May 30, 2019
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Here are the latest headlines, brought to you by The Christian Post.
— Louisiana has become the latest state to pass a pro-life fetal heartbeat bill.
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The Louisiana House passed the bill by a vote of 79 to 23 on Wednesday.
The bill bans abortion once a baby's heartbeat is detected which can be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
The bill does allow for exemptions if an abortion is deemed necessary to prevent the pregnant mother’s death or to prevent an “irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.”
Governor John Bel Edwards said he will sign the bill into law despite opposition from national Democratic Party leaders.
Louisiana now joins Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio which have enacted similar heartbeat bills.
— Evangelist Franklin Graham is urging Christians to pray for President Donald Trump this Sunday.
Graham is the son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, and said in a video announcing the day of prayer that if the president’s “enemies are allowed to destroy him, it will hurt our entire nation."
Quoting from the Bible, Graham reminded Christians that we are instructed to pray for those who are in authority.
The prayer event will be held at churches across the country on Sunday.
— Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, is searching for a new senior pastor following last year's resignation of its founder and former senior pastor, Bill Hybels, who was accused of sexual misconduct.
Church leaders announced last week that five elders have been selected to form a Senior Pastor Search Committee to find a new pastor by the end of the year.
Hybels was accused of inappropriate conduct with women including allegations of making suggestive comments and inviting women up to his hotel room.
Hybels served as head of Willow Creek for more than four decades and oversaw the church as it grew into a multi-site megachurch. He denied the accusations but resigned as senior pastor months before he had planned to retire.
— An Anglican vicar has left the Church of England following a dispute over the promotion of transgenderism in Church-run primary schools.
The Reverend John Parker was a governor at a primary school in Essex village where he raised concerns over a decision not to tell parents about their child’s gender confusion.
Parker also said he argued against propaganda that was being pushed by an activist with the transgender lobby group MERMAIDS which held a 2-hour training session for teachers at the school.
MERMAIDS has been heavily criticized for advocating the use of puberty blockers for children under the age of 16.
The vicar said he was “silenced” and told by his bishop that if he wanted to “faithfully follow the teachings of the Bible” then he was “no longer welcome in the Church."
— The Archbishop of Irbil has accused Christian leaders in Britain of cowering to “political correctness” by failing to condemn Islamic extremism amid fears of being labeled “Islamophobic.”
In an impassioned speech in London last week, the Most Reverend Bashar Warda referred to the persecution suffered under the Islamic State which displaced more than 125,000 Christians from their homelands.
He warned that Christians who are returning home to Iraq “must be ready to face martyrdom” at the hands of jihadists who still remain.
Since the Iraq War in 2003, the country’s Christian population has dwindled from 1.5 million to 250,000.
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