Isaiah Austin, whose dream of playing in the NBA ended when a physical before the draft found a rare genetic disorder, is turning what some consider a huge blow into a moment of praise to the Lord.
Austin, who was symbolically drafted at the NBA Draft by the league as “the league’s best pick”, said that God was simply closing a door and that another one would come open as the Lord leads him.
“I worked so hard to get to this point and unfortunately it was taken away but when God closes one door, He opens up another for you … God has really put will power in my heart to help me push through this … I’m going to dream again,” said Austin. “I’m going to go around and share my story with as many people as I can and just hope to touch people’s lives and let them know that any obstacle that they’re facing, they can get through it. All they have to do is keep a positive mind and thank God for every moment that they’re here on this earth.”
Austin was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome, which impacts the heart, eyes, circulatory system and skeleton. His aorta has been growing wider in the last two years and if it continues to expand he will require open heart surgery. His doctors said his condition made it too risky for him to continue competitive basketball and that he could drop dead on the floor at any moment if he continued to play.
Austin says that he plans to remain in the sport in some way and Baylor coach Scott Drew said there’s a coaching position available for Austin if he wants it.
Dr. Ben Carson made a bold statement during a DoveTV interview where he compared abortion today with human sacrifice throughout history.
Dr. Carson said that Americans routinely criticize religions and cultures that in the past sacrificed their children to various “gods” but say nothing when women actively protest for the right to kill their babies for the god of self.
“It’s interesting,” Carson said in his interview with Perry Atkinson, “that we sit around and call other ancient civilizations heathens because of human sacrifice, but aren’t we actually guilty of the same thing?”
Carson also took the opportunity to explain why he was supporting a candidate for the senate in Oregon that says in campaign literature she is pro-choice. He said that GOP Senate candidate Monica Wehby said she’s personally pro-life but doesn’t feel that the government has any business interfering with the relationship between the mother, the doctor and God.
Carson said he feels differently because if abolitionists had taken a similar hands-off approach, a black man like himself likely still wouldn’t be able to write his thoughts on or maintain a website.
Carson said that if America could just end abortion “all of the other things that God would be interested in helping us with would fall into alignment.”
While millions of American Christians are celebrating the Supreme Court’s decision protecting religious freedom, one prominent Baptist pastor is cautiously warning that the celebration of freedom may be short lived.
Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas says that while the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling “stopped the greatest attempted assault on religious liberty in history”, the case is a sign that the government is going to increase attempts to strip away the religious freedom of Christians.
“The Obama administration was basically saying that you can be religious and pro-life in your church, synagogue or at home on the weekend, but when you go to work on Mondays, you have to give up those beliefs and become pro-abortion,” Jeffress said to the Christian Post. “There is no such thing in the Constitution as the separation of faith from the rest of your life.”
Jeffress said that the mainstream media and pro-abortion activists have been repeating the complete lie that those who want to protect the life of unborn children are nothing more than religious fringe extremists.
“It is a part of the belief system of tens of millions of Protestants, Catholics, Jewish people and people of all faiths,” he said. “This country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. In this ruling, I think the court is very sound in saying that we have the right to uphold and exercise those beliefs.”
In a major victory for religious freedom, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that “closely-held” for-profit businesses can cite religious objections in order to opt out of a requirement in the Affordable Care Act to provide free contraceptive coverage.
The court’s decision came in the case of Hobby Lobby, the company that also owns the Mardel Christian Stores chain. The owners of the company said the health care law forced them to violate their religious faith by providing drugs that can induce abortions.
The challenge was the first major case related to the President’s signature law in the last two years.
The Supreme Court held that the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act protects the rights of for-profit businesses if they are run on a basic of religious principles. However, the Court’s ruling noted it was specifically applied only to the health care law and did not automatically mean other instances of religious issues and health care would be invalid.
The Obama administration had argued that the case was not really about birth control but rather a way that for-profit businesses could challenge other laws based on religious rights.
A petition demanding the Air Force Academy respect the religion freedom of Christian cadets has been sent to the Academy.
The Family Research Council and the American Family Association organized the movement after a series of decisions that basically eliminated the rights of Christian cadets to display their faith on the same level as those without any faith or of other faiths.
“I trust the Air Force Academy to train up the best young men and women our nation has to offer to be prepared to faithfully defend my family, my community and my country,” read the petition delivered to Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson. “Part of that trust hinges upon the notion that the Academy would protect the religious freedom of the cadets we send it.”
The Academy has been keeping Christian students from expressing their faith because of actions taken by extremist anti-Christian Mikey Weinstein of the anti-Christian Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
“If cadets are taught to be afraid of Bible verses, how will they respond against terrorists who are willing to die for their cause?” continued the petition. “Our U.S. Air Force Academy cadets should be taught how to intercept the enemy, not how to tiptoe around the hyper-sensitive complainants.”
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a Massachusetts law requiring a 35 foot zone around abortion clinics where pro-life protesters could not speak to women seeking an abortion is unconstitutional.
Court observers were surprised to see the law was struck down in a unanimous ruling.
Chief Justice John Roberts said that authorities have less intrusive ways to deal with problems outside abortion clinics without violating the free speech rights of pro-life activists.
The decision, while unanimous, was not without some dissent. The chief justice joined with the court’s four liberal justices on a narrow ruling that this particular law was unconstitutional. The court’s four conservative justices issued briefs expressing concerns.
Justice Antonin Scalia criticized the majority opinion for continuing “this court’s practice of giving abortion-rights advocates a pass when it comes to suppressing the free-speech rights of their opponents.”
The Massachusetts law replaced an earlier law that created a “six foot bubble” around unwilling listeners if they were within 18 feet of the clinic. The “floating zone” was modeled after a Colorado law that has been upheld in the past by the Court.
A slim majority of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s general assembly has shown their lack of support for Israel by voting to sell any stock with companies that do business with Israel.
The 310-303 vote to sell stock in Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions came two years after a similar proposal was rejected by only two votes. The people who supported the move claim the vote is only against companies that help Israel build homes in the Palestinian territories, showing they support Palestinian claims over Israel.
The Anti-Defamation League and other groups that support Israel met the group’s action with immediate criticism.
“The claim by the PC(USA) that it does not support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement is simply not reflected in this resolution and the overall tone of the discussions,” The ADL said. “[The measure is] driven by hatred of Israel.”
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs said the decision will have a “devastating impact” on the denomination’s relations with Jewish groups.
“We hold the leadership of the PCUSA accountable for squandering countless opportunities, not only to act responsibly to advance prospects for Middle East peace but also to isolate and repudiate the radical, prejudiced voices in their denomination,” the council said in a statement.
In what some people are calling a very dangerous stand against the mafia in Italy, Pope Francis made a bold declaration against drug use Friday.
“Drug addiction is an evil, and with evil there can be no yielding or compromise,” the Pope said in an address carried by Vatican radio. “Here I would reaffirm what I have stated on another occasion: No to every type of drug use. It is as simple as that.”
The Pope addressed the issue because he believes there is a rush toward more drug abuse and use in western nations, specifically in so-called “soft drugs” like marijuana. He focused on issues such as U.S. states that have approved use of marijuana.
“Attempts, however limited, to legalize so-called ‘recreational drugs’, are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce the desired effects,” the Pope stated. “The scourge of drug use continues to spread inexorably, fed by a deplorable commerce which transcends national and continental borders.”
The Pope said that youth should say “yes” to things much more important than drugs: life, love, education, job opportunities and serving others ahead of themselves.
A high school student was researching gun control for a debate in his law class and discovered that his school was blocking conservative and Christian websites.
Andrew Lampart, 18, who attended Nonnewaug High School in Woodbury, Connecticut was using the school’s internet service because he wanted facts on both sides of the issue. Then something happened when he tried to access the National Rifle Association website.
“Their website was blocked,” Lampart told Fox News.
Lampart when on to find other sites for pro-second amendment blocked. Then while Democratic party sites were permitted, Republican ones were blocked. Then the real shocker arrived for Lampart.
Christian websites were blocked. The lockdown of websites that showed the gospel of Christ was so complete that even websites connected to the Vatican were shut down. Even the official website of Pope Francis was blocked by the school. However, websites linked to radical Muslim extremism were permitted as well as other religions.
When the student gathered his evidence and contacted the school, nothing was done by school administrators. He had to approach the School Board who said they were surprised by the problem.
The school’s superintendent told FoxNews that there appeared to be a problem with Dell SonicWall, the filtering service used by the school. She claimed that the school district did not filter individual websites but categories of websites.
As of this article, the Christian websites are still blocked by the school.
One of the opening speakers at the 42nd PCA General Assembly told those in attendance that America is rapidly progressing to the point where declaring Jesus the only way to eternal life will be considered spreading hate.
“It will be difficult to say in this culture ‘Jesus is the only way’,” Pastor Bryan Chapell warned. “That will be interpreted as hate speech.”
Chapell said that sticking to truth will be a point of contention with the world.
“If you continue to stand ‘for Christ alone’ in a culture that calls that bigotry,” he said, “that will be the issue that presses us in the future.”
Chapell, the former chancellor of the Covenant Theological Seminary, said that pluralism is becoming a major enemy of God’s church and that people of faith need to join together on issues so they can fight that enemy together.
Ron Taylor, the stated clerk of the PCA GA, agreed with Chapell’s assessment. He said we cannot forget the true enemies of the church are the world, the flesh and the devil.