Prayer to Protect U.K. Churches

A major Christian advocacy group in the U.K. has launched a prayer campaign in response to looming government legislation aimed at banning what is derisively referred to as “conversion therapy.”  If such as ban goes into effect, it might also prohibit clergy from praying for people struggling with same-sex attraction and gender confusion.

The Christian Institute’s (CI) “Let Us Pray” campaign was launched on October 15 and comes as the British government continues to say that it intends to ban so-called conversion therapy, but has yet to define what types of therapy or counseling fall under this label.  Some churches fear the ban will include outlawing prayer.  

“‘Conversion therapy’ is a wide umbrella term chosen by LGBT campaigners.  It covers grotesque illegal assaults such as ‘corrective rape’ and abusive quack medical practices like electric shock ‘therapy.’  But the campaigners want to go much further,” the CI’s prayer initiative website states.  The larger goal of the proposed government legislation, the group says, is for churches and ministries to stop advocating the historic sexual ethics of the Christian faith.  Preaching, pastoral care, and even parenting might get entangled in this new policy.  “It shouldn’t be illegal for Christians to teach their faith, or for people to pray for their friends,” the website declares.  “No-one denies that some people who identify as LGBT have been mistreated in the past and are sometimes mistreated today.  As Christians, we condemn abuse of every kind.  And we welcome LGBT people into our churches, just like we welcome everyone else,” an October 15 post reads.  Should the government criminalize the expression of biblical sexual ethics, it would violate the obligations outlined in the European Convention on Human Rights, the group notes.

The ongoing lack of clarity as to what is being considered under the proposed ban comes on the heels of whether prayer would be included in the legislation.  In June, David Walker, the Anglican Bishop of Manchester, told the Guardian that those who breach the ban on conversion therapy ought to face prosecution, but stressed that he did not mean those engaging in “gentle, non-coercive prayer,” but the kind “where there is a level of power imbalance and a level of force.”

At the root of the divide between theologically orthodox Christians and LGBT activists arguing for such a ban is an anthropological issue about what fundamentally defines a human being.  While traditional churches have historically held that one’s sexual inclinations and actions are not the sum-total or defining features of a person’s identity and that a long-standing scriptural standard must be followed regarding sexuality, LGBT activist groups often assert that any effort to challenge particular behaviors, especially if someone is dealing with unwanted sexual attractions or gender confusion, is tantamount to an assault on “who you are.”

In late March, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a letter to the Evangelical Alliance that he did not want to see pastors face criminal penalties.  “As the Government made clear in 2018, when we first made our commitment to end conversion therapy, we will continue to allow adults to receive appropriate pastoral support (including prayer), in churches and other religious settings, in the exploration of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Johnson said.  He added, “Like you, I do not want to see clergy and church members criminalized for normal non-coercive activity.”

The CI’s director Colin Hart said in a statement that the goals of those pushing for the ban are sweeping.  “Private prayer, evangelism, parenting, pastoral advice, preaching and teaching, church membership, baptism, confirmation and communion would all be put at risk by an overly broad ban,” Hart said, adding that these are among the ordinary things churches do and must not be criminalized.  “We want to protect Gospel freedom. Politicians must not allow activists to exploit concerns about genuine abuse to further their own agendas against Christians,” he said.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Pushing Back & Navigating Your Threatened Rights

As personal rights are violated and longtime members of the medical community are punished for their vaccine-related views, an emergency hearing has been scheduled for a federal lawsuit involving the Biden Administration’s mandate that federal workers must get COVID shots.

Liberty Counsel (LC) has filed a massive class-action lawsuit and a motion for a temporary restraining order and injunction on behalf of all members of the military in all five branches against Joe Biden, the Secretary of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Mat Staver, LC founder and chairman of the Christian legal ministry, says Biden’s mandates are unlawful, “and they need to be stopped.”  “What is happening … particularly in the military is absolutely shocking, and it is an abuse of our military heroes,” Staver contends.  “No matter how many tours of duty they’ve done, no matter how long they’ve been in the military, no matter how much they’ve sacrificed, they’re being threatened with dishonorable discharge if they don’t succumb to these COVID injections.  It’s absolutely unbelievable.”

Staver says the government is violating multiple laws, and the federal lawsuit, which is filed in Tampa, FL, is asking the court to stop the unlawful mandates.  “We have an emergency hearing coming up November 15th,” says Staver.  “This case will move quite quickly.”

Meanwhile, a conservative legal defense organization in CA that provides pro bono representation in matters involving the exercise of religion and other civil liberties, has launched a new project called “Operation Pushback” in an effort to aid thousands of parents protecting their children from forced COVID shots and thousands of employees purged from the workplace for their religious convictions.  “This is a great challenge facing America to our liberties and to our freedoms,” says Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute (PJI).  In Operation Pushback, PJI is focused on three main components:

1. Recruiting additional attorneys across America to take wrongful termination cases in every state without any charge to the clients,

2. Distributing a flyer that guides employees, parents of K-12 students, college students, and military personnel, and

3. Making PJI attorneys available to appear at speaking engagements throughout the country.

“PJI ’s legal team is already in the process of helping thousands of individuals navigate their rights and take the proper legal steps with their schools and employers, and Operation Pushback will ensure that every person receives the legal help they need,” Dacus asserts.  Now, he says, is the time to close ranks in the fight for religious freedoms.

In MN, an advocate for health freedom thinks a situation involving a surgeon [Dr. Jeffrey Horak] who was recently terminated from his job after speaking to a school board about mask mandates is “the epitome of cancel culture.”  “A person cannot speak their mind, cannot speak from their expert opinion, cannot share whatever their beliefs are and their opinions are without losing their income, their right to work,” says Twila Brase, RN and president/co-founder of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF).

After losing his job, Dr. Horak told the “Fox & Friends” program that he had been asked by the community to speak at a school board meeting about mask mandates.  “I gave my expertise and my professional opinion, and nine days later, my employer gave me an option: Resign or be terminated,” he accounted.  According to Horak, the only information he got was that his views were no longer congruent with that of his employer.  “I’d been there for 15 years,” he shared.  “I was just shocked.  I didn’t know what to do.”

“To be clear, this was a decision that was made by Dr. Horak’s peers who serve on the Medical Group Board, not by Lake Region Healthcare, the community-based hospital where Dr. Horak practiced general surgery,” stated Dr. Greg Smith, the medical group board president in a statement shared on the “Fox & Friends” program.

“A person has a right to have their own life, their own opinion outside of the place of employment without being threatened by a loss of job and income and the right to put food on the table for their families,” contends Brase of CCHF.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

If You Are a Christian and Not Persecuted, Pray for the Millions Who Are

To observe the annual International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP), churches around the world prayed (Sunday, November 3) for more than 340-million Christians who are persecuted or oppressed because of their faith.  

Marking the IDOP 2021, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog group International Christian Concern said, “the number one thing persecuted Christians ask for is prayer.”  

“The IDOP is a time set apart to remember all those who share our faith, but not our freedom,” Godfrey Yogarajah, ambassador for Religious Freedom of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), said.  The WEA Religious Liberty Commission launched the first IDOP in 1996, encouraging churches worldwide to dedicate a Sunday in November to pray for persecuted Christians.  “For over two decades, every November, the global Church has united in prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. Today, more than 300-million Christians live in places where they face persecution for their faith in Jesus Christ.  Staggeringly, this is one in eight Christians, globally,” said WEA Secretary General Thomas Schirrmacher.  

Speaking to CBN News, David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA, put the number of Christians who are persecuted or oppressed because of their faith in Jesus at more than 340-million.  “Some of those places like North Korea are exceptionally difficult if you’re caught with the Bible, you may spend the rest of your life in prison or even lose your life,” he explained.  “Then there are other places around the world where the Gospel is opposed.  You may be harassed and bothered, so there are any number of ways people can be persecuted for their faith.”  

Behind each number and statistic, there is a human story, notes the World Watch List (WWL), which seeks to identify countries where Christian persecution is most rampant. During the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, Christians in India, Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Central Asia, Malaysia, North Africa, Yemen and Sudan, were denied aid, the WWL says.  “Christians who abandon a majority faith to follow Christ know they risk losing all support from spouses, families, tribes and communities, as well as local and national authorities.  If they lose income due to COVID-19, they can’t fall back on customary networks for survival,” it continues, adding that the kidnapping, forcible conversion, and forced marriage of women and girls also increased during the pandemic because of increased vulnerability.

Mark Riedemann, director of Public Affairs and Religious Freedom for Aid to the Church In Need, said the most important factors impacting religious freedom today include authoritarian governments, Islamist extremism, and ethnic-religious nationalism. “Several countries in Mainland Asia continue to be governed by Marxist one-party dictatorships,” The Tablet quoted him as saying. “These include North Korea where the policy toward faith groups can be understood as ‘exterminationist’ and China where mass surveillance, including artificial intelligence-refined technology, a social credit system that rewards and punishes individual behavior, and brutal crackdowns on religious and ethnic groups, enforce the state supremacy.”  Riedemann then explained that Africa is witnessing an “extraordinarily rapid growth of transnational jihadist groups, who systematically persecute all those — Muslim and Christian — who do not accept their extreme Islamist ideology.”  Quoting the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies, he added that Sub-Saharan Africa “has become a haven for over two dozen extremist groups actively operating — and increasingly cooperating — in 14 countries.”  He further explained that Asia confronts a growing phenomenon of “ethno-religious nationalism,” which promotes ethnic and religious supremacy in some Hindu and Buddhist majority countries in Asia, leading to even greater oppression of minorities.  “India is the most extreme example,” he continued.  “With a population of nearly 1.4-billion, India is both the world’s largest democracy and the country with the world’s largest and most virulent movement of religious nationalism.”  

However, the rampant persecution is not affecting the growth of the Church or the faith of the believers.  “When our sisters and brothers are persecuted for their faith, and they still choose Jesus, the Living Water — this is a miracle in front of our eyes,” the WWL notes.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Churches Across Africa Take Stand Against LGBTQ

In Nigeria, the umbrella body for Christian churches depicts same-sex relationships as an evil meriting the lengthy prison sentences prescribed under existing law.  And in several African countries, bishops aligned with the worldwide United Methodist Church (UMC) are preparing to join an in-the-works breakaway denomination so they can continue their practice of refusing to recognize same-sex marriage or ordain LGBTQ clergy.

In the United States, Western Europe, and various other regions, some prominent Protestant churches have advocated for LGBTQ inclusion.  With only a few exceptions, this hasn’t happened in Africa, where Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Lutheran leaders are among those opposing such Biblical compromise.

Ghana, generally considered more liberal than most African countries, now faces scrutiny due to a bill in Parliament that would impose prison sentences ranging from three to 10 years for people identifying as LGBTQ or supporting that community.  The lawmakers proposing the bill said they consulted influential religious leaders while drafting it.  Among those endorsing it are the Christian Council of Ghana, the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the country’s chief imam.  “We don’t accept murderers, why should we accept somebody who is doing sex in a sinful way?” Archbishop Philip Naameh, president of the bishops’ conference, told The Associated Press (AP).  “If you take a stance which is against producing more children, it is a choice which is injurious to the existence of the Ghanaian state.”

The Christian Council — whose members include Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Anglican churches — considers homosexuality “an act of perversion and abomination,” according to its secretary general, the Rev. Dr. Cyril Fayose of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.  “Homosexuality is not a human right, and we reject it in all uncertain terms,” he declared earlier this year.

In Africa’s most populous country, the Christian Association of Nigeria has threatened to sanction any church that shows tolerance for same-sex relationships.  Such acceptance “will never happen,” Methodist Bishop Stephen Adegbite, the association’s director of national issues, told the AP.  Asked about Nigeria’s law criminalizing same-sex relationships with sentences of up to 14 years in prison, Adegbite said there are no alternatives.  “The church can never be compromised,” he declared.

In Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, Catholic Archbishop Alfred Adewale Martins told the AP that Catholic teaching “recognizes in the dignity of every human person.” However, he said LGBTQ people who enter into same-sex relationships are leading “a disordered way of life” and should change their behavior.

Nigeria is home to one of the United Methodist bishops, John Wesley Yohanna, who says he plans to break away from the UMC and join the proposed Global Methodist Church.  That new denomination, likely to be established next year, results from an alliance between Methodists in the United States and abroad who don’t support the LGBT-inclusive policies favored by many Methodists in the U.S.  Bishops Samuel J. Quire Jr. of Liberia and Owan Tshibang Kasap of the UMC’s Southern Congo district also have indicated they would join the breakaway. 

The Rev. Keith Boyette, a Methodist elder from the United States who chairs the Global Methodist initiative, said the African bishops’ views reflect societal and cultural attitudes widely shared across the continent.  “Same-sex orientation is viewed negatively,” he said.  “That’s true whether a person is from a Christian denomination, or Muslim, or from a more indigenous religion.” 

In all of Africa, only one nation — South Africa — has legalized same-sex marriage.

South Africa’s Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, world-renowned for his opposition to apartheid, has been an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ rights.  “I would not worship a God who is homophobic,” he once said.  “I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say ‘Sorry, I would much rather go to the other place.’”

 

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

Christian Employers Sue Against Covering Gender Transition Surgeries

Christian Employers Alliance (CEA), a nonprofit representing Christian-owned businesses and protecting religious freedom in the workplace, is suing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for issuing mandates the group argues would require religious employers and providers to pay for and perform, respectively, gender transition surgeries.

The HHS mandate was issued in May by the department’s Office for Civil Rights, invoking its responsibility for enforcing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act “protecting the civil rights of individuals who access or seek to access covered health programs or activities,” a responsibility that includes prohibiting discrimination “on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The EEOC mandate, citing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, requires employers with over 14 employees to “provide employee health plans or health insurance coverage that cover gender transition surgeries and services, such as medical procedures to transition a biological male to a transgender female or to transition a biological female to a transgender male” and “requires coverage for other gender transition services such as supportive counseling/psychotherapy and cross-sex hormone therapy and treatment.”  

The EEOC’s mandate has been “for many years now misinterpreted and improperly enforced,” argues the lawsuit filed on behalf of CEA in U.S. District Court of North Dakota’s Western Division by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).  The EEOC’s misinterpretation and improper enforcement of Title VII “force[s] religious employers to pay for and provide health insurance coverage for gender transition surgeries and procedures,” according to the complaint.  The lawsuit challenges HHS’ “reinterpretation of ‘sex’ in federal law to include gender identity, thereby forcing religious healthcare providers to physically perform or facilitate gender transition surgeries and procedures, contrary to their deeply held beliefs.”  “Many religious employers — including the Christian Employers Alliance and all of its members — hold sincere beliefs that gender transition surgeries and procedures are morally wrong and contradict their beliefs that God purposefully created humans as either a biological male or female and that a person’s biological sex is immutable,” said ADF Senior Counsel Matt Bowman.  “By misinterpreting and improperly enforcing federal law, President Biden has far overreached his constitutional authority, to the detriment of people of faith across the country.”  Per the Constitution’s religious freedom protections, Bowman said, “The government cannot force Christian employers to pay for, or physically perform, harmful medical procedures that contradict their religious beliefs.”  

In the lawsuit, ADF likened its case to a similar lawsuit by the Religious Sisters of Mercy that was likewise filed against both the EEOC and HHS and decided by the same court in January, but has since been appealed by the federal government to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. ADF argues that the court, which “permanently enjoined the EEOC and HHS” from enforcing their mandates on the Religious Sisters of Mercy, should issue “a similar declaratory judgment and permanent injunction” for the CEA.  “Employers and entrepreneurs, like many Americans, are growing increasingly concerned by rising costs that can be blamed in part on oppressive government mandates,” said CEA President Shannon Royce.  “These gender transition mandates greatly exacerbate this problem by threatening religious employers with punishing fines, burdensome litigation costs, the loss of federal funds, and even criminal penalties,” she continued.  “Additionally, the mandate creates a unique quagmire of concerns for religious healthcare providers by forcing them to speak positively about gender transition procedures even if they disagree.”

ADF’s legal argument is that the mandates violate both the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), as “HHS currently recognizes no RFRA exemptions under its interpretation of Section 1557 except those ordered by a court.”

The government, meanwhile, argues that the Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County last year, which held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting discrimination based on sex applies to sexual orientation and gender identity, should be applied to the mandates.

 

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

Another Canadian Pastor Jailed

A Canadian pastor, who was arrested the other week for reportedly violating COVID-19 health orders, spent an extra night in jail after police said he wouldn’t be released unless he agreed to stop preaching in church.

Pastor Tobias Tissen of Steinbach, Manitoba, was detained by police during a traffic stop on October 18th.  A warrant for his arrest was issued in May over a health order prohibiting outdoor gatherings of more than 5 people, Fox News reports.  Tissen’s bail hearing was originally scheduled for October 19th but was pushed back after he learned about the restrictions laid out by authorities that would prevent him from performing his pastoral duties.  “They had these conditions that I wasn’t allowed to attend any gatherings that were in contravention of COVID-19,” Tissen told Fox News.  “And that would automatically prohibit me from going to church and preaching.  And I could not agree with that.”

The pastor had avoided police for months before his arrest, only making appearances at his Church of God Restoration.  His church, along with several others, have filed lawsuits against Manitoba over its extreme COVID-19 restrictions.

Tissen says police are attacking church leaders in a “fight between good and evil, and they’re targeting those public figures that are in the lead who are fighting against the evil.”

While awaiting his release, the pastor said he prayed and reflected on the darkness that has come over mankind.  “In Ephesians, it says that we’re fighting against spiritual wickedness in high places and principalities and powers,” he explained.  “That’s it, right now, what we see. And they’re after all of us who are giving to God what belongs to God and to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.  But now, Caesar wants that which belongs to God.  And as Christians, we just cannot.  We cannot comply with that.”

Following his arrest, Tissen received an outpouring of support from religious leaders.  “What’s happening in Canada should concern freedom-loving people everywhere,” shared evangelist Franklin Graham.  “It is extremely disturbing as it relates to pastors and churches being targeted.  Earlier this month the Canadian Prime Minister announced some of the world’s strictest COVID-19 vaccine mandates.  Be sure to pray for Pastor Tissen and his church.”

Another Canadian pastor who’s been arrested, Artur Pawlowski, tweeted, “When authorities do this kind of things we know that the judgment on the land will be very severe!”

And Pastor Henry Hildebrandt with Church of God in Ontario wrote that preachers aren’t being arrested for committing crimes, rather for the sake of the Gospel.  “Two pastors sitting in jail, IN CANADA.  Don’t get callous to this reality.  Not for criminal activity, but because they refuse to follow unlawful, unconstitutional, and—most importantly—unbiblical public health mandates.”

 

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

Words Matter

Abraham Lincoln once asked— “How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg?  Four.  Saying that a tail is a leg doesn’t make it a leg.”  Words matter and further, how we define words matters.  This applies to us and to others who are working to trip us up in our beliefs and in our understanding of God’s Word.

We read in 2 Peter 3:16— “His (Paul) letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.”  Using the example of “racism” we see quickly how this tactic is used to distract, confuse and re-direct an issue to something else.

The use of the word “racism” (in itself) is meant to skip from truth to error without many even noticing.  The truth is that there is only one race— the human race.  Within the human race there are many ethnicities, cultures, and national origins— but all one race. You may be thinking, “Well, we know what they mean.”  But, do we?  Racism indicates actual different lines of being, of origin.  It automatically brings into question God’s creation of all humans as one race of people that God loved enough to redeem by the sacrifice of His only Son, Jesus Christ.  We must always adhere to the one God in His one Word and not deviate.

Professor Johann Williams of the University of Kent, says it this way, “We have a new elite that uses not racism, but anti-racism to invent differences between people which it exploits for its own ends.”  This is a good example of the Left attempting to re-define and confuse in order to distract us from the false assumptions from the beginning.  They use the word “anti-racism” to define what is, in actuality, the very definition of racism (if you call a tail a leg…).  This ruse is used over and over in many avenues of thought politically and spiritually.  If we are the ones the Apostle Peter refers to as, “ignorant and unstable people,” then we will be easily fooled to believe what is untrue.  Worse yet, we may teach others the same falsehoods.  Just consider Critical Race Theory (CRT) and what it is doing to distort and re-define real history— only to promote political goals that destroy rather than teach the real facts of history.

What is the Apostle Paul warning us about when he says, “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3)  Just as in the days of the first Christians, we have “super apostles” today (2 Corinthians 11:6; 12:11).  Those who put on an air of superiority and master the skills of public speaking, word-smithing, and advertising, to bend our minds away from the truth and accept what they are promoting instead.  To guard against this, always return to origins.  Sometimes, this is simple and other times difficult and time consuming, but always worth the effort.  Help others to search for truth.  Lead the way in doing the hard work of finding truth and speaking it boldly.

“For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough … For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ … their end will be what their actions deserve.” (2 Corinthians 11:4,13,15. Also see Galatians 1:6-9)

 

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

Preserve the Sanctity of Confession

Nothing is more sacred than someone’s religion.  While it may be unfathomable to a secularist, the religion of a faithful believer is based on an unshakeable belief that the fate of one’s existence depends on their theology.

For a Roman Catholic, the quality of their faith partially depends on the confession of sins— especially “mortal” ones— so they can unburden their souls.  Although the Catholic practice of confession is rejected by protestants, reformed versions of this idea can be found in many Christian churches based on James 5:16, which teaches, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

The sacred and discrete nature of confession in the Roman Catholic faith has existed since 1215 AD when Canon 21 decreed:

“Let the priest absolutely beware that he does not by word or sign or by any manner whatever in any way betray the sinner: but if he should happen to need wiser counsel let him cautiously seek the same without any mention of person. For whoever shall dare to reveal a sin disclosed to him in the tribunal of penance we decree that he shall be not only deposed from the priestly office but that he shall also be sent into the confinement of a monastery to do perpetual penance.”

In short, Catholic priests cannot disclose anything that is confessed to them.  This “Law of the Seal of Confession” is mean to allow Catholics the safety to confess and repent for the heinous sins they have committed so they will experience God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Much like attorney-client privilege, this assurance of secrecy is absolutely necessary to achieve the purpose of confession— which is to allow Catholics to unburden their souls. Otherwise, no one would confess their worst sins to the priest.  This practice is not unique to the Roman Catholic Church; variations of it can also be found in almost every denominational branch of Protestantism with similar rules of secrecy.

Unfortunately, this integral component of faith has come under attack as an Australian governmental commission demanded in 2018 that “laws concerning mandatory reporting to child protection authorities should not exempt persons in religious ministry from being required to report knowledge or suspicions formed, in whole or in part, on the basis of information disclosed in or in connection with a religious confession.”

The French government is now continuing this trend by adopting similar recommendations.  It will not be long before such demands become the new norm.

Although the United States currently protects religious liberty through the First Amendment and robust case precedent intended to preserve the free exercise of religion, these demands are certainly headed for the United States.

Although the reasoning of the Australian and French governments makes intuitive sense, the result of implementing their recommendations would be the steady creep of government interference into the confession booth for all crimes— no matter how petty. This will affect all Christian denominations that practice any variation of confession and will make it legally permissible for the government to exercise its influence over matters of the human soul that it has no authority to touch.

This is the line in the sand; once it is crossed for this “exception,” the authorities will be tempted to cross it again and again as they slowly ebb away whatever sanctity remains. If even one crime is taken to the police, then it will destroy the sacred idea that confessing one’s sins to God can be kept solely between a parishioner and their priest/pastor.

Luke 16:10 wisely states: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much...”  The inverse of this is also true, “Whoever cannot be trusted with very little, cannot be trusted with very much.”  Similarly, if those who are most in need of confessing their sins cannot trust their priest or their pastor with their greatest sins, then they will not feel safe to confess their smallest ones, either.

Without being assured of the priest or pastor’s absolute discretion, the purpose of confession ceases to exist because no one in their right mind will ever again confess their sins.

 

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

The Price of Overplaying the Pandemic

The coronavirus has at least been a factor in the deaths of more than 700,000 people in the United States.  Some 43.7-million Americans have had and recovered from the virus, whose mortality rate is about 1.6% – a more likely outcome for people with comorbidities and a less likely one for those who are otherwise healthy.

According to a report from The Well Being Trust, about 75,000 people have died from what is called “deaths of despair” – which includes suicide and drug abuse because of COVID-19.  71% of students are suffering from increased stress and anxiety because of the pandemic, and the virus cost the economy an estimated $16-trillion in 2020.

Dr. Jeff Barrows of the Christian Medical Association thinks the death count is too high for him to say the country overreacted to the coronavirus.  “Just looking at mortality overall from all diseases and the number of excess deaths – and it’s mainly been due to COVID – in this country it’s been probably close to 750,000 to a million excess deaths in the year 2020,” he tells American Family News.  He has no doubt, though, that a measure of the pain has been caused by politics.  So, while it will be left to historians to give the final verdict, Dr. Barrows says a million excess deaths is a serious loss and a tragedy by any standard.  “This pandemic – as inconvenient as it is, as much trouble that it’s causing, the amount that it’s costing – we have to recognize that it’s associated with a large number of deaths,” he reiterates.

Meanwhile, a Republican lawmaker has revealed information that he fully expects will invite attacks from those who favor and push mandatory COVID shots.  During a recent floor speech, Senator Ron Johnson (WI-R) presented documents that he says dispel President Biden’s notion that COVID-19 is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

During a seven and half month period beginning in February of 2021, data from Public Health England shows about 750,000 new virus cases were reported, and roughly 600,000 (80%) of those were the Delta variant.  “In England, of the 600,000 new cases of Delta of the over 2,500 deaths, 63% of those deaths, 1,613 people were the fully vaccinated,” Senator Johnson cites.  “28% were with the unvaxxed.  This is information the American people have probably never heard.  By conveying it, I will get attacked.  I will be vilified.  I will be censored.  I will be suppressed.  That's one of the reasons I came to the floor of the Senate to reveal this information – American people need to know.”  Given that information, along with the effectiveness of natural immunity, Johnson wants to know the justification for shot mandates.

Meanwhile, an immigration border enforcement organization is taking Dr. Anthony Fauci to task for his dismissive attitude regarding illegal immigrants’ impact on the spread of the coronavirus.

Recently during an appearance on CNN, Fauci – President Biden’s chief medical – discussed the impact of COVID-19 at the southern border and the role of Title 42. [That’s a public health order started under President Donald Trump that enables U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials to quickly return illegal aliens to Mexico – often in minutes and without detention – in order to mitigate the public health risks from COVID-19.]  But Fauci dismissed the notion that the influx of illegal aliens has an impact on the spread of COVID in the U.S.

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, says Fauci is offbase.  “You don’t need to be an epidemiologist to understand that if you have a wide-open border and have lots of people coming across that border – especially from countries where vaccination rates are pretty low and people have been travelling in large groups – that it is going to pose a threat of spreading that virus,” says Mehlman.  “Dr. Fauci can talk all he wants about how this is not a factor.  It is.”  And Mehlman says the Biden Administration is essentially giving illegals a pass on getting the injection.  “People are not being vaccinated in many cases they’re not even being tested for COVID,” he notes.  “In some cases, they are being tested for COVID – and even if they test positive, they’re still being released [into the U.S.].”

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

COVID’s Double Dose

When we think of a double dose related to COVID-19, we think of the vaccine.  But let me suggest a different double dose— stress related overeating and poor nutrition.  The American population’s crawl to obesity was gaining speed before the pandemic, but now it’s racing at high speed with no indication of slowing down.

In 2016 a CDC report revealed that over the last 20-years Americans have been gaining weight.  The average American woman’s weight increased from 152 to 169 since 1988. Children also gained weight.  Eleven-year-old girls gained an average of seven pounds during the period researchers analyzed, while boys gained more than 13 pounds.  In most of these cases weight gain occurred even when heights remained nearly the same.  Enter the pandemic and we are horrified at the climb in weight in just 2 years.

A survey was conducted by The Harris Poll between February 19-24, 2021.  The survey included 3,013 adults of all age groups.  Those who reported undesired weight gain during the pandemic gained an average of a whopping 29-lbs.  Responders who were parents reported an average of 36-pound gain and those considered essential workers 38-pounds.  There was a slightly higher gain for people of color than Caucasian.  78% of responders report COVID as a major stress for them.

COVID is deadly for those who are obese.  The CDC now reports that having obesity increases the risk of severe illness from COVID-19.  Those who are overweight may also be at risk.  Having obesity triples the risk of hospitalization as it is linked to impaired immune function and decreased lung capacity.  Scarier, still, is that death from invasive mechanical ventilation increases with BMI (body mass index).

With the rise of specialized medicine, the family physician is less and less likely to address nutrition in a patient’s health care.  In fact, only 29% of medical schools offer the recommended 25-hours of nutrition education.  Nurses, who are on the front line of patient care, receive even less training.  One nurse reported that she received only a half day of training regarding nutrition.

Genesis 1:29 God says— “I give you every seed-bearing plant … and every tree that has fruit … they will be your food.”  The American diet is loaded with salt and fat and preservatives.  Most Americans do not eat the daily recommended number of green vegetables.

I Corinthians 6:19 reminds us— “do you not know that your bodies are temples?”  As a witness to the work of the Holy Spirit in you, be aware of what you eat.  

Be involved by how you choose to spend your food dollars.  It will make a difference at the cash register and in your health.  Educate your children in simple ways to make changes necessary to stay healthy through nutrition.  

Americans with diabetes will cost our health care system millions of dollars this year— not to mention the loss of life.  

Don’t give COVID a victory over your life.  Make decisions in this area that you can control, and trust God’s Word for your living of these days.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Keep Calm and Carry On

Ecclesiastes 9:10 exhorts people to do everything to the best of their abilities— “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.”

Philippians 2:14-15 echoes the value of hard work by teaching: “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’  Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.”

Both verses exhort believers in the One True God to recognize the sacred nature of the work we are given to do on this earth.  We should do our work to the best of our abilities without complaint and without an expectation of reward— since we are merely performing our God-given duties.

Unfortunately, this sentiment does not appear to be universally understood or shared.

In July of 2021 it was announced that many teachers in the United States were receiving “thank-you” bonuses (also called “hazard pay”) for having to “juggle teaching in-person and online, with erratic schedules as schools had to shut down due to outbreaks.”  This bonus came after teachers’ unions across the U. S. and around the world demanded that teachers receive special hazard pay.  In the words of one union representative from Tennessee, teachers were deserving of this special bonus because “educators [are] going into a work situation that is more dangerous than it has ever been.”

Unsurprisingly, this demand was met with derisive comments from numerous others who were forced to accept the exact same risks and pandemic working conditions as teachers without any expectation of special compensation.  In the words of Irish writer Larissa Nolan: “I am thinking of taking the teachers’ unions lead and throwing my hat into the ring for an ol’ pandemic bonus.  Going by their criteria, I’m eligible for consideration. Like the unions, I could also argue I’m not looking for the payment, per se, but don’t I deserve the opportunity to make my case?”

While the snarkiness in this case may be a bit excessive, it points to a simple reality: The Biblical ethos of uncomplaining duty is still strong enough that people expect teachers’ unions to show the same virtue.

By the end of 2020, 33% of Americans had contracted COVID-19 and as of September 2021, 80% of Americans had detectable antibodies to COVID-19 based on data from blood donor studies.  With a new COVID-19 pill like Tamiflu on the horizon, it is high time all of us kept calm and carried on.

As the Bible teaches, all of us have jobs to do and roles to play.  We should no more reward people for doing their jobs than we should applaud them for not stealing from others.  Instead, as we know from Romans 5:3-4, “we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

The pandemic is old news … now.  So, let’s get on with our lives.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Character Over Comfort

The past two years have taught people the value of comfort and the distressing feeling of discomfort.  The discomfort barometer ranged from the lack of toilet paper to fear of death … and everything in between.  Is the Christian perspective prepared to embrace the idea of discomfort as God building character in us?

We see many of God’s own in the throws of uncomfortable character building.  Noah, most likely, received unending criticism of his gigantic construction monstrosity.  He worked for years and years on an Ark and a promise.  He was 600 years old when the flood waters began. (Genesis 7:6).  That’s plenty of time for character building.  Joseph was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.  Yet, “the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor” (Genesis 39: 21)  The Lord was with him?  Can you escape character building if the Lord is with you?  Was Joseph faced with discomfort? I’m reasonably sure of it, based on what a prison of the day would be like.  Would Joseph have become the leader he became if he had not faced the trials of being wrongly convicted and jailed?  Yet, the Lord was with him through it all.

What did Christians learn during the past 2 years of discomfort?  What did we spend our time on?  Many of us did not have a daily commute to work.  Did we eat our way through the shut down?  Did we sleep more and watch television?  According to an American Time Use survey, after sleeping, Americans spent most of their time watching television.  Was the Lord with us during those television hours?

Church going was halted during the pandemic— with many churches going to online services.  Church leaders rallied to bring worship to at-home congregations.  A poll taken in April of 2020 reported “one-quarter of the U.S. adults overall, 24% say their faith had become stronger because of the coronavirus pandemic.”  Does that sound like a low percentage?  Should not all Christians be in a state of growing stronger daily in good times and in hardship?  Proverbs 24:10 predicts, “if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.”

How do we examine personal character building?  What test can we take to know if we have grown?  James 1:2-4 speaks of trials as being a test that produces steadfastness. Our reward is to be “lacking in nothing.”  That is the opposite of how we would consider pandemic life wherein we felt “lacking in much.”  Were we steadfast in our faith?  Did we take the Lord with us?  Did we develop character that will take us to great leadership as the world sheds the cocoon of the past two years and begins to spread its wings?  Those are the questions we can ask of ourselves and prayerfully consider our desire for growth in character over comfort.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

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

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel