Month: January 2021

Vice President Mike Pence made an unscheduled stop to address Franklin Graham’s Prayer March on 26 September 2020(Photo: Samaritan’s Purse)
Vice President Mike Pence drew wisdom from the Bible in his decision not to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump after last week’s attack on the Capitol.
In a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi explaining his decision, he suggested that invoking the 25th Amendment would only cause further divisions and undermine the healing of the nation. 
“After the horrific events of last week, our Administration’s energy is directed to ensuring an orderly transition,” he wrote.
“The Bible says that ‘for everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven … a time to heal, … and a time to build up.’
“That time is now. In the midst of a global pandemic, economic hardship for millions of Americans, and the tragic events of January 6, now is the time for us to come together, now is the time to heal.”
Pence was under pressure to invoke the 25th Amendment after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building last week. 
The 25th Amendment permits the removal of the president from office if the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet deem him to be “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
Following Pence’s refusal to do so, the House voted last night to impeach Trump, making him the only president in US history to be impeached twice. 
Some Republicans supported the measure, but Iowa Rep Ashley Hinson was among those voting against it. 
In a statement on her vote against, she shared similar sentiments to Pence. 
“I believe the President bears responsibility and that is why I urged him personally to call off those who were violently storming the Capitol last week,” she said.
“I wish he had spoken up sooner, but he did not. Words matter; there must be accountability for those who feed into the dangerous rhetoric on either side of the ideological spectrum.”
She continued: “Impeachment is the wrong path forward for several reasons. Speaker Pelosi is bypassing regular order – including the process of collecting evidence, conducting committee hearings, and having preliminary votes – to rush toward a second impeachment of President Trump.
“Just a week out from a new Administration, impeachment will only serve to feed the flames and further divide our nation.” […]

The US Supreme Court building in seen in Washington, DC.Reuters
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has welcomed a ruling from the US Supreme Court requiring women to collect abortion drugs from a hospital or doctor. 
The Supreme Court voted 6-3 in favour of upholding the regulation after abortion campaigners argued that it put women at risk due to the threat of coronavirus. 
SPUC said that keeping the requirement offers some safeguards for women having an abortion at home. 
It is now calling on the UK, which permits abortion pills to be sent to women in the mail, to follow suit and tighten regulations around at-home abortions. 
Michael Robinson, SPUC Director of Communications said: “Policies allowing DIY at home chemical abortion are bad, but at least a stipulation that a woman must see a doctor in the flesh provides some safeguards for women, especially vulnerable women.
READ MORE: A lifeline for women considering abortion
“We welcome this Supreme Court decision which protects women and we urge the UK government to reverse its dangerous DIY abortion policy.”
The UK Government relaxed abortion rules after the start of the first lockdown last year so that women could take both abortion pills at home up to the tenth week of their pregnancy.
The pills can be sent to women in the post after a consultation with a doctor over the phone or by video. 
But SPUC and other pro-life groups have warned that the system puts vulnerable women at risk of coercion and is wide open to abuse. 
“With the whole chemical abortion process being done remotely, the abortion provider has no way of knowing who is really on the other end of the phone; if she is being coerced into an abortion, or if the abuser is in the room with her,” Mr Robinson said.
“There is no way of knowing the gestation of a woman’s pregnancy over the phone, which is crucial as the drugs are only supposed to be used up to 10 weeks. There is no way of knowing if she is following the medical protocols when taking the drugs, or if she’ll be able to seek medical help if anything goes wrong.
“SPUC supports the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold this regulation and we urge the UK government to reverse its dangerous DIY home abortion policy which is endangering women across the country.” […]

(Photo: Unsplash/Chattersnap)
Although it is the heart of winter, the Jewish calendar has now entered the month of Shvat, the month of Redemption. And this is the time we read the Book of Exodus, when G-d chooses the Jewish people to become His partners in saving the world.
Whereas the Book of Genesis was all about Creation and the forming of individuals – in Exodus the Jewish individuals which have become G-d’s chosen family slowly develop into a nation, a nation which will be become pioneers in more ways than one.
As I write, my daughter has sent a photo by WhatsApp of being inoculated against Covid in Israel. And a photo of my son-in-law who has also now been inoculated by another of the four Israeli health insurance companies.
The importance of gleaning, which Judaism taught the world through the Book of Ruth, has also not been forgotten in Israel. Anyone who queues up at the inoculation centres can get a dose – because throwing life-saving medicines away is not only a sin in Judaism, it is also a crime. And in fact, nurses have run out into the streets in order to find passers-by to offer the jabs to at the end of the day.
What turned a rag-tag of miserable slaves, many the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, into the nation that in the face of death always opted for life? To such an extent that they are being regarded today as the world’s ‘guinea-pigs’. What other group of people would be willing to test the efficacy of unknown vaccines, thereby doing the world an incredible favour – because who knows the repercussions of such advances in medicine?
However, in order to become the pioneering nation par excellence, the Jewish people had to undergo the miserable existence of slavery under Pharaoh – made all the worse because to start with Pharaoh ‘knew’ them. This means that their contribution to Egyptian society had been recognized by Pharaoh, and only then, when Pharaoh was doing well, did he get rid of the Jews as being surplus to requirements.
Pharaoh is the name not only for tyrants of empires with us no longer, but also for governments everywhere who simply get rid of their Jews when they are no longer required – the first being Edward I in England. In 1290, he made sure that the Jewish community were drowned in the Wash, after bleeding them dry with his wars in Scotland and Wales. And yet Edward is known as a good and very effective king.
To return to our initial prototype biblical Pharaoh, he no longer ‘knows’ the Jewish people, he pretends they don’t exist. And to prove his contempt, he degrades them through humiliating and useless labours contrived to make no sense at all – exactly like Hitler who coined the phrase: ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’.
Everyone knows that slavery never liberates. On the contrary, slavery leads to negative habits, and often to suicide. So, by bringing the new Jewish nation, known as ‘the children of Israel’, out of Egypt – G-d is testing their desire to be pioneers. And often there is backsliding and yearning for the comforts of past slavery. Even though they know that the Promised Land of Israel is in sight, the Jewish people never stop squabbling and complaining – and some even challenge Moses’ leadership.
And during the time of these stories of the 10 Plagues and the journey through the Reed Sea, with Pharaoh changing his mind yet again and chasing after the slaves he has just ‘let go’; their seemingly never-ending trek through the Wilderness and the epiphany at Sinai, site of the 613 commandments, when G-d appears to every man, woman and child, why do we suddenly celebrate in two weeks’ time the important Festival of Tu B’Shvat, New Year for Trees?
Judaism is a religion of many parts: linear, cyclical, environmental, historical, spiritual and seasonal (just to name but a few). But with the Exodus stories starting in the heart of winter and morphing into the first signs of spring, what exactly do we celebrate at this time with Tu B’Shvat?
We celebrate the first appearance of the first almond, known in Hebrew as sh-k-d, an anagram for ‘holiness’ and also conveying the idea of watchfulness, with a connection to Jeremiah 1:11-12, where the tiny ‘almond’ becomes a ‘watch-word’.
Here is Rashi’s commentary on the ‘almond’ verse, which he wrote in northern France in around 1066, when fellow-Frenchmen were invading England and taking it over at the Battle of Hastings.
The almond is generally regarded as one of the most health-giving foods in existence – and one of its traits is that it is quite hard to crack, starts off with a bitter taste and then becomes sweeter as you get used to it.
This present Covid situation, which first started to be taken seriously in this country around Pesach (Passover) of last year, has everything to do with Exodus and almonds.
As early as Tu Bshvat last year, Israel started to make very difficult decisions in order to combat the oncoming plague. For instance, the spring Purim carnival, much loved by children, was cancelled. It is not yet known whether it will go ahead this year.
The month between Tu B’Shvat and Purim will be a seminal period when decisions will have to be made. Meanwhile all schools are still shut over there.
However, with people under 50 now being inoculated in Israel, it may be that the vast majority of adults will be inoculated by the end of February, just when Purim takes place, a month before Pesach (Passover).
So, during this festive time of plagues tempered with almonds and slavery tempered by liberation, who knows what the outcome will be. The only way forward is eternal vigilance – which has been the watchword of the Jewish people for 4,000 years.
Dr Irene Lancaster is a Jewish academic, author and translator who has established university courses on Jewish history, Jewish studies and the Hebrew Bible. She trained as a teacher in modern Languages and Religious Education. […]

(Photo: Unsplash/Michael Marais)
Churches in Scotland have joined other faiths in encouraging people to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
They are among the signatories of a joint letter by Scottish faith leaders voicing support for the Government vaccination programme aiming to innoculate up to 400,000 people across Scotland against coronavirus by the end of February. 
“We faith leaders in Scotland understand the difficulty that our communities are facing during this pandemic,” the letter reads.
“We urge all faith communities to take measures that will ensure their safety and the safety of others.
“Furthermore, we support the Covid-19 vaccination programme across the community and we encourage people to be vaccinated so that they keep themselves and their neighbours safe.”
The letter has been signed by Rev Dr George Whyte, Principal Clerk of the Church of Scotland General Assembly, Bishop Hugh Gilbert, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Scotland, the Most Rev Mark Strange, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Dr Muhammad Rafiq Habib, Convenor of the Muslim Council of Scotland, and Rabbi Moshe Rubin, Senior Rabbi Of Scotland, among others.
While churches in Scotland have been forced to close for public worship during the latest national lockdown, Dr Whyte said they were still playing a vital role in the community, with a number of church buildings opening up across the country as vaccination centres. 
They include Morningside Parish Church, Edinburgh, and Dunfermline East Church, in Fife.
Scottish Catholic leaders have strongly opposed the suspension of public worship, while the Church of Scotland has been supportive of the measure. 
Dr Whyte said: “The Church of Scotland is working with the Scottish Government to ensure that local churches continue to be part of the effort to suppress the coronavirus outbreak by following the advice to stay at home as much as possible.
“We fully accept that the latest pandemic restrictions mean that we have to close churches again for the time being.
“While recognising that communal worship is an essential element of our faith, we also know that the Church remains present and active in our local communities even while buildings are closed.
“We will continue to work with the Scottish Government to ensure that reopening churches will happen as soon as it can be done safely.
“In the meantime, we are encouraged by the many church congregations across Scotland who are offering essential support -both spiritual and practical – to their local communities.”  […]

Dec 17, 2020
“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”  
Deuterononmy 31:6
Trusting God is one of the Bible’s primary themes. The words faith, believe, and trust are seen over and over. These are ways we receive from God, and they help us develop a solid relationship with God that is not shaken even during the most difficult circumstances. They eliminate worry, and that, of course, includes worry about the future. Trust allows us to enjoy the peace that passes understanding. As a matter of fact, trusting God is what allows us to enjoy life. Without it we find no rest for our souls.
“Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched, he said to him, “Be strong and courageous! For you will lead these people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors he would give them. You are the onewho will divide it among them as their grants of land.”
Deuterononmy 31:7
We don’t even know for sure what will happen in the next five minutes, let alone a year or more from now. After entering into a relationship with God, we begin to learn that He wants us to trust Him and to lean and rely on Him for absolutely everything. This does not mean that we do nothing while God does everything for us, but it does mean that we trust Him more than we trust ourselves or anyone else.
We have the privilege of trusting our Lord for protection, provision, strength, and wisdom—and certainly for the future. You can relax, because no matter what your future holds, God knows all about it, and He will go before you and plan your every step!
Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
Deuterononmy 31:8 […]

While Trump extremists set the vice president up as a traitor, most believers stood by his decision to confirm the election. […]

Church leaders believe entrepreneurial pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell already accounted for the wrong by apologizing and repaying investors. […]