The Day Christians Were Martyred on American Soil

Hundreds gather for a candlelight vigil for the UCC shooting victims. (Reuters)

The Day Christians Were Martyred on American Soil

10/5/2015 TODD STARNES  charisma news

Life or death was determined by the answer to a single question: are you a Christian?

That was the question asked by an anti-Christian gunman who stormed into a classroom at Oregon's Umpqua Community College.

Eyewitnesses say the shooter targeted Christians.

Kortney Moore was inside the classroom. She told the Roseburg News-Review that the shooter ordered students to get on the ground—and then told them to stand up and state their religion.

"And they would stand up and he said, 'Good, because you're a Christian, you're going to see God in just about one second," Stacy Boylan said in a televised report. "And then he shot and killed them."

His 18-year-old daughter was struck in the back by a bullet—that traveled down her spine. She survived. Miss Moore, too, survived.

Davis Jaques, publisher of the Roseburg Beacon News, said he received a text message from a student who said she was inside the classroom.

"The shooter was lining people up and asking if they were Christians," the message read. "If they said yes, then they were shot in the head. If they said no or didn't answer, they were shot in the leg."

Christians were martyred for their faith—on American soil—a fact mostly ignored by most of the mainstream media and the White House.

The New York Times only mentioned that the gunman inquired about people's "religions" and one cable television news channel opined that the shooter's motive was unclear.

President Obama's behavior in the aftermath of the massacre was quite frankly unpresidential. Instead of calling for religious tolerance—he delivered an unhinged tirade on gun control.

"Somebody somewhere will comment and say Obama politicized this issue," the president said. "Well, this is something we should politicize."

But I reckon it's politically incorrect to address the persecution of Christians.

That could explain why the White House has expressed less than passionate outrage over the near-genocide of Christians in the Middle East. And that could also explain why his administration has failed to secure the release of an American pastor being tortured in an Iranian jail.

These days "lambs being led to the slaughter" is not exactly a politically correct narrative.

Franklin Graham eloquently memorialized the fallen on his Facebook page and reminded us that Christians are being persecuted around the world.

"The bold souls at Umpqua Community College who stood up to say they were followers of Jesus Christ were heinously gunned down with no mercy," Graham wrote. "Jesus said, 'If they hate you, remember they hated me before they hated you.'"

I cannot even begin to imagine the courage it took for our fellow believers to take a stand—knowing that to do so—would require the ultimate sacrifice.

But their families can take comfort in knowing that after they took their last breath on earth, they took their first breath in heaven.

Todd Starnes is host of "Fox News & Commentary," heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is God Less America.

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Judicial Tyranny: Why Kim Davis May Not Be the Last

9/4/2015 TODD STARNES   charisma news

Pastor Rick Warren once told me the fight for religious liberty would become the civil rights issue of our generation.

On Thursday, Pastor Warren's prophetic words were fulfilled at the hands of the United States Government.

It happened in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, where Judge David Bunning ordered U.S. Marshalls to arrest Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky.

Mrs. Davis is a devout Christian who refused to issue gay marriage licenses. She claimed that doing so would violate her religious beliefs.

Davis is represented by the public interest law firm Liberty Counsel. The firm's attorneys asked the court to accommodate her beliefs by simply removing her name from the licenses.

But Judge Bunning refused to do so. He refused to accommodate her religious beliefs—and ordered U.S. Marshals to take her into custody.

I truly believe Judge Bunning wanted to intimidate Christians and send a very clear message—that resistance to same-sex marriage will not be tolerated—doing with the gavel what Bull Connor tried to do with dogs and fire hoses.

Christian leaders, among them Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, urged Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear to call a special session of the legislature to enact emergency protections for religious liberty.

"Religious liberty in America is in grave danger," Perkins warned. "This will, in effect, establish a reverse religious test barring those who hold biblical views of marriage from positions of public service. Such a religious test by proclamation or practice is wrong."

But Gov. Beshear refused to do so—blocking the door to the statehouse much like Alabama Gov. George Wallace blocked the door to the schoolhouse in defiance of racial integration.

"The United States Supreme Court has spoken and same-sex marriage is now legal in Kentucky and the rest of the United States," Beshear wrote in a statement.

Critics of Mrs. Davis, on both the right and the left, argue that public officials cannot pick and choose which laws to uphold.

But what law—what specific law—did Mrs. Davis violate? Where is the law that mandates Mrs. Davis issue a marriage license?

That's a question Republican presidential candidate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee raised to his supporters in a recent letter.

"That simple question is giving many in Congress a civics lesson that they never got in grade school," Huckabee wrote.

"The Supreme Court cannot and did not make a law," he continued. "They only made a ruling on a law. Congress makes the laws. Because Congress has made no law allowing for same-sex marriage, Kim does not have the Constitutional authority to issue a marriage license to homosexual couples."

However, there used to be a federal law on the books called the Defense of Marriage Act. And President Obama directed his administration to ignore the law. I don't seem to recall a federal judge throwing the president in the slammer.

Judge Bunning's act of judicial tyranny troubles me because it sets a standard for what could become an all-out assault on people of faith.

The great German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."

Gov. Huckabee has decided to not only speak—but to act.

The governor, himself a Baptist preacher, issued a clarion call to the nation—much like those great preachers of the civil rights era. He urged Christians of all colors and all faiths to join him in Kentucky on Tuesday to send a message to our government that we will not be silenced, no matter the cost.

But history has taught us that sometimes words are not enough. Sometimes to right a wrong, we must take action. We must be willing to consider the cost. We must be willing to stand up to judicial tyranny.

Is it possible that a new generation of preachers and politicians could find their voice on Tuesday?

Perhaps one day, students of history will read not only letters from a Birmingham jail, but letters from a Kentucky jail.

Perhaps.

But no matter what happens we must hold firm to a central truth that one day Kim Davis will overcome. And one day we shall overcome.

Todd Starnes is host of "Fox News & Commentary," heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is God Less America.

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Christian Leaders Threaten Civil Disobedience if Supreme Court Legalizes Gay Marriage

4/29/2015 TODD STARNES   charisma news

Gay marriage supporters rally outside the Supreme Court. (Reuters)

"We will not obey."

That's the blunt warning a group of prominent religious leaders is sending to the Supreme Court of the United States as they consider same-sex marriage.

"We respectfully warn the Supreme Court not to cross that line," read a document titled, Pledge in Solidarity to Defend Marriage. "We stand united together in defense of marriage. Make no mistake about our resolve." 

"While there are many things we can endure, redefining marriage is so fundamental to the natural order and the common good that this is the line we must draw and one we cannot and will not cross," the pledge states.

The signees are a who's who of religious leaders including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, National Religious Broadcasters president Jerry Johnson, Pastor John Hagee, and Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse. 

The pledge was co-drafted by Deacon Keith Fournier, a Catholic deacon, and Mat Staver, the founder of Liberty Counsel. Also involved in the document were Rick Scarborough, the president of Vision America Action and James Dobson, the founder of Family Talk Radio. 

"We're sending a warning to the Supreme Court and frankly any court that crosses the line on the issue of marriage," Staver told me.

He said that once same-sex marriage is elevated to the level of protected status—it will transform the face of society and will result in the "beginning of the end of Western Civilization."

"You are essentially saying that boys and girls don't need moms and dads—that moms and dads are irrelevant," Staver said. "Gender becomes pointless when government adopts same-sex marriage. It creates a genderless relationship out of a very gender-specific relationship. It says that it doesn't matter and that two moms or two dads are absolutely equivalent to a mom and a dad."

Dobson said the legalization of same-sex marriage could fracture the nation.

"The institution of marriage is fundamental and it must be defended," he told me. "It's the foundation for the entire culture. It's been in existence for 5,000 years. If you weaken it or if you undermine it—the entire superstructure can come down. We see it as that important."

And that means the possibility of Christians—people of faith—engaging in acts of civil disobedience.

"Yes, I'm talking about civil disobedience," Staver said. "I'm talking about resistance and I'm talking about peaceful resistance against unjust laws and unjust rulings."

That's quite a shocking statement. So I asked Mr. Staver to clarify his remarks.

"I'm calling for people to not recognize the legitimacy of that ruling because it's not grounded in the Rule of Law," he told me. "They need to resist that ruling in every way possible. In a peaceful way—they need to resist it as much as Martin Luther King Jr. resisted unjust laws in his time."

Scarborough said the pledge was meant to be forthright and clear.

"We're facing a real Constitutional crisis if the Supreme Court rules adversely from our perspective on same-sex marriage," he told me. For me there's no option. I'm going to choose to serve the Lord. And I think that thousands of other pastors will take that position and hundreds of thousands—if not millions of Christians."

Scarborough is urging pastors across the nation to sign the pledge. 

He referenced the "outrageous penalties" being assessed against people of faith simply because they don't want to participate in a same-sex union.

An Oregon bakery is facing a $135,000 fine for refusing to make a cake for a lesbian wedding and a Washington State florist faces fines for refusing to participate in a gay wedding.

"Christians are being declared the lawbreakers when we are simply living by what we have always believed, and by a set of laws that the culture historically has agreed to," he said. "Right now the courts are changing the playing field and declaring that what the natural eye can see and natural law reveals is not truth. ... What will we do, and how will we respond?"

Dobson said there's no doubt that LGBT activists are targeting Christian business owners.

"For about 50 years the homosexual community has had as its goal to change the culture, to change the ideology and if necessary—to force people who don't agree by use of the courts," Dobson told me. "I think there's a collision here and we can all see it, and where it's going to go is anybody's guess—but it is serious."

To be clear—the men and women who courageously signed this pledge did so knowing the hell storm that is about to be unleashed on them—and their families.

"We have no choice," Staver told me. "We cannot compromise our clear biblical convictions, our religious convictions.

Todd Starnes is host of "Fox News & Commentary," heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is God Less America.

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Gathering Storm: War on Faith Spiraling Out of Control?

CBNNews.com

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Fox News host Todd Starnes has a message for people of faith: make no mistake -- dark clouds are gathering, and a great storm is approaching.

In his role as a popular Fox News radio host and commentator, Starnes follows current developments in today's culture war.

In his latest book, God Less America, Starnes lays out in great detail the growing attacks on religious liberty and Christianity in the United States.

And while he presents it all in his trademark southern storytelling-style with humor and wit, his book shows that the assault on traditional values in America is no laughing matter.

Has the war on faith in America spiraled out of control? Starnes talked more about this and his new book on The 700 Club, Tuesday, May 27.

Also, Starnes spoke with CBN News' Heather Sells on why he thinks Christians are under attack in the United States. Click below for his comments.

Website: CBN News