| | 5 things to know about the omnibus bill | | Curated for you byCP Editors | | Good afternoon! It's Wednesday, Dec. 28, and today's headlines include five key details about the omnibus bill, the spokeswoman of the Good News Club explaining why it's important the media explains why after school satan clubs are strategically popping up at schools across the U.S., and a ministry that is fundraising to take 100 family members of nearly two dozen Egyptian martyrs to the Holy Land. | | President Joe Biden has signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, described by the United States House of Representatives' Committee on Appropriations as an "omnibus spending bill consisting of all 12 fiscal year 2023 appropriations bills." The Committee's leadership has praised the $1.7 trillion spending bill as a necessary investment in "critical funding to support Ukraine and relief to support Ukraine and relief to help communities recover from natural disasters" as well as an effort to lower "the cost of living for working families" and create "better-paying jobs." The bulk of the support for the bill in both chambers came from Democrats, though lawmakers such as Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Rodney Davis, R-Ill., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., in the House, and Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in the Senate supported the package. | | Many Republican critics have derided the measure as the latest example of a bipartisan embrace of wasteful government spending that ignores the interests of the U.S. while promoting LGBT and gender ideology at home and abroad. This article from CP highlights five facts about the omnibus bill, including that it contains border security funding for other countries but explicitly prohibits the U.S. from taking steps to secure its southern border with Mexico, and it provides millions of dollars to LGBT advocacy groups. Continue reading. | | P.S.Want to listen to the day’s headlines? Check out The Christian Post Daily, a podcast featuring the day’s top headlines. Listen now on Apple, Google, Spotify, Edifi, or wherever you stream your favorite podcasts. Don’t forget to subscribe so that you never miss an update. |
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| Good News Club: After school satanic clubs are 'direct attack on teaching Christianity' | | The Good News Club has spread to thousands of schools across the United States, yet it is the After School Satan Club sponsored by The Satanic Temple that continues to make headlines. Lydia Kaiser, the spokeswoman for Good News Club, told CP that media outlets play a key role in promoting the After School Satan Club, explaining, "Sensationalism is picked up by the media and its consumers more easily," noting that both left-leaning and conservative outlets often run stories on the After School Satan Club but fail to mention the context in which those clubs are started. "Sadly, many news people (i.e., Tucker Carlson) spend just enough time on air to raise the ire of the watcher with one more ‘Isn't it awful?’ story and then quickly move on, not caring to bring up the aspect of the story that Satan clubs are only started in schools with Good News Clubs as a direct attack on teaching Christianity to children," she said. Pointing to TST’s strategy of aiming to tangle the issue of Good News Clubs and their satanic counterparts in bureaucratic red tape, Kaiser said the club’s ultimate objective is to "close down all clubs and thus get rid of Good News Clubs." In fact, according to the TST website, the satanic clubs "meet at select public schools where Good News Clubs also operate." Read more. | | Elon Musk: 'I'm OK with going to Hell' (part 3) | | In part three of his series on billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, CP reporter Ian Giatti discusses Musk's ambiguous moral beliefs. Giatti reviews Musk's public statements about God, religion and faith over the years, including a statement to a Twitter user that he is "ok with going to hell, if that is indeed my destination, since the vast majority of all humans ever born will be there." Giatti also explores a series of comments from various thought leaders on Musk's beliefs. While Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon believes Musk is not "closed off" to the "possibility of God's existence," Todd Hampton of the "Prophecy Pros Podcast" told CP that Musk's positive statements about Jesus don't equate to "accepting Christ as Savior" but added that he believes Musk "is definitely not anti-Christian." Read more. | | Also of Interest... | | What's the deal with Elon Musk and the 'Devil's Champion' costume? (part 2) Healing the lame, bringing sight to the blind? Elon Musk's ambitions for Neuralink raise 'deep, serious' questions (part 1) |
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| 10 major trends for local churches in America in 2023 | | In this op-ed, Church Answers CEO Thom Rainer outlines 10 common developments his organization has observed in American churches that it expects to become trends in 2023. Among the bunch: Local congregations will emphasize evangelism more than at any point in the last 30 years, congregations will become increasingly diverse, and churches will see a greater number of interim pastors and a longer time between pastors. Read the full list here. | | No, no, no. I will never accept this as normal | | Dr. Michael Brown writes about why it is essential people speak out against confusing transgender ideologies in the wake of an article in The Daily Mail that described a man, who identifies as a female, "allegedly expos[ing] her penis" at a spa in Los Angeles. "No, no, no. I will never accept such semantic nonsense as normal, and neither should you. Not in a million years," writes Dr. Brown, who asserts, "Let us call it out for what it is. And let us not stop speaking up and speaking out until the tide turns and sanity prevails. Do we really have a choice?" Read more. |
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| Group helps martyrs' relatives visit Holy Land | | Christian organization The Philos Project is working to fulfill the wishes of 100 family members of 21 Egyptian martyrs murdered by the Islamic State terrorist group by providing them with a trip to the Holy Land next year. The organization's president and executive director, Robert Nicholson, said in an interview with CP that one of the group's goals is to provide families with a spiritual experience after the sacrifice of their loved ones. Another goal is to help Christian communities in Egypt. Nicholson says they have managed to raise $20,000 to fund the trip so far, with the total trip expected to run around $300,000. He also shared that The Philos Project has done much for Christians in the Middle East by sending humanitarian aid and advocating for them, but that they also want to make these communities "stronger, more sustainable," explaining, "[W]e want to do something a little different with this, which is to send a spiritual message, an emotional message, a moral message of hope." Read more. | | SBC task force gives update | | The Southern Baptist Convention's Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force has issued an update on their work aimed at "identifying and implementing reform measures" as instructed by SBC Messengers at the SBC's Annual Meeting in Anaheim, Calif., earlier this year. One of the objectives the group was tasked with was creating a "Ministry Check" database to keep track of church leaders accused of sexual abuse. The group said in their Dec. 22 update that they were making strides to "determine the specific nature and functions of the Ministry Check database and to identify a capable and qualified database administrator." The group also indicated that "the ARITF with the assistance of key SBC leaders has agreed to maintain the hotline and email notification system to receive and document these reports." Read more. |
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| Kevin Sorbo: 'Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist' is timely amid chaos worldwide | | "Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist" is gearing up to hit theaters next month, and Christian actor Kevin Sorbo believes the release is timely due to the current unrest and chaos seen around the world. Sorbo, who stars alongside Neal McDonough, Corbin Bernsen, Greg Perrow, Sarah Fisher, and Sam Sorbo for this latest installment in the "Left Behind" series, explained during an interview with Fox News Digital that he was initially approached about making the film seven years ago. "I look at it and I'm like, maybe this is a blessing," Sorbo said. "Because you look at the chaotic world we're living in right now. It's almost biblical. It's almost got a Revelation theme going to it in a way. So I found it interesting that it did end up where it's at right now. And I don't know, maybe this was meant to happen and come out now, but it just seems like the time is right." The "Left Behind" film franchise is based on the bestselling books of the same name by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, which have sold 72 million copies globally. Read more. | | | | | | | | Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We look forward to seeing you again tomorrow! -- CP Editors |
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