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While nearly 70% of pastors say their churches have been negatively impacted by pornography, only 7% have a program in place to deal with it. What’s driving the escalation of addiction?
Hundreds of years before even the invention of electricity, the philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas observed, “Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.
The more things change, the more they remain the same:
- Battling the pandemic surge in pornography addiction
An interview w/Focus on the Family’s Geremy Keeton leads the Colorado Springs Gazette:
Of the 1,500 calls Focus on the Family’s counseling center receives each month, sexuality and pornography rank among the top 10 topics for which people seek assistance, said Geremy Keeton, senior director of counseling. The Colorado Springs-based Christian organization creates books, radio programs, online media and other communications pertaining to families and relationships.
“It’s not the only or greatest issue, but it’s a consistent concern affecting parents and marriages,” he said.
The volume of calls doesn’t mean that difficulties with pornography are higher among Christians than the general population, Keeton said.
Propelled by their beliefs, he believes Christians are more likely to admit they have a problem.
“We’re aware that God created a gift of sexuality that is powerful, important and meaningful to families, marriages and our very faith,” Keeton said, “and yet we’re human beings that can struggle with addictions and shortcomings and wanting to live rightly according to Scripture.
“For the Christian, that can and does create a sense of responsibility to respond in a healthy way.”
Acknowledgment of sin, therefore, can silently urge Christians to reveal what often becomes a buried secret and seek help.
“I’m not trying to say Christians just have sexual hang-ups and more sexual guilt, or we have a problem because we have so many sexual rules,” Keeton said.
“When we are struggling with our integrity, there’s an important sense of conviction — ‘It’s not the way I’d like to be living.’ Our faith helps us identify it as a problem because we have a standard.”
2. The Assault on the Supreme Court
From the Wall Street Journal:
The Court is arguably more vulnerable to acts of violence than the other branches. There are only nine Justices, and a single vote can change the result in a case. There is also typically a period of weeks or months between oral arguments in a case, which can hint at how Justices are leaning, and the release of the Court’s judgment.
A bad actor, spun up in righteous fanaticism, might believe that this is the moment to kill a Justice to stop a result. Note that Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion, leaked to the press, suggested a 5-4 majority to overturn Roe v. Wade. One vote would be decisive.
Congress with its 535 Members would continue to function as a democratic institution even after an assassination. The Presidency is uniquely vulnerable because it is vested in an individual, but he is protected by the large security apparatus of the Secret Service.
The Justices have nothing close to that security, yet a single assassination would do tremendous damage to the Court and to democracy. Imagine the political fury if President Biden appointed a Justice to replace a conservative member of the Court who had been murdered. Democrats who think this would work in their favor might think again.
All of this means that Congress and the President, representing Articles I and II of the Constitution, have a special obligation to protect the Article III judiciary. In a less polarized era, Mr. Biden would have called the leaders of both parties and chambers in Congress to the White House for a joint appearance to denounce the attempted assassination of Justice Kavanaugh and any act of violence against the judiciary. He could still do this.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Merrick Garland could also warn, and then prosecute, those who are attempting to intimidate the Justices by harassing them or their families at home or at school. Critics of the Court can demonstrate all they want in front of the Supreme Court or march in the streets of Washington. But attempting to influence judges with threats is a federal crime.
We wish we didn’t have to write this, but we live in fanatical times when political violence is all too possible. Protecting democracy means protecting all of its institutions.
- Pro-Abortion Activists in Effort to Support Democracy Call for Blockade of Supreme Court on Monday
From The Daily Citizen:
The high court’s annual term ends typically when its last opinion for the term is handed down, usually in late June of each year, although there is no hard fast date set in stone. The justices are (we assume) rapidly finishing up work on the nearly 30 decisions left to be announced, including important religious freedom cases such as those involving the praying Coach Kennedy and the Maine tuition-assistance case, Carson v. Makin.
But none of the pending cases have resulted in ominous promises of a “summer of rage” or that “we will be ungovernable” like the possibility that the justices will muster at least five votes to send the issue of abortion back to the states and the people for resolution.
The Supreme Court’s website indicates June 13 and 15 as the next days on which the justices will be issuing one or more opinions. Dobbs could be one of those opinions, or not. We don’t know.
That uncertainty, however, has never stopped the pro-abortion left from venting its rage at all things pro-life. So, because of a supposed “crisis of democracy,” it naturally has to shut down the Supreme Court on the 13th.
4. Senators break logjam on guns, school safety with bipartisan deal
From the Washington Times:
Senate lawmakers edged closer to breaking a decades-long logjam on gun policy Sunday, announcing a bipartisan framework for expanding background checks and funding school safety efforts after a spate of mass shootings created a heightened sense of urgency among lawmakers.
The deal, crafted by a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers, is the most ambitious update of the nation’s gun laws in nearly a decade. It boosts funding for school security and mental health treatment while tightening the background check system and incentivizing states to adopt “red flag” laws. A more ambitious package of gun control measures passed earlier by the Democratic majority in the House had no chance of approval in the evenly divided upper chamber.
President Biden hailed the deal and vowed to quickly sign the final legislation. Some conservatives and smaller gun groups quickly condemned the framework. The National Rifle Association expressed doubts about portions of the agreement but said it was reserving final judgment until the bills are written.
The agreement was negotiated by a core group of four senators, led by Democrats Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Christopher Murphy of Connecticut and Republicans John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. The four lawmakers gave others involved in the negotiations wide latitude to craft different portions of the agreement.
5. Fox News Drinks Promotes Propaganda-Filled Trans Family Story
From The Daily Citizen:
In the final minutes of America’s Newsroom the morning of June 10, Fox News featured a total fluff piece introduced with a red, white and blue “America Together LGBTQ+ Pride Month” graphic about a highly telegenic but activist Southern California family of four celebrating one of their daughters who believes she is a boy.
The piece is chock-full of tired and predictable ideological talking points straight from the trans politics playbook:
- “The Whittington’s are a typical family … and the only difference in Rylan’s eyes is what this family can mean to the tens of thousands of kids under 18 who identify as transgender.”
- “We put our story out there so people could see that there is another family going through what we’re going through or there is another family who is proud of who they are.”
- “Before Rylan could speak he managed to tell his parents that he is a boy.”
- “When he came out at age five.”
Each of these are chapter-and-verse buzz phrases of gender ideology, based on falsehoods about what it means to be human. They are anti-science and contrary to biology itself. They are deception.
6. Rhode Island hospital launches first human pasteurized milk donor program in the state
From CBS News:
A Rhode Island hospital is the first in the state to launch a human pasteurized milk donor program in an effort to combat the nationwide baby formula shortage.
Kent Hospital’s Women’s Care Center, located in Warwick, launched the program in May. According to the hospital, the program “supports breastfeeding families by allowing them the option of providing their infant with pasteurized donor human milk, if supplementation is needed, as a bridge until a mother’s own milk is available.”
Kent Hospital is Rhode Island’s second largest hospital and first to offer this program to all mothers intending to exclusively breastfeed.
“We are thrilled to offer donor milk as a safe, evidence-based alternative that supports our breastfeeding families,” said Kristine Rimbos, interim director at the Women’s Care Center at Kent. “This program is a win-win for our community and the patients that we serve.”
- New vaccine may be option for troops with religious concerns
From the Associated Press:
A COVID-19 vaccine that could soon win federal authorization may offer a boost for the U.S. military: an opportunity to get shots into some of the thousands of service members who have refused other coronavirus vaccines for religious reasons.
At least 175 active duty and reserve service members have already received the Novavax vaccine, some even traveling overseas at their own expense to get it. The vaccine meets Defense Department requirements because it has the World Health Organization’s emergency use approval and is used in Europe and other regions. The Food and Drug Administration is considering giving it emergency use authorization in the U.S.
The Novavax vaccine may be an acceptable option for some of the 27,000 service members who have sought religious exemptions from the mandatory vaccine. Military officials say many troops who refuse the shots cite certain COVID-19 vaccines’ remote connection to abortions.
Laboratory-grown cell lines descended from fetuses that were aborted decades ago were used in some early-stage testing of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and to grow viruses used to manufacture the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The vaccines do not contain fetal cells. Novavax, however, says that ”no human fetal-derived cell lines or tissue” were used in the development, manufacture or production of its vaccine.
8. Walmart, the Denver Broncos and the Christian Roots of Two American Dynasties
From The Daily Citizen:
The pending union of Walmart’s Rob Walton and the Denver Broncos is a transaction undeniably motivated by good business, and perhaps even the fulfillment of a boyhood dream. It’s not unusual for fans to fantasize what it would be like to run and manage a professional sports team.
But what’s interesting is the religious road to the riches that’s making this move even possible. Neither Walton nor the Bowlen family are attempting to pose or assume a posture of religiosity for this deal. But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll soon discover it’s their family’s faith that’s brought them this far.
How so?
As most people know, Walmart was born Arkansas. Owner Sam Walton opened his first store in the town of Rogers in 1962. With a mission to “Help people save money so they could live better,” the company grew quickly, soon expanding throughout the United States. They now operate over 11,500 stores in 28 countries and host 260 million shoppers each week.
Sam Walton and wife, Helen, were longtime active members of First Presbyterian Church in Bentonville, Ark., where Sam taught Sunday School. Sam regularly recruited Christians to come work for his rising company both in the stores and in the corporate offices, often mining colleges like John Brown University.
In other words, Sam Walton recognized that Christians made for not only good citizens, but also excellent workers.
Jump ahead to the mid 1980s and you’ll find Broncos’ owner Edgar Kaiser Jr. in church, where he just happens to meet Pat Bowlen, the team’s future owner. Few knew that Kaiser was considering selling his majority ownership, partially motivated by a developing family dynamic.
“This is something that came up only in the last few months in conversations with my wife, Judy,” Kaiser told reporters. ”We came to the conclusion that at this time, our family was a greater priority and we wanted to spend more time at home.”
Kaiser’s prayers were answered, though he did work his way through a series of busines successes and failures, including a French-fry vending machine venture that ended in bankruptcy. He died in 2012 at the age of 69.
- What Is Ramsay Hunt Syndrome? What to Know About the Condition That Left Justin Bieber With Facial Paralysis
From the Wall Street Journal:
Justin Bieber said he has Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can cause paralysis of the facial nerve, hearing loss, a rash and other symptoms.
The 28-year-old Canadian singer said the syndrome had paralyzed half his face, leaving him able to blink only one eye, move one nostril and smile with half his mouth.
Ramsay Hunt syndrome is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox and shingles. After a chickenpox infection, the virus can stay in the body and lay dormant for years, said Dr. Babak Azizzadeh, a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon and director of the Facial Paralysis Institute in Los Angeles.
“In a small percentage of people, the virus can get reactivated. Most of the time, it gets reactivated and people get shingles. But in some people, Ramsay Hunt syndrome occurs,” Dr. Azizzadeh said.
10.3-Year-Old Miraculously Survives After Wandering Bear and Mountain Lion-Filled Wilderness Alone for Two Days
From CBN News:
A toddler from Montana has reportedly been safely rescued after wandering alone in the woods for two days.
Ryker Webb, 3, was found Sunday evening and had reportedly been missing since Friday.
Authorities spent the weekend searching with drones, ATVs, and dog teams as well as a boat unit to scour the water for any signs of Ryker. Neighbors were also alerted to help recover him.
Fortunately, police found the toddler two miles from his house and said he was “in good spirits and apparently healthy,” despite being hungry and thirsty and experiencing shock from all that unfolded.
