Important Takeaways:
- Pope Francis is preparing to unbrick and open five ‘sacred portals’ symbolizing the doorway to salvation.
- The doors are only opened once every 25 years, so may well be a little rusty.
- This year, for the first time, one of the doors will be opened in a prison, as a ‘sign inviting prisoners to look to the future with hope’, the Pope said in his bull of indiction announcing this year’s ceremony.
- The tradition dates back to 1300, and the door openings themselves follow a ritual first carried out in 1423.
- They mark ‘Jubilee’ years, a concept dating back to the Old Testament when sinners could see their sins forgiven.
- The doors in the basilicas have been bricked up from the inside. The walls will be taken down before the Pope walks through them to symbolize the beginning of the Holy Year.
- They will remain open all year for pilgrims to pass through until the Jubilee finishes on January 6, 2026.
- The pope will then be the last person to walk back through before closing them, and they will be sealed up once again.
- In Rebibbia Prison, the process will be different as it is the main door of the prison which will be used as a symbol for all prisons in the world.
- They were last opened in 2016, during an ‘extraordinary’ extra Jubilee called the Year of Mercy, having previously stayed closed since the turn of the Millennium.
- And they won’t be opened again until we go into 2050.
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Important Takeaways:
- Haiti orders curfew after gangs overrun its two largest prisons, free thousands of inmates
- Authorities in Haiti have ordered a nighttime curfew after an explosion of violence in which gang gunmen overran the two biggest prisons and freed thousands of inmates over the weekend.
- A 72-hour state of emergency began Sunday night. The government said it would set out to find the killers, kidnappers and other criminals who fled.
- “The police were ordered to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and apprehend all offenders,” said a statement from Finance Minister Patrick Boivert, the acting prime minister.
- Gangs already were estimated to control up to 80% of Port-au-Prince, the capital. They are increasingly coordinating their actions and choosing once unthinkable targets like the Central Bank.
- Haiti’s National Police has roughly 9,000 officers to provide security for more than 11 million people, according to the U.N. They are routinely overwhelmed and outgunned
- But the attack on the National Penitentiary late Saturday shocked Haitians who are accustomed to living under the constant threat of violence.
- Almost all of the estimated 4,000 inmates escaped.
- A second Port-au-Prince prison containing around 1,400 inmates was also overrun.
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Important Takeaways:
- Joe Biden Wants to Put 6 Pro-Life Americans in Prison for a Decade for Protesting Abortion
- In 2021, the US Department of Justice charged seven individuals with violating the FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances), which stipulates that individuals cannot block the entrance to abortion clinics or prevent individuals from accessing them. An additional four activists were charged with misdemeanor charges.
- If convicted in this week’s trial, the six defendants could face up to 11 years in federal prison and up to $250,000 in fines.
- One person in the Tennessee trial, Heather Idoni, a grandmother, was convicted in the Washington, D.C., trial. She was transported to Tennessee to face the charges in this week’s trial.
- Idoni, along with Zastrow and Gallagher, have been charged in a third FACE Act-related case. The three face charges for sitting in an abortion clinic in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
- If convicted of all three, Idoni could face 33 years in federal prison. Zastrow and Gallagher could face up to 22.
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Important Takeaways:
- Haley, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, had suggested in a July interview with Fox News that the 80-year-old Biden, because of his old age, could die in office.
- In response, Christopher queried how conservatives would react if Biden said Trump could die in prison if he potentially goes to jail for one or more of his indictments. But Obeidallah went a step further – contending that Trump “must” die in prison.
- “I think Donald Trump must die in prison because – I don’t care if he was 45 years old. You should get life in prison if you attempt a coup, and there should be no chance of parole,” Obeidallah told Christopher, “I don’t care who it is.”
- Obeidallah said he was so impassioned about the prospects of a life sentence for Trump because it would send a message to the public that you cannot “chip away” at the “democratic republic” of the United States.
- He has subsequently insisted that he was not calling for Trump to be murdered but for there to be such a lengthy prison sentence that he passes of natural causes.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- A two-year-old North Korean was sentenced to life in prison after officials found a Bible in the toddler’s parents’ possession, as the totalitarian regime continued to “execute” and “torture” religious worshippers.
- As many as 70,000 Christians are imprisoned in North Korea, according to a new International Religious Freedom Report by the US State Department.
- The report highlighted the 2009 imprisonment of a family based on their religious practices and parents’ possession of a Bible.
- The entire family, including a two-year-old infant, were sentenced to life in prison camps.
- Guerres wrote how the situation in North Korea has not changed since a 2014 human rights report, which found that authorities “almost completely denied the rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion” and found that the government frequently violated violations of human rights that constituted crimes against humanity.
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Luke 21:12 “But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake
Important Takeaways:
- Son of jailed Canadian pastor faces potential fines, prison for preaching outside kids’ drag queen story time
- The son of a Canadian pastor faces potential fines and jail time for allegedly violating a new municipal bylaw in Calgary, Alberta, when he preached and read the Bible outside a drag queen story time for children at a public library on Saturday.
- Last month, the Calgary City Council passed the Safe and Inclusive Access Bylaw, which prohibits protests within 100 meters of a recreation facility or library entrance. The council also modified its public behavior bylaw to include the term “intimidation,” according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
- Pawlowski said that despite the presence of counter protesters at the event who apparently supported transgender ideology — including several people waving Pride flags who attempted to interrupt his preaching — only he and Friesen were issued tickets.
- “I asked the peace officers if they are going to enforce the same law on to the other side with the Antifa protesters, and he assured me [they would],” Pawlowski said. “So, I waited the entire time until they left, and nobody was served a ticket except for myself and my friend for preaching, reading the Bible and holding a prayer vigil.”
- Nathaniel Pawlowski says young people in Canada are awakening to their diminishing freedoms, noting the case of Ontario high school student Josh Alexander. The 17-year-old recently filed a human rights complaint after St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in Renfrew suspended him for organizing a student walkout to protest its policy of permitting biological males in girls’ bathrooms.
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1Peter 4:12-14 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
Important Takeaways:
- The Christian Legal Centre (CLC) reports it is representing Matthew Grech who faces up to five months in prison and almost $5,500 in fines if convicted.
- His legal problem began after he told his “ex-gay” testimony during an online interview that was advertised on Facebook.
- During the media interview, he shared his story about his childhood and the confusion he had experienced when it came to his own sexuality and relationships. He spoke about how, as an adult, he had been involved in homosexual relationships before becoming a Christian, which changed his life dramatically.
- Grech spoke about how he does not agree with the term “conversion therapy” and said that the deeper he went into his Christian faith and exploring the Bible, the more “I understood that in the Bible, homosexuality is not an identity as we make it nowadays. And neither is it a feeling, but a practice.”
- “This means that no matter what sexual feelings a man or a woman is experiencing if they have sexual relations with a person of the same sex, they commit the homosexual act in God’s eyes, and that is a sin,” he explained. “Just like every other sin, one can repent from it and ask God for forgiveness and ask Him for strength to overcome… I’m talking here from a Christian perspective…”
- At no point during the interview did Grech invite any listener to attend therapy or encourage anyone to get help for unwanted same-sex attraction. This is backed up by a transcript from PMnews Malta.
- After the interview, police pressed criminal charges against him for allegedly advertising conversion practices. The prosecution order he received accused him of advertising “conversion practices” and violating “article 3 ( a ) ( iii ) of Chapter 567 of Maltese laws.”
- Malta became the first country in the European Union to ban what LGBT lobbies describe as ‘conversion therapy’ in 2016. Other nations then followed suit, such as the UK and Australia, using the original Maltese legislation as a blueprint for similar bans.
- In the U.S., a total of 25 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 100 municipalities have banned the practice of conversion therapy on minors.
- Since facing prosecution, Grech has warned that something similar “will soon be happening in the UK and other countries across the world.”
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- Harvest Rock Pastor Ché Ahn Explains Why They Fought To Overturn Gov. Newsom’s Lockdown Orders On Churches
- “It was a total lockdown not only for services but also bible studies, prayer meetings in people’s homes,” Pastor Ché Ahn told FlashPoint presenter Gene Bailey.
- He explained how and when they decided to file a lawsuit, saying that he was counseled by his attorney Matt Staver that the lockdown is an “egregious violation of their first amendment rights” because “the state would neither create a state church or religion nor interfere with the free exercise of religion,” and that it is clear that Gov. Newsom’s treatment of churches violates those rights.
- In August, [2020] the pastor said that he received a “very dark nasty letter” from the city prosecutor informing him that he would be arrested and imprisoned for a year. The letter also said that each church member would also be penalized a thousand dollars for each service that they have attended from Pentecost Sunday on May 31.
- “Now the context of this is that, Newsom was releasing all these prisoners- rapists, criminals, because of COVID crowdedness and so with that backdrop, I’m thinking to myself, ‘This is madness!’ because they want to arrest law-abiding citizens who pay their taxes just simply because we want to worship Jesus and yet they’re releasing criminals and I said, ‘This is madness. We’ve come to Isaiah 5:20 where the Bible says, Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.'”
- All of their efforts were eventually rewarded when they were able to win a permanent injunction against California Governor Gavin Newsom in order to prevent him from implementing prohibitions on church-related activities ranging from corporate worship to personal bible study and prayer meetings.
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Matthew 10:28 “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Important Takeaways:
- Iran Sentences Christian Man to 10 Years in Prison for Hosting House Church Worship Gathering?
- The Revolutionary Court of Tehran has sentenced an Iranian-Armenian Christian man to 10 years in prison for establishing a house church, which the judge called “propaganda contrary to and disturbing to the holy religion of Islam,” according to reports.
- Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, headed by Judge Afshari, sentenced Anooshavan Avedian, 60, to 10 years of imprisonment, alongside two others who are members of his house church — Abbas Soori, 45, and Maryam Mohammadi, 46
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Luke 21:12 “But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.
Important Takeaways:
- Pastors Face Up to 5 Years in Prison Under New Canadian Law Against Biblical Sexuality
- Bill C-4, which bans conversion therapy, is so broad that it defines biblical marriage and sexuality as a “myth” and can be used against pastors, parents, and counselors
- “This means as of January 8, 2022, it will be against the law to preach, teach, or counsel regarding God’s design for marriage and sexuality,”
- The controversial bill, which was passed without opposition from either party, threatens imprisonment of up to five years
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