Good morning,

Throughout history, people have thought they could block God with stones and laws. Today, I reflect on the foolishness of those efforts. 

This is the Texas Minute for Good Friday, March 29, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan

NOTE: We won't publish the Texas Minute on Monday; it will resume on Tuesday, April 2, 2024.

Abbott Orders Universities to Establish Penalties for Antisemitic Rhetoric

• Gov. Greg Abbott ordered public universities and colleges to update their free speech policies to include appropriate punishments for antisemitic rhetoric on campuses. Will Biagini has the details.
    
• An executive order issued by Abbott this week is meant to address the rise in antisemitism on university campuses following the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas on the state of Israel. The governor wants the universities to ensure groups such as the Palestine Solidarity Committee and Students for Justice in Palestine are disciplined for violating the new policies.
      
• “The State of Texas stands with Israel and the Jewish community, and we must escalate our efforts to protect against antisemitism at Texas colleges and universities and across our state.” – Greg Abbott

Venezuelan Gang Member Arrested in Chicago After Crossing in Eagle Pass

• A 29-year-old Venezuelan national was arrested in Chicago on March 11 for his role in a drive-by shooting after crossing illegally through Texas. As Amelia McKenzie reports, the man is a member of the Tren de Aragua transnational criminal organization that began as a prison gang.
    
• Adelvis Rodriguez-Carmona was first encountered by the U.S. Border Patrol in July 2022 when he crossed illegally into Texas. He was not ordered to leave until sometime in 2023—an order he obviously ignored. Since that time, Venezuela has not been accepting deportation flights from the U.S. 

Harris County Voters Seek Criminal Investigation of Huffman Superintendent

• Voters in Harris County are demanding that District Attorney Kim Ogg investigate allegations of illegal electioneering by Huffman Independent School District Superintendent Benny Soileau. Erin Anderson reports that Soileau is accused of using taxpayer-funded school resources to promote political issues and candidates during a November 2023 bond election and the March 2024 primary.
    
• Texas election laws prohibit government officials and employees from using public funds or resources for political advertising. Violations are a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
      
• State law requires a district attorney’s office to investigate allegations of criminal conduct in an election if two or more voters submit affidavits.

Pastors, Residents Speak Out Against Sexually Explicit Books

• Trustees in the Fort Bend Independent School District were confronted this week by a group of pastors, parents, and community leaders concerned about explicit books in the libraries. Luca Cacciatore has the story.
    
• The worried citizens took issue with a number of titles available for children to check out in school libraries across the district, many of which contain vivid descriptions of sexual encounters, as well as abortion, rape, and jokes about Christianity. Parents read obscene selections from the books so that board members would understand the issue.
      
• Texas’ educational standards prohibit sexually explicit material in children’s school libraries.
       
• David Hamilton, a Fort Bend ISD school board trustee, has expressed optimism that the district's new superintendent and board will take action.

McKinney Airport Expansion PAC Violated Campaign Ethics Laws

• A political action committee created to promote the expansion of McKinney’s city-owned airport with residents’ property tax dollars has been hit with a $2,500 fine for violating state campaign ethics laws.
    

• PAC donors included developers and contractors who stood to benefit from the airport expansion. Several have ties to current and former McKinney city officials, including Mayor George Fuller, who was an outspoken proponent of the airport expansion and bond.
      

• McKinney voters rejected the bond 59-41 percent.

In observance of Easter, the Texas Minute will not be published on Monday, April 1. It will resume on April 2.

Friday Reflection
You Can’t Keep God Out

How sturdy must a wall be built to keep God out? And why are we so insistent on trying? Those questions weigh on me each time I stand on Mount Olivet, looking out over Jerusalem’s ancient city walls.

Though today it is covered with family crypts, 2,000 years ago, the hillside we know as the Mount of Olives was dotted with olive groves, producing both its name and the region’s most important fruit. But its place in history is even more significant.

Before entering Jerusalem in the last week of His ministry, Jesus looked out over the city from the Mount of Olives and wept for His people. Before being arrested, Jesus went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, which is nestled on the hillside above the Kidron Valley.

For modern visitors, the Mount of Olives is a convenient point from which to photograph the ancient walls of the Old City, the Temple Mount, and the Golden Dome of the Rock Islamic shrine.

One detail jumps out. From the Mount of Olives, you are looking directly at the Old City’s wall. There you see the outline of what would have been the massive Eastern Gate (also called the “Golden Gate.”) It was permanently sealed in 1541 by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman, a Muslim.

The Jewish crypts blanketing the Mount of Olives were placed there for the same reason the Muslims sealed the gate: this is where in the Jewish Talmudic belief, the promised Messiah would enter Jerusalem at the end of time, resurrecting the dead in His wake.

The Jews wanted a good seat, and the Muslims wanted to block His entry.

It makes me laugh. Did the sultan think that through? If he were concerned enough to seal the gate, maybe he should have considered that a few feet of stone wouldn’t cause the divine and victorious Messiah to even break His stride.

Fifteen hundred years earlier, and less than a mile away, a similar decision was made. The Roman prefect overseeing Judea sealed the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid, pacifying the Jewish political leaders. Just as those efforts proved not to be an impediment to the risen Jesus, neither shall the work of 16th-century Muslim masons.

It’s easy to laugh at sealed gates and heavy stones, but maybe we should reflect on how often we create similarly meaningless barriers to God individually and corporately. Whether it’s the unconstitutional “separation” of state from church with bans on school prayer to simply an adamant (and arrogant) denial of God’s very existence, our flimsy barriers have no impact on His reality.

The God who spoke the universe into being goes where He wants. All we do is deny ourselves the joy of knowing Him.

In sealing up our hearts to God, we imprison ourselves. The Messiah who conquers death wants you to enjoy life and liberty with Him.

Quote-Unquote

"Optimism is a wish without warrant; Christian hope is a certainty, guaranteed by God himself. Optimism reflects ignorance as to whether good things will ever actually come. Christian hope expresses knowledge that every day of his life, and every moment beyond it, the believer can say with truth, on the basis of God's own commitment, that the best is yet to come."

– J.I. Packer