Sen. Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) stopped his almost nine-month hold on the Senate’s group military promotions Tuesday, several outlets reported, announcing he wouldn’t oppose promotions of three-star generals and lower-ranked officers.

His hold on four-star generals and admirals will reportedly continue, as Tuberville vocally supports vetting people controlling the U.S. military.

The Senate, which approves hundreds of military promotions every year, traditionally promotes officers in groups through a unanimous vote.

Tuberville started objecting to the unanimous vote in March to protest the Department of Defense’s (DOD) abortion policy.

In February, the DOD started paying for soldiers’ time off and travel expenses so they — and their dependents — could travel to get abortions, which the policy calls “non-covered reproductive healthcare.”

Tuberville believes this policy violates the Hyde Amendment, which prevents the government from using taxes to fund or promote abortions.

Though the DOD’s healthcare policy doesn’t directly fund abortions, it uses taxpayer’s money to facilitate them, which the senator argues is illegal.

Pressure for Tuberville to allow group military promotions increased this month following growing instability in the Middle East. Some fellow Republicans voiced concerns his stance weakened military readiness.

Early last month, Angel Studios, the company that produced the global blockbuster, Sound of Freedom, announced they had acquired the rights to the feature film, Bonhoeffer and are planning to release it in November of 2024.

“There has never been a time in history where we needed to be reminded of the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer more than today,” said Jordan Harmon, President of Angel Studios.

“The Angel Guild has shown, time and again, that true stories of heroism resonate.”

Most readers will be familiar with the German pastor best known for his courage in standing up against Adolf Hitler and the wickedness of the Nazi regime. He also authored two compelling books: The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together.

Originally a pacifist, Bonhoeffer grew frustrated with the German church’s unwillingness to oppose Hitler and his antisemitic policies.

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil,” he once wrote. “God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

Many scoff at attempts to compare the tactics of the 1930s and 40s Germany with the bullying and silencing of Christian believers today.

Yet, the principles at play remain relevant.

Speaking out comes at a price. Standing up invites the slings and arrows of the world. Critics will try and cut you down. The elites will try and shut you up.

A United States district judge ruled in November that World Vision, a global Christian relief ministry based in the Seattle area, has no right to hold its employees to biblical Christian sexual ethics.

In January 2021, World Vision withdrew an offer of employment to Aubry McMahon as a customer service representative upon learning she was in a same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage, of course, is at dramatic odds with Jesus’ clear teaching.

Rather than respecting World Vision’s right to adhere to the clear convictions of the world’s largest religion, McMahon took the Christian ministry to court.

Initially, U.S. District Judge James L. Robart sided with World Vision, agreeing in June that the organization has the constitutional right to make employment decisions in line with its designation as a Christian ministry. Now this new ruling signifies a surprising flip-flop by the judge, declaring the case can proceed “to trial to determine the appropriate relief that should be granted” to McMahon by World Vision.

This ruling makes all Christian ministries who seek to live faithfully by the teachings of Jesus deeply vulnerable to the controlling power of the new sexual regime, regardless of how hard they try avoiding LGBT topics.

It is not a matter of how “kind” or “winsome” the ministry is. World Vision is as winsome a ministry as they come. It is whether you insist on adhering to a biblical ethic of sexuality and the family that makes all of us vulnerable.

Christians who believe in a biblical sexual ethic may be concerned over several stories that have emerged out of the Vatican in recent weeks. Their concerns are not without warrant.

First, the Catholic Church’s recent Synod on Synodality produced a document which asserted that the Church’s teaching on gender identity and sexual orientation may need to be updated. The document stated,

“Sometimes the anthropological categories that we have developed are not sufficient to capture the complexity of the elements that emerge from experience or scientific knowledge and require refinement and further study.”

Such a statement is indeed troubling. Bishop Robert Barron, a leading American prelate who serves as the bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester and is the founder of the evangelistic organization Word on Fire, participated in the Synod. He recently said he is in “frank disagreement” with that part of the final synodal report.

Second, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), which is the Vatican’s head doctrine office, released a three-page document which affirmed that transgender-identified people can be baptized “under the same conditions as other believers, if there are no situations in which there is a risk of generating public scandal, or disorientation among the faithful.”

Numerous mainstream media outlets ran with this story, publishing headlines like, “Transgender people can be baptized, Vatican says.”