Pastor Jim and Lori, with special guest Pastor Ramiro Peña, discuss the importance of standing up for Christ in America today. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Freedom
12 Characteristics of Leviathan (Day 3)
Pastor Jim and Lori Bakker discuss how the twisted spirit of Leviathan is affecting what is happening in our daily lives, our churches, and our country.
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At Mosul waterfalls, Iraqis savor small joys of post-Islamic State life
By Ahmed Aboulenein
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) – Crowds of Iraqis flocked to the waterfalls of eastern Mosul on Friday to savor simple freedoms like dancing or wearing colorful clothes that were strictly banned during almost three years of Islamic State rule.
Music blasted from tall speakers mounted on pickup trucks and mini-vans. Children splashed in the water in the city’s Shallalat (Waterfalls) district or rode bikes, horses and donkeys in the surrounding park.
It was like a mass picnic, with about 2,000 people out enjoying the sunshine, while fighting between U.S.-backed forces and Islamist militants raged only 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) away in the part of Mosul west of the Tigris River.
“We were besieged. We are happy now – families can now go out. Everyone would stay home before,” said Moaayad Ahmed, who was out with his wife and daughter at the park along a tributary to the Tigris north of the city.
“They would ask about negative, irrelevant things,” he added, referring to Islamic State, which took over Mosul in 2014 and was driven out of eastern Mosul in January.
The Sunni Muslim militants enforced a strict interpretation of Islam during their reign which included forcing men to grow long beards and women to cover their faces. Anyone breaking the rules would be severely punished.
That atmosphere was gone on Friday as women ululated with joy, all wearing bright colors rather than the black dress enforced by Islamic State fighters. Beer and whiskey bottles lay on the ground.
“Everything is great now. We could not do this under Islamic State. Back then, everything was forbidden. They would ask the men about their beard length and the women about face veils. Now everyone is happy,” said Mohammed Abu Qassem.
“We would come and they wouldn’t let us picnic. They would say cover your face. This is banned, this is haram, this is halal,” he said, using the words for forbidden and allowed.
Sporting a pink headscarf, his wife Umm Qassem chimed in: “They were harassing us – about men’s pants length, beards and face veils.”
“And whipping …,” her young son interjected.
“We are in heaven now. We were in hell under Islamic State,” she went on.
Even at the waterfall park, signs of war were not far away. There were burned out cars along the road leading into the area.
Iraqi soldiers manned checkpoints at a bridge leading to the park and patrolled the area to ensure the safety of day-trippers who snapped photos with selfie sticks, smoked hookahs and queued to buy shawarma and Moroccan chicken.
“We are very happy we got rid of Islamic State. For three years, we were destroyed, we could not wear stylish clothes,” said Muthana Irshad, who had grown his hair long and donned a gold chain dangling a dollar sign
“They destroyed youths and families. They killed two of my brothers,” he said, before going back to dance with his friends again.
(Editing by Tom Heneghan)
Canada Moves To Expand Spy Power
On the heels of France approving dramatic expansion of their spy powers which would allow the government to collect the metadata of all citizens without a warrant, now Canada is moving toward expanding their spy powers.
The Anti-Terror Act was spurred by last year’s attack on the Parliament. The bill flew through House of Commons and Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been a strong supporter of the bill. The Senate is expected to approve the act before June.
The act gives the spy agency permission to work overseas along with making preventative arrests of terrorism suspects. The police would also be allowed to make arrests and detain individuals without a charge. Promotion of terrorism by any means including the internet would become a crime.
“There is a high probability of jihadist attacks from within,” Canadian Defence Minister Jason Kenney said. “The threat of terrorism has never been greater.”
Critics say the bill is too sweeping. The opposition includes four former Prime Ministers and five justices of the Canadian Supreme Court.
“This bill will almost certainly lead to a chill on freedom of speech,” said Allan Weiss, professor of humanities at York University. “It is filled with vague wording that would make it possible for the government to label virtually anything it disagreed with as harmful to Canada’s national interests.”
The Common Sense that God Gave Us
This week, I hope you have been enjoying our visit with Governor Mike Huckabee. It truly was an honor to meet this kind, approachable man of God. It felt as though Jim and I had known him for years!
Both of us had been reading his new book God, Guns, Grits and Gravy. You know it is really a good book when you can catch us reading anything at the very same time! There were several moments that we were nodding our heads simultaneously with this feeling of relief that someone understands what America has been crying out desperately to our government for a very long time…common sense!
Alabama Church Plants Flags To Honor War Dead
An Alabama church spent Memorial Day planting one flag in their front yard for every soldier who died during the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
Grace Place Church of Enterprise, Alabama said that each of the 6,809 flags was paid for from donations from private citizens and church members who wanted to remind the community of the true and heavy cost of freedom.
“Freedom isn’t free,” Pastor Donny Thrasher told The Christian Post. “It often is paid for with the lives of our military.”
Thrasher said that churches should be leading the way in honoring the families of those men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom to worship Christ openly by making sure their loved ones left behind have their needs met. All funds raised for the flags above the actual cost was donated to a charity that provides for the widows and families of slain soldiers.
“No people in the world are as free as we are to worship without fear of reprisal,” Thrasher said. “That freedom to worship and serve our Lord and Savior is protected and paid for by our military.”
