Friend,
Welcome to the Friday Five! Every Friday we share our top five
articles, stories, and quotes for you to read and share with your
friends and church families.
We
would be very grateful if you could make a donation of $100, $50, $25,
or $10 today towards our work producing these Friday Fives and
fighting for your values on the public square!
1. NORTH STATE JOURNAL: Budd
powers to front of Republican US Senate primary
“Two weeks ago, the North Carolina Values Coalition released a poll
showing him ahead by three points. Subsequently, the organization
endorsed Budd.
‘The GOP primary is now a two-man race, and the choice is between a
Republican who barely tolerates pro-life, pro-family evangelicals and
Catholics in the conservative movement because he needs their votes,
and a Republican who has attended seminary and believes in and
actively advocates for policies that back the pro-life, pro-family
biblical worldview of Christians,’ the group’s executive director,
Tami Fitzerald, said in a statement.”
2. THE DAILY SIGNAL: Sex-Change
Surgeries for Kids: A-OK With Biden
"The Biden administration recently sent a letter to the attorney
general of each state, warning the top law enforcement officials that
they could be violating civil rights law if they don’t comply with
“gender-affirming care” procedures for children.
But just what is this gender-affirming care promoted by President
Joe Biden, and how does it affect kids?
Jay Richards, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s
DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, says the term is a
euphemism for giving hormones to children and, in many cases,
performing irreversible surgery on them. (The Daily Signal is
Heritage’s multimedia news organization.)
These hormones and surgeries have long-term consequences for a
child."
Some states have been listening to the President. As Fox News
reports: "Public schools in Washington state and Oregon are
teaching topics related to gender
identity to children as young as 5."
3. THE FEDERALIST: It’s Because
Of The Resurrection That The Culture War Matters
"Gone are the days when politics focused
mostly on arguments about defense budgets, tax cuts, or the gold
standard. Today, it seems like each new hot-button political issue is
infused with more and more spiritual significance — and spiritual
threat.
Left and right aren’t just debating
whether kids would benefit from government-subsidized preschool;
they’re waging a war over whether children should be groomed to hate
their divinely designed bodies and biological telos and reject both
for deceitful promises that mutilating their organs will bring
self-satisfaction."
4. AXIOS: Oklahoma governor
signs bill making nearly all abortions illegal
"Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) on Tuesday signed into law a bill
that makes providing an abortion a felony.
Driving the news: The legislation bans all abortions unless they're
necessary to save a pregnant person's life. A person found guilty of
providing an abortion would face up to 10 years in prison and a fine
up to $100,000."
As NPR reports, just two
days after Oklahoma signed the bill into law, "Gov. Ron DeSantis
has signed a bill that bans
most abortions after 15
weeks, making Florida the
latest state to restrict access to the medical procedure.
5. DAILY SIGNAL: It’s Not a
‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law. It’s an Anti-Indoctrination Law.
"One billboard features the text 'Come to the city where you can
say whatever you want,' surrounded by the word 'gay' in bright,
colorful letters. Another billboard reads: 'People say a lot of
ridiculous things in New York. "Don’t Say Gay" isn’t one of them.'
It’s comical how one-dimensional this line of attack is. In a
childish criticism of genuine parental concern, woke activists accuse
anyone in favor of the new Florida law of trying to ban the word 'gay'
from the collective vocabulary.
More insidiously, they claim that trying to ban classroom
instruction of LGBT topics to young kids in kindergarten through third
grade is the same as banning gay people from existing at all.
That’s a lie.
Americans concerned with LGBT indoctrination in schools don’t want
to ban gays from existing or saying the word 'gay.' Their concern lies
squarely with activists in classrooms grooming children."
WEEKLY PRAYER: FAMILY
LORD, we cry out to you as Father. You are a model of the love,
mercy, and authority of the perfect parent. We thank you for modeling
for us what every parent should strive for, and for creating this
wonderful institution called family.
LORD, we thank you for creating us with a basic nature designed
to not be alone. You made us to desire the intimacy of relationships,
and it is here where we experience joys indescribable: the joys of
marriage, the joys of having children; the joys of seeing our children
have children. What a blessing and mercy you gave us in the family! In
it we find our first teachers, our first guardians, and our first
authorities.
LORD, we recognize how deeply you love your children, and how
deeply it pains you when they go astray. Alongside our adoration and
thanksgiving, we pray in confession—as individuals and as members of
larger communities—over any sins we may have committed that undermine
your beloved institution. Forgive us when we endanger your institution
through selfishness and arrogance. Forgive our communities and nation
for attempting to redefine some of the most basic and deepest parts of
being human—being made male and female, having lifelong marriage vows
and responsibilities, and having parental rights over educating one's
children.
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13
bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another,
forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must
forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything
together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your
hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing
one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do,
in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:12-17)
Amen
Will you chip in $100, $50, $25, or even $10 to help
the NC Values Coalition continue to fight for your rights? You can
donate by clicking here.
Sincerely,
North Carolina Values Coalition
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