The owners of an Oregon bakery learned Friday that there is a severe price to pay for following their Christian faith.

A judge for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) recommended a lesbian couple should receive $135,000 in damages for their emotional suffering after Sweet Cakes by Melissa refused to make them a wedding cake. 

As a result—Aaron and Melissa Klein could lose everything they own—including their home.

The Oregonian reports the recommended penalty is not final and could be raised or lowered by State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian.

The controversy started in 2013 when Aaron Klein declined to provide a cake for a lesbian wedding. Later that year, the women filed a complaint against Klein and his wife, Melissa. 

“The facts of this case clearly demonstrate that the Kleins unlawfully discriminated against the Complainants,” read a statement by the BOLI to the Oregonian. “Under Oregon law, businesses cannot discriminate or refuse service based on sexual orientation, just as they cannot turn customers away because of race, sex, disability, age or religion. Our agency is committed to fair and thorough enforcement of Oregon civil rights laws, including the Equality Act of 2007.”

Within hours of the ruling, the Family Research Council facilitated the establishment of a GoFundMe account to help the Kleins raise the money the need. In less than eight hours, more than $100,000 was raised.

However, late Friday GoFundMe pulled the plug—sending this message to would-be donors:

“After careful review by our team, we have found the ‘Support Sweet Cakes By Melissa’ campaign to be in violation of our Terms and Conditions,” the message read. “The money raised thus far will still be made available for withdrawal.”

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins blasted the harsh penalty levied against the Kleins.

“The state of Oregon has given a new meaning to shotgun weddings,” Perkins said. “You will be forced to participate in same-sex weddings and violate your beliefs.”

Perkins wondered what impact the Oregon ruling would have on religious freedom across the country.

“If Americans are not free to decline to be involved in a specific activity that violates their beliefs, then we are not free,” he said. 

It’s not exactly clear what led GoFundMe to drop the fundraising drive—but Perkins blamed it on gay activists.

“This reveals two very important aspects of the redefinition of marriage, Americans are not going along with it and two—the intolerance of those trying to redefine marriage is historically unprecedented,” Perkins said.

Samaritan’s Purse a Christian ministry run by Franklin Graham, has stepped up and offered to raise funds for the embattled Christian couple. The website can be found here.

Aaron Klein told me they will appeal the judge’s recommended fine. 

“All Americans should be free to live and work by their faith without the fear of the government punishing them,” he told me.

Klein told me the gay rights activists won’t be satisfied until her family is living in a homeless shelter.

“This is not coming out of our business assets—the business has already been shuttered,” he said. “This is coming out of personal property. They want to take our house. They want to put us out on the street.”

Melissa told me the state of Oregon is trying to send a message to Christian business owners.

“They are trying to say—look what will happen to you if you decide to live by your faith,” she said. “They won’t be satisfied until we lose everything.”

The Kleins said they were incredibly moved by the generosity of their supporters. 

And while they were disappointed that GoFundMe removed the campaign—they are not upset.

“If GoFundMe does not believe in our cause or what we are doing—that’s their right,” Aaron told me. “And that’s what we are fighting for. We should have that right too. If it goes against our faith or beliefs we should be able to say we won’t do that.”

The Kleins also had kind words for Franklin Graham. They talked by telephone on Friday.

“A while ago Franklin told me that if I needed anything to give him a call,” Aaron said. “So I called him after the verdict. He said to not get discouraged—that God is good.”

Todd Starnes is host of “Fox News & Commentary,” heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is God Less America.

A promising new weapon in the arsenal to fight cancer is emerging at a number of medical centers across America. The idea sounds radical, but it’s working … not on everyone, but on enough people who previously had no hope that doctors are saying this could be the breakthrough for which they have been looking.

Right now these treatments are in their trial phase.

They’re injecting viruses into the cancerous tumors and seeing them shrink, even to the point of remission. The viruses stimulate the patient’s immune system so that it attacks cancer cells and leaves the rest of their body alone. Again, these stunning results are being seen in people for whom surgery, radiation and chemotherapy proved ineffective in the long term.

The viruses are genetically modified in a laboratory so that they do not infect the patient’s entire body, but rather just the cancer.

Doctors at Duke University Medical Center have witnessed remarkable success by injecting a modified polio virus into brain tumors. It’s taken the Duke team years to arrive at this level of treatment, and they are still trying to perfect it, because still too many of the patients who try it do not survive.

Meanwhile, at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, doctors are using a form of the HIV virus to kill leukemia. The trials are being led by Dr. Carl June, who reports success in 70 percent of the patients. One young leukemia patient, Emily Whitehead, has been in remission for two years.

The Mayo Clinic is also reporting success in using a virus to treat cancer. Stacy Erholtz had tumors on her forehead, collarbone, and spine that went away after she was injected with a modified measles virus. She had battled multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of blood for 10 years, trying chemotherapy and two stem-cell transplants, to no avail.

The Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Stephen Russell said of the treatment, “We recently have begun to think about the idea of a single shot cure for cancer. And that’s our goal with this therapy.”

For the original article, visit .

Editors Note: This is a next in a series of speech texts from last Friday’s conference at the United Nations titled, “Not Peace but a Sword: The Persecution of Christians in the Middle East as a Threat to International Peace and Security.” Here’s Kevin Jessip, the co-founder of Global Strategic Alliance.

On New Year’s Day, 1942, shortly after the United States was “suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air-forces of the Empire of Japan” Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, along with representatives of China and the Soviet Union, signed a preliminary declaration creating the United Nations. By the end of the war this wartime alliance eventually grew to include 26 countries, to form the nucleus for a lasting international organization.

It is to this international body of esteemed diplomats, born in the midst of a horrific global conflict, sparked by outrageous, murderous political ideologies—which led to the slaughter of millions around the world, including a systematic elimination of 6 million Jews—that we now present our case; the plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East. 

The extreme Islamic ideologies of ISIS is a danger that mirrors the Nazi aggression of world domination. It is a growing threat which the world has not seen in many years—the frightening situation facing Christian minorities in Muslim countries should cause grave concern for all peace-loving free societies. The summary executions by the grisly act of beheading along with the uprooting of ancient Christian communities and their ancient cultures, is an on-going tragedy, yet world leaders have largely ignored this problem and it is past time for that to change. 

The churches of the Middle East have a long and noble history. The region was once the cradle of the Christian faith. Even as recently as 100 years ago, some 20 percent of the peoples of the Middle East were still Christian. But today, we fear these proud and resilient religious communities will soon permanently disappear from the Middle East.

The embattled Christian minorities in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, North and Central Africa and throughout the region deserve our immediate intervention for the sake of their cherished faith, which led to the development of Western civilization and our democratic systems of government. Their courage in the face of such violence and intolerance deserves our response and solidarity and summons our allegiance and immediate attention to their plight. 

The world has been mostly silent on this pressing issue. And world leaders have simply not spoken out. Therefore, we will speak out forcefully to the United Nations against the persecution and expulsion of Christian communities in the Middle East. We also will plead with all Western democratic leaders and U.N. representatives to take collective action in confronting this problem through firm diplomatic action against those nations that allow the religious persecution against Christians to continue. This is something that cannot be delayed. We all must act, now!

Nearly 400 years and 10 generations ago, John Robinson, known as the “Pilgrims Father,” placed 35 of his parishioners on the ship called the Mayflower after escaping England during the Puritan/Separatist movement to reform the church, at which time, Queen Mary (better known as Bloody Mary) was beheading persecuted Christians. Those pilgrims founded Plymouth, Massachusetts. and created the first colony which became the start in 1620 of these United States of America. In his farewell letter to the Pilgrims Robinson wrote and quoted from Colossians 3:12: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”

These United Nations were born in the midst of a horrific global conflict, sparked by outrageous, murderous political ideologies—which led to the slaughter of millions around the world, including a systematic elimination of 6 million Jews—today we stand on the precipice of the greatest ever holocaust like aggression of world domination, as the extreme Islamic ideologies of ISIS has declared Christianity as its No. 1 enemy. The plight of Christians globally is a growing threat and the frightening situation facing Christian minorities in Muslim countries and elsewhere should cause grave concern for all peace loving free societies. The summary executions by the grisly act of beheading along with the uprooting of ancient Christian communities and their cultures, is an on-going tragedy. This deluded, false theology motivates and compels radical Islamic terrorists to murder, rape, pillage, plunder, and wreak havoc and destruction in the name of their god.”  

The church shares a long and noble history and where once the cradle of the Christian faith stood even as recently as 100 years ago while some 20 percent of the peoples of the Middle East were still Christian. But today, we fear these proud and resilient religious communities will soon permanently disappear. The embattled Christian minorities in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, North and Central Africa and throughout the region deserve our immediate intervention for the sake of their cherished faith. Their courage in the face of such violence and intolerance deserves our response and solidarity and summons our allegiance and immediate attention to their plight. 

This is the time for us to unite in this Kairos moment of opportunity, while it still exists, as the silent cannot be silent any longer, the Global community, the church as the body of Christ must come together as one, for when one is persecuted we are all persecuted, when one is hurt we all hurt. Hebrews 13:3 says: “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.”

There are more than 26 million documented cases of martyrdom in the 20th century alone, more than in the previous 1,900 years combined. Nearly 165,000 Christians are martyred every year … One Christian is martyred every three minutes. More than 250,000 million Christians in over 60 nations are currently living under the threat of persecution … 60 percent of these are children. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. This is something that cannot be delayed as WE must act, now!

Today as we form a new Global Strategic Alliance and as the body of Christ, known as the church, comes together in unity, the governments of the world will tremble. Today marks that day in which the body of Christ stands together, united across denominational lines, forgetting their doctrinal differences and international borders bound by the one thing which flows through all of our veins, the blood of the Almighty Father—Adonai —El-Olam, “The Everlasting God.”

The Apostle Paul was a man bent on the destruction of the church, eager to persecute believers wherever they lived. He even participated in the death of the first martyr of the early church, Stephen. But God arrested him on the road to Damascus, saved him, and he became the foremost apostle for the sake of the Gospel. Writing to his young protégé years later, Paul vividly described that experience: “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief” (1 Tim. 1:13). He even called himself the worst or chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:16).

The only cure for corrupt ideologies and false religions is a personal encounter with the living God, who “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Only God can transform a murderous terrorist into a servant who is willing to die for the sake of His Name. In the end, the one universal grievance that must be addressed by every person of every age is our own sin and rebellion against God. The only solution is a transformed heart.

Christian persecution is happening just as Jesus said it would. The word of God, the everlasting covenant, which 2 billion Christians believe in, speaks of the difference between the persecution we are witnessing today known as an (Anti-Christ) spirit and the message of Love and Grace taught by (Christ) in the Holy Scriptures, it is that one kills the one who does not believe like he does, while the other teaches we must love our enemies. 

In his own words Christ said: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you … These things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you …  If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you …  But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. … He that hateth me hateth my Father also …They hated me without a cause. … These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. … These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Evangelist Kevin Jessip co-founded “Global Strategic Alliance” with Grace Knodt and one of its missions is to “Reclaim Nations for the Kingdom,” including America. Utilizing knowledge gained in his business career, having successfully created strategic alliance relationships with some of the world’s largest firms for over twenty years Kevin’s company has implemented various programs for nearly half of the Fortune 500 companies, he has become a catalyst for developing and funding organizations dedicated to impacting the world for Christ.

Just recently Bruce Jenner admitted that he is injecting female hormones to transform his body into a women. This is coming from a guy who was once a symbol of male prowess because of his glory days as a U.S. Olympic hero. His transformation was celebrated by many celebrities and goes along with the pop cultural trend of transgenderism. 

As a matter of fact, the secular media and news is featuring this new fad so much that those who reject it are called “genderists” which is another new way of referring to somebody as a bigot.

The forgotten people in all of this are Jenner’s daughters, who are having a difficult time adapting to this. I don’t hear of any celebrities reaching out to them and nobody is publicly taking their side—most likely because they do not want to be called a bigot. Of course, I will go on record as saying that I empathize with their need to have a real man and a real father figure in their life—something that escapes the sentiments of secular mainstream pop culture. 

Many Christian thought leaders predicted societal views regarding gender would change years ago when the slippery slope of alternate forms of marriage was legalized—which is based on the erroneous premise that there is no real difference between male and female. (They say gender difference is merely a human construct based on anachronistic religious biases carried over from the premodern religious era.) 

Removing these foundational categories of male/female has brought an ambiguity that has opened up the floodgates of countless gender categories. For example, Facebook has dozens of possible ways to identify a person’s gender, and I heard one person say that gender identity has no limits. I also heard that there are now some school districts that forbid the use of the term boy and girl and all gender distinctions. Also a law has been passed allowing boys to go to girls bathrooms if they feel like they are a female.

This is because many secularists that gender is psychological not just physiological. In my opinion, this is akin to saying that I have the right to be the starting center fielder for New York Yankee baseball team because I feel that way—irrespective of the criteria based on physical ability, talent and experiential reality. 

Of course, this flies in the face of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures that teach God made male and female in his own image (see Gen. 1:27). Jesus reaffirmed this teaching when He said in the beginning God made them male and female (see Matt. 19:4-5). To simplify the biblical argument—the way to tell if you are male or female is to check out your biological anatomy. (Even in the extremely rare case of a person born as a hermaphrodite—there is a biological way to determine their true gender).

Hence, both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Lord Jesus Christ affirm male and female distinction as God’s original construct of human design as His image bearers. Furthermore, it takes both a man and a woman united together as one flesh in marriage to reflect God’s image to their children. Many alternate forms of marriage assume that children don’t need moms or dads, which is a blatant rejection of both divine human design and God’s construct for families.   

Without divine design as our societal template, we are left with a Darwinian understanding of random/chance origins with implications that go further since it undermines the uniqueness of humanity altogether. Philosophically, doing away with the biblical construct for humanity and families even opens up a door to human/robot families, human clone families, hubotism (attempts to create human and robot hybrids) or human/animal hybrids as well as a plethora of other machinations and creations. Consequently, without a belief in a purposeful human design, we have opened a door to cultural chaos resulting in a depreciation of humanity itself. 

What is one of my solutions? We already have a growing “Intelligent Design” movement. I believe we have to take this further and birth a “Human Design” movement that brings us back to our roots as image bearers of God with the ability to philosophically, scientifically and sociologically debunk the notion of gender neutrality, as well as affirm the uniqueness of humanity by birth.

I also believe this gender-neutral trend is eventually going to result in backfiring on society as the folly of this erroneous philosophy cannot survive generationally against the back drop of the created order. Thirty years from now history will probably demonstrate gender neutrality and alternate family constructs as another failed human experiment.

The worst thing about this is the devastation this will cause to young children like the Kardashian girls, who need both a mother and a father since their emotional and psychological needs transcend the trendy norms of pop culture.  

We need bold pastors in the pulpit and Christian thought leaders in the public square who are capable of articulating the biblical position and the implications of Genesis 1:27. We also need churches filled with strong, Christ-centered marriage ministries that will perhaps become the greatest apologetic of our faith in this century. All men, women and children intuitively long for the biblical norms in society because God created them with these divine instincts. This is greatest advantage those in the biblical camp have. The balance has already been tilted in their favor.

Joseph Mattera is overseeing bishop of Resurrection Church and Christ Covenant Coalition, in Brooklyn, New York, and author of numerous books, including Ruling in the Gates: Preparing the Church to Transform Cities. Follow him on Facebook or visit him online at .

Republican presidential hopefuls in Iowa and elsewhere have recently begun sounding a call to arms to Christian conservatives, describing what they say is an urgent threat to religious liberty.

Citing high-profile dust-ups over religious freedom bills in Indiana and Arkansas, the contenders are painting a vivid picture of faith under fire.

“In the past month, we have seen religious liberty under assault at an unprecedented level,” Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said on Saturday at a forum sponsored by the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition outside Des Moines.

In both Indiana and Arkansas, bills aimed at protecting religious liberty were modified after critics, including a number of corporations, asserted the laws would allow discrimination against lesbians and gays.

On the campaign trail, Republican hopefuls are blasting the modifications.

“Corporate America needs to be careful,” Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said on Saturday.

“We’ve got legislation in Louisiana to protect people of faith and of conscience. … Corporate America is not going to bully the governor of Louisiana,” he said, drawing loud applause.

Iowa traditionally draws early and intense campaigning by presidential aspirants because it is the first electoral contest in the long primary season. But candidates face a dilemma there: Do they emphasize the socially conservative principles that play well with Iowa’s more conservative Republican electorate? Or do they stress a more mainstream conservatism that might play better later in the campaign?

Gay marriage is a particularly thorny issue, especially with the U.S. Supreme Court set to hear oral arguments this week in a legal challenge to laws prohibiting same-sex unions.

Overall, 50 percent of Americans now support gay marriage, according to data from Reuters/Ipsos, with 34 percent opposing it and 16 percent unsure. Still, according to polling from the Pew Research Center, nearly 70 percent of white evangelicals oppose gay marriage, and in 2012, about 57 percent of Republican voters in the Iowa caucuses described themselves as evangelical Christians.

COURTING CONSERVATIVES

A win in Iowa, or even a high placement, gives a candidate more visibility as the race moves on to other states, but it is no guarantee of later success. In 2008 and 2012, the top spots in the Republican contest were taken by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, respectively, neither of whom went on to get the party’s nomination.

Still, Republicans hopefuls, including some familiar faces, remain eager to court Iowa conservatives.

“We are moving rapidly toward the criminalization of Christianity,” Huckabee said in conference call with conservative pastors organized by the Family Research Council, a Christian public policy organization. An audio recording of the call was obtained and posted online by Right Wing Watch, a progressive group that criticizes conservatives.

Huckabee picked up the thread again on Saturday.

“Let me be clear tonight: I’m not backing off because what I’m saying is true,” he said. His words were greeted with murmurs of “That’s right” from the crowd, along with strong applause.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker echoed the warning. “We should be standing up for religious freedom,” he said at Saturday’sforum. “In America, we should be the shining star that says you should be able to practice your religion.”

Two prominent potential Republican contenders were missing at the Faith and Freedom gathering: Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Both are perceived as being from the party’s more moderate wing. Bush has argued for comprehensive immigration reform, and Christie, as governor of New Jersey, ultimately opted not to appeal a court decision that legalized gay marriage in his state.

A more moderate stance, especially on gay marriage, may resonate particularly with young voters. Among 18-to-29-year-olds, according to Reuters/Ipsos, 76 percent now support gay marriage. Even among Republicans in that age group, same-sex marriage enjoys 51 percent support.

Raymond Starks, a 21-year-old student at Drake University who interned on Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign, said on Saturday he favored same-sex marriage, although he also valued religious liberty.

“I would support laws allowing for conscientious objection in some circumstances,” he said.

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 

June 25, 1962: Engel vs. Vitale. January 1973, Roe vs. Wade.

And, on April 28, 2015, America stands on the brink of yet another landmark case to be heard by the United States Supreme Court—one that, coupled with the previous two mentioned above, could bring down God’s judgment against a country founded on biblical principles.

In other words, according to some, it’s the beginning of America’s date with destiny.

Tuesday is the day when Supreme Court justices John G. Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel Anthony Alito Jr., Sonya Sotomayor and Elena Kagan begin oral deliberations on the constitutionality of whether individual states can ban same-sex marriage. The official decision on the issue is expected to be handed down in June.

As it stands, previous lower-court rulings have resulted in gays and lesbians being allowed to marry in 37 of the 50 states.  

For years, the call for America’s repentance has reverberated around the country among Christian leaders, and some say, with the same-sex marriage issue now hanging in the balance, we have reached a critical juncture.

“We need to decide whether we’re a pagan nation or a Christian nation and get on with it,” David Lane, a political activist and founder of the American Renewal Project told Charisma News in an interview Sunday. “There is no question that America was founded by Christians and on Christian values, and the Christianity was established as the religion of America upon its founding. We’ve lost that—we’ve lost our culture. With this ruling, this hearing coming Tuesday, it’s yet another critical point in our history.

“But it didn’t begin here; it began a long time ago. We’ve removed prayer the Bible from public schools, and in 1973, the courts found it a constitutional right to kill babies. This is just another crisis where we are leaving God out of it, and where nine justices apparently think they know better than God. In essence, this is a ruling where they will vote to determine whether or not homosexuality is a sin. Only God can do that.”

In recent weeks under Lane’s guidance, the American Renewal Project has twice sent more emails to more than 100,000 evangelical pastors encouraging them to hold prayer services from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET, Tuesday, during the two-hour time frame that the Supreme Court will deliberate on the same-sex marriage case. The emails also called on those pastors to preach the topic of biblical marriage this past Sunday, two days before the hearing is to begin.

The Liberty Counsel has referred to the same-sex marriage debate as “the most divisive and culturally destructive issue to face America since the Supreme Court’s abortion decision in Roe v. Wade.” A Marriage Pledge, co-drafted by Catholic Deacon and editor of the Catholic Online, and Mat Staver, founder and chairman of the Liberty Counsel, encourages believers to stand with the Liberty Counsel to preserve traditional marriage between one man and one woman. You can stand with the Liberty Counsel by signing here, and you can read the entire pledge by clicking here.

“This is the red line we will not cross,” Staver said. “While no one wants this conflict, we have no choice but to resist an unjust law, particularly one that will force us to participate in acts that directly conflict with the Natural and Revealed Law.”

“The difference between the Supreme Court’s 1973 abortion decision in Roe v. Wade and this one is the coercive nature of it. As horrific as Roe v. Wade is, that Supreme Court decision did not force people to participate in abortion. A decision that says same-sex marriage is a constitutional right will result in coercion against religious freedom and conscience rights. If the Court makes a wrong turn and purports to redefine the natural created order of marriage as between one man and one woman, that decision would be lawless. The Marriage Pledge states, ‘Our highest respect for the rule of law requires that we not respect an unjust law that directly conflicts with higher law.'”

In January 1973, with the infamous case of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a state law that banned abortions except to save the life of the mother, essentially forbidding states from outlawing or regulating any aspect of abortion.

Since that time, according to , there have been approximately 58 million abortions—or unborn babies being murdered—in the U.S.

With the case of Engel vs. Vitale on June 25, 1962, the United States Supreme Court established a precedent that effectively began the banishment of the Bible and prayer in public schools. Education expert William Jeynes, a professor at California State College in Long Beach, told the USA Today that since that time, academic achievement in the nation’s public schools has plummeted, including SAT scores. In addition, the rate of out-of-wedlock births has increased, as has illegal drug use and juvenile crime and an overall deterioration of school behavior has progressed.

“We need to realize that these actions do have consequences,” Jeynes, told the USA Today. “When we remove that moral fiber—that moral emphasis—this is what can result.”

Justice Potter Stewart, who cast the one dissenting vote in the Engel vs. Vitale case, maligned the 1962 ruling by saying of the decision, “It led not to true neutrality, with respect to religion, but to the establishment of a religion of secularism.”

Many Christian leaders believe the results of the two previous landmark decisions have been detrimental for the morality of this country. A similar third decision could produce disastrous, or perhaps cataclysmic, implications.

That’s why Lane and other Christian leaders are imploring believers to bombard heaven to influence the justices’ decision and for God to relent of his judgment on America.

“The Spirit is calling the church to respond in the way that the Scripture teaches—this includes turning to God with all of our hearts and praying for an outpouring of the Spirit (Joel 2:12-31),” Mike Bickle, founder of International House of Prayer Kansas City, said in his sermon Sunday to Forerunner Christian Fellowship Church. “We are to return to God with confidence that He will respond with mercy and kindness. The Lord is willing to minimize, delay, or even cancel the judgment that has been decreed in heaven.”

Lane says that homosexuality isn’t the only issue at stake. Christians must see and acknowledge the entire picture.

“Sin is sin, whether it is homosexuality, adultery or stealing candy bars at the local 7-Eleven,” Lane said. “God gave us the recipe in 2 Chronicles 7:14. We as Christians must understand that. He will forgive us and heal our land, but only if we humble ourselves, pray and turn back to Him. I wholeheartedly believe in prayer, and that’s what it’s going to take. Our only hope is in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

Over the last 24-plus years of ministry, one of the most difficult challenges I’ve faced has been effectively communicating just what changes are coming to the church.

The current church paradigm is so prevalent and saturating in our culture that people just can’t seem to wrap their minds around the shift that is coming. It seems nonsensical, threatening or just plain bizarre. They wonder how their ministry stream or focus or gift fits in that structure.

The reality is that it may not, or it may be radically redefined. The discomfort level will be quite high, and it will take a radical remnant to truly sign up for the reformation—for the revolution of the church.

The disciples of Jesus had an idea of what it would look like in Acts 1, but Jesus radically violated their dreams, plans and comfort zones by leaving—and commissioning them to establish what they hoped Jesus would build!

“So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them,’It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”

The Coming Church

This book that I’m currently writing will be addressing some of the spiritual and practical changes that will be coming to the structure and expression of the church. Trust me, it will shock our nation severely. Those who hold on to a structure or a ministry instead of Jesus himself will not be willing to go where God is leading.

I call this the ancient and emerging church. Ancient because it’s rooted in scripture; emerging because the biblical structure has been largely forsaken. What will this ancient and emerging church look like? Here’s just a small peek into a grand shift in the structure of the church:

1. Services will become more like prayer meetings. One of the greatest indictments on the church today is that prayer is not the driving force. Today, people tend to choose churches based on the appeal of the teaching and the worship instead of the fervency of prayer. If the church was a house of teaching, or a house of worship, that would make sense, but it’s not. The church is a house of prayer for all nations. Every person in the church will function as a burning intercessor and the services will be marked by this unified groan of fiery prayer.

2. Personal need will give way to personal mission. Today, churches are often more like organic, socially driven hospitals. People tend to use the church as a way to meet their personal needs instead of serving it as a minister of God. This is going to change. Of course, there will still be personal ministry and true needs will be addressed.

However, instead of the church functioning as a hospital, it will once again function as a mission-driven military. The mission will take precedence. The saints will be equipped for service, not for personal survival. In this ancient and emerging model, there will be MASH units that will take very good care of the wounded with the primary purpose of getting the soldier back into battle. Apostles will again lead with governmental authority and pastors will be seen as the main leader less and less as they focus more on shepherding and less on primary leadership.

3. Teaching will be minimized while instruction is emphasized. Teaching is mostly for personal edification while instruction is mostly for corporate assignments. Today, most churches focus on teaching principles of scripture, providing truths that will help Believers navigate through their lives and giving nuggets of biblical info. While there will still be important Bible teaching, apostolic instruction will emerge as a necessary new ministry.

There is enough Bible teaching online, on CDs, in books and on video to turn every one of us into personal spiritual giants. We need to take it upon ourselves to grow. What is lacking, however, is apostolic leaders, military commanders who give instruction and assignments to a ready army. Teaching is personal growth-based while instruction is a call to corporate action for the sake of mission fulfillment.

An example of apostolic instruction is this: The apostolic leader gives a corporate assignment for everybody in the church to fast for a week and then show up together to prayer walk through the city streets. It’s a corporate call to action versus biblical study. It’s mission focused versus personal growth focused. Personal growth will be largely our responsibility between services so we can be ready to respond to the corporate instruction where we will receive our assignments.

4. We will gather together most days of the week. The 24/7 church will again emerge as the church drives culture instead of reacting to culture. Cares of life will lose their power as we simplify our lives and put corporate prayer and mission ahead of most everything else.

This may be the most challenging change for Christians. Today, Sundays are the days to set aside for corporate worship while we give precedence to our ‘normal lives.’ In The Coming Church, the very reason we live will be to pray on fire together every day, receive apostolic assignments and then move out into our lives as kingdom ambassadors. It wouldn’t be surprising if a tithe of our time is what became the standard. Two to three hours a day, whether it’s in the morning, afternoon or evening, or even in the late night hours, will be given by every believer to praying on site together with others, ministering and giving ourselves to intercession-fueled kingdom ministry. Of course, much of what we have been giving ourselves to will have to be eliminated so we have the time necessary to devote.

5. Worship will be supernaturally driven. There is a new sound coming to worship, and it’s not simply a new style. There is a supernatural, otherworldly groan of intercessory worship that will explode out of the entire body as a new breed of trembling worship leaders lead the way into the shock and awe of the glory of God. We will no longer simply sit in a pew or stand with a raised hand while a familiar worship song is sung.

The prophetic, groaning sounds of Holy Spirit facilitated worship will make it normal to shake and fall to our faces as we cry Holy! The natural, logical sing-a-longs will be no more. We will have a hard time standing as God’s Shekinah and Kabod glory resides in his church. Worship teams will practice less and pray in the Spirit with tears in their eyes more.

Of course, this is an extremely limited glance into the many, many changes that are coming. I wanted to share this to provoke you to preparation. There is much that you and I enjoy in the church, or that is comfortable to us, that we will have to let go. Again, the coming church will be troubling and shocking, but it will result in the power and life that we have been crying out for.

God is about to answer that cry.

I strongly recommend that you read my book 20 Elements of Revival. That book reveals much of the shift that we must embrace right now. If you truly take in all that it has to say, you’ll never participate in the church the same way again.

John Burton has been developing and leading ministries for over 20 years and is a sought out teacher, prophetic messenger and revivalist. John has authored nine books, has appeared on Christian television and radio and directed one of the primary internships at the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City. Additionally, he planted two churches, has initiated two city prayer movements and is currently directing a prayer and revival focused ministry school in Detroit called theLab University. John’s mandate is to call the church in the nations to repentance from casual Christianity and to burn in a manner worthy of the King of kings. He is equipping people to confront the enemies of God (established religion, Jezebel, etc.) that hinder an extreme, sold-out level of true worship.

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Thousands of Nepalis began fleeing the capital Kathmandu on Monday, terror-stricken by two days of powerful aftershocks and looming shortages of food and water after an earthquake that killed more than 3,700 people.

A senior interior ministry official said authorities had not been able to establish contact with some of the worst affected areas in the mountainous nation, and that the death toll could reach 5,000.

Roads leading out of Kathmandu were jammed with people, some with babies in their arms, trying to climb onto buses or hitch a ride aboard cars and trucks to the plains.

Huge queues had formed at the city’s Tribhuvan International Airport, with tourists and residents desperate to get a flight out.

“I’m willing even to sell the gold I’m wearing to buy a ticket, but there is nothing available,” said Rama Bahadur, an Indian woman who works in Nepal’s capital.

Many of Kathmandu’s 1 million residents have slept in the open since Saturday’s quake, either because their homes were flattened or they were terrified that aftershocks would bring them crashing down.

“We are escaping,” said Krishna Muktari, who runs a small grocery store in Kathmandu city, standing at a major road intersection. “How can you live here? I have got children, they can’t be rushing out of the house all night.”

Overwhelmed authorities were trying to cope with a shortage of drinking water, food and electricity, as well as the threat of disease, and the government appealed for international help.

“The big challenge is relief,” said Chief Secretary Leela Mani Paudel, the country’s top bureaucrat. “We urge foreign countries to give us special relief materials and medical teams. We are really desperate for more foreign expertise to pull through this crisis.”

High in the Himalayas, hundreds of climbers were staying put at Mount Everest base camp, where a huge avalanche after the earthquake killed 17 people in the single worst disaster to hit the world’s highest mountain.

Rescue teams, helped by clear weather, used helicopters to airlift scores of people stranded at higher altitudes, two at a time.

Sick and wounded people were lying out in the open in Kathmandu, unable to find beds in the devastated city’s hospitals. Surgeons set up an operating theater inside a tent in the grounds of Kathmandu Medical College.

Across the capital and beyond, exhausted families laid mattresses out on streets and erected tents to shelter from rain. People queued for water dispensed from trucks, while the few stores still open had next to nothing on their shelves.

INSTANT NOODLES AND FRUIT

The United Nations Childrens Fund said nearly 1 million children in Nepal were severely affected by the quake, and warned of waterborne and infectious diseases.

In the ancient temple town of Bhaktapur, east of Kathmandu, many residents were living in tents in a school compound after centuries old buildings collapsed or developed huge cracks.

“We have become refugees,” said Sarga Dhaoubadel, a management student whose ancestors had built her Bhaktapur family home over 400 years ago.

They were subsisting on instant noodles and fruit, she said.

“No one from the government has come to offer us even a glass of water,” she said. “Nobody has come to even check our health. We are totally on our own here. All we can hope is that the aftershocks stop and we can try and get back home.”

A total of 3,726 people were confirmed killed in the 7.9 magnitude quake, the government said on Monday, the worst in Nepal since 1934 when 8,500 died. More than 6,500 were injured.

Another 66 were killed across the border in India and at least another 20 in Tibet, China’s state news agency said.

The toll is likely to rise as rescuers struggle to reach remote regions in the country of 28 million people and as bodies buried under rubble are recovered.

Several countries rushed to send aid and personnel.

India sent helicopters, medical supplies and members of its National Disaster Response Force. China sent a 60-strong emergency team. Pakistan’s army said it was sending four C-130 aircraft with a 30-bed hospital, search and rescue teams and relief supplies.

A Pentagon spokesman said a U.S. military aircraft with 70 personnel left the United States on Sunday and was due in Kathmanduon Monday. Australia, Britain and New Zealand said they were sending specialist urban search-and-rescue teams to Kathmandu at Nepal’s request.

Britain, which believes several hundred of its nationals are in Nepal, was also delivering supplies and medics.

However, there has been little sign of international assistance on the ground so far, with some aid flights prevented from landing by aftershocks that closed Kathmandu’s airport several times on Sunday.

On Monday, an Indian air force relief plane returned to New Delhi because of congestion at the airport, Indian television reported. 

The disaster has underlined the woeful state of Nepal’s medical facilities.

Nepal has only 2.1 physicians and 50 hospital beds for every 10,000 people, according to a 2011 World Health Organization report.

Doctors at one Kathmandu hospital said they needed over 1,000 more beds to treat the patients that were being brought in ambulances and taxis.

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 

The recent events surrounding the court case against a Christian-owned bakery in Oregon are so surreal that they almost defy imagination.

The case itself has been well publicized.

In 2013, the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, Aaron and Melissa Klein, politely declined to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, as a result of which they were taken to court and charged with discrimination based on sexual orientation.

On Friday, Oregon’s Bureau of Labor recommended that the Kleins be fined a total of $135,000 to compensate “for the emotional suffering they [the lesbian couple] experienced.”

Seriously?

Because a Christian couple cannot, in good conscience, bake a wedding cake for a homosexual couple, they are fined $135,000?

Let that sink in: $135,000 for not baking a cake.

What if Orthodox Jewish wedding photographers declined a job because it was on the Sabbath?

What if Muslim caterers declined a job because it required pork?

Would they be taken to court and fined?

What if Christian videographers declined a job because it required them to shoot a porn scene for a movie?

Would they be fined?

Yet these Christian bakers have not just been fined, they have been fined a ridiculous amount.

Really now, what kind of “emotional suffering” did the lesbian couple endure?

The women listed a total of 178 symptoms of their suffering—not 7 or 8 or even 17 or 18, but 178 symptoms—90 from one and 88 from the other.

As reported by Kelsey Harkness, “Examples of symptoms include ‘acute loss of confidence,’ ‘doubt,’ ‘excessive sleep,’ ‘felt mentally raped, dirty and shameful,’ ‘high blood pressure,’ ‘impaired digestion,’ ‘loss of appetite,’ ‘migraine headaches,’ ‘pale and sick at home after work,’ ‘resumption of smoking habit,’ ‘shock,’ ‘stunned,’ ‘surprise,’ ‘uncertainty,’ ‘weight gain’ and ‘worry.'”

All this—and much, much more—simply because a Christian bakery said, “It’s contrary to our religious beliefs to participate in a same-sex wedding ceremony.”

Is it possible that these women were not exaggerating?

Yes it is.

But that doesn’t mean that the Kleins should be fined $135,000. Instead, it means we should question the overall emotional stability of these two lesbians since it is almost impossible to believe that they really suffered all this simply because a Christian company said they could not participate in a lesbian “wedding.”

Since coming to faith in Jesus as a Jewish teenager in 1971, I have often experienced rejection from the Jewish community. For example, a Jewish bookstore wouldn’t sell books to my school, a Jewish educational service changed their phone numbers to shut me out once I subscribed to their phone-based teaching sessions, a religious Jewish man spat on my face while we talked on the train one day, also hurling my Hebrew Bible in anger, while others have simply turned their backs on me when I tried to address them.

So what?

We all get rejected and we all have people who don’t like us and we sure don’t come up with lists of 178 examples of our trauma when someone expresses their polite disagreement with something important to us.

Let’s also remember that, before the courts ever ruled on the Kleins’ case, the vicious, gay activist attack against them forced them to close their business, which means that the fine now levied against them would have to come out of whatever personal funds they have.

As Aaron Klein said, “The state is now saying that we can award damages above and beyond what you have already suffered … and they have no qualms about doing this. It is really showing the state is taking a stance on absolutely obliterating somebody that takes a different stance than the state has.”

What kind of totalitarianism is this? And how could this lesbian couple possibly think they were entitled to $135,000 in compensation, blaming this litany of 188 symptoms of emotional suffering on the Kleins?

This is beyond ludicrous.

But it gets worse and even more ludicrous.

On Friday, shortly after the fine was announced, an account for the Kleins was set up on GoFundMe, and in about 8 hours, more than $109,000 was raised for them. And then suddenly the page was taken down.

What happened?

According to Jay Richards, “A competitor of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, Lisa Watson of Cupcake Jones, contacted GoFundMe to alert the crowd-funding company that the Kleins had violated the terms of service,” as a result of which they disabled the campaign.

This is what Watson wrote to GoFundMe: “This business has been found GUILTY OF DISCRIMINATION and is being allowed to fundraise to pay their penalty. The gofundme terms of service address hate speech, bigotry, criminal activity and sexism among other things in their campaign … The amount of money they have raised in a matter of a few hours by thousands of anonymous cowards is disgusting.”

What a ridiculous complaint, especially in its accusation that it was “anonymous cowards” who came forward to help the Kleins, deeming their actions “disgusting.”

So today, you can’t even stand with other Christians without being lambasted in the ugliest terms.

This is utterly appalling.

But it is even more appalling that GoFundMe agreed with her complaint and shut down the campaign, claiming that because Sweet Cakes had been found guilty by the court, raising funds for them would violate the GoFundMe terms of services. (Others have already pointed out that GoFundMe is being completely inconsistent in their actions here.)

Thankfully, Franklin Graham stepped forward and continued the campaign for the Kleins on his Samaritan’s Purse website.

But this whole episode exposes the moral bankruptcy of the contemporary attack on Bible-believing Christians, first, with the state requiring the Kleins to violate their religious beliefs, second, by blaming them for a ridiculous list of traumas, third, by fining them such an exorbitant amount of money, and fourth, by shutting down the caring campaign meant to help them.

Church of America, wake up.

These are truly urgent times.

Michael Brown is the author of 25 books, including Can You Be Gay and Christian? and host of the nationally syndicated talk radio show “The Line of Fire.” He is also president of FIRE School of Ministry and director of the Coalition of Conscience.

The Florida Senate approved a bill on Friday mandating a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking abortions, with all Republicans voting in favor and all Democrats opposed.

The bill is now headed to Republican Governor Rick Scott, who is expected to sign it into law.

Senator Anitere Flores, a Miami Republican who sponsored the bill, said it was reasonable for women to wait 24 hours after meeting with their doctors for an “informed consent” briefing on fetal development, which is already required by state law, and undergoing the abortion procedure itself.

She noted that state law requires a three-day waiting period for purchasing a gun or getting married, and 20 days for divorces.

“This does not limit a woman’s right to make the choice, if that’s what she wants to do, to have the abortion,” said Senator Kelli Stargel, a Lakeland Republican. “What this does is to give the women an opportunity to think about it, so she doesn’t potentially live through years of regret.” 

For profit reasons, she said, many clinics rush women into abortion immediately after the required briefing on possible medical side effects.

Senate Minority Leader Arthenia Joyner, a Tampa Democrat, said the legislature has been “chipping away” at abortion rights since 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the procedure. She said it is significant that men run both chambers of the legislature.

The bill was amended to waive the waiting period in cases of rape, incest, domestic violence or human trafficking.

The Senate voted 26-13 for the bill, with all Republicans supporting it and all Democrats voting against it.

The House voted 77-41 in favor of the measure on Wednesday, with most Republicans in support and most Democrats opposed.

If enacted, Florida would join 24 other U.S. states requiring women to wait at least 24 hours before getting an abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks reproductive health policy.

A Tennessee bill requiring a 48-hour waiting period has passed the state legislature and is awaiting the governor’s signature.

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