John 14
1.Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
4. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
Psalm 85
9. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
10. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12. Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.
13. Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.
The nonsensical battle against the country’s favorite fast-food restaurant is continuing, with the latest battle taking place in San Antonio.
On Thursday, administrators with the San Antonio City Council rejected a potential Chick-fil-A location at the San Antonio International Airport, citing the Atlanta-based chain’s “legacy of anti-LGBTQ behavior,” according to KTSA-FM.
The decision to scrub Chick-fil-A from its list of considerations came when the council inked a seven-year contract with Paradies Lagardère, a travel retailer that operates stores and restaurants in airports. The deal is expected to generate around $2 million in revenue for the city.
Chick-fil-A was presented as an option because of its extreme popularity and the health-conscious menu options the restaurant offers.
Regardless, the eatery won’t be allowed in the airport’s terminals because it just isn’t inclusive enough, a progressive trope dating back to 2012, when Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy expressed his personal belief that marriage is a union between one man and one woman.
Councilman Robert Treviño said providing travelers with the option of eating at Chick-fil-A would make them feel unwelcome.
“With this decision, the City Council reaffirmed the work our city has done to become a champion of equality and inclusion,” Treviño claimed. “San Antonio is a city full of compassion, and we do not have room in our public facilities for a business with a legacy of anti-LGBTQ behavior.”
He added, “Everyone has a place here and everyone should feel welcome when they walk through our airport.”
A spokesperson for Chick-fil-A responded to the council’s decision, citing the restaurant’s “code of conduct,” which promotes actual tolerance: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
The reference is of course to the Golden Rule found in the Bible, like in Luke 6:31.
“The 140,000 people who serve customers in our restaurants on a daily basis represent and embrace all people, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity,” the spokesperson said, according to Fox News. “Our intent is to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.”
Chick-fil-A even extended an olive branch. The spokesperson revealed the restaurant’s intention to reach out to the San Antonio City Council to have a “thoughtful dialogue” about the matter.
“It’s unfortunate that mischaracterizations of our brand have led to decisions like this,” the statement added. “The sole focus of the Chick-fil-A Foundation is to support causes focused on youth and education. We are proud of the positive impact we are making in communities across America and have been transparent about our giving on our website.”
Here’s the truth: Just about everyone in the country — political persuasion aside — really likes Chick-fil-A, because people just want good food.
But that hasn’t stopped a really loud minority from doing their level best to create a conflict where there really isn’t one. Earlier this week, for example, the left-wing blog Think Progress declared Chick-fil-A has continued to donate to “anti-LGBTQ” groups.
After reading the story, it’s revealed the restaurant donated north of $1.6 million to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, $150,000 to Salvation Army and $6,000 to the Paul Anderson Youth Home. Each of those three Christian organizations simply hold to mainstream Christian theology when it comes to marriage.
Christian Mom Receives Backlash for Telling Gay Man on Live TV His Lifestyle ‘Is a Choice’
The irony in all of this is the very people who claim to champion tolerance and pluralism just can’t seem to stomach allowing a restaurant whose CEO they have a personal beef with to continue to exist for other people to enjoy.
Those on the far left have intentionally conflated tolerating something and offering that same thing full-throated endorsement. In reality, those two actions are — by their very definitions — polar opposites.
If Chick-fil-A’s critics were actually concerned about genuine tolerance and not spurring on some nonsensical culture war, they’d concede it’s perfectly acceptable to coexist with Cathy and his mainstream Christian theology on marriage without embracing it as their own worldviews.
The moral of this story should be rather simple: If people tolerate their differences of opinion with Cathy, they can fully embrace his restaurant’s wonderful chicken. And then we all win.
John 6
4. And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
5. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
6. And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
7. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
8. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him,
9. There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
10. And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
11. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
12. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
13. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
Second Corinthians 3
11. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
12. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13. And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
14. But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
15. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
16. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
17. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Psalms 81
1. Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
2. Take A Psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.
3. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
4. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.
5. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.
Learn more at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org/PrayerApp
According to International Christian Concern, the Jaysh al-Izza faction of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) recently carried out a second attack on Mhardeh—one of the largest Christian-majority towns in Syria. Sadly, the FSA had previously attacked the same town in September 2018, leaving at least 10 Christians killed and 20 wounded. The city has also been frequently targeted by al-Qaeda and their splinter groups.
Henriette Kats, Persecution Analyst at World Watch Research, comments, “Although in this last attack there were no reports of human loses, this news shows that peace is still far off, despite the fact that the levels of fighting in the Syrian civil war are currently not as high as they have been in the past. Fighting continues particularly in areas close to the frontline where government-held territory—like Mhardeh—borders on areas controlled by rebel militias. But according to Syrian Christians these attacks are not just about the strategic position of Mhardeh; they also suspect an anti-Christian element since neighboring Muslim-majority towns have not been attacked.”
Please pray for peace in Mhardeh and for the Christians there to be beacons of Christ’s love to their neighbors in the midst of persecution.
Pray the war in Syria comes to an end completely.
Pray Syrians’ hope is renewed and revived.
*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.
John 7
16. Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
17. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
18. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him
In a final act of depravity, fleeing ISIS beheaded 50 Yazidi sex slaves, dumping their heads into trash bins for coalition soldiers to find.
ISIS fighters were besieged in their last stronghold – a small area in Baghuz located in eastern Syria. One hundred ISIS jihadis were killed in the final battle in which British Special Forces (SAS) fired 600 mortar bombs and tens of thousands of machine-gun rounds against the terror group.
Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, a source said:
“In their hour of defeat, the jihadis’ cruelty knew no bounds. They conducted a cowardly slaughter of these desperately unfortunate women as a final act of depravity and left their severed heads behind for us to find. The motivation for such a sickening act is beyond comprehension for any remotely normal human being.
“None of the SAS troops who entered Baghuz will forget what they saw, which some soldiers likened to a scene from the film Apocalypse Now. Their only solace is that they have contributed to bringing Islamic State’s reign of terror to an end.”
Surviving ISIS fighters tried to escape by going underground to a system of tunnels they constructed under the town. However, SAS mortar teams and U.S.-French artillery units pounded the openings of the tunnels which were located by drones.
About 200 jihadis still hold an area of about one-fifth of a square mile outside Baghuz where intelligence sources say an equal number of civilian hostages are held. The terror group once controlled 34,000 square miles of territory between western Syria and eastern Iraq, which they called their “caliphate” and ruled over close to 8 million people according to brutal sharialaw.
In 2014, when ISIS roared into Iraq, close to 3,000 women, teenage girls and young boys were abducted by the group. The hostages were Yazidis, Christians, Turkomen and Shabak – all minority groups in Iraq. The women and girls were turned into sex slaves and the boys were recruited as the next generation of jihadis. During the takeover operations, ISIS simply slaughtered the men and teenage boys.
Learn more at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org/PrayerApp
Friends, please join us in praying for the family and church of Pastor Tun Nu who was recently kidnapped. Pastor Tun Nu served in Rakine State, Myanmar and was abducted from his home by a local insurgency group.
Sadly, Pastor Tun Nu is now reported to have been killed by the insurgency group. The incident has created an atmosphere of fear amongst other pastors in the area.
Please pray for comfort and strength for Pastor Tun Nu’s wife and three children.
Pray Pastor Tun Nu’s church would have peace and courage.
Pray for the safety of church pastors and believers in Rakine State.
*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.
Learn more at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org/PrayerApp
In the near future, Open Doors USA will be launching our Hope for the Middle East Prayer Campaign that will focus on praying for persecuted Christians in countries like Iraq and Syria. We’re asking God to restore entire Christian communities, homes, schools, churches and ministry centers—in the wake of ISIS—and to bring back hope.
You will be able to access monthly prayer requests and other updates on our Hope for the Middle East prayer center on the ODUSA website.
Please pray that God will continue to be in the details of planning and launching the Hope4ME Prayer Campaign.
Pray that Open Doors staff working on the Prayer Campaign would have wisdom and leading from the Lord.
Pray that God will stir the hearts of His church in the U.S.A. to join the movement of prayer alongside our brothers and sisters in the Middle East.
*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.
In China, the government continues to assert more and more control over religious expression. They are particularly harsh toward minority groups, such as the Muslim Uyghur people, while also cracking down on Christians.
In Northwest China, which is home to more than 10 million ethnic Muslim Uyghurs, more than 500,000 Uyghurs (mostly men) are being held in re-education camps, including some Christians who have converted from Islam. In these facilities, items from several religions—such as Bibles or Islamic clothing—are prohibited. Daily propaganda classes are conducted in an attempt to “cleanse Uyghur minds.”
Thankfully, the Christians among the Uyghurs have a special chance to witness as they are persecuted alongside Muslims. For Muslims, Allah is often seen as being distant and impersonal, and their persecution part of his will for them. Our Christian brothers and sisters, on the other hand, trust that the Spirit of Jesus dwells with them and experience His closeness. Although they face extra persecution in being both Uyghurs and Christians, they often function as the “salt” in these scenarios, preserving hope and joy, as well as freedom from fear and bitterness.
Please pray for all Christian Uyghurs in China, for those in the camps as well as those at home. Pray for God’s power and love to sustain them.
Pray that Jesus reveals Himself to Muslim Uyghurs when they cry out in their time of need.
Pray that Muslim Uyghurs’ lives are touched by the unconditional love and witness of the Christian Uyghurs around them.
*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.
Sadly, Open Doors has learned that militants from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) recently killed six Christians in Kalua—a predominately Christian village in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to our sources in-country, the attackers pretended to be security agents when they arrived in the village. The militia then fired indiscriminately at villagers and killed three women and a 9-year-old child.
A nurse working at a hospital in the nearby city of Beni reported to Open Doors that the attackers then proceeded some 500 meters towards the house of the head of the village. When they shot and killed the guard dogs, it sent people fleeing. Tragically, two people trying to escape were also killed.
A local community leader in Kalau who asked for anonymity because he fears for his safety, told Open Doors, “We have heard the rebels saying they worked for long in the domains of kidnapping and killings, but now they want to move to the stage of occupying the territory. They want to occupy the area that they claim as theirs.”
According to Pastor Gilbert Kambale, who runs a civil society organization in Beni, an estimated 470 families fled to Beni following the incident. Most sought refuge with various host families and in schools.
Please pray the Lord comforts those who have lost loved ones in the attack.
Pray the Lord will intervene in the situation in this part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Pray the Christian community is able to support one another and also be salt and light to the surrounding communities in this time of grief and uncertainty.
*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.
A Laymans Discourse 
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