June 29, 2019: Pastors warn about Calif. resolution; Andrew Brunson testifies to Congress; Ohio pastor gets life in prison
Daily Radio Script – Saturday, June 29, 2019
Here are the latest headlines, brought to you by The Christian Post.
— Pastors warn against California Assembly resolution urging churches to embrace LGBT movement
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Individuals who once identified as gay are speaking out against a resolution in the California Assembly that calls upon pastors and other civic leaders to affirm homosexuality and transgenderism, and condemn "conversion therapy."
ACR-99 was sponsored by Democrat Assemblyman Evan Low, who last year sponsored Assembly Bill 2943 that would have banned therapies and counseling services for individuals with unwanted same-sex attraction and gender confusion. Low ultimately withdrew that bill before it could be signed into law by Democrat Governor Jerry Brown.
— Andrew Brunson testifies to Congress about Turkey’s authoritarian crackdown
Evangelical missionary Andrew Brunson who was imprisoned in Turkey for 2 years on trumped up terrorism charges told members of Congress on Thursday that President Erdogan’s regime has accelerated the expulsion and deportation of foreign Christian leaders.
During a congressional hearing hosted by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on Capitol Hill, Brunson said as many as 50 foreign Christian families have recently been deported from Turkey and expressed deep concern about the future of Turkey’s small Protestant population.
Brunson said nearly half of all churches in the city of Izmir where he served for many years have lost their senior leaders. Many were deported after being labeled a “threat to national security.”
— Ohio pastor sentenced to life in prison on federal sex charges
An Ohio pastor was sentenced to life in prison Thursday on federal sex trafficking charges.
Anthony Haynes, the former leader of the Greater Life Christian Center in Toledo, pleaded with U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman to have mercy on him before his sentencing for grooming a teenage girl to have sex with him and two other pastors from 2014 to 2017.
Court documents said that Haynes, along with Pastor Kenneth Butler of Kingdom Encounter Family Worship Center and the Reverend Cordell Jenkins, who once led Abundant Life Ministries, each had sex with the victim.
The girl was 14 year old when the assaults began after she was placed in Haynes' home by children’s services.
Jenkins is also serving a life sentence and Butler is serving 17-and-a-half years after taking a plea deal.
— Campaign to help Israel Folau fight for religious freedom raises over $1.4 million
A campaign launched by the Australian Christian Lobby to help rugby star Israel Folau wage a legal battle against Rugby Australia over his controversial firing has been paused after it raised more than $1.4 million dollars in less than two days.
Folau joined forces with ACL after popular fundraising website GoFundMe shut down a fundraising campaign that had raised more than half-a-million dollars in a week for the rugby star’s legal defense, according to the BBC.
Until his firing in May, Folau, an outspoken Christian, was Australia’s most popular rugby player who commanded the world’s highest salary for the sport.
Folau lost his four-year contract with Australia and Super Rugby team New South Wales Waratahs after he was charged with a high-level code of conduct breach for sharing a scriptural message on social media that Hell awaits "drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, [and] idolaters” who do not repent.
— China raids another church this week, detains worshipers
Another underground church in China was raided this week by government authorities who arrested worshipers as the country's Communist crackdown continues.
The Christian persecution watchdog group China Aid, which exposes religious freedom abuses in China, reports that Morningstar Church in China’s southern Guangxi province was raided on Wednesday morning.
Christian worshipers and the church’s leaders were detained by authorities.
None of the Christians have been released, according to China Aid.
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