NewsWatch

DOJ Helps Christian Who Fled China

OneNewsNow.com, 11/14/17, “DOJ helps Christian who fled China” [Excerpts]: A persecuted Christian who fled China is now safe in America after the Trump administration reviewed his case.

Ting Xue, who was beaten and imprisoned by Chinese interrogators, escaped his homeland for America. But a federal appeals court bizarrely ruled that it’s not religious persecution when a person has to practice their faith in private to avoid punishment.

In May, Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) filed a friend-of-the-court brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling....But the high court didn’t have to rule on the appeal....after Jeff Sessions took over the Department of Justice as attorney general. After re-opening the case, the DOJ remanded it to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which interprets and applies U.S. immigration laws, and which granted asylum to Xue.

[A] story about Xue...describes how he was arrested as part of an underground church...The story goes on to explain that a federal judge suggested that Xue was not persecuted for his faith—only restricted to certain conditions.

“The whole point of religious freedom is that you’re free to practice as publicly or privately as you see fit. You don’t have to stay in the closet that so many countries have succeeded in pushing Christians into,” says Dacus. “We are thrilled that the BIA made the right decision to not throw Ting back into the lion’s den.”

(https://goo.gl/Ei3NsA)

Polygamy—The New Marriage Battle?

AnswersinGenesis.org, 11/30/17, “Polygamy—the New Marriage Battle?” [Excerpts]: “Monogamy clearly isn’t working as divorce rates are higher than they’ve ever been. It’s time to try something else.” And that something else, apparently, is polygamy, as this quote comes from the home page of Polygamy.com, a dating website for men seeking another wife or women seeking a man who is already married. And this isn’t the only dating website out there for aspiring polygamists….

A lengthy article re-featured recently by CNN, titled “When Three Isn’t a Crowd,” tells the stories of several polyamorous individuals. Polyamory is defined in the article as “having simultaneous close emotional relationships with two or more other individuals,” and one of the polyamorists featured in the article claims, “we’re trying to promote the fact that everyone has a right to develop a relationship structure that works for them.”

[AIG has] been saying for years, along with many Christian leaders, that once you redefine marriage to allow for gay “marriage” (a perversion of God’s original design) as many Western countries have done in the past years, you open the door for anything (and everything) else….And for Christians who have already compromised on God’s Word and affirmed gay “marriage,” how can you say that polygamy or polyamory goes against God’s design when you’ve already rejected God’s clear definition of marriage?

Our culture is very confused about the issue of marriage, and it will only continue to become more confused. Once a culture has abandoned God’s Word as the foundation, moral chaos ensues as everyone does what’s right in their own eyes
(Judges:21:25In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
See All...).

But when we start with God’s Word, beginning in Genesis, we have answers and the true foundation for our worldview and conduct. There are standards for marriage because God created marriage and defined it as between one man and one woman for life.

(https://goo.gl/scxHFX)

Hamas: “We Will Never Recognize Israel”

FriendsOfIsrael.org, 11/17/17, “Hamas reiterates: We will never recognize Israel” [Excerpts]: A spokesman for Hamas reiterated on [November 15] that the terror group that rules the Gaza Strip will never recognize Israel’s right to exist, a firm prerequisite for peace. 

Sami Abu Zuhri insisted that Hamas would remain true to its principles and work for the realization of national reconciliation and unify the Palestinian people to their agenda of “liberating” every last inch of the Holy Land.

The remarks were made at the opening session of the 26th International Conference of the Association of Islamic Organizations (ESAM) in Istanbul.

(https://goo.gl/ZwhZu8)