotte repealed its ordinance, the legislature would consider repealing HB2.

Outgoing NC Republican Governor Pat McCrory called for this special session, but the deal fell apart when Republicans and Democrats could not agree on how to repeal the law.  After a series of failed attempts to come to an agreement, the NC State Senate voted down a motion to repeal the law and the House adjourned without acting.  They are both scheduled to convene this month (January).

NC Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger put a statement on his website blaming Cooper and the Democrats for putting NC’s families at risk.  “Their action proves they only want a repeal in order to force radical social engineering and shared bathrooms across North Carolina, at the expense of our state’s families, our reputation, and our economy,” Berger said.

Stand fast NC!  Don’t give up the ground you’ve already won!  Let your ‘bathroom bill’ stay!

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel