Good morning,

Here is what I know for certain: we’re not called to worldly success, but to daily faithfulness. 

More on that at the end of today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, May 7, 2021
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• Debate began yesterday afternoon in the Texas House on Senate Bill 7, the major election integrity and security measure designed to prevent voter fraud. Predictably, rather than address specific issues or offer constructive ideas, the Democrats were allowed by Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) to chew up time by impugning the character of those wanting to protect to integrity of the ballot box.
      
• After a couple hours of the Democrats’ slurs being directed at him, State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park) “temporarily” pulled the measure from consideration, under the pretense of working out amendments. Throughout the night, other bills were debated with SB 7 hanging like a shadow over the proceedings.
      
• At little after 2 a.m. the House was preparing to bring SB 7 back up and begin debate on a series of amendment. Check out the website and our social media accounts for updates.
   
• With a commanding majority in the Texas House, Republicans could have passed SB 7 without the drama if they so had chosen to do so. Democrats can only delay or derail legislation with the approval of the Republican majority.

• Join Brandon Waltens live at 11 a.m. this morning on The Headline where the topic will focus on the grassroots’ pressure lawmakers are facing to get priorities to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. (If you cannot join live, the video archive and podcast will be available shortly after the show ends.)

• House lawmakers have approved legislation to address “vagrancy camping” in public places across all of Texas. The measure must next be approved by the Senate.
   
• The law was spurred by seeing a public disaster unfold in Austin over the past two years. In 2019, the Democrat-run Austin City Council repealed the city’s longstanding public camping rules, allowing unrestrained homeless squatting in nearly all public spaces (except city hall, notably). The decision had an immediate effect: a swarm of new tent cities sprung up along sidewalks and neighborhoods of Austin, a drastic increase in the city’s homeless population, a double-digit surge in violent crime, and a wildfire of community backlash.
   
• “This is a humanitarian issue, plain and simple… The intentions of this bill are to spur local governments to do more to help the population of people experiencing homelessness. Letting them camp under highways is not the answer.” – State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R-Southlake)

• When does prohibiting abortions not mean prohibiting abortions? When it is happening on the floor of the Texas House.
   
• Earlier this week, lawmakers were considering a so-called “trigger” bill that would immediately ban abortion in Texas if the U.S. Supreme Court ever overturns its Roe v. Wade decision. State Rep. Bryan Slaton (R–Royse City) offered an amendment to House Bill 1280 that would eliminate the trigger language and simply prohibit all abortions in Texas starting on September 1, 2021. Jeramy Kitchen has the details.
   
• Democrats immediately raised a parliamentary objection to the amendment.
   
• Predictably, House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) sided with the Democrats. He ruled that the amendment wasn’t valid because the “purpose of the amendment is exactly opposite of the purpose of the bill.”
   
• In other words, as Austin attorney Tony McDonald tweeted in response, “Phelan rules that the purpose of HB 1280 is ‘exactly the opposite’ of banning abortion.”
   
• Abolishing abortion is one of the several legislative priorities of the Republican Party of Texas.

• Both the Texas Republican and Democrat party platforms call for limiting the use of no-knock warrants. And on Thursday, the state house advanced legislation doing just that. Iris Poole has the story.
      
• Supporters of House Bill 492 maintain the policy would better protect citizens and law enforcement officers by limiting who can issue “no-knock” warrants, and requiring them to be approved at the highest level of a law enforcement agency.
       
• Critics of HB 492 claim that the bill is too restrictive and should provide better flexibility to law enforcement seeking no-knock warrants, especially in rural areas.
   
• State Rep. Jake Ellzey (R–Waxahachie) was the only vote against the bill.

• After repeated abuses of power by Texas’ Child Protective Services, citizens have championed bills reforming the state agency. Two of those bills have passed the Texas Legislature, reports Robert Montoya, and are now awaiting the signature of Gov. Greg Abbott.   

• At a roundtable in Killeen, U.S. Rep. Roger Williams (R) said Fort Hood will possibly be renamed within two to three years. As Joshua Pierce reports, the name of Fort Hood has been subject to controversy as it was named after Confederate General John Bell Hood. 

• Please join me in congratulating Sarah Nash and Jeramy Kitchen on their wedding this weekend!

Friday Reflection: Faithfully Fighting

When we hear the name “Magdala,” if we think of anything we might possibly connect this city the New Testament’s Mary the Magdalene – which is just a fancier way of saying “Mary of Magdala.” But the ruins of this ancient city, tells us a lot about faithfulness in the face of defeat. 

During the the last century “B.C.” and the first century “A.D.,” Jews chaffed under Roman rule. Sure, some made off pretty well working with the Romans, but many yearned for the kind of self-governing independence that their people had been promised – but then squandered by their ancestors in the desire for a king. A couple minor would-be insurrectionists had been crushed over the years, but they were always just a minor inconvenience.

By the latter half of the first century A.D., the zealots’ frustration was hitting a fever pitch. 

The result was the Great Revolt. 

The region around the Sea of Galilee was a hotbed of activity for the zealot rebels – those Jews who wanted to overthrow the Romans. Now, with what, exactly, they would replace Roman rule was pretty hazy. The only thing the zealots could agree on was getting rid of the Romans. 

Over time, the zealots had become so accustomed to being zealously opposed to Rome that their zealotry became an end unto itself.

Magdala was a fishing village of little note... except as a gathering place for the Jewish rebels. We know this because it was also the hometown to the Jewish military leader who switched sides and is known to us as the Roman historian Josephus Flavius. In 67 A.D., the Romans laid seige to Magdala. Some inhabitants fled after it fell but most were murdered by the Romans. 

For Texans, think of a massacre like Goliad or the Alamo... but probably worse.

The archeological ruins uncovered in recent years have found city streets still barricaded against the coming Roman forces. Here’s the thing: hastily stacked stones and refuse were never going to stop the Romans. The people of Magdala knew it, but decided to send a message that this revolt wasn’t going to be put down so easily.

The Romans learned at Magdala that the zeal of the Jewish rebels would be costly for everyone involved.

The Romans did finally, several years later, crush the revolt – but at a tremendous price of lives, money, and exertion. Towns like Magdala were literally wiped from the earth by the might of the Roman war machine, and faded from history. We remember the Alamo and Goliad because we won; would either place be remembered if the Texas Revolution had failed?

Yet the people of Magdala were just as heroic as the men at the Alamo. So for us Magdala is a reminder that no matter how noble the struggle, losing is always a real possibility. We fight not knowing if we’ll win, but if we feel so called we must fight nonetheless – and fight zealously.

Our calling isn’t to be successful the way the world defines it, but to be faithful. 

We might get to see a glorious victory, or we may fade into the dark recesses of time as a footnote in history. In our lives, we must joyfully embrace the faithfulness of being in the fight.