‘Fetus Shall Not Have Independent Rights,’ Vermont Abortion Bill Declares
A bill in the Vermont House that has more than 80 co-sponsors declares that fetuses have no rights and that women who perform their own abortions cannot be prosecuted.
Some observers are calling this bill even more radical than the controversial abortion bills in New York and Virginia. The abortion bill in New York was signed into law last month.
“Every individual who becomes pregnant has the fundamental right to choose to carry a pregnancy to term, give birth to a child, or to have an abortion,” the bill, H. 57, says.
The bill then declares: “A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus shall not have independent rights under Vermont law.” The New York law did not include such language.
It even gives Vermont citizens the right to perform their own abortions.
“No State or local law enforcement shall prosecute any individual for inducing, performing, or attempting to induce or perform the individual’s own abortion,” it reads.
The bill is known as the Freedom of Choice Act.
“This bill proposes to recognize as a fundamental right the freedom of reproductive choice and to prohibit public entities from interfering with or restricting the right of an individual to terminate the individual’s pregnancy,” it reads.
The state’s pro-life leaders say they will fight to defeat it.
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews Founder and President Passes Away at 67
President and Founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, z”l passed away Wednesday in his Jerusalem home. Eckstein was 67 years old. The ministry released a statement following his death expressing their sadness for his loss but their gratitude for his life.
The Fellowship wrote, “We are in shock and mourning the loss of our visionary leader, rabbi, friend and colleague. Rabbi Eckstein was a giant in the Jewish and Christian communities, a man who devoted his every moment to helping Israel and the Jewish people. Yechiel forged unbreakable bonds of Christian-Jewish friendship and unity around a shared love for Israel that will stand as his timeless legacy.”
According to the press release, Eckstein founded The Fellowship in 1983 and spent his life working to help low-income Israeli families, Holocaust survivors and toward “strengthening the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”
In the past four years leading up to his death, Eckstein was working to help relocate and resettle more than 17,000 immigrants to Israel struggling with “economic hardship, persecution, and terror in 31 countries.” Eckstein was also working on building a global center for Christians in Jerusalem.
Eckstein’s loss was felt around the globe. Many prominent figures of faith and dignitaries have voiced their sadness for his…
President Trump Quotes Jeremiah 1:5 in Defending Unborn Life at National Prayer Breakfast
President Trump on Thursday committed to helping protect faith-based adoption agencies and then quoted the book of Jeremiah in reaffirming his position on the unborn.
Trump’s comments came at the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual event that brings together different religious groups and members from both parties. Every president since President Eisenhower has attended.
Trump discussed several issues, including anti-Semitism, human and sex trafficking, and religious liberty, but his remarks about abortion received the loudest applause.
“As part of our commitment to building a just and loving society, we must build a culture that cherishes the dignity and sanctity of innocent human life,” Trump said. “All children, born and unborn, are made in the holy image of God. Every life is sacred, and every soul is a precious gift from heaven.
“As the Lord says in Jeremiah, ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you before you were born. I set you apart,’” he added, quoting from Jeremiah 1:5.
To underscore his point, Trump recounted the story of a baby named Grayson that was born in the backseat of a car during a snowstorm four months premature, weighing only one pound, 11 ounces. Doctors were unsure if he would survive. The parents, Nikki and Tyler Watkinson, were in attendance at the prayer breakfast.
International Christian Concern (ICC) reported a spike in brutal killings in 2018 in the country’s Middle Belt region, with the heaviest attacks taking place in Plateau State.
According to a report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), approximately 1,930 deaths were attributed to Fulani militants in 2018 alone, nearly six times the death toll caused by terrorist group Boko Haram.
The Global Terrorism Index reported: “At its core, the herder-farmer violence occurring in Nigeria revolves around the economic plight resulting from the worsening drought and land degradation in Nigeria’s northern regions.
“The livelihood of Nigeria’s Fulani population is threatened as desertification of their land pushes them south.”
The Christian charity has called on the Nigerian government to do more to stem the violence.
They added: “Despite these violent attacks, there have been no major attempts by the Nigerian government to hold the Fulani accountable or disarm them.
“Both of these steps must happen if this violence is to be stopped. The Middle Belt conflict should be a cause of great concern for President Buhari and all…
Legal Struggle of Doctor Reflects Wider Harassment of Christians in India
HYDERABAD, India, February 7, 2019 (Morning Star News) – Emergency medicine doctor Christo Thomas Philip was returning with his family to his native India from a medical conference in Greece when immigration officials at Delhi’s Indira Ghandi International Airport took him into custody.
His deportation from India on that day, April 26, 2016, came after working for three years treating destitute people on the verge of death from snakebites, HIV, diphtheria, tuberculosis and heart failure, among other conditions, in Raxaul, a remote area of eastern India’s Bihar state. He was planning to return to his work there at the emergency care unit of Duncan Hospital.
“My wife and children were allowed entry back into the country,” Philip, 36, told Morning Star News. “But as soon as my passport was scanned, I was surrounded by multiple Indian immigration officials, taken into custody and was informed that I had an hour to leave the country.”
At age 10 Philip had migrated with his family to the United States, where he was educated. He had a life-time visa to India and an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card, but the immigration officials confiscated the card and his passport, telling him only that he was no longer welcome on orders of the Consulate General of India in Houston, Texas.
“It broke my heart to see my family from behind the cordoned-off section of…
In Methodist Central Hall in Westminster on Thursday, hundreds of teachers, students, church leaders and educational professionals gathered to talk about the future of education and specifically how to build character and confidence among pupils from every background.
After a congregational rendition of Be Thou My Vision, the Education Secretary delivered his speech, saying: “The Church of England obviously knows a thing or two about character – it’s one of the reasons your schools get such good results, why 88% of them are rated good or outstanding. Yours is one of the biggest names in education in the country – the single biggest name in primary education in particular. There have been church schools even longer, of course, than there have been state schools.
“Now we’re seeing a further development of distinctive diocesan church multi academy trusts and I want to see more people, I hope, coming through from parishes to join in with that as governors and trustees.”
Damian Hinds, who went to a Catholic school himself, went on to say that he wants ‘public school confidence’ to be a term of the past but the attribute to be available to students of every background, through greater access to creative, voluntary and performance-based activities.
When asked by Premier Christian Radio whether this was something churches could help with, as they’ve been providing youth…
Open Heaven 8 February 2019 Friday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Weak Vessels
Topic: Weak Vessels (Open Heaven 8 February 2019)
Memorise: “And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.”- Judges 15:15
Read: 1 Samuel 17:38-50 (KJV)
38 And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.
39 And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.
40 And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.
41 And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.
42 And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.
43 And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44 And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.
45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
46 This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
47 And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands.
48 And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.
50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.
Bible in One Year: John 1-2, Isaiah 35:1-36:3
Open Heaven 8 February 2019 Friday MESSAGE:
In Daniel 12:4, the Holy Spirit reveals that as the end of the world approaches, knowledge will greatly increase, and indeed, the world has witnessed an unprecedented increase in knowledge, particularly in the last two decades. Knowledge made available through studies in humanities, science and technology has become so advanced that human capacity for discovery, creativity and invention is at its highest level in history. If knowledge is power, then increased knowledge is a weapon that is highly desirable for achieving results and for doing exploits. Consequently, secular and Christian individuals and organizations now favor intellectual knowledge and advanced strategies and methods as the means for achieving success in life and ministry, and place a premium on those who are strong in this area.
However, God in His infinite wisdom seems to prefer the use of weak and ordinary vessels in achieving His divine purpose. Just imagine what He accomplished with ordinary vessels like the aged Abraham, Moses the murderer, Joseph the slave and prisoner, Rehab the harlot, Samson the one-man army, Samuel the little boy, Ruth the poor widow, Esther the orphan in captivity, David the forgotten shepherd boy, Joseph the carpenter, Mary the ordinary village girl, the disciples who were mostly uneducated fishermen, and a host of orders. 1 Corinthians 1: 26-28 affirms that not many wise people from human perspective, not many powerful people, and not many people of noble birth are called of God to accomplish purpose; but rather, God chooses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and He uses the weak things to amaze the mighty ones. Are you despised and considered inconsequential in the scheme of things? Does the world see you as weak or foolish? I have good news for you: you are a candidate for God’s use.
Why does God prefer to use weak vessels? It’s because He does not want anyone to boast in His presence (1 Corinthians 1:29). He does not want His mighty deeds attributed to human ability. His awesome feats done through weak vessels are indeed astounding. Today’s memory verse tells how Samson the untrained civilian used the jawbone of a donkey to kill a thousand armed philistine soldiers. 1 Samuel 17:50 records David the shepherd boy’s victory over Goliath with just a sling and a stone. Joshua 6:20 recounts how the wall of Jericho, which would have taken several days of serious work for bulldozers to demolish, fell down flat at the sound of a great noise from God’s people. God wants our faith to stand in Him and not in the wisdom of men. While knowledge is good, only faith in God through Jesus Christ can result in supernatural and malicious advancements.
Open Heaven 8 February 2019 Friday Key Point:
God only uses vessels He can fill. Are you full of your own wisdom?
Open Heaven 8 February 2019 Friday Hymn 4: Take My Life, And Let It Be
1.Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise,
Let them flow in endless praise.
2.Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee,
Swift and beautiful for Thee.
3.Take my voice and let me sing,
Always, only for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee,
Filled with messages from Thee.
4. Take my silver and my gold, Not a mite would I withhold. Take my intellect and use Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose, Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.
5. Take my will and make it Thine, It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is Thine own, It shall be Thy royal throne, It shall be Thy royal throne.
6. Take my love, my Lord, I pour At Thy feet its treasure store. Take myself and I will be Ever, only, all for Thee, Ever, only, all for Thee.
Open Heaven 8 February 2019 Friday Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries. The Open Heavens devotional application is available across all mobile platforms and operating systems: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and PC. Open Heaven 8 February 2019 Friday Daily Devotional.
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Senate Passes Bill that Allows States to Boycott Businesses Boycotting Israel
The U.S. Senate passed a bill this week that allows state and local governments to stop doing business with companies that support boycotts, sanctions and divestments (BDS) against Israel.
“The goal of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is to eliminate any Jewish state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea,” he wrote in a New York Times piece before the measure passed.
Before the vote, Rubio had said the bill would allow for the U.S. to stand “strong with our allies.”
“At its core, the linchpin of it is helping Israel defend itself,” he said.
Some Democrats, however, say the bill is a violation of the First Amendment.
“This is a bad faith and disingenuous effort by Republicans to turn boycotts into a wedge issue, and to threaten Americans’ right to free speech,” said
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.), the first Palestinian-American woman in Congress. “Economic boycotts have defined historic social justice and human rights movements in the United States and beyond.”
Said Sen. Dick Durbin: “I oppose it because it limits the right of individuals to express themselves.”
But Rubio said the bill does not infringe on First Amendment rights.
“By design, it focuses on business entities — not individuals — and, consistent with the Supreme Court’s…
RCCG Fasting Prayer Points for 8 February 2019 – DAY 29: PRAYER FOR CHURCH GROWTH: Acts 2:47; 2:42, Matt. 16:18 John. 12:32
DAY 29: PRAYER FOR CHURCH GROWTH: Acts 2:47; 2:42, Matt. 16:18 John. 12:32 (FRIDAY 8th Feb 2019)
Intense praise and worship
Thank God for a new day and for the salvation of your soul
Thank God for the unprecedented growth of RCCG since its inception. This is the lord’s doing. Psalms 118:23
Father, by the blood of Jesus, give us the heathens for our inheritance and the utter most part of the earth for our possession–Ps. 2:8
Father, in the name of Jesus, cause your acts in this church to be noised abroad as in the day of Pentecost, thereby drafting multitudes into this church all through this prophetic season –Acts 2:6/41
Father, in the name of Jesus, release your reaper-angels to take over our harvest field, appearing to all our contacts in visions and revelations, thereby drafting them into this Church –Acts 10:3/34-35
Father, by the Mystery of the Passover Blood, let every captive ordained for eternal life during this prophetic season be released and established in this church –Acts 13:48
Father, in the name of Jesus, let your master reaper angel, cast his sharp sickle into our harvest field, to thoroughly reap every soul ordained for salvation all through this prophetic season –Rev. 14:14/16
Father, by the blood of Jesus, we cast out every evil beast seeking to manipulate our new converts, new members from being established in this church all through this prophetic season –34:25
Father, in the name of Jesus, send your reaper-angels into our harvest filed, mobilizing multitudes into this church for their salvation and deliverance all through this prophetic season –13:39.
A national dialogue prayer breakfast was held in the capital Harare on Thursday.
Rev Dr Kenneth Mtata, general secretary of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) attended and told Premier he left feeling hopeful.
Speaking during the News Hour, he said: “I think we have come out of a very difficult time but there is a sense that the nation seeks to converge in a direction that is solution orientated.”
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has claimed that the death toll following an army crackdown in the country has risen to 17.
State security forces launched the crackdown after protests erupted on 17th January, which were sparked by protests against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s announcement of massive fuel hikes.
The breakfast was organised by various church bodies including the ZCC, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe and the Union for the Development of Apostolic Churches in Zimbabwe Africa.
Rev Dr Kenneth wrote on Twitter: “We had dialogue in 1979, and a new Zimbabwe was born. We had dialogue in 1987, and had the Unity Accord. Had dialogue in 2009, and got a government of national unity. We had a wide engagement in 2013, and got a new constitution.
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