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A Biblical Worldview and Christian Education

There was a time when people thought an educated person was someone with lots of information. But information is easy for everyone these days, too easy. Most people struggle to finish reading a post like this one because they know they’re just clicks away from the latest post about their favorite celebrity. (Thankfully, you’re not like most people!) Everyone has information. But most people still lack something that only education—true education—can give.

What is that something?

It’s the ability to look at information and see it in proper perspective. It’s the ability to sift through the piles of data that all of us slog through and discern what’s true and what’s really important. It’s the ability to know how to take what is most important and put it to use so that success—lasting, satisfying success—is achieved. It’s wisdom.

How do you get something as precious as wisdom?

Proverbs has the answer: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).

Fear? Modern secular education tells us to abandon our fears. Learning is possible, we are told, only if we are willing to call everything into question—our sexuality, our beliefs about where we came from, our beliefs about God. But such advice is a lie. The wise person has come to accept that some questions need not to be asked. He knows that God is to be feared. This doesn’t mean that the wise man runs away from God in terror. But it does mean he takes God seriously.

What else does wisdom require?

Proverbs says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. You can’t be wise without fearing God, but you can’t be wise without a lot of other things too.

Anyone who would be wise must also be a learner, a careful observer, a student. With the fear of God firmly in his heart, a person needs to study the world all around. He cannot make wise decisions unless he has a great deal to be wise with. So he’ll have to know about science, math, language arts, and social studies.

But he’ll have to know about these from the perspective that only the fear of the Lord can provide. He’ll need to understand that science is a powerful tool for ruling over God’s world under God’s greater rule over him. He will have to see math as a way to model God’s world for God’s purposes. He’ll need to understand that human communication is the result of humans having been made in God’s image and therefore it must be used to imitate God’s character and deeds. And he’ll have to learn about society with the understanding that government exists to ensure justice—justice on God’s own terms.

Where does a person develop this kind of understanding?

All the way through life in whatever situation he finds himself. But the best way to begin is through education. Not just any education, of course. A Christian education. An environment where Christian parents, students, and textbooks all work together to produce something far more profound and useful than mere information.

To find more information on Christian Education, please visit HERE

To listen to a “Stand in the Gap Weekend” program on this topic, please click HERE

IRS Claims Tax-Exempt Status for Colleges Won’t Be Tested, But American Pastors Network Says Troubles Not Off the Table

Earlier this month, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen reinforced the tax agency’s commitment not to go after the tax-exempt status of religious colleges and universities that oppose gay marriage.

On Aug. 3, Koskinen told the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts that “we see no basis for changing our examination criteria as a result of this Supreme Court case,” according to coverage by the Washington Post. Going forward, the Commissioner added, any scrutiny of schools’ tax-exempt status would be open for public comment, likely not to happen in the next two and a half years.

“There would be no surprises,” Koskinen said. “The public would have plenty of notice and plenty of opportunity to comment.” His words, however, added a possible caveat for the future, as he further stated, “At this time (emphasis added) there is no basis for us to revisit tax-exempt status on that grounds. We will continue, obviously, to ensure that those who enjoy tax-exempt status are still doing the work they said they were going to do.”

Sam Rohrer, president of the American Pastors Network (APN, www.americanpastorsnetwork.net), said that while many may breathe a sigh of relief at the news, the announcement doesn’t negate possible troubles for Christian colleges that rest on their convictions, and thereby their policies, regarding the biblical definition of marriage.

“This particular IRS Commissioner, unfortunately, doesn’t have the ability to make any promises for the agency that will apply into the future,” Rohrer said. “And because he used the disclaimer of ‘at this time,’ the statement leaves the door open for a menagerie of incidents that could involve Christian colleges—and even churches—in the future.

“At the end of the day,” Rohrer continued, “actions against the 501(c)(3) status for colleges, nonprofits or others will not be decided by the IRS and its recent statements. It will be decided by lawsuits that will undoubtedly be filed through the courts. In the end, the broader move to purge religious freedom from our culture is significant. No one should believe they are secure in the presence of a hostile postmodern culture.”

APN urges colleges, universities, churches or any religious institution with a tax-exempt status to connect with APN and keep on top of the legal status of this important issue. Through its radio programming and electronic newsletters, APN helps educate about the religious freedoms of individuals and organizations. For more information on religious liberties at the college and university level, visit http://www.adflegal.org/issues/religious-freedom/university.

American Pastors Network Unveils New Web Site for ‘Stand in the Gap’ Radio

In a culture that desperately needs godly light and truth shed on the country’s many pressing issues, the American Pastors Network’s radio programming, “Stand in the Gap,” is expanding, with the addition of several new stations and a new web site being unveiled today.

Currently, several stations throughout Pennsylvania air “Stand in the Gap Today,” including WFYL-AM Philadelphia, and several more are adding the program today: WFBM 90.5 FM in the Beaver Springs and Richfield areas, WFBM 90.1 FM in Selinsgrove and Sunbury, and WFBA 90.5 FM in Mt. Carmel and Frackville. All three stations will air the program live daily beginning 12:05 p.m. and cover about 12 counties in central Pennsylvania.

“Over the past three months since ‘Stand in the Gap Today’ debuted, we’ve covered a multitude of crucial topics on the air,” said APN President Sam Rohrer. “As our culture moves further and further from the truth, Christians desperately need to apply a biblical and constitutional view to the matters that affect all of us every day. That’s why it’s so important that quality programming like ‘Stand in the Gap Today’ grows and reaches even more Americans throughout the country.”

Beginning today, seven radio stations in Texas will also air “Stand in the Gap Today.” The stations in the Kingdom Keys Network of Christian Radio cover a large portion of northern Texas. Also airing the program are WJSM-FM 92.7 in Altoona, Pa., and WJSM-AM 1110 in Martinsburg, Pa.

“Stand in the Gap Today” is a one-hour live daily radio program that addresses the cultural and moral issues of our time from a constitutional and biblical perspective. With issues like same-sex marriage, the possibility of a nuclear Iran, and Islamic radicalism daily in the news, how should Christian Americans think?

The program communicates to listeners the importance of applying a biblical and constitutional worldview to every aspect of their lives, provides tools to respond to attacks against biblical truth in the culture, and encourages them in their critical responsibility, as ambassadors of Christ, to speak truth in the culture.

The program is hosted by Rohrer, along with Gary Dull, APN board member and executive director and vice president of the Pennsylvania Pastors Network, (PPN, www.papastors.net), and Dave Kistler, president of the North Carolina Pastors Network (NCPN, www.ncpastors.net). Daily, “Stand in the Gap Today” considers current hard news topics from a biblical, pastoral point of view making it unique amongst other radio programs in the U.S., and welcomes guests, including caller comments during “Phone-In Friday.”

Today, “Stand in the Gap” is also unveiling its new web site, found at www.StandintheGapRadio.com, where visitors to the site can listen live to “Stand in the Gap Today” each day at noon through WFYL 1180-AM. The new site also details all three APN radio programs, which include “Stand in the Gap Minute,” a daily one-minute radio feature that airs daily on more than 40 stations, and “Stand in the Gap Weekend,” a one-hour program on Sundays that features a sermon from an APN pastor, followed by a short commentary with Rohrer and others. The weekend program airs on more than 150 stations, including the American Family Radio Network.

Planned Parenthood Exposé Videos Remind Churches of Investment Accountability Awareness

 In the wake of the public release of three disturbing undercover videos that exposed Planned Parenthood’s possible sale of the body parts of aborted babies—including the latest released just yesterday—the American Pastors Network  is urging all churches and morally responsible organizations to become educated about where the funds in their pension plans and investments actually go.

“Unfortunately, abortion in America is a big and deadly business, and many U.S. companies are directly or indirectly funding the abortion giant Planned Parenthood,” said APN President Sam Rohrer, who is also president of the Pennsylvania Pastors Network (PPN, www.papastors.net). “While efforts are under way to defund Planned Parenthood, which we strongly support, government money is not the only way the agency pays for abortion services. Many private companies and organizations also give directly to Planned Parenthood, and churches and their congregants must make sure that none of their investments are tied to these firms that are funding the gruesome business of abortion. 

“Our mission at the American Pastors Network is to help churches, oftentimes through our state chapters, fall in line with biblical obedience and offer a solution and a challenge in every situation.  Even the most disturbing headlines may in some way affect our churches,” he continued. 

Rohrer added that the importance of biblical investing takes on a sense of urgency when organizations and corporations support activity that goes against God’s Word—either directly or indirectly—such as the atrocities that recently surfaced at Planned Parenthood.

“Churches, Christian companies and all morally responsible organizations are duty-bound to clean up their own house, and that certainly includes where and how we invest our money,” Rohrer said. “Not only is this our responsibility, but the entire premise of 2 Chronicles 7:14 is that God’s people must turn from our wicked ways. Knowingly investing and seeking a profit in companies that advance evil is itself evil. The hammer of God’s judgment will continue to fall on America until we take a hard look in the mirror and ask ourselves, ‘Where are we sinning against God and take corrective action?’ “ 

APN encourages churches to conduct research about their investments, through qualified financial professionals or online research, such as two resources that recently came to light since the Planned Parenthood videos were released: the Daily Signal and 2ndVote.com.

“In an age when technology allows all of us—including churches—to be educated about companies that directly or indirectly fund the abortion or related industries, we must act,” Rohrer added. “The American Pastors Network is calling on all churches and morally responsible organizations to promptly and carefully review their investments and pension plans to ensure that they are in no way contributing to the killing of nearly 60 million babies since 1973.” 

In the first video that stirred the national controversy, which was released by the Center for Medical Progress on July 14, Planned Parenthood senior executive Dr. Deborah Nucatola discussed the sale of fetal body parts with actors portraying buyers from a “human biologics company” over lunch. In a second video, released July 21, Dr. Mary Gatter, president of Planned Parenthood’s medical directors council, is seen negotiating the price of aborted fetal body parts, stating that she wanted “a Lamborghini.” A third video released July 28 highlighted a technician who said she worked for a company that partnered with Planned Parenthood to harvest fetal tissue, Fox News reported.

APN focuses on pressing cultural and societal issues like these during its daily one-hour radio program, “Stand in the Gap Today,” hosted by Rohrer, along with Gary Dull, APN board member and executive director and vice president of PPN, and Dave Kistler, president of the North Carolina Pastors Network (NCPN, www.ncpastors.net). 

Daily, “Stand in the Gap Today” considers current news topics and welcomes guests, including caller comments during “Phone-In Friday.” “Stand in the Gap Today” can be heard on several stations throughout Pennsylvania, via satellite and streamed lived online at www.standinthegapradio.com. To hear a recent program on this issue, with Guest Dan Celia, Host of Financial Issues Live, please click HERE.

Still Not Satisfied, Fresh Attempts to Wipe ‘Husband’ and ‘Wife’ from Federal Lexicon Says America is No Longer a Moral Leader

June’s Supreme Court decision overturned the definition of marriage that had previously stood for millennia. Now, a group of lawmakers is working to wipe out the terms “husband” and “wife” from the landscape of America—all in the name of equality.

Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) has introduced the Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act of 2015 that would strike the use of gendered terms such as “husband” and “wife” from the federal code and replace them with more gender-neutral terms, such as “spouse” or “married couple.” So far, there are 23 original co-sponsors to the bill, Capps reports on her web site.

This latest proposed legislation is just one example of the many ways America is demonstrating a shredding of the moral fabric on which the country was founded, says Sam Rohrer, president of the American Pastors Network and the Pennsylvania Pastors Network (PPN, www.papastors.net). 

First, marriage was redefined throughout the nation, and Americans’ freedoms were taken away though the passage and subsequent protection of a severely flawed government health care plan. Then, an abortion industry scandal erupts after Planned Parenthood leaders casually talk about the body parts of unborn babies over dinner. Although the undercover video has outraged many, Rohrer says it’s an entirely different culture when conversations like these would even occur in the first place.

Rohrer recently talked about the moral change in America on APN’s daily one-hour radio program, “Stand in the Gap Today,” as the homosexual agenda advances at breakneck speed.

“It’s telling that as an example, Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church have claimed the moral position regarding family and sexuality and clearly linked the U.S. and the West to moral depravity,” Rohrer said. “I recently talked about this on our radio show, ‘Stand in the Gap Today,’ and cited an article in the Free Republic outlining how Russia is battling ‘gay fever.’ Redefining the terminology in marriage of ‘husband and wife’ is further indication of the insatiable appetite of a culture that has rejected the authority of God, redefined eternal Truth into ‘what feels good at the moment’ to seek the complete destruction of concept of  marriage between one naturally born man and one naturally born woman. 

“If everything that marriage represents is eliminated, including the language, why not just settle for civil unions?” Rohrer continued. “Instead, those who wish to throw off God’s design for human sexuality will continue to push until marriage as this nation has known it will be completely unrecognizable. There can never be moral parity nor is there anything equal between a man and a woman getting married, and two homosexual men or two lesbian women getting married.”

According to Rep. Capps web site, the Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act would not only “ensure that the code reflects marriage equality, but it could also make several positive changes to the U.S. Code by removing areas of gender discrimination written into federal law. For instance, it is currently illegal to threaten the President’s wife—but not the President’s husband. Capps’ bill would update the code to make it illegal to threaten the President’s spouse. The bill would correct a number of these types of discrepancies in the code.”

Rohrer added that the very notion that terms God created—male and female, that He created them, according to Matthew 19:4—are now being targeted in order to wash them out of society is confirming proof of the downward moral spiral of America.

“While the SCOTUS ruling embracing same-sex marriage has, in part, contributed to a constitutional crisis, it has confirmed to the world that America is no longer the moral leader,” Rohrer said. “And while a constitutional crisis has been exacerbated by the SCOTUS opinion embracing same sex marriage, it nonetheless has difficult but definable solutions. The moral crisis created around the globe is far deeper and may prove fatal to the future of America.”

APN’s Stand in the Gap Today” is a daily one-hour program hosted by Rohrer, along with Gary Dull, APN board member, executive director and vice president of the PPN, (www.papastors.net), and Dave Kistler, president of the North Carolina Pastors Network (NCPN, www.ncpastors.net).

Daily, “Stand in the Gap Today” considers current news topics and welcomes guests, including guest comments during “Phone-In Friday.” “Stand in the Gap Today” can be heard on several stations throughout Pennsylvania, via satellite and streamed lived online at www.1180wfyl.com or can be heard after each broadcast at www.americanpastorsnetwork.net/resources.

 

Cake Bakers Melissa and Aaron Klein Talk to APN’s ‘Stand in the Gap Today’

Melissa and Aaron Klein, the Oregon couple fined $135,000 for declining to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, recently talked with the hosts of “Stand in the Gap Today,” a daily one-hour program from the American Pastors Network (APN, www.americanpastorsnetwork.net) that considers today’s pressing cultural issues.

After being accused of violating Oregon’s anti-discrimination laws—and experiencing the protests that followed—the Kleins have closed the doors of their business, and Melissa now bakes for friends and family out of their home.

But despite the steep fine, Melissa and Aaron aren’t backing down and are encouraging others to stand for their religious liberties as well.

APN President Sam Rohrer and co-hosts Gary Dull, APN board member, executive director and vice president of the Pennsylvania Pastors Network (PPN, www.papastors.net), and Dave Kistler, president of the North Carolina Pastors Network (NCPN, www.ncpastors.net), talked with the Kleins on Thursday, allowing them to tell their inspirational story and raise awareness about a concerted attack on religious liberties in America. 

“Unless Christian Americans stand for truth and defend all of our religious liberties,” Rohrer said, “more and more of our freedoms will eventually be stripped away. If we remain silent, the world will assume that these freedoms are not important to us and that we are satisfied to bend to the ways of the world. We thank God that Melissa and Aaron Klein have not bent to those ways, and have not been broken, and we will continue to pray for them daily.” 

To begin the portion of the program that featured Melissa and Aaron, Dull read a statement from the Kleins: “We will not give up this fight. We will not be silenced. We stand for God’s Truth, God’s Word and freedom for all Americans. We are here to obey God, not man, and we will not conform to this world. If we lose everything, it would be totally worth it for our Lord, who gave His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, for us all. God will win this fight.”

Aaron said on the show that the family is in the process of filing for a stay, which would allow them to appeal without accruing penalties and interest on the fine. He also recalled that, back in 2013 on the day of the original request, he politely apologized to one half of the couple when she inquired about a wedding cake, stating that he and Melissa did not create cakes for same-sex weddings due to their religious beliefs. That answer, he said, was worth a $135,000 fine.

Melissa said the couple has “technically” been able to stay in business, but are now operating out of their home. She said the two-and-a-half-year ordeal has been trying and difficult, and her five children—two of them 3-year-old twin boys—take up much of her time. The situation, she added, has been stressful on their marriage as well. “But we said ‘I do,’ and marriage is very important to us,” Melissa said. “Marriage is work … and I feel God is very much in our marriage, and He has helped us through this time.”

The baker added that this experience has been oddly “amazing” for her, because before this test, Melissa trusted God very little—neither with her finances nor with the bakery. But now, she said, she’s learned to trust God with everything, her faith has grown tremendously, her doubts are completely gone and a weight has been lifted from her shoulders.

“Amen,” said Rohrer at the show’s closing. “Until sometimes we’re forced to walk with the Lord, we don’t really know how to trust Him.”

Listen to the full broadcast featuring Melissa and Aaron Klein at www.americanpastorsnetwork.net/resources.

Each weekday, “Stand in the Gap Today” considers current news topics and welcomes guests, including guest comments during “Phone-In Friday.” “Stand in the Gap Today” can be heard on several stations throughout Pennsylvania, via satellite and streamed lived online at www.1180wfyl.com. Past broadcasts can be heard at www.americanpastorsnetwork.net/resources.

Liberties of All and Tax-Exempt Status of Non-Profits—Colleges, Adoption Agencies, Others—At Risk

American Pastors Network President, Sam Rohrer recently spoke with KDKA Radio’s Mike Pintek about some of the pressing issues and pertinent ramifications of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on same-sex marriage.

Rohrer, who is also President of the Pennsylvania Pastors Network (PPN, www.papastors.net) said the Court’s recent 5-4 decision will eventually force churches and other religious organizations to either compromise their faith convictions or face the specter of losing their tax-exempt status.

“Everyone should be aware that there’s more than a moral consideration to this marriage ruling. Because the Court usurped and stepped over their Constitutional authority, vis-à-vis the matters of the 10th Amendment—the ability for states to make laws that are within their jurisdiction and to rule them all out of order—is a violation of civil law, the Constitutional law!” Rohrer said on the Pittsburgh radio program. “I would submit that every aspect of freedom as we know it, being the range of the First Amendment or the Second Amendment or any of the Amendments, have now been violated by the actions of this Court because they’ve made themselves the law over and above the Constitution. So, every aspect of what we consider civil freedom or religious freedom has been jeopardized by the action of this Court.”

Rohrer went on to say that those working to defend and protect religious liberty may look to the freedom of religion clause of the First Amendment—but the First Amendment may protect religious freedoms only to a point. The Supreme Court essentially overruled the 10th Amendment by overriding the laws already set forth by the states and voters within those states. Therefore, Rohrer says, all other Amendments are open to attack as well.

“Do we not think, therefore, that any of the other Amendments are not equally jeopardized?” Rohrer told Pintek. “Just as Justices Thomas and Scalia indicated, there was no jurisdiction for the Court to rule; they had no power; they had no right. And yet they exercised their will in trying to make this kind of application when, in this case, it has nothing to do with any kind of historical precedent. And as Justice Scalia said, there is no precedent in the history of the Court to rule such kind of an action on this type of a matter, which, in the case of marriage, has been established, as (Justice) Roberts said, for millennia.”

Rohrer added that he would expect litigation against religious colleges that decline to provide housing for same-sex couples, faith-based adoption agencies that have policies against matching children with same-sex couples, and eventually, pastors and churches who will not perform or host same-sex weddings.

Additionally, even if litigation is not successful, the government could attempt to revoke the tax-exempt status for those organizations that do not comply with the new Court opinion, Rohrer added.

“All of these are absolutely legitimately predictable because of the nature of the ruling,” he said. “It will be a matter of ‘you cannot discriminate against, therefore, you must permit.’ This is how it will go; you can see it. The ramifications of this law are broad and deep. The fact of the matter is, the very people who think this is a win will find out that their own civil freedoms have been jeopardized by the actions of this Court. It’s just the nature of the ramifications of undoing law as we have had them in the Constitution. This is a big deal,” Rohrer concluded on the Pittsburgh and surrounding area radio program.

The Next Step: After SCOTUS Ruling, Pastors Must Put Truth into Action

One Sunday church service has come and gone since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on Friday that legalized same-sex marriage in America. Many pastors from the pulpit reflected on the ruling, asked their congregations to pray for the nation and wondered how the ruling would affect them directly.

The American Pastors Network (APN, www.americanpastorsnetwork.net) is lending help on how pastors and churches can move forward after the ruling, with plans to protect their religious liberties in the future—and without forgetting that Friday’s ruling deeply impacts the freedoms of all Christians.

“Friday’s Supreme Court ruling was hardly a cause for rejoicing,” said APN President Sam Rohrer, who also serves as President of the Pennsylvania Pastors Network (PPN, www.papastors.net). “In reality, it is cause for alarm, not only in how a handful of judges without the moral authority can arrogantly attempt to redefine an institution created by God and recognized through millennia, but these same judges can unlawfully plunge a knife into the heart of the Constitution they are sworn to uphold. The majority of Americans have yet to fully realize the extent to which all our Constitutional freedoms have been undermined.”

 On its daily one-minute radio feature, “Stand in the Gap,” APN recently commented further on the same-sex marriage ruling: “Last Friday’s Supreme Court ruling, which embraced same-sex marriage in America, is just one more symptom of the sin epidemic that is running rampant in our nation. When a person or a nation rejects God and succumbs to this fatal attraction with sin, there is always a heavy price to pay! Proverbs 14:12 says, ‘There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.’ The only Cure for this epidemic is Jesus Christ! However, if we truly want to cure America, we as believers must paint an honest picture of what happens when people or a nation reject the Truth of God’s Word. ” 

Rohrer, along with Gary Dull, APN board member, executive director and vice president of PPN, and Dave Kistler, president of the North Carolina Pastors Network (NCPN, www.ncpastors.net), co-host “Stand in the Gap Today,” a daily one-hour radio program*** heard on stations throughout Pennsylvania and via satellite. Each day, the hosts discuss current news topics and welcome guests, and over the past few days, the SCOTUS marriage ruling was front and center, as some of these questions were explored:

  • How do we bring clarity to the chaos created by the Court?
  • How should we respond to the fact that the SCOTUS cannot make law, but only render an opinion?
  • What is the practical difference between what is ‘legal’ vs. ‘lawful’?
  • What is the impact of understanding the separate jurisdictions of ‘moral law’ and ‘civil/constitutional law’?
  • How should we view the matter of ‘civil disobedience’ vs. ‘biblical obedience’?
  • Can we just simply ‘move on to economic issues,’ as many would like? Should we measure Presidential candidates on how they respond to these rulings from SCOTUS on Obamacare and marriage?
  • What if states, governors, state Supreme Court justices and others push back against the SCOTUS opinions?  Should this be encouraged? What happens if they do? What happens if they don’t?

***To listen to this program please click HERE

Rohrer also recently spoke with Perry Atkinson for The Dove’s program, “Focus Today,” stating that both the King v. Burwell/Obamacare and marriage rulings effectively dismantled the rule of law and the Constitution.

 “(SCOTUS) has, in fact, plunged us into a moment of crisis—a moment that would make anyone say, ‘What provision of the Constitution is any longer sacred?’” Rohrer said. “‘What provision, if any, stands with predictability that cannot be overturned, at will, by the handful of the majority of the Court?’ They have done great harm, and that is unfolding as we go forward.”

Attorney Jeff Mateer of the Liberty Institute, who was a featured speaker at PPN’s “U-Turn” conference this spring, attended SCOTUS’s oral arguments in April and called same-sex marriage “the issue of our generation.” He has been working closely with APN and PPN to offer support to pastors as religious liberty questions regarding the ruling arise.

 APN released the following statement Friday after the ruling:

“This landmark decision had deep biblical, historical and constitutional roots, and unfortunately, our justices chose to redefine marriage for the entire nation, ignoring other constitutional rights and opening the door to a dangerous infringement on religious liberties. The fact that this issue even made it to the Supreme Court of the United States was an indictment against American Christians and against American churches. Even though some churches have sought to blend into the culture rather than change it, this ruling serves as a wake-up call for pastors and churches who are committed to being the salt and light of our society and standing up for truth.

 “This is just the beginning, and as the culture continues to change—and move even further away from the truth of God’s Word and from our constitutional roots—it is crucial that pastors and churches know the truth, speak the truth and live the truth, doing all they can to preserve God’s Word and protect the religious liberties of Christians across the nation.”

 

Court Contradicts Constitution

The fundamental rights of the U.S. Constitution were at the core of today’s Supreme Court announcement of its long-awaited landmark same-sex marriage ruling. And the Court chose to declare that gay marriage was indeed a fundamental right, thus stripping states and voters of their rights to make their own marriage decisions.

Sam Rohrer, President of the American Pastors Network  and the Pennsylvania Pastors Network says the ruling puts churches and pastors in a difficult position.

“This landmark decision had deep biblical, historical and constitutional roots, and unfortunately, our justices chose to redefine marriage for the entire nation, ignoring other constitutional rights and opening the door to a dangerous infringement on religious liberties,” Rohrer said. “The fact that this issue even made it to the Supreme Court of the United States was an indictment against American Christians and against American churches. Even though some churches have sought to blend into the culture rather than change it, this ruling serves as a wake-up call for pastors and churches who are committed to being the salt and light of our society and standing up for truth.

“This is just the beginning,” Rohrer added, “and as the culture continues to change—and move even further away from the truth of God’s Word and from our constitutional roots—it is crucial that pastors and churches know the truth, speak the truth and live the truth, doing all they can to preserve God’s Word and protect the religious liberties of Christians across the nation.”

Attorney Jeff Mateer of the Liberty Institute, who was a featured speaker at PPN’s “U-Turn” conference this spring, attended SCOTUS’s oral arguments in April and called same-sex marriage “the issue of our generation.”

For the case, the Liberty Institute filed a brief on behalf of the National Religious Broadcasters, Billy Graham and Franklin Graham, Samaritan’s Purse, In Touch Ministries, along with several seminaries and theologians, stating that “for millennia,” we have believed in marriage between one man and one woman—and there has never been another definition of marriage. Mateer added that today’s decision will eventually violate the religious liberty rights of many and intrude on the workings and beliefs of the church.

50 Pennsylvania Teachers Educated About Islam—A Dangerous Endeavor at Taxpayer Expense

Fifty educators in a Lebanon, Pa., school district recently attended a daylong training event about Islam and Arabic culture during an in-service workshop that came at taxpayer expense.

According to WND.com  (article HERE), the training session included a comparison of U.S. and Arab education, a visit to a local mosque to learn more about the Islamic religion and the participation in an Islamic prayer service. Teachers and administrators removed their shoes at the mosque and mingled with the congregation, discussing God, Islam and Christianity.

The seminar might seem like a harmless learning experience to the casual onlooker, but American Pastors Network  President Sam Rohrer says events like these underscore the increasing threat to our constitutional freedoms represented by the insidious  infiltration of Islam into America’s schools and communities.

“Slowly but surely, Islamic ideology is creeping stealthily into classrooms and local governments across America,” said Rohrer, who also serves as the president of the Pennsylvania Pastors Network (PPN, www.papastors.net). “What may appear to be an altruistic and innocent isolated incident is in reality part of an aggressive and dangerous strategy to undercut the biblically based and constitutionally guaranteed freedoms in this nation. Pastors and churches must wake up and begin educating their congregations of the extreme danger that Islam poses to Christianity and freedom as we have known it.”