Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib said Friday she won’t accept Israel’s offer to visit her aging grandmother on humanitarian grounds, believing entering the country under such conditions would be “humiliating” and conflict with her beliefs.

A Muslim and Palestinian-American, Tlaib (Mich.) along with Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minn.) were barred Thursday from entering Israel because they support the BDS Movement to boycott, divest from and sanction the Jewish nation.

“Congressmen Talib and Omar are leading activists in promoting boycott legislation against Israel in the U.S. Congress,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “As a vibrant and free democracy, Israel is open to any critic and criticism, with one exception: Israel’s law prohibits the entry of people who call and operate to boycott Israel, as is the case with other democracies that prevent the entry of people whose perception harms the country.”

Tlaib had asked Israel to let her visit her family in the West Bank, where her grandmother, who is in her 90s, lives.

“This could be my last opportunity to see her,” Tlaib wrote, according to CNN.

Israel responded that it would permit Tlaib to visit on humanitarian grounds. She declined, writing on Twitter it would be “humiliating.”

“In my attempt to visit Palestine, I’ve experienced the same racist treatment…

The administration of Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin on Friday declined to grant a license to Planned Parenthood to perform abortions at its Louisville clinic, asserting it previously violated state law by performing illegal abortions.  

The letter from Adam Meier, secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, says the clinic performed 23 abortions between December 2015 and January 2016 without a license. Bevin, a pro-life Republican, was sworn in as governor Dec. 8, 2015.

Cabinet spokeswoman Christina Dettman told the Courier-Journal newspaper there was a “clear statutory basis for the denial as stated in the letter sent to Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky.”

Planned Parenthood says the previous administration of Democrat Steve Beshear – who is pro-choice – had allowed it to perform abortions while an inspection was conducted. It acknowledges it did not have a license.

The Bevin administration in 2016 sued Planned Parenthood, asserting that the organization was “placing its patients at extreme risk to their health, safety and lives had an emergency occurred.” That lawsuit is still pending. 

U.S. District Court Judge Greg Stivers had given the Bevin administration until Aug. 19 to make a decision on Planned Parenthood’s application for a license, according to the Courier-Journal.

Planned Parenthood criticized Meier for…

The co-creator of VeggieTales says Christian television programming will one day have to address LGBT issues on their shows.

Phil Vischer told the Christian Post that those topics are going “to show up more and more.”

“Parents are definitely going to have to deal with a growing LGBT presence in children’s media,” Vischer said.

“It’s going to show up more and more as the world has decided that LGBT issues are in the same categories as race and civil rights issues. So to say you shouldn’t have a same-sex couple on Sesame Street is the equivalent of saying you shouldn’t have a black couple on Sesame Street.”

Vischer said there are already many shows addressing LGBT issues. In 2017, the children’s Disney show Doc McStuffins aired an episode that featured a same-sex couple of two mothers, CBN News reports.

Also, as Christian Headlines previously reported, this year the PBS show Arthur showed Arthur and his friends attending their teacher’s gay wedding. One character told the group at the wedding, “Yep, it’s a brand new world.”

Vischer said he worried that none of the characters were portrayed as questioning the wedding.

“The most striking thing about that episode of Arthur wasn’t that they thought it was time to introduce kids to gay marriage; it was the reaction of all the kids on the show,” he said. “None of them asked questions…

Former Harvest Bible Chapel pastor James MacDonald reportedly shared some news on a closed Facebook page indicating that he may be returning to ministry. 

According to the Christian Post, MacDonald – who was ousted from HBC earlier this year after being accused of bullying and financial mismanagement – shared on closed Facebook group Walk in the World Partners that he is looking forward to sharing the word of God again in the coming days.

The former megachurch pastor wrote, in part, “we will be back soon w[ith] fresh messages from God’s Word. All free – all digital – all the time, as promised.”

In the message, MacDonald also noted that he looks forward to reconciling differences with others as he prepares for the truth to “come to light.” 

He wrote, “Please continue in prayer for Kathy and I – there has been a great deal of loss for us this year but we love one another and the Lord and have prayed fervently not to say or do anything during our trial that would undermine our many years of teaching you God’s Word.”

He continued, “We have prayed to practice our biblical teaching on love and God has surely allowed us to be stretched. There is much we could say, as so much is not at all what has been portrayed. But we look to the Lord for forgiveness where I did fail as a leader and for vindication of false statements that will not cover forever what others have…