The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of BCNN1. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s).

If you have kids, or if you ever were a kid, you know about the television show Sesame Street. It’s been around for more than 50 years and it’s been appropriately described as an American institution, with lovable characters, entertaining stories, and unique music. It was the first television show to base its content on educational goals and a curriculum, and for so many children (and their parents), it made learning fun.

Indeed, if there’s one street that always felt safe for children, it was Sesame Street. And why not? It features a plethora of friendly puppets, an 8-foot tall yellow bird with no teeth, and a character named Mr. Snuffleupagus. Does any of this sound the least bit alarming? The show teaches concepts such as numbers and letters, and values including kindness, sharing, cooperation, and respect.

Of course, the show hasn’t been immune to criticism during its 50-year run. Google “Sesame Street controversy” and you will find plenty of examples. That shouldn’t be surprising, because like most media and entertainment, Sesame Street has long been located near the intersection of culture and progressive ideology.

But now, as culture becomes evermore polarized, and “progressive ideology” becomes increasingly “progressive,” parents need to ask themselves a serious question: Is Sesame Street still a “safe place” for my children?

For many, recent headlines have thrust this question to the foreground.

Sesame Street recently announced it will feature Billy Porter on an upcoming episode. Who is Billy Porter? He’s an actor and entertainer, and he’s been described as a “gay icon.” Billy stars in Pose, a television show about New York City’s LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming ballroom culture scene. In 2013, he won a Tony Award for his portrayal of “drag queen” Lola in the Broadway musical Kinky Boots. And last year, he made waves when he donned a black velvet tuxedo gown to the 2019 Oscars.

In case you’re wondering, Billy brought that dress to Sesame Street.

Not surprisingly, Sesame Street’s announcement generated quite the stir. Nearly 60,000 people have signed a LifeSite petition, asking HBO and its parent company, AT&T, to drop the episode. Billy responded, “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it,” and further told critics to “[s]tay out of my bedroom.”

Tony Perkins, President of Family Research Council, countered, “Leave the bedroom out of our children’s shows, and it won’t be our business.” He also noted that it appears Sesame Street is focused on teaching the letters “L-G-B-T.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, James Gottry

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Aegean locals are tiring of refugees from Turkey, but migration doesn’t look to be stopping any time soon.

Greece has decided to stop construction on new refugee camps, but Tasos Ioannidis with AMG International believes that the situation is only meant to appease locals and won’t last very long.

Neither are the islanders going to get what they really want. “They want, really, the refugees to be moved from the islands to the mainland, and the government does not want to do that, because then Turkey refuses to take back those who come but are denied asylum. So once they leave the islands it’s harder to return them if their applications for asylum are rejected. So it’s a complicated situation.”

If refugees can reach the mainland, they get much better care than in severely overcrowded refugee camps. AMG can also help them assimilate to Greek culture, training them in language and giving them permanent homes.

Ioannidis says, “There are times when there is medical help needed, and they have nowhere else to turn, So, in those cases, we do care for a number of refugees at St. Luke’s Hospital as the need arises and as we have the ability to do so.”

SOURCE: Mission Network News, Kevin Zeller

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The Parent’s Television Council (PTC) launched a petition against AT&T to stop children from stumbling across pornographic content.

“AT&T is a $19 billion Texas-based company that owns HBO and DirecTV,” said PTC president Tim Winter in an email to PTC supporters. “Both networks are damaging tens of millions of families with horrible porn streaming into our homes with programs targeting our children.”

Like PTC, Movieguide® has warned parents of the negative effects porn has on media consumers, specifically youngsters. Additionally, porn is seeping into the lives of young adults too. In recent days even, Steven Spielberg’s daughter said she’s getting into the porn industry.

Winter shared about his interactions with HBO, who, in turn, dismissed his concerns:

Last month, when I wrote to ask you to renew your support for 2020, I promised that two of PTC’s major goals for 2020 would include canceling AT&T porn shows like Euphoria and cleaning up streaming and satellite TV.

AT&T owns HBO, the creator of Euphoria. In response to our letters and petitions, AT&T’s HBO replied that Euphoria‘s 30 scenes of penises, child rape, and sexual choking were “creative freedom.” They called this explicit sexual violence “the art of TV” that will “entertain and engage audiences, and at times encourage a public dialogue.”

Sadly, HBO’s lewd programming isn’t a new trend. Movieguide® previously covered that descriptions of EUPHORIA show reveal that it’s vile beyond belief.

SOURCE: Movieguide

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President Trump wrapped up his trip to India this week by praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday, saying that they have worked hard to improve religious freedom conditions in the country.

The president’s two-day trip comes as ongoing riots and clashes between Muslim and Hindu groups over a controversial citizenship amendment that Muslims say is unfair has led to the death of at least 13 people in Delhi in recent days.

Although Trump did not take a position on the legislation, which has been criticized by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom as a possible “religious test” for citizenship, he did seem to express optimism regarding the condition of religious freedom in India.

Although Trump has vowed to promote religious freedom worldwide, his administration has not spoken out as boldly on the deteriorating religious freedom conditions in India as it has with other religious freedom violations across the globe, such as those in China.

Many called on the president to bring the issue up during his meeting with Modi.

Trump told reporters during a news conference that he and Modi “did talk about religious freedom” for “a long time.” Trump stressed that he “really believes” religious freedom is what Modi wants.

“The prime minister was incredible on what he told me. He wants people to have religious freedom,” Trump said at a news conference Tuesday. “He said that, in India, they have worked very hard to have great and open religious freedom. And if you look back and you look at what’s going on, relative to other places especially, they have really worked hard on religious freedom.”

Since Modi and the BJP came to power in 2014, rights groups have warned that Hindu nationalists have acted with relative impunity in attacking and persecuting Christians and other minorities that they view as “non-Indian.”

ADF India reported last year that there have been over 1,000 reported incidents of Christian persecution in India since 2014. ADF India and its partners who facilitate a database of Christian persecution report there to have been over a dozen incidents of Christian persecution in India in February 2020 alone.

Most recently, the database reported that police personnel raided Christians’ homes in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh at around 11 p.m. on Feb. 19. The Christians were reportedly warned that their names would be removed from a ration register and they wouldn’t be allowed to avail government facilities.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Samuel Smith

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U.S. Attorney General William Barr will be a featured speaker today at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Tennessee. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Jay Sekulow, one of the attorneys who defended President Donald Trump during his impeachment trial, are also on the schedule.

Barr’s afternoon presentation is part of a forum that will explore how the First Amendment should handle “divergent, and sometimes clashing, religious faiths,” according to the convention schedule.

DeVos and Sekulow will form part of a morning panel discussing public policy.

National Religious Broadcasters, or NRB, describes itself as an international association of Christian communicators. Members subscribe to a conservative statement of faith that includes a belief in the infallibility of the Bible, a belief that marriage is between one man and one woman and a belief that men and women have “distinct roles.”

The convention at a Nashville hotel runs through Friday.

SOURCE: AP

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Authorities have identified a woman’s body found off a forest road in northern Arizona as a New Mexico resident reported missing over a month ago.

Sasha Krause, 27, was last seen Jan. 18 picking up items from the Farmington Mennonite Church in northwestern New Mexico. Her car was parked outside.

A body that matched her description was discovered Friday near Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki national monuments, more than 270 miles (434 kilometers) away from where Krause last was seen. Fingerprints taken at the scene matched Krause’s driver’s license record in Texas, authorities said Tuesday.

The investigation into how she died is ongoing, said Coconino County sheriff’s spokesman Jon Paxton. The Coconino County medical examiner’s office said the results of an autopsy will take a few weeks.

“I think it’s all just kind of a mystery right now,” Paxton said. “Once we get a cause from the ME, that’s really going to lead us forward.”

Paxton said it’s unclear when Krause died or how long her body had been there.

Krause was wearing the same clothing—a gray dress with white pinstripes, a white jacket and black shoes—that she had on outside the Mennonite church in Farmington, New Mexico, said San Juan County, New Mexico, sheriff’s spokeswoman Jayme Harcrow.

San Juan County authorities have been treating Krause’s disappearance as suspicious, checking Krause’s cellphone records and bank statements, and interviewing those who knew her. Searches by ground and air near where she lived turned up no sign of her.

Krause lived close to the church with other women who were known to travel together. She also taught Sunday school, was seemingly happy, wasn’t struggling financially and had a good relationship with her parents, Harcrow said.

She disappeared after eating dinner with her roommates but without her wallet, money, her driver’s license or car, indicating she might not have left on her own or willingly, Harcrow said.

“Based off her leaving unusually and being found dead in a remote location, our office is comfortable saying we’re treating it as a homicide investigation,” Harcrow said.

SOURCE: AP

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The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of BCNN1. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s).

What does a 9-year-old child know about sexuality? What does a pre-pubescent boy know about the meaning of “gay”? How many boys of that age still dream innocently of marrying their mothers? It is therefore absolutely outrageous that presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg gave a national platform to a 9-year-old who wanted advice on coming out as gay.

This is as shameful as it is irresponsible. That there was not an immediate, national outcry points to the morally confused and spiritually comatose condition of much of our country.

As reported by the New York Post, “A 9-year-old Colorado boy got kudos from openly gay Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg when he asked him during a rally for help telling the world that he’s also gay.”

The boy’s name was Zachary Ro, and his question, which he wrote on a piece of paper, read, “Thank you for being so brave. Would you help me tell the world I’m gay too? I want to be brave like you.”

Not surprisingly, his question “was met with cheers and chants of ‘Love means love’ from the nearly 4,000 people in attendance.”

Buttigieg was so impressed with the question that he brought the boy on the platform, together with his mother. And he commended the boy’s courage, saying, “I don’t think you need a lot of advice from me on bravery; you seem pretty strong.”

The crowd, of course, loved his answer, and the video of their interaction has gone viral. Instead, it should have provoked a national outrage. This, too, is child abuse.

Remember. This child is only 9 years old.

He is pre-pubescent.

He is only a few years removed from thinking that boys who like girls have “the cooties.” (Do you remember hearing that in kindergarten and the first grade?)

And surveys have indicated that plenty of teenagers who identify as gay no longer do so when they reach adulthood. (See below for more.)

I’m aware, of course, that many gay readers will say to me, “You are completely ignorant. I knew I was different when I was 6.”

Perhaps you did. But plenty of others thought they were same-sex attracted as children only to find out later that they were not. (And how many kids identify as heterosexual and then later “discover” they are homosexual?)

As a 2019 article in Science Alert notes (reporting on a major new, scientific health study), “Far from being a fixed preference, the findings suggest that sexual identity and attraction undergo extensive and often subtle changes throughout a person’s life, continuing long past adolescence and into adulthood, with women showing slightly more fluidity than men.”

The lead author of the study was Christine Kaestle, a developmental health scientist at Virginia Tech.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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TEXT: Hebrews 4:14-16

14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

——–

Steve Swartz said, “Cultivate your trust and familiarity with the Lord in prayer now so that when the hammer comes down, when the dam bursts, and when the earthquake hits, the door to the throne room of God is well-oiled and will open easily when you run through it.”

The story is told of a Christian Russian man named Ivan, who endures all the horrors of a Soviet prison camp. One day he is praying with his eyes closed when a fellow prisoner notices him and says with ridicule, “Prayers won’t help you get out of here any faster.” Opening his eyes, Ivan answers, “I do not pray to get out of prison but to do the will of God.”

Warren Wiersbe said, “No Old Testament high priest could minister mercy and grace in quite the same way as Jesus. When an Israelite was tempted, he could not easily run to the high priest for help; and he certainly could not enter the holy of holies for God’s help. But as believers in Jesus Christ, we can run to our High Priest at any time, in any circumstance, and find the help that we need. Now because of the superiority of Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest, over Aaron, two important conclusions can be drawn. First, there is no need in giving up our profession just because we are going through testing and trial. The word translated “profession” means “confession.” These Hebrew Christians were tempted to give up their confession of faith in Christ and their confidence in Him. It was not a matter of giving up their salvation, since salvation through Christ is eternal. It was a matter of their public confession of faith. By returning to the Old Testament system, they would be telling everyone that they had no faith in Christ. This kind of unbelief would only bring reproach to Christ’s name. After all, the great purpose of salvation is the glory of God. It was the glory of God that so concerned Moses when Israel broke God’s Law and made the golden calf. God offered to destroy the nation and to begin a new one from Moses, but Moses refused the offer. Instead Moses interceded for Israel on the basis of God’s glory and God’s promise; and God spared the people, even though He disciplined them for their sin. The second conclusion is this: there is no need to go back because we can come boldly into the presence of God and get the help we need. No trial is too great, no temptation is too strong, but that Jesus Christ can give us the mercy and grace that we need, when we need it. “But He is so far away!” we may argue. “And He is the perfect Son of God! What can He know about the problems of weak sinners like us?” But that is a part of His greatness! When He was ministering on earth in a human body, He experienced all that we experience, and even more. After all, a sinless person would feel temptations and trials in a much greater way than you and I could ever feel them. Christ was tempted, yet He did not sin; and He is able to help us when we are tempted. If we fail to hold fast our confession, we are not proving that Jesus Christ has failed. We are only telling the world that we failed to draw on His grace and mercy when it was freely available to us.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Now, if you are with us today, and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, your first prayer needs to be what we call the Sinner’s Prayer. First, please understand that you are a sinner, just as I am, and that you have broken God’s laws. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”

Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Now this is bad news, but here’s the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.

Romans 10:9 & 13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved… For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your Salvation today, please pray with me this simple prayer: Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.

If you just trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and you prayed that prayer and meant it from your heart, I declare to you that based upon the Word of God, you are now saved from Hell and you are on your way to Heaven. Welcome to the family of God! Congratulations on trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. You have done the most important thing in life. For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.

Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry.

He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University’s Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree.

He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.

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