After praying over President Trump in an afternoon church service on Sunday, Pastor David Platt – known for his nonpartisan preaching – wrote a letter to his congregation disclosing his thoughts on the experience. 

In a letter posted to the church’s website and later shared to social media, Platt shared that he had to make a split-second decision as to whether he would pray over his unexpected visitor or not. 

Plat wrote, “At the end of my sermon at the 1:00 worship gathering, I stepped to the side for what I thought would be a couple of moments in quiet reflection as we prepared to take the Lord’s Supper. But I was immediately called backstage and told that the President of the United States was on his way to the church, would be there in a matter of minutes, and would like for us to pray for him.”

Platt explained that he immediately thought of the message taught in 1 Timothy 2:1-6, which is to pray for everyone, including world leaders because it “is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.”

So, Platt decided to pray over the President together with his church body. 

In his letter, however, Platt made it clear that this was not a show of support for the President. The pastor wrote, “My aim was in no way to endorse the president, his policies, or his party, but to obey God’s command to pray for our president and other leaders…

A Rhode Island Bishop has come under fire for tweeting a warning against participating in pro-LGBT “pride” events. 

In a message addressed to his diocese, Bishop Thomas Tobin tweeted that these occasions “promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals,” before warning that “Catholics should not support or attend LGBTQ ‘Pride Month’ events held in June.”

In addition to this stern caution, Tobin also insisted that the events, which often involve the appearance of scantily clad gay, lesbian and trans people, are “especially harmful for children.”

Within a day of posting the message, Tobin was inundated with criticism, receiving almost 100,000 replies, most of which were overtly negative. “This is pure ignorance & bigotry. Ignore this hate-filled hypocrite. His mind set leads only to suffering,” one person wrote.

“You know what’s proven to be actually harmful to children..? The Catholic Church,” another jabbed, seeking to draw attention to the sexual abuse crisis that has engulfed the church in recent years.

Tennis star Martina Navratilova also took this line of criticism, tweeting that “the Catholic clergy has been a lot more dangerous to kids than LGBT. Just so you don’t forget….”

In response to the Bishop’s tweet, the pro-LGBT community decided to organize…

Catholic schools in Brisbane will soon begin teaching their students gender-neutral pronouns for God and will stop using “Lord,” “Father,” and “Son” in prayers. The Daily Mail reports that schools such as All Hallows, Stuartholme, Loreto College, and Stuartholme School “are leading a push towards a feminist interpretation of the Christian Bible.” 

A spokeswoman for the schools told the Sunday Mail that, “’As we believe God is neither male or female, Stuartholme tries to use gender-neutral terms in prayers … so that our community deepens their understanding of who God is for them, how God reveals Godself through creation, our relationships with others and the person of Jesus.”

This commitment to gender-neutrality has shown itself in a number of different ways at the schools. Loreto College took the word “Lord” out of their prayers because it is a “male term.” Families at Stuartholme School will pay almost $40,000 a year for their children to learn to use “Godself” instead of the pronoun “himself.” St Joseph’s College, a Catholic boys’ school in Brisbane, replaced “brothers” with “sisters and brothers” and “brotherhood” with “international community.”

Loreto College’s principal, Kim Wickham, said the prayers the college uses don’t assign a gender to God. She said the school has a commitment to inclusive language,…

A female pro-life Democrat who supported a Louisiana bill banning most abortions is speaking out, saying the party should change its stance on the contentious issue. 

“In Louisiana… a majority of Democrats in the legislature are pro-life,” Louisiana state Rep. Katrina Jackson told Fox News Monday. “We refer to ourselves as whole-life Democrats.”

Jackson was among the Democrats in the state legislature who voted for a Louisiana bill banning abortion once an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detected. 

Opposing abortion, she said, is “not difficult for us.”

“It’s our Christian value, our sincerely held belief that abortion is wrong so we fight for it but we are different in how we approach the issue,” Jackson said.

She’s not the only pro-life Democrat in Louisiana politics. For example, the bill was sponsored by a Democrat and signed into law by the state’s Democratic governor.  

“We talk to Democrats across the state that are pro-life,” she said. “We really aren’t distracted by those who believe that abortion is right. You are always going to have people that are pro-choice. You will have people that are pro-life. What we try to focus on is our issue. That is being whole-life. Of caring about the entire life. We sometimes say from the womb to the tomb.”

Unlike her national colleagues, Jackson wants to see Roe v Wade…

A Nebraska elementary school reprinted its newest yearbook before it was distributed to students because the cover included a cross.

The fifth graders at Manchester Elementary School in Elkhorn, Neb., voted for the 2018-19 yearbook’s original cover art – a white calligram of a cross comprised of 15 different words such as “love,” “learn,” “dream” and “faith,” the Omaha World Herald reported.

But the principal and the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO), which raises funds for the publication, did not approve it before it was printed.

PTO President Andrea Abrahamson said board members “voted unanimously to reprint the cover as it was not sensitive to our all-student agenda.”

“The yearbook cover in question was not distributed to students,” Abrahamson told the newspaper.

The reprinted yearbook cover includes a scene with clouds.

It is the second time in less than a year the school has received national attention. Last winter, then-principal Jennifer Sinclair issued a directive banning Christmas music, Christmas carols, Christmas trees, candy canes, Santa and the colors red and green, as Christian Headlines reported. 

Sinclair eventually stepped down, even though Liberty Counsel – the legal group that wanted the policy overturned – had said it wasn’t wanting her dismissed.  

Related:

School Bans Santa, Christmas Trees,…