CBS deletes tweet mocking worship

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders wasted no time responding to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address. Sanders, 40, who was inaugurated last month as the youngest governor in the nation, claimed that Biden has "surrender[ed] his presidency to a woke mob that can't even tell you what a woman is." Sanders, the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, declared, "Whether Joe Biden believes this madness or is simply too weak to resist it, his administration has been completely hijacked by the radical Left. The dividing line in America is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy." She also asserted that the Biden administration seems "more interested in woke fantasies than the hard reality Americans face every day." She further argued that the president "inherited the fastest economic recovery on record," "the most secure border in history," "cheap, abundant, home-grown energy," "fast-rising wages" and "a rebuilt military," but Democrats "destroyed it all" over the last two years. Read more.

The American Center for Law and Justice has delivered a letter warning the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., to prepare for litigation after a group of Catholic students and their chaperones were allegedly kicked out of the National Air & Space Museum for wearing pro-life beanies. In the letter, the ACLJ demanded that the Smithsonian's personnel preserve all information relevant to the incident. According to ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow, students from Our Lady of the Rosary School in Greenville, S.C., were wearing beanies that read "Rosary PRO-LIFE" to identify who was in their group while visiting the museum on Jan. 20 during the week of the annual March for Life in Washington. "The employee who ultimately forced the students to leave the museum was rubbing his hands together in glee as they exited the building," Sekulow wrote in a statement posted to the legal nonprofit's website. In a statement to CP, a spokesperson for the museum apologized on behalf of the institution, stating, "Asking visitors to remove hats and clothing is not in keeping with our policy or protocols. We provided immediate retraining to prevent a re-occurrence of this kind of error." The Smithsonian Institution is a group of 21 museums and education and research centers created by the federal government. It receives approximately $1 billion from the government each year. Read more.

Wallace B. Henley addresses the steamrolling of America at the hands of the "Consensus Establishment," which Henley describes as a group of elites that exists in every society and controls what the worldview and values of that society should be. They "propagandize the culture with the concepts and practices that express the new belief system, and ultimately are able to go visual by public declaration in one form or another," Henley cautions. Today's Consensus Establishment is comprised of elites in Information, Entertainment, Academia, Politics, and the Corporate realm, he writes, adding that there are several ways to combat such steamrolling, including the Church recovering its prophetic voice, families leading the education of their children, and corporate leadership taking responsibility for what they monetize and popularize. Read Henley's full list here.

In this editorial, Dr. Michael Brown discusses how sharing the truth of the Gospel will result in some people loving one's church and some people hating it—much as some people were receptive to Jesus and others hated Him, choosing darkness over light. Brown reflects on John 15:18-20, where Jesus states, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you," and concludes that it is important for churches to speak the truth with clarity and compassion, remembering that "some will love us and others will hate us." Read more.

Christians who once identified as homosexual are sharing their opinions regarding Pastor Andy Stanley's recent remarks about LGBT individuals who attend church having "more faith than a lot of you." Christopher Doyle, a professional counselor and executive director of the Institute for Healthy Families, told CP that Stanley's words "leave me with more questions than answers." While Doyle agreed that being surrounded by Christians would have helped him when he struggled with unwanted same-sex attractions, Doyle also questioned whether Stanley was "challenging his entire congregation to pursue holiness and righteousness or providing a seeker-friendly environment with a watered-down Gospel." First Stone Ministries' Stephen Black echoed similar concerns. "Stanley is filled with such corrupt theology that he believes 'gay' and other corrupt identities are legitimate. This is not a biblical worldview," Black stated, adding, "Simply said, people like Stanley are filled with unbelief concerning the transforming grace of God. They are telling on themselves that they have a terrible theology of easy-believism that does not require real change or repentant life that endures to the end." Read more.

Ahead of the Grammy Awards show on Sunday night, CBS posted and then subsequently deleted a tweet that promoted a controversial performance of the hit song "Unholy" by artists Sam Smith and Kim Petras. In response to Smith tweeting an image of himself wearing a top hat with devil horns and the caption "This is going to be SPECIAL," the CBS verified account replied, "...you can say that again. We are ready to worship!" Moments later, Smith and Petras, who became the first nonbinary-identified and trans-identified artists, respectively, to win a Grammy, delivered a demonically-inspired performance in which Smith, at one point, donned the top hat with devil horns while dancers gyrated around him while wearing grotesque face masks. Christian watchdog group Media Research Center tweeted in response to the deleted tweet, "Did CBS just admit it worships Satan?" After a "sponsored by Pfizer" tag was shown on air following the performance, the American Family Association launched a petition calling for supporters to urge the company to "distance itself from controversial programs that have a history of offending decency and disrespecting people of faith." Pfizer claims the sponsorship was for the entire broadcast and not that specific segment. Read more.

What drives intrigue in the biblical end of days? In this episode of "The Inside Story," CP reporter Nicole Alcindor joins Billy Hallowell to discuss "Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist," the film's many themes, and why it is resonating so positively with audiences. "For some Christians, I think they went to see the film just because of the excitement. ... It's not every day that you see a Christian movie in the theaters. ... It reminded me that, ultimately, Jesus is coming back," Alcindor explains. Listen now.

British social media influencer Oli London shared during an interview with "Triggernometry" co-hosts Francis Foster and Konstantin Kisin that going to church and reading the Bible, including the teachings of Jesus, prevented him from traveling to Thailand for irreversible body surgeries that he would have regretted, presumably castration. The British social media influencer, who identified as trans for six months and underwent surgery to resemble male Korean pop idols, explained how stepping into church—and stepping away from social media and society's messages pushing transgenderism—helped him realize the need to accept who he was instead of listening to those who encourage people suffering from gender dysmorphia to undergo body-mutilating surgeries. London expressed feeling a "moral responsibility" to let youth and others who look up to him know that he believes identifying as Korean or as trans were dangerous mistakes that could lead to a lifetime of drugs and surgeries due to insecurities. Now, the influencer says he wants to send a "better message" to combat children being inundated with messaging that pushes them to take puberty-blockers or get life-altering sex-change surgeries. "I could have died, and I would have also been left with deep regret for the rest of my life," London warned. Read more.