The Threat of Government over Owners of Christian Businesses

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is handling a case it hopes will encourage President Trump to move to protect religious freedom.

A year and half ago, Donald Vander Boon walked into the break room of his family-owned business (Michigan Beef Company outside Grand Rapids, MI) and found material touting and supporting unnatural marriage.  The Christian business owner countered that by placing in the break room a faith-based article describing marriage as defined in the Bible: one man, one woman.  Shortly thereafter, meat inspectors with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) paid Vander Boon a visit.

He explains what happened:

“... They called me into my own office and took this article that I had printed and put it on the table in my office and proceeded to ask me if I was going to leave that article on the break room table – because if I was, they were going to immediately remove the USDA inspectors from this facility.”

Without those inspectors, the doors of his business would have to close – thereby denying him his livelihood and that of his 45-employees.

According to ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco, the government employees cited a written USDA policy which says “federal bureaucrats can determine what speech is disrespectful and insulting and restrict that speech – and the First Amendment does not allow them to do that.”

It’s now been 18-months since Vander Boon received the government’s ultimatum, during which time he has refrained from returning the article to the break room – but also filed a complaint regarding the denial of his rights with the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.  To date, the business owner has heard nothing from the USDA.

Michael Farris, CEO of ADF, has sent a letter to Trump explaining that Vander Boon’s situation could be corrected if the president would sign a much talked about religious freedom executive order.  And that would do two things, says Farris: (1) direct federal agencies to respect religion, and (2) reverse the USDA directive that could drive a Christian business owner out of business.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

‘Sanctuary Cities’ Have No Place in a Nation of Laws

Right after the 9th Circuit Court ruled against President Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said, “We are a nation of laws, and as we have said those laws apply to everybody in our country.”  When he was uttering these words, he seemed to ignore the fact that right in his home state, its largest city, Seattle, is one of those “ ‘sanctuary cities’ which refuses to enforce federal immigration laws.  The mayor of Seattle, Ed Murray, is one of the staunchest defenders of Seattle's ‘sanctuary city’ policy, even after police charged five illegal immigrants who shot and killed Jill Marie Sundberg at a location about 150-miles east of Seattle in December 2016.  It seems the Left only chooses to embrace the ‘rule of law’ if the result is in their favor.

How did the United States end up with so many ‘sanctuary cities?’  The sanctuary movement started in the 1980s when about a million Central Americans (mainly from El Salvador and Guatemala) crossed the U.S. border seeking asylum from their repressive governments and seemingly never-ending civil wars.  But the Reagan Administration was supporting these governments’ (especially the governments of El Salvador and Guatemala) attempts to fight communist rebels.  Therefore, the administration would only characterize Salvadorans and Guatemalans as “economic migrants, not eligible for policy asylum.”

Hundreds of churches in the U.S. openly defied the U.S. government and its immigration policy by providing safe havens for Central Americans.  The movement later was turned into an indictment of the Reagan Administration’s Central America policy.

Eventually, in 1990, Congress passed legislation allowing the president to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to certain groups in need of a temporary safe haven, including explicitly designating Salvadorans for TPS.

Influenced by the sanctuary movement, San Francisco passed the ‘City and County of Refuge’ Ordinance in 1989, which barred city money from being used to enforce immigration law.  Hundreds of U.S. cities and counties have followed suit and adopted similar ‘sanctuary’ laws or policies.  While San Francisco barred city money from being used to enforce immigration law, it didn’t hesitate to use city money (really, taxpayers’ money) to shield “convicted juvenile offenders who were in the country illegally from federal authorities, either escorting them to their home countries at city expense or transporting them to group homes, often outside the city.”  [It’s worth pointing out that San Francisco receives over $1 billion dollars from the federal government on an annual basis.]

Supporters of ‘sanctuary cities’ believe they are being compassionate toward immigrants. But what these supporters are doing is to cater to a small segment of the immigrant population at the expense of most law-abiding legal immigrants.  We as a nation have three times more legal immigrants than illegal immigrants.  Many legal immigrants, followed the law, endured long waits and long separation from our families and made many other sacrifices to become an American.  Many legal immigrants came to the U.S. because they were tired of chaos and lawlessness in their homelands.  They want to live and raise their families in a place where law and order prevail.  They chose to leave everything and everyone they were familiar with to come to America.

Yes, our immigration law is broken.  A real relief for all immigrants would be a common sense based immigration reform.  Yet, ‘sanctuary cities’ are taking resources and people’s attention away from focusing on sensible immigration reform.

The idea of ‘sanctuary cities’ sends the wrong message.  When lawless behavior goes unpunished, it only encourages more lawlessness.

On May 12, 2014, 32-year-old Mesa police officer Brandon Mendoza was killed in a head-on collision with a wrong-way driver.  The driver was Raul Silva Corona, an illegal alien from Chihuahua, Mexico, who in 1994 pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy in Adams County Colorado, but was not deported.  Colorado is one of the handful sanctuary states and in 2013; Colorado passed a bill to allow illegal immigrants living in Colorado to get driver’s licenses.  Sgt. Mendoza’s mom wrote a passionate letter to President Obama. She stated, “My son, Brandon Mendoza, was half Hispanic.  It’s not the color of skin that my son or I see, it’s the person and how they conduct their lives.”

On July 1, 2015, Francisco Sanchez, a 45-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, shot Kate Steinle as she walked on San Francisco’s Pier 14 with her father and a friend. Sanchez claimed the shooting was an accident.  Whether the shooting was an accident or not, this tragedy could have been prevented had the San Francisco Sherriff’s Department not released Sanchez from their custody a few months before.  The Sherriff's department claimed that they merely followed San Francisco’s ‘sanctuary city’ guideline, even though they were fully aware that Sanchez not only broke immigration law multiple times (he illegally crossed the border five times), he was also on probation in Texas at the time of shooting.

While it’s important to remember that neither Corona nor Sanchez represent all 40-million immigrants and a few anecdotes don’t epitomize a trend or evidence, more and more people feel that sanctuary cities or communities do not promote freedom and compassion; they promote chaos.  Furthermore, they help fuel distrust and resentment between immigrants and native-born Americans.  ‘Sanctuary cities’ have done a disservice to all American people, and governments at both local and federal levels are losing credibility in their ability to protect lawful residents.

Let’s not forget that the entire U.S. is a sanctuary for people who seek a better life by working hard and abiding by the law of the land.  We as a nation can only continue to play the role of a sanctuary for all who seek freedom and escape from oppression … if we continue to uphold the rule of law.  The left needs to stop its hypocrisy of proclaiming, “we are a nation of laws” on the one hand and choosing to follow laws selectively on the other hand.  If you’re truly compassionate toward immigrants’ well-being, stop supporting ‘sanctuary cities.’  Instead, advocate for a common-sense immigration reform.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Majority of Americans Agree – Babies with Heartbeats Shouldn’t be Aborted

A new poll conducted by the Barna Group reveals that an overwhelming majority of Americans (nearly 7 out of 10) agree with the premise of the ‘Heartbeat Protection Act of 2017.’  [read my January 23, 2017 blog posting – “Pro-Life Legislation Introduced in U.S. Congress”]

Otherwise known as the ‘Federal Heartbeat Bill’ [HR 490] was offered by pro-life U.S. Rep. Steve King (IA-R) who has vowed to introduce the bill into every Congress until it is adopted.  In a nutshell, the bill would prohibit abortions everywhere in America whenever a fetal heartbeat is detected.

According to the Barna findings, 69% of Americans agree with the statement – “If a doctor is able to detect the heartbeat of an unborn baby, that unborn baby should be legally protected.”

While the measure has much greater support among Republicans (86%) and Independents (61%), even a majority of Democrats (55%) who were polled said they supported the statement.

Janet Porter, president of Faith2Action was the author of the language in the original ‘Heartbeat Bill’ introduced in Ohio in 2011.  That bill was finally adopted by the state legislature in 2016, but vetoed by Gov. John Kasich over threats of legal action against the law.  “The heartbeat is the medical measurement of life,” Porter said.  “It’s the reason you’ve never been to the funeral of someone with a heartbeat.  Like an SOS telegraph, the child in the womb is sending a signal we can no longer ignore.  To deny it is to deny science.”

Faith2Action legislative director Rachelle Heidlebaugh has herself experienced the heartbreak associated with abortion.  She said HR 490 provides a voice to unborn children from the womb to mothers who were never told about their babies’ beating hearts before taking their life.

“I urge Congress to pass the common sense Heartbeat Bill—the first step to make America safe again,” Porter added.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Reclaiming America for Christ

Today is Presidents’ Day.  We have been blessed with some awesome presidents that have positively helped to favorably mold this country. 

The question is: What happened?  What have we become?  Have we become the nation that our forefathers had pledged their sacred honor?  Would they be disappointed in what we have become?

As most of you know, I am a firm believer that America was founded on Christian principles … by Christian men and women.  And I’m (by no means) alone in that conviction.

Ronald Reagan said this on February 9, 1982 at the National Religious Broadcasters Annual Convention (almost 30-years ago to the day):

“It’s been written that the most sublime figure in American history was George Washington on his knees in the snow at Valley Forge.  He personified a people who knew that it was not enough to depend on their own courage and goodness, that they must seek help from God – their Father and Preserver.  Where did we begin to lose sight of that noble beginning, of our convictions that standards of right and wrong do exist and must be lived up to?”

Lest I be accused of only referencing a Republican president, here is what Harry Truman said:

“I do not believe there is a problem in this country or the world today which could not be settled if approached through the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.”

How true!  Our country once lived by God’s teachings.  We had that old fashioned “Can Do Attitude” – that optimism that seemed to get us through all the difficulties that the world tossed our way.  Where do you suppose Americans gained that “Can Do Attitude”?  I believe it was from Scripture … as found in Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.”  America once believed that our strength came from above; and by acknowledging it – came many blessings to our Great Nation.  I believe we were once at a place in America when we could admit that we were weak … in order to draw strength from God.  And this is something that we still need to do today. 

In order for us to reclaim that “Can Do Attitude” and (in turn) reclaim America for Christ, there are three things we must do –

I. We Must Admit … that we are weak and cannot do it alone.

II. We Must Submit … in order to move forward.

III. We Must Never Quit … never give up the good fight.

As I look at our nation, I see politicians and people that have given up on God.  The once great nation deemed as a Christian nation by our forefathers is considered by our immediate past president as the direct opposite.  On April 7, 2009, President Obama commented during a press conference in Turkey in which, speaking for Americans, he said:

“We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation; we consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.  Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation - at least, not just.  We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.”

That phrase – “Whatever we once were… ” reveals just how far separated from God our country has become.  We have quit on God; and it began long before the Obama Administration.  We quit on God by kicking Him out of our schools; by eradicating Him from the sphere of our government; we have quit on God by removing Him from influencing our lives.

50-years ago (in our lifetime), I believe the majority of Americans would never have imagined we would have become what we have become today.  We are a product of our own demise.  We became complacent and comfortable; we became tolerant and accepting.  The bottom line is: We Quit!  We quit living as a Christian nation (years ago) … long before liberalism got its foothold in our society.  We quit when we placed God second to everything else in our lives.  We quit when we became afraid to speak His name in public.

It’s time, my friends, to ban together and reclaim the United States of America as One nation Under God.  Where has our “Can Do Attitude” gone? … as expressed in the sacred text – “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.”

I, like many of you, love our country; and I believe in what America represents.  I believe that we were founded on Christ’s Love.  But unfortunately, I believe we have strayed off course.  It’s time to reclaim this nation for Christ.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Planned ‘Murderhood’ Has Abortion Quotas Rewarded with Pizza Parties

The latest video in Live Action’s new investigative series of Planned Parenthood (PP) reveals they reward their centers with pizza parties for meeting abortion sales quotas – and institutes a “corrective action plan” when they don’t.

“Every center had a goal for how many abortions were done,” Sue Thayer, a former PP manager, explains in the video.  “And centers that didn’t do abortions like mine that were family planning clinics had a goal for the number of abortion referrals.  And it was on this big grid, and if we hit our goal, our line was green.  If we were five percent under, it was yellow.  If we were 10 percent under, it was red.  That’s when we needed to have a corrective action plan – why we didn’t hit the goal, what we’re gonna do differently next time.”

This video entitled, ‘Planned Parenthood’s Abortion Quotas,’ is the fourth in Live Action’s series – ‘Abortion Corporation.’  The series has shown PP employees admitting its name is “deceptive” because they don’t promote parenting.

Other videos include:

‘Ultrasounds for Killing, Not Care at Planned Parenthood’ and the accompanying testimony ‘Planned Parenthood Managers: Ultrasounds for Abortions, Not Care’ highlight how PP will only do ultrasounds as part of an abortion – not for women who want to keep their babies.

‘The Prenatal Care Deception’ shows PP’s nationwide denying women prenatal care because they “specialize” in abortions.  “I felt like I was more of a salesman sometimes, to sell abortions,” former PP nurse Marianne Anderson says in the video.  “And we were told on a regular basis that, ‘You have a quota to meet to keep this clinic open.’”  She said the focus of her job seemed to be selling abortions rather than “treating people.”  “I trained my staff the way that I was trained, which was to really encourage women to choose abortion, to have it at Planned Parenthood because that counts as – you know, towards our goal,” said Thayer, who previously ran a Storm Lake, Iowa, PP.  She said PP would convince women that abortion was their best choice if they couldn’t afford to pay for their initial clinic visit right away.  According to Thayer, they would say, “If you can’t pay 10 dollars today, how are you gonna take care of a baby?  Have you priced diapers?  Do you know how much it costs to buy a car seat? ... Don’t you think your smartest choice is termination?”

In addition to pizza parties, employees could be rewarded for meeting abortion quotas with paid time off or a ‘clinic manager of the month’ award.  The latter meant lunch with upper management. 

Let’s be clear: PP doesn’t have quotas for adoptions or for prenatal care; but quotas for abortions.  Lila Rose, President and Founder of Live Action, says, “Planned Parenthood makes a profit off women in the midst of their most difficult experiences and incentivizes its staff to take the lives of children in the womb with pizza parties, paid time off, and lunches with upper management.  It’s time to redirect our tax money toward local health clinics that actually provide real care to women, instead of to Planned Parenthood, a corporation focused on upping its abortion numbers.”  Rose predicted PP would deny these findings, noting that it claimed it had retrained thousands of employees to identify sex trafficking after Live Action caught its workers helping people posing as pimps. Former Sherman, Texas, PP manager Ramona Treviño disclosed that this “retraining” was actually a way in which the abortion giant tried to teach staff to recognize undercover journalists.

One of President Trump’s pro-life promises during his campaign was that he will defund PP as long as it continues to commit abortions.  Congress is on the brink of passing a bill to redirect the half a billion taxpayer dollars PP receives to women’s healthcare centers that don’t kill pre-born humans.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Trump’s Prayer Breakfast Remarks … Unlike Obama’s Reprimand of Christians

At the February 2, 2017 National Prayer Breakfast, President Trump said the whole world has a duty to stop the “genocide” of Christians in the Middle East.  He blasted the terrorism that religious minorities face in some parts of the world, said we “must never, ever” stop asking God for wisdom, and declared that America will flourish “when religious liberty can flourish.”  “Freedom of religion is a sacred right,” President Trump said.  He promised his administration “will do everything in its power to defend and protect religious liberty in our land” and around the world.

The President was introduced by Mark Burnett (MGM Television President) who created and produced the film ‘The Bible’ and the person who worked with Trump on ‘The Apprentice’ program for 14-years. 

Trump outlined the severity of threats to religious freedom around the world:

“We have seen peace-loving Muslims brutalized, victimized, murdered, and oppressed by ISIS killers.  We have seen threats of extermination against the Jewish people.  We have seen a campaign of ISIS and genocide against Christians, where they cut off heads.  Not since the Middle Ages have we seen that.  We haven’t seen that – the cutting off of heads.  Now they cut off the heads, they drown people in steel cages...Nobody’s seen this for many, many years.”
“All nations have a moral obligation to speak out against such violence.  All nations have a duty to work to confront it and to confront it viciously if we have to.  So I want to express clearly today to the American people that my administration will do everything in its power to defend and protect religious liberty in our land.  America must forever remain a tolerant society where all faiths are respected and where all of our citizens can feel safe and secure.  We have to feel safe and secure.”

“We will be a country…where all citizens can practice their beliefs without fear of hostility or fear of violence.  America will succeed as long as our most vulnerable citizens…have a path to success...God will always give us solace and strength and comfort.”

Additionally, Trump said he will “totally destroy” the Johnson Amendment, which threatens churches with the loss of their tax-exempt statuses for expressing certain political opinions.  His speech also touched on the importance of caring for veterans, whose “vigilance has kept our liberty alive.”

Trump thanked the American people for their prayers, which “have sustained me and inspired me.”  Trump said the “five words that never, ever fail to touch my heart” are “I am praying for you.”  “I hear it so often,” he said.  “The quality of our lives is not defined by our material success, but by our spiritual success,” he continued.  “I tell you that from somebody that has had material success.”  Many of the ultra-rich are “very, very miserable and unhappy people,” Trump said, while he’s noticed the less wealthy who have their families are often happiest.  “Those to me are the successful people,” he said.

Trump rejoiced that “one nation under God” is part of the Pledge of Allegiance.  He called the reference to God “a great thing because that’s what we are and that is what we will always be and that is what our people want.”  He told the audience of American and foreign politicians and dignitaries, “God will always give us solace and strength and comfort.”

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

P.S. – At the February 5, 2015 National Prayer Breakfast [then] President Obama issued a word of warning to Christians: “And lest we get on our high horse and think this war [with ISIL] is unique to some other place – remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.”  [The Crusades ended some 700-years ago.] 

Republican Congress and President Taking Action to Un-Muzzle Clergy and Churches

Churches are being “muzzled” by the U.S. government, said Bishop Garland Hunt of GA at a press conference on Capitol Hill last week.  The Johnson Amendment, named for its author [then] U.S. Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson (TX-R), prohibits non-profits and churches from speaking about politics.  Because of the regulations, pastors and politicians were forced to introduce a bill called The Free Speech Fairness Act … to reverse the Johnson-era mandate.

“A preacher should not have to get permission from the IRS to be able to preach to their congregation,” U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (LA-R) said.  Scalise introduced the bill, along with Sen. James Lankford (OK-R), who’s introducing sister legislation in the Senate.

Scalise and Lankford were joined by several pastors, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Cristiana Holcomb, and other freedom lovers concerned that the IRS is casting a shadow over churches.  If a church decides not to comply with the government’s wishes, they could lose their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.  That threat, Scalise noted, is not in keeping with the separation of powers laid out in the Constitution.

While this whole ‘Big Brother’ thing may sound like hyperbole, the situation was all too real for Pastor Khanh Huynh, who preaches at the Vietnamese Baptist Church in Houston, TX.  Huynh fought and fled communist Vietnam for the U.S.A. and said he enjoyed the freedoms here for a happy 33-years.  That all changed in September 2014 when the city of Houston came to his door and served him a subpoena demanding his sermons.  The mayor didn’t like that he and other pastors in the city were opposed to an ordinance allowing “gender-confused” people to use public restrooms of their choice.  They told him he had to respond to the subpoena in 10-days or he’d face fines and imprisonment.  The ordeal was so upsetting that Huynh said he hid it from his family for two weeks.

“It’s very stressful,” he told Townhall.com.  “They know that most of us fled Vietnam to find freedom.”  Yet, the government’s demands have only emboldened him and his congregation.  They refused to comply and judging by Huynh’s passion, they don't plan to in the near future.  “We’re not going to back down, because we did nothing wrong,” he said.  “We just speak the Word of God on moral issues …”  “She can have my sermon, it’s on the internet anyway,” he added.  “But for us to bring the sermon to her office, we will not.”

The congressional leaders and pastors at the free speech press conference said they are encouraged by President Trump’s public declaration that he’d help bring freedom of religion back.  At his meeting with pastors over the summer, he even mentioned the Johnson Amendment by name, promising to overturn it.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Evangelical Churches and the BSA are Unequally Yoked

In the fitting words of the host of Fox News & Commentary, Todd Starnes, “The Boy Scouts of America sacrificed its last vestige of integrity on the altar of political correctness.”  As an Eagle Scout myself, I couldn’t agree more!

On January 30, the BSA announced that girls who identify as boys will now be allowed to join the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts – marking a complete capitulation to the gender and sex revolutionaries.  The policy change takes effect immediately and has parents on both sides of the issue asking, “Will transgender children will be able to share tents and bathrooms in the great outdoors with heterosexual boys?”

“For more than 100 years, the Boy Scouts of America, along with schools, youth sports and other youth organizations, have ultimately deferred to the information on an individual’s birth certificate to determine eligibility for our single-gender programs,” BSA spokesperson Rebecca Rausch told Associated Press.  “However, that approach is no longer sufficient as communities and state laws are interpreting gender identity differently, and these laws vary widely from state to state.”

Tony Perkins, President of Family Research Council, gave Trail Life USA – a Christ-centered scouting program that has exploded in growth since its founding in 2014 with nearly 30,000 young people now involved in the program – high marks.  “It’s what the BSA used to be before its leadership compromised the core tenets of scouting.”

In a released statement, Trail Life assured its “members and charter organizations nationwide that we are committed to the biblical traditional values affirmed in our statement of faith and values.”  John Stemberger, Chairman of Trail Life’s Board of Directors, said the BSA decision is “sad beyond belief.”  “It’s the beginning of the end of what the Boy Scouts used to mean,” he said.  “It’s really a sad move.”  He warned the decision will “put boys in a state of confusion and does nothing to help normal psychological development.”  “Aside from the fact they are now going to confuse literally hundreds of thousands of young men and boys – you are now going to have further youth protection problems,” he said.  “Facilities and campgrounds are not designed for this type of thing.”

The BSA is also going to face some logistical issues.  Will boys and girls be allowed to shower together?  Will they be allowed to use the same camp dressing rooms?  What sort of restroom accommodations will be provided for transgender scouts?  “It’s simply stunning that a leading youth organization which parents entrust the protection of their children with has opted to again appease political activists rather than follow clear, common-sense best practices for child protection,” Stemberger said.  Stemberger went on to say what’s really sad is the BSA rarely talks about its original mission – to teach young people ethics and morals – to teach them how to make ethical and moral decisions through their lifetime.  Those days are long gone.  So much for the BSA being “morally straight” (no pun intended) in the face of militant gender revolutionaries.

If my church were a chartered partner of the BSA, I’d not be renewing the charter but rather charter with Trail Life USA.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Stopping Islamic Terrorism by Enforcing Growth in Muslim Immigration

Unlike classic Islamic terrorism, lone wolf terrorism requires no cells stretching across the United States … the way that 9/11 did.  The perpetrators don’t even need to enter the USA under false pretenses … the way that the World Trade Center bombers did.  In many cases, they are already citizens … some were even born in their target country.  The lone wolf terrorism is now the biggest trend in Islamic terrorism.

Classic counterterrorism is directed at organizations.  But this is inadequate for stopping individual Muslim terrorists like Omar Mateen who was able to murder 49-people at a nightclub in Orlando or duos like the Tsarnaev brothers in Boston or the husband and wife team who carried out the San Bernardino terrorist attack which took the lives of 14-people.

If a lone wolf Islamic terrorist fails to let his plans slip, either online or to an FBI informant, stopping him/her can be extremely difficult … if not entirely impossible without luck.  And Islamic terrorists only need to be lucky once … while we have to be lucky every time.

Unlike classic Islamic terrorism … which requires organization and infrastructure … the new brand of Islamic terror only needs one thing – a Muslim extremist.  Lone wolf terrorism operates entirely off the existing Muslim population in a particular country. Therefore, the bigger the Muslim population, the bigger the risk of attack.  Any Muslim or Muslims who have settled in a particular non-Muslim country can answer the call of Jihad at any given time … without warning.

There is no way that the FBI or other law enforcement agencies can monitor even a fraction of the Islamic settler population sympathetic to terror.  It doesn’t have nearly the resources it needs to handle them.  Current technological or logistical solutions to this crisis in law enforcement will fall short of preventing lone wolf attacks.

As the Muslim settler population in America increases, the number of cases will grow.  No matter how much law enforcement expands the scope of its operations, it will not be able to keep up with the high natural birth rates of the Muslim settler population whose terrorists don’t need a fraction of the training or skills that trained law enforcement figures do.  The more the Muslim population grows in the USA, the more terror attacks like Orlando, Boston and San Bernardino will get past law enforcement.

The source of the lone wolf Islamic terrorism problem is Islamic immigration.  The only possible solution is to reduce or end the growth of Muslim migration.

Muslim immigrants are already inherently privileged when it comes to their ability to enter this country ahead of far more peaceful and far more deserving groups.  For example, the vast majority of Syrian refugees admitted to America are the Muslims who perpetrated and are perpetuating their religious war in the region rather than their Christian and Yazidi victims who face slavery and genocide at their hands.  This Islamic immigration privilege must be withdrawn.  Muslim immigration must at the very least be scaled back to a level that law enforcement can cope with.  At best it must end entirely until the Muslim world manages to stabilize its way of life to the extent that it can peacefully co-exist with non-Muslims.

The arguments are endless over what percentage of Muslims support terrorism, but our own experience of recent attacks shows that many of them came from attackers who overtly appeared to be “moderate” and “ordinary.”  Before the Boston Marathon bombing, the Tsarnaevs did not seem like Jihadists.  They would have been classed with the general category of “moderate” Muslims.  And then they struck.  That is how it is.

Now, not every Muslim will shoot up a nightclub or bomb a marathon or shoot up an office party; but we have no foolproof way of telling them apart.  And even those Muslims who don’t attack will often sympathize with the perpetrators and support the Muslim lobby of organizations like CAIR that stymie law enforcement investigations of Islamic terrorism.

It’s undeniable: Muslim immigration makes Muslim terrorism worse.  Once we understand this inconvenient truth, then everything else naturally flows from it.  The type of terrorism that we are dealing now won’t be beaten by breaking up organizations or droning terrorist leaders in training camps in Yemen or Pakistan.  The enemy is right here.  He speaks our language.  He walks down our streets.  He looks at us and he plots to kill us.

Listen: Lone wolf terrorism is a viral threat that is spread by Islamic migration.  We can only end it by closing the door.  As long as the door to the Muslim migrant stays open, we will live under the threat that our neighbor or co-worker will be the one to kill us tomorrow or the day after that.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

There is a Pro-Life Tsunami Hitting America

Pro-life leaders are saying there is a nationwide surge in optimism driving the wave of pro-life bills already introduced in the first month of this year’s state legislative sessions.  The nearly 50 new bills include bans on dismemberment abortions and any procedure after 20-weeks gestation, fetal burial requirements, and bills that would defund Planned Parenthood (PP).

“With the election of a pro-life president, with all of the gains that we made across the different states with last year’s election, I think we are very optimistic in passing laws that protect the unborn baby and their moms,” says National Right to Life Committee’s Ingrid Duran Samantha Gobba of Christian Headlines. 

In 2016, lawmakers approved 60 new pro-life laws across the country, and leaders expect more of the same focus this year … simply with more energy.

Eric Scheidler, director of Pro-Life Action League, told Gobba the surge of pro-life bills is a reaction to years of “elitist cultural bullying.”  He pointed to President Trump’s choice of pro-life advisers: Vice President Mike Pence, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, and Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions.  “It isn’t the person of Trump, but it’s the whole phenomenon and all the people around him and the people he’s appointed.  That’s really what’s driving this optimism,” Scheidler said.

So far this year, legislators in Iowa, Virginia, New Jersey, and Florida have introduced 20-week abortion bans.  Lawmakers in four states – Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, and Rhode Island – have filed bills that would ban dismemberment abortions.  And the Kentucky and Iowa legislatures will consider bills to defund abortion giant PP.

Laws restricting abortion already have momentum.  The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute reported last year that 288 bills (more than one-fourth of all pro-life laws passed since 1973) came after 2010.

“That’s when Obamacare was rammed through so cynically,” Scheidler said.  “A lot of reason behind the pro-life laws was an attempt to reign in some of the pro-abortion measures of Obamacare.”

Until 2015, most pro-life measures addressed medication abortion, private insurance mandates, and parental involvement.  Coinciding with the release of undercover videos revealing PP’s involvement in the fetal tissue trade, lawmakers began focusing on abortion facility regulations and the humanity of the unborn child. 

Some states have only one or two pro-life bills introduced so far this year, while others have a whole bunch of them.  In Missouri, lawmakers filed dozens of bills targeting abortion – 22 for which Missouri Right to Life expresses support.  The pro-life bills include a ban on abortions due to an unborn baby’s sex, race, or a diagnosis of Down syndrome; five bills addressing the sale or donation of aborted baby body parts; and a bill that would extend greater protections to embryos conceived through in-vitro fertilization. 

In Iowa, where the most recent pro-life law (a parental notification bill) passed in 1996, state senators have introduced half a dozen pro-life measures.  They include a bill that would classify unborn babies weighing at least 350 grams (0.77 pounds) as a “person,” and a bill that would make dealing in baby body parts a felony.  After they reclaimed the Senate in November, Iowa Republicans now have a trifecta … holding the state House, Senate, and governor’s seat for the first time in 20-years.  Iowa Right to Life director Jennifer Bowen said the future looks bright for pro-lifers in her state.  Iowa is “radically behind” other states in pro-life laws, she said, adding lawmakers now have a chance to close the gap.  “Planned Parenthood lost.  Completely lost,” Bowen said.  “I don’t think the reality has sunk in yet, that voters responded very, very strongly in Iowa. … In the short term, we’re seeing a lot of loud, histrionic hysteria that is quite distracting, but at the end of the day they have to realize at some point that this abortion-on-demand and without apology is not where Iowa wants to go.”

Some pro-life bills may be too aggressive to survive a court challenge.  Those most likely to succeed will mirror measures passed last year that avoided court interference, Denise Burke with Americans United for Life told Gobba.  “When we’ve got this great opportunity, we’re going to pass the tried and true, things that we know are constitutional and effective,” she said.

Aggressive measures include an Idaho bill to classify abortion as murder, a Texas bill removing abortionists’ medical licenses, and an Indiana bill that defines human life as beginning at conception … which would make abortion illegal.

So much pro-life momentum is especially remarkable after last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which struck down a Texas law requiring abortion centers to meet ambulatory surgical center standards and abortionists to have hospital admitting privileges.  Pro-lifers at first feared the decision would have broad implications for regulating the abortion industry, but the focus changed in November.  “I think there’s increasing confidence among many pro-life allies and legislators that Hellerstedt may have a limited shelf life with the potential new Supreme Court,” Burke said.  “So we’re seeing a lot of what we’ve seen in the last couple of years, but just with renewed vigor and enthusiasm.”

But not all states got a green light in November to push through pro-life bills.  Oregon Right to Life director Gayle Atteberry told Gobba state leaders “laid down the gauntlet” and pledged to fight the Trump Administration’s pro-life agenda in the state.  Oregon Right to Life is promoting a few pro-life bills, including one that would ban late-term, sex-selective abortions.  It’s also fighting a bill that would mandate insurance coverage for contraception and abortions and notification for religious organization employees that their contraception and abortions won’t be covered.  Despite strong opposition to the pro-life cause, Atteberry remains optimistic: “God is working here, and we’re not going anywhere.”

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

No Greater Love …

February 3, marks the 74th anniversary of the tragic sinking in the icy North Atlantic of the United States Army Transport Dorchester traveling from Newfoundland toward an American base in Greenland.  The Dorchester was carrying 902 service members, merchant seamen and civilian workers.  Just before 1:00 a.m., some 100-miles from Greenland, a German submarine torpedo struck the starboard side with a blast killing scores of men, and many more seriously wounded.  The sinking resulted in the loss of 672 lives in 1943.

Witnesses of the event have recounted in the Congressional Record the heroism and self-sacrifice of four chaplains of different faiths: Lt. George L. Fox, Methodist: Lt. Alexander D. Goode, Jewish; Lt. John P. Washington, Catholic; and Lt. Clark V. Poling, Dutch Reformed.

Witnesses have verified that during the approximate 18-minutes the ship was sinking, the four chaplains went from soldier-to-soldier bringing hope to the men struggling to survive.  They could be heard encouraging the frightened, praying for the dying, and guiding the disoriented toward the lifeboats.  While guiding men to safety and handing out lifejackets from storage on the deck, when there were no more lifejackets to distribute, they removed their own and gave them to four frightened young men so as to save their lives.  The chaplains were last seen arm-in-arm in prayer and grasping the railing of the ship’s deck as it slipped into the frigid Atlantic Ocean.

Many of the 230 men who survived owed their lives to these four chaplains.  Their unique interfaith spirit and love for their fellowmen was memorialized by the United State Postal Service on a popular 1948 postage stamp with the title: “These Immortal Chaplains-Interfaith in Action.”

Congress in 1957, passed a Concurrent Resolution to honor these Immortal Chaplains and the men who died with them; and Presidents Truman and Eisenhower issued similar proclamations calling for national recognition and participation in memorial services throughout the land to be, observed annually by the American Legion and others on the first Sunday in February.

In turn, Congress created a special Medal of Valor in memory of the four chaplains in 1960, never to be repeated.  The United States Congress did pass a unanimous resolution on the first day of the 2nd Session of the 105th Congress, January 27, 1998, designating February 3 as “Four Chaplains Day,” which was co-authored by U.S. Senator Rod Grams, of Minnesota, and a similar bill passed unanimously in the Minnesota State Legislature at that same time.

The historic Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel, where I have the privilege of pastoring, has a permanent memorial in stained glass depicting the compassion of the Four Chaplains and has commemorated this memorial service for decades.

Jesus said and lived before us – “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  (John 15:13)  Today we remember the immortal Four Chaplains … who put flesh to these words of Christ.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

This blog posting previously appeared on February 3, 2014.

The Negligence of Public Education Has Given Us Protesting Idiots

The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States was remarkable in many ways … not the least of which was that six different individuals offered prayers (four prayers ending in Jesus’ name and the other two openly quoting from the Bible).  Clearly absent was the typical PC (politically correct) prayer.  Once again, clergy were allowed to pray (publically) according to the dictates of their own conscience, as originally intended by the U.S. Constitution.

Another unique feature of President Trump’s inauguration was the large number of protestors present … most of whom were Millennials … but all of whom either focused on single subjects (e.g., immigration, global warming, ObamaCare) or were still protesting the general election results.  A common protest sign was – “Trump is not my president.”

Noted historian, Dr. David Barton (founder and president of WallBuilders) stated with OneNewsNow, “That statement says more about our education system than it does about those who held the signs.  It affirms the failure of American education in four areas: American history, government, Constitution, and truth.”

Barton goes on to say:

“First, the sign was intended to express their outrage over the fact that Hillary won the popular vote by 2.9-million votes (out of 128.8 million cast) but lost the presidency – an outcome they believed was unprecedented in the history of American elections.  Only it wasn’t.  The identical thing has happened in several other presidential elections.  Shame on schools for not teaching basic American history and why such outcomes occur.

“Second, the message on the sign was rooted in the protestors’ mistaken belief that America is a democracy.  But we are not.  Those who formed our government hated democracies and wisely protected us from them.  For example, James Madison affirmed that ‘democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention [and] incompatible with personal security or the rights of property.’  Founder Fisher Ames warned, ‘A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction,’ and John Adams lamented that democracy ‘never lasts long….There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.’  For thousands of years, democracies have consistently proved to be a source of lurking disaster – an unpredictable form of government where passions and selfishness are allowed to prevail over reason and deliberation.  America was therefore established as a constitutional republic – what John Adams described as ‘a government of laws and not of men.’  Shame on schools for not teaching basic American government.

“Third, the sign affirmed their unawareness of how presidents are to be elected according to the Constitution – an election process that mirrors our federal bicameral system.  For example, Wyoming has half-a-million citizens, but California has 39-million.  So in the U.S. House, Wyoming gets only one congressman while California gets 53, and California will beat Wyoming on every vote in the House.  The popular vote of the House will always prevail in that chamber.  But in the Senate, California gets only two senators – the same as Wyoming; the representation is solely by state, and every state has equal voting strength with all others.  This is a prominent feature in our federal system.  A bill is not passed merely by the House, which reflects the popular vote; it also must be passed in the Senate, which reflects the vote by states.  The protestors believe that only the national popular vote matters (which Hillary won – barely). But even though she garnered the votes of most of the largest cities in America, she did not win the majority of the states, cities, or counties.  In fact, Trump won 30 of the 50 states, more than 80% of America’s 3,141 counties, and an equally lop-sided percentage of its 35,000 cities.  The protestors were unaware (as are most Americans) that the Constitution establishes an election system that balances diverse measurements.  Shame on schools for not teaching the Constitution.

“Finally, the declaration that ‘Trump is not my president’ establishes personal opinion as the ultimate measure of right and wrong – that truth is whatever I believe or declare it to be.  (Polling today shows that two of three Americans believe that there are no moral absolutes – that every individual is his own arbiter of what is right and wrong, or moral.)  But the problem with this is that there are absolutes.  Jump off the Empire State Building and see what happens.  On the way down you may personally object to what is happening, or be offended by it, or even vehemently disagree with it; but none of that will change the results. There is no alternate reality.  None.  Shame on schools for teaching students to elevate personal opinion above absolute facts.”

It’s long past the time that Americans demand that their schools once again teach American history (so students know that the popular vote winner does not always win the presidential election), American government (so they know we are a republic and not a democracy), the Constitution (so they understand our bicameral federal and election system), and absolute truth (that personal opinion must submit to truth and reality).  If we don’t make these changes, we will not want to imagine, much less experience, the horrifying results from Abraham Lincoln’s warning that “the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.”

God help America if citizens don’t act to change our schools.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel