Tony Perkins is a Washington, D.C., fixture, having gone from being a Marine to a police officer in Louisiana to working with the Department of State to running for office in Louisiana to becoming a state senator from Baton Rouge and now on to a career in Washington.

Famed Washington, D.C., prayer leader Dick Simmons was Perkins’ mentor, and under his direction, Perkins moved from his base in Louisiana, enabling him to continue his Christian ministry through leadership of the Family Research Council.

In 2018, he became a member of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a unique entity which came out of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

The act mandates an annual report on the state of religious freedom worldwide and to focus efforts on countries of particular concern. It was updated in 2016 with the Frank Wolf International Freedom Act to strengthen its efforts, honoring former Congressman Frank Wolf, who was instrumental in its founding.

From July 13-15, 2021, the first International Religious Freedom Summit will be held in Washington, D.C., co-hosted by former Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback and Katrina Swett, president of the Lantos Foundation.

Perkins encourages churches to support this historic event in prayer and participation, either in person or online, as it will make a significant difference for the 300 million persecuted Christians worldwide.

Perkins shares with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo the honor of being banned by China. He considers it a badge of courage that he is making a difference for the cause of Christ worldwide.

“One of the key victories of [former] President Donald J. Trump was his historic religious freedom accomplishments,” Perkins says, highlighting the moving of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and the removal of the Johnson Amendment. This, Perkins says, “prevented pastors from speaking out on political issues.” He also highlights Trump’s desire to go to the United Nations and to sit alongside the secretary general and “strongly demand religious freedom worldwide,” Perkins says.

“One of the lasting accomplishments of the administration was the hosting of, along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the two Ministerials to advance international religious freedom, hosted at the Department of State, in cooperation with the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom to advance religious freedom worldwide,” Perkins continues.

He believes the two Ministerials were a “wonderful touchstone” to shed a light on the fact that it is estimated nearly 80% of the world live in some form of religious persecution. Perkins also says it is encouraging to see the recent annual religious freedom proclamation by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and the 2020 International Religious Freedom Report by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

Perkins encourages believers to go to to get information on the Commission on International Religious Freedom, as most don’t know of its official government-chartered status. He also encourages believers to register their organizations, churches and as individuals for the International Religious Freedom Summit at , and pray for and support the efforts to help the nearly 300 million believers who live under persecution worldwide. {eoa}

Amir George directs The World Helpline at .

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“Are you devout? Or are you dangerous?” That is the question Pastor Mike Signorelli of V1 Church poses in his latest teaching from Pentecost Sunday.

Signorelli takes us to Acts 2 to set up the scene for Pentecost. There we see the fire of the Holy Spirit come upon the believers in the upper room, which led the devout men dwelling in the city around them to be amazed and astonished at those who to them were mere Galileans, simple, uneducated men. The difference between the devout men and the dangerous ones was that the devout had a spirit of religion, whereas the dangerous ones were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Signorelli reminds us that Satan does a lot of our devout practices too. Satan read the Bible. Satan knows Jesus, and he attends most local churches every week! So what takes you from devout to dangerous? Doing the will of the Father.

In Mark 16:15, Jesus gives us a mandate to “go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Signorelli points out that it doesn’t say go to church or a Bible study, or go post a carefully curated video on Tik Tok—but go into all the world. He says this will then make you desperate to go to church so that you can be refilled and equipped!

He goes on to make a bold statement that, “Being a Christian who doesn’t tell non-Christians what Christ did for them makes the most miserable existence possible.”

So we’ll ask again, “Do you want to be devout, or do you want to be dangerous?”

For more teachings download the V1 Church app or follow Mike Signorelli on Facebook or Instagram. {eoa}

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Mark McCloskey, an attorney from St. Louis, Missouri, recently made headlines when he launched a campaign and announced his entrance into the 2022 United States Senate race. He reportedly stated, “God came knocking on my door last summer disguised as an angry mob, and it really did wake me up. … [A]s we’ve continued to do rallies and events supporting our constitutional rights, what I’ve learned is that people out there in our country are just sick and tired of cancel culture and the poison of critical race theory and the big lie of systemic racism—all backed up by the threat of mob violence.”

In summer 2020, news went viral after Mark and his wife, Patricia, exercised their Second Amendment right to protect themselves and their property against Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters. The incident took place as reports of George Floyd’s death were circulating, sparking outcries and violent demonstrations demanding social justice. BLM protesters forced their way through a gate, trespassed into a private neighborhood and were confronted by the McCloskeys, armed with a rifle and handgun, who demanded the crowd vacate the premises.

Former Circuit Attorney Kim Garner filed “unlawful use of weapon” charges against the McCloskeys, stating, “It is illegal to wave weapons in a threatening manner at those participating in a nonviolent protest.” In October, the couple were indicted by a grand jury on Garner’s gun charges and later added tampering with evidence. The McCloskeys entered a plea of “not guilty” and Missouri Governor Mike Parsons said he would pardon the couple if they were convicted.

One news source reported Circuit Judge Thomas Clark II dismissed Attorney Garner and her staff from the case due to “fundraising emails [they] sent to constituents that alluded to Mark and Patricia McCloskey’s case [and] ‘raise the appearance of impropriety and jeopardize the defendant’s right to a fair trial.'”

The couple’s attorney, Joel Schwartz wrote, “The … email drew a direct line from the incident, which had not yet resulted in criminal charges, to Ms. Garner’s political antagonists and from there to a call for donations to further her reelection efforts.”

The McCloskeys expressed concerns of a tainted case after Garner’s involvement, of which Schwartz said, “[W]e believe the grand jury process was tainted and should be reviewed and revisited.” Litigation continued in April with the Missouri Supreme Court denying Garner’s appeal to return to the case. Meanwhile, Schwartz filed a motion to “[send] the case back to a grand jury to decide if they should have been indicted in the first place.” Recent reports say proceedings will not go back to the grand jury.

Mark McCloskey’s official campaign page says, “[H]e has now answered the call of public duty and is running for the United States Senate from Missouri to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Roy Blunt. Mark is a conservative outsider who will bring backbone and guts to the U.S. Senate to continue fighting for President Trump’s agenda.”

In a tweet, McCloskey declared, “I am a proven fighter against the mob. When the mob comes to destroy our home, our state, our nation—I’ll defend it. I will never back down.”

An angry mob marched to destroy my home and kill my family, I took a stand to defend them.

I am a proven fighter against the mob

When the mob comes to destroy our home, our state, our nation— I’ll defend it

I will NEVER BACK DOWN

Help me FIGHT BACK ➡️

— Mark McCloskey (@Mark__McCloskey) May 19, 2021

{eoa}

For more than a decade, Tiffany Benson’s passion for writing has exceeded most of her interests. When she’s not catching up on politics or watching documentaries, she enjoys journaling, fiction and contributing to her blog: .

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The proverbial elephant is in the room and it is stomping on Israel. Yet, I fear we are unwilling to see the future as it is unfolding in human history.

Israel is losing the global propaganda war. Its stance in the world community has fallen in the last 10 years where even the USA is becoming divided over her right to govern her sovereign land she settled nearly 3,400 years ago.

When the rocket attacks from Hamas began, the weight of blame came not on the terrorists, but upon Israel. Violence against American Jews happened openly in NYC, LA, and around the country by Palestinian thugs, the media hardly took notice.

When I read that 1,000 Apple employees sent their CEO a letter urging him to take the side of the Palestinians, I realized Israel was losing the propaganda war in America.

The Palestinian propaganda machine has been highly effective on our college campuses. Their indoctrination of young students has helped build a strong argument against Israel. Similarly, their manipulation and influence in the UN has changed the world view of Israel.

Remember, there are hundreds of millions of Arabs with much wealth and influence in our world compared to the 8 million Jews in Israel and the several other million Jews around the globe. he Arabs have the resources to spread their false narrative and influence our colleges with their grant money and nations with their oil production.

We have leaders in Congress who openly state that Hamas is justified in their rocket attacks on Israel. Even though there has been some push back from President Biden, no real action has been taken to condemn this outrageous and false narrative against Israel.

What if before we entered the Second World War, we had leaders in Congress say Nazi Germany was justified in bombing France and then England. They would have been run out of town.

I found it interesting that one of the members of Congress called the Palestinians Arabs. They went on to condemn Israel as an occupying Colonial power. I thought, how ignorant and misinformed she was.

If the Palestinians are Arabs, then they came into the land after the Muslim Arabs conquered Jerusalem at the end of the 7th century AD. The Jews had settled this same land close to 2,000 years prior. This is common history.

If anyone would like to read a true account of the history of the Arab/Palestinian and Israel conflict read, “From Time Immemorial,” by Joan Peters, published in 1984. Joan was an ardent activist who marched with Martin Luther King.

She then went to Israel to defend the Palestinian cause against Israel. What she discovered stunned her. The fault of the Arab-Jewish struggle could not be laid at the door of the Jews, but it was the fault of the Arabs, especially since the land had been settled by the Jews nearly 2,000 years before the Arabs conquered the land from the Byzantines, who had occupied the Jewish state inherited from the Roman Empire, who had taken it from the descendants of Alexander the Great, who had driven out the Persians, who had inherited it from the Babylonians.

The Jews had been in the land for around 800 years before the Babylonians took Jerusalem and sent the Jews into exile in 605 BC. They then returned 70 years later to resettle their homeland.

Yet, the Palestinians have sold many of the nations of the world the falsehood that it is their land and even say Jesus was not a Jew, but a Palestinian. Why is this not challenged by the media and our world leaders?

You cannot win the argument when your foundational premise is based on a lie. Darkness is the Devil’s friend. The false narrative against Israel is darkness.

Now, I am not dismissing the suffering of the Palestinian people, but it is their own brother and sister Arabs that have brought this suffering upon them. Because of the terrorism the PLO, then Hezzbollah and Hamas and many other misled Arabs have caused such death and acts of terror in Israel, that the Jewish state had to act to stop the horrors of terrorism within their borders.

The Jews are completely open to live as one with the Arabs in Israel. But they must defend themselves against the objectives of Iran and the terror organizations to destroy Israel as a nation and establish Arab-Muslim rule over Jerusalem and the land.

Israel has an impressive army and the backing of America in their opposition to the Arab-Muslim goal to drive them into the sea. Now, I want to share what few are willing to declare. The other elephant in the room: God is on Israel’s side. That is not to say God is against the Arab/Palestinians, but God’s plan of redemption runs through the Jews. Jesus is Jewish!

The Bible has foretold all the world events that are happening, especially with Israel. The Jewish prophets from Isaiah to Zachariah wrote of what is occurring now and in the past 150 years.

Isaiah prophesied that Israel would be reborn in a day. That happened by UN decree in 1948. Jeremiah foretold that God would bring the Jews home from the four corners of the earth. That began around 150 years ago as a trickle and now a river of Jews are coming home.

Daniel prophesied God’s kingdom in Israel through the Messiah, that it would become the last and greatest kingdom on earth.

Daniel, Ezekiel, and Zachariah also prophesied of the end time wars that would lead to the coming of the Messiah. Zachariah went so far as to say that the nations of the earth would gather against Jerusalem and take half the city before the Messiah would come to destroy these nations.

These nations are the goat nations that Jesus said would not bless Israel, but condemn her and seek to destroy her. Jesus would judge these nations for their unwillingness to help “the least of these.”

Jesus prophesied that there would come a time when Jerusalem would no longer be trampled by the Gentiles. This was fulfilled in 1967 when the Jews re-established Jerusalem as their capital in the 6 Day War.

These are but a few of the prophecies concerning Israel and the land. There are numerous other prophecies given in the Bible all coming true as predicted!

There will be no lasting peace until the Messiah comes to deliver Israel in a greater miracle than the Red Sea. This miracle began in the return of the Jews to their homeland as Jeremiah prophesied and will end in the Messiah coming from heaven to usher in God’s promise of peace and justice which will come forth from the Messiah as He establishes His rule over all the nations of the earth centered in Jerusalem.

We dare not come against God and His plan for Israel. That does not mean we cannot assist in helping the Palestinians, but not at Israel’s expense. The land is Israel’s by God’s decree given to Abraham around 2000 BC. That is the covenant of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ 2,000 years later.

People can debate this and even deny it, but the truth is God’s Hand is on Israel. The Bible prophesies make it clear God will protect Israel and defeat all armies that come against her. Since 1948 this has happened in miraculous ways as Israel defeated all armies that have come against her despite overwhelming odds. There is no other explanation but God.

There will be no solution to the Israel predicament until the Messiah comes. We are wasting our energies in trying to come up with a two-nation solution. The best answer is to bring about reconciliation between the Jews and Arabs, but the terrorists will not permit it, nor will Iran.

Thus, we need to defend Israel as one nation, not divide the land, and pray for the Messiah to come. War is inevitable in the end. Truth is the only answer. Lies will only result in more darkness. Jesus said He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life … The truth will set you free.

P.S. A dear friend of mine read the draft of this article and he reminded me the land of Israel is God’s land, Jeremiah 2:7 and Joel 3:2. God gave the land to Abraham and his descendants. We should honor what God desires or He may curse our land. Therefore, Israel has a responsibility to be the best stewards of this gift from God.

What does that mean in terms of dealing with the Arab/Palestinians? {eoa}

Blake Lorenz is the senior pastor at Encounter Global Outreach in Orlando, Florida. Check out his daily blog at and his podcast Awaken with Blake Lorenz on the Charisma Podcast Network.

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What can God do with an empty field, a few willing hearts and a massive tent? Revival ministry Awake the World is about to find out.

From May 28 to June 5, the “Field of Glory” in Valley View, Texas, will be home to a major tent revival that host Awake the World believes will be filled with God’s glory.

Awake the World, founded by Joshua and Lisa Fowler, seeks to “awake nations and generations to the love of God,” so revivalists and the body of Christ can “bring in the greatest harvest of all time,” per the ministry website.

The five-day event will feature sessions with many Spirit-filled speakers, including:

— Joshua Fowler on Friday, May 28.
— Ayelen Saavedra on Saturday, May 29.
— Jason Page on Sunday, May 30.
— Kiplin Batchelor on Monday, May 31.
— RealTalk Kim on Tuesday, June 1.
— Joshua Fowler on Wednesday, June 2.
— Enmith Trejo on Thursday, June 3.
— Charlie Fowler on Friday, June 4.
— Cindy Jacobs on Saturday, June 5.

RealTalk Kim, Charisma House author and fiery speaker who faced COVID-19 trials much of last year but came out with better and stronger faith, is proclaiming that the “Texas Tent Revival” will usher in “full-blown, all-out, fire-filled awakening and revival.”

The revival was born through a word from the Lord to Joshua Fowler. Fowler wrote of the encounter, “The Lord took me for a walk in the heavenlies and said, ‘Find me a field, fill it with people and I will fill it with My glory!'”

Fowler and the entire Awake the World team expect worship, signs, wonders, miracles and healings to spring forth from this event.

“Come ready to get delivered; come ready to get the joy of the Lord in your bones,” RealTalk Kim says. But to do that, she says, you have to get a seat. Those wishing to participate may sign up to attend here or volunteer here. {eoa}

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Wherever we turn, race is the issue. Any problem that we face, race must be at the root of it. At least, that’s the way it feels in America these years. Any outcome that we do not like, any narrative that we reject, any person with whom we have a problem—all of it must be traced back to race.

This is as dishonest as it is destructive, and if we really care about equality and justice, we had better reevaluate our strategy, and we had better do it quickly.

I’m reminded of a humorous story my dad told me when I was a boy, a story meant to highlight how, as Jews, we could perceive all rejection as an expression of anti-Semitism.

The story focused on a Jewish man who was interested in getting a job as a radio announcer, but he was a terrible stutterer. And my dad would tell the story in a painfully slow way, reflecting the serious speech obstacles faced by this Jewish man.

So, the man goes with another Jewish friend to the radio studio, eager to interview for the job. He then goes in to meet with the executive team while his friend waits for him outside.

After some time, the man comes out and his friend asks him, “So, how did it go?”

He replies, “W-w-w-w-ell, th-th-th-th-ey d-d-d-don’t l-l-l-like J-j-j-j-jews.”

I trust you get the point. Jew hatred was not the issue. The man’s speech impediment was the issue. Radio announcing was not for him.

(Since we can’t be too careful these days, please understand that I am not intending to belittle those with speech impediments or to mock stutterers. I was simply relating a relevant story. Fair enough?)

In the same way today, if a qualified Asian person is chosen for a job over an unqualified person of color, it is a clear example of racism. Obviously!

Or if a mass shooter turns out to be white, this is another example of white supremacy, even if all his victims were white. (If any were people of color, then, without any possible dispute, this was a manifestation of white supremacy.)

And on and on it goes.

The latest example comes from the NFL, where Tim Tebow (who is white) has been given a one-year contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars as a tight end, despite being out of the league for nine years and despite playing quarterback, rather than tight end, in the past.

Yet Black quarterback Colin Kaepernick, famous for being the first to take a knee in protest during the National Anthem, has never been rehired by the NFL. This, we have been told incessantly, is obviously race-based. It’s as clear as Black and white.

As Black sports commentator Stephen A. Smith opined with reference to Tebow, “When we see someone of a different ilk, of a different ethnicity, getting opportunities we know we would never get, that’s where the words white privilege come from. … There’s no way to eradicate white privilege without white individuals giving up some of their privilege.”

Really? Well, where was Tebow’s white privilege when no team would sign him for almost 10 years, despite his massive popularity with the fans?

It is true that he was one of the best college quarterbacks of all time and had occasional flashes of brilliance in the pros.

The problem was that, overall, he did not seem to be cut out to play quarterback in the NFL, an environment that is quite different from the college level. In fact, some other notable college stars did not do well in the NFL, so Tebow was hardly the first.

Perhaps we should have claimed that he was not hired because he was white? Perhaps we should have played the race card on his behalf?

Sarcasm aside, as a terrific athlete, Tebow reinvented himself as a tight end to the point that the Jaguars are willing to give him a shot. If he plays well, he’ll be on the team. If not, he’ll be off. It’s that simple.

As for Kaepernick, the big issue was not the controversy surrounding his apparent disrespect for the anthem. Rather, it was the fact that his own game degenerated, and he quickly went from hero to goat.

That was the issue, since the NFL, ultimately, is about winning and making money. Had he been playing at the top level of his game, he would have remained in the NFL. Color was not the issue.

Why am I so sure about this? It’s because almost two-thirds of all NFL players are black. (That number might even be higher if we focus only on full-time, starting positions.)

It’s because almost all of the leading running backs and receivers in NFL history have been Black. (The same can be said about other key positions on each team.) It’s because an increasing number of top quarterbacks are people of color, including Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. (Mahomes’ father is Black, and both of Jackson’s parents are Black.) It’s because, along with the NBA, the NFL has the highest percentage of Black players of any of the major professional leagues.

Getting back to Kaepernick, sportswriter Jack Dougherty analyzed his NFL stats, focusing on his last year of play. Dougherty concluded, “The closest QB to Kaepernick’s numbers in his final season was Brock Osweiler, who is now out of the NFL too. Kaepernick simply didn’t play well enough to warrant a starting job after 2017.”

Add to that the controversy that surrounded him and the self-centered way he approached reentry to the league, and it’s obvious why other teams wouldn’t touch him.

Let’s step back, then, and take a deep breath, recognizing that not everything is about race. (Really now, we don’t even know if the tragic killing of George Floyd, which certainly highlighted police brutality, had anything to do with race.)

For me, the big issue with the overplaying of the race card is that the strategy serves only to divide us more deeply, with constant battles being fought now over critical race theory or intersectionality or the 1619 Project. This only deepens the divides and increases the mistrust and the acrimony.

Instead, with honestly and humility, as fellow Americans, we need to say, “Let’s work together for a better America for everyone, especially where inequities prevail.”

On this point, the vast majority of us would agree. {eoa}

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Have you ever felt like you’ve damaged your life so much with bad decisions that you don’t believe you can ever find your way out of the hole?

Dr. Tony Evans, a pastor, teacher, author and speaker, says he’s seen that type of discouragement in believers almost everywhere he goes. But he says with God, the damage isn’t irreversible, and nothing is impossible.

Evans wrote his book U-Turns, to help believers know that when they align their life choices with God by pursuing an intimate relationship with Him, they can experience the abundant life Jesus died to give them.

“So many people are living with regrets, failures, sins and circumstances that have negatively affected them because they’re having to live with the consequences,” Evans tells Dr. Steve Greene on a recent episode of Greenelines on the Charisma Podcast Network. “Sometimes it’s from their own decisions; sometimes it’s from the impact of the decisions others have made for them.

“And those consequences, those negative repercussions are discouraging them or limiting them and are causing them not to maximize their potential,” he says. “So, I wanted to write a book of hope.

“Yes, there are consequences to being a sinner and living in a sinful world,” Evans says. “But the beautiful thing about our faith is that the consequences don’t have to have the last say. They don’t always immediately disappear, but we no longer have to be held hostage to them. So, my writing the book was to give hope, based on the fact that God is a hope-giving God, even when we are dealing with the repercussions of our own decisions that have given us negative circumstances.”

For the rest of this encouraging interview with Tony Evans, listen to the entire episode of Greenelines at this link, and be sure to subscribe to Greenelines on your favorite podcast platform. {eoa}

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Mario Bramnick, the president of the Latino Coalition of Israel and South Florida Pastors Network spoke with Jeff Struss following the South Florida Legislative Prayer Breakfast, and he has a strong word of blessing for believers.

Watch this video and receive it now.

A Michigan student is being told to remove a large portion of her valedictorian speech because it contains references to her personal faith in Jesus Christ.

Elizabeth Turner, a senior at Hillsdale High School, submitted her speech for review ahead of the June 6 commencement. School administration commented on the shared google document, saying the sections in which she references her faith are “not appropriate.”

BREAKING: Today, we sent a letter to the principal at Hillsdale High School demanding that she allow a graduating senior, Elizabeth Turner, reference her faith in her valedictorian speech. LEARN MORE »

— First Liberty Institute (@1stLiberty) May 27, 2021

“We need to be mindful about the inclusion of religious aspects,” Hillsdale Principal Amy Goldsmith wrote. “These are your strong beliefs, but they are not appropriate for a speech in a school public setting. I know this will frustrate you, but we have to be mindful of it.”

Goldsmith highlighted Turner’s words in the following section:

For me, my future hope is found in my relationship with Christ. By trusting in him and choosing to live a life dedicated to bringing his kingdom glory, I can be confident that I am living a life with purpose and meaning. My identity is found by what God says and who I want to become is laid out in scripture.

Whether we want to admit it or not, not one of us can be certain of how our lives will unfold, but we do know that trials will come. The reality of this is that we face an unpredictable future, and while we are making all these plans to prepare, ultimately none of us are promised tomorrow, making it all the more important to make today count.

Religious freedom law firm First Liberty has taken Turner’s case, and sent a letter to Goldsmith, requesting she “allow Elizabeth Turner to express her private religious beliefs at the graduation ceremony.”

The letter details the email exchange between Goldsmith and Turner regarding the legality of including personal faith in a public school address. Goldsmith argued that, as valedictorian, Turner’s statements represent the school, and as such, could not make religious statements.

“While there is a degree of freedom to the content of your speech, there are also considerations of what the content and message should be at a commencement celebration and it’s [sic] appropriateness for the audience,” Goldsmith wrote to Turner.

First Liberty lawyers Mike Berry and Keisha Russell refute her argument, saying, “Student graduation speeches constitute private speech, not government speech, and private speech is not subject to the Establishment Clause. Contrary to your statements that religious sentiments are ‘not appropriate for a speech in a school public setting,’ Ms. Turner’s statements do not transform into government speech simply because they are delivered in a public setting or to a public audience.”

The argument is in reference to a January 2020 U.S. Department of Education guidance that states, “[s]tudent remarks are not attributable to the school simply because they are delivered in a public setting or to a public audience.”

In refusing to stand “for such a blatant violation of students’ constitutional rights,” First Liberty counsel Keisha Russel said, “Graduation is a time for celebration not censorship. Students retain their constitutional rights to freedom of expression from elementary school all the way through the graduation ceremony. All public schools should protect the private religious expression of their students.” {eoa}

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“When God determined to recover a ruined situation, he would find a man and baptize him in anguish” —David Wilkerson.

And this is exactly what we need today!

Anguish is defined as severe physical or emotional pain or distress. Spiritual anguish is when we feel deeply the things that reflect the heart of God. Prophetic voices have always sounded the alarm and called people to weep over the things that break the heart of God. Jeremiah lamented, “My soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart” (Jer. 4:19a). And God told Isaiah to “Cry aloud, do not hold back. Lift up your voice like a trumpet” to warn the people of their sin (Isa. 58:1a).

In the New Testament, John the Baptist was the “voice of one crying out in the wilderness” (John 1:23a). Even Jesus experienced deep anguish when he cried out, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34).

Anguish Over the Ruins

The book of Nehemiah begins with Jerusalem in ruins: “When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days. Then I fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven” (Neh. 1:4). Later in the book, Nehemiah said to the king, “Why should not my face be troubled when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” (Neh. 2:3).

We only need to look at the devastating drift from God’s moral standard in America to understand Nehemiah’s lament. From the school districts to the courtrooms, and from the media to manipulating news outlets, the outright perversion is extremely alarming. We are drowning in a cesspool of moral filth: “The wicked strut about on every side
When vileness is exalted among the sons of mankind” (Ps. 12:8, NASB). Where is the anguish?

The gates of the city represented security, commerce and justice, all of which had decayed. As it was then, so it is today. The ruins are all around us as well. Security and justice are being exchanged for corruption and manipulation, and commerce is being replaced with socialism. Again, where is the anguish? Where is the desperation? Where is the righteous indignation? The woke church isn’t waking anyone up, and the dead church isn’t reviving anyone. We need true prophetic voices again to sound the alarm: “Return to Me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts” (Zech. 1:3, MEV).

Anguish Sparks Spiritual Awakenings

Anguish is where a deep prayer life and revival are born: “Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out before You day and night. May my prayer reach Your presence; listen to my cry” (Ps. 88:1-2 HCSB). Anguish fears judgment but also knows that there is hope: “When Zion travails, sons and daughters are born” (see Isa. 66:8).

In 1930, there was a powerful awakening at a school for the sons of missionaries in South India. It was traced to three young boys who were in anguish over the lack of spiritual fervor at the school. God answered their prayers and brought intense spiritual hunger.

In 1949, The Hebrides Revival in Scotland began when two elderly sisters were in anguish over the desperate need for revival. They told the pastor that both of them would pull down heaven by praying from ten o’clock at night until two o’clock in the morning. Their anguish prevailed and spiritual fire was ignited. We must once again reach this level of desperation.

Anguish Over a Lack of Spiritual Hunger

To awaken our spiritual appetite, there must be a continual hunger and thirst for God. Matthew 5:6 tells us that only those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. Are you in anguish over the spiritual condition of our families, nation, and church—over the lack of righteousness? Then ask God to awaken your barren and dry soul by setting aside time to fast and pray.

Evangelical author Neil T. Anderson once asked a high priest of Satanism this question: “Based on your experience of the other side, what is the Christian’s best line of defense?” The Satanist responded, “Prayer, and when you pray, mean it. Fervent prayer stops Satan’s activity like nothing else.”

Decades ago, Gordon Cove challenged readers when he wrote, “You have not sought the Lord with ‘your whole heart’ until you have tried a protracted season of prayer and fasting.” Could a lack of prayer and fasting be hindering you from understanding the heart of God? Absolutely. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Anguish Over Sin Leads to Salvation

Another important aspect of anguish involves us realizing our utter depravity and our need for complete reliance on God. Jesus cried out in deep anguish on the cross for us and we must cry out to Him: “Oh God, save me, a sinner … have mercy on me.”

Don’t let feelings of unworthiness keep you from surrendering and submitting your life to Jesus. Paraphrasing C.H. Spurgeon, “When Satan tells me I am unworthy, I remind Him that I’ve always been unworthy, and yet, God still loves me.” Feelings of unworthiness do not prevent you from having fellowship with Him. Make the choice today and turn your life completely over to Him. Your anguish over sin will be turned into tremendous peace and joy: “Therefore if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Hear the sermon where this article originated here. {eoa}

Shane Idleman is the founder and lead pastor of Westside Christian Fellowship in Southern California. More can be found at , and free downloads of his books are available at . Visit him on Facebook and subscribe to his podcast.

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