24 February 2021
“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” [Ezekiel 33:6]
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” [Ephesians 6:12]
Presbyterians Week Headlines
[1] ‘Cancel Culture’ Strikes D. James Kennedy Ministries
[3] Christian Coalition Call on Government To Postpone Controversial Sex Education Programme
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[1] ‘Cancel Culture’ Strikes D. James Kennedy Ministries
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Feb. 19, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ — Lifetime TV demanded in February that D. James Kennedy Ministries (DJKM) eliminate all “controversial” content from Truths That Transform, its weekly half-hour Christian broadcast.
Specifically, Lifetime announced it would no longer air programming that addressed abortion or Left-wing financier George Soros. And it refused to carry any DJKM programming—even broadcasts celebrating George Washington—unless the media ministry founded in 1974 agreed to Lifetime’s sweeping new conditions.
“Because of Lifetime’s newfound ban on so-called ‘controversial’ content, D. James Kennedy Ministries has been forced off the cable channel—to which we have paid enormous fees since 2018 to air our program,” said Frank Wright, Ph.D., DJKM President and CEO.
Lifetime’s sudden decision to impose severe content restrictions came after nearly three years during which the cable channel aired, without comment, Truths That Transform programs addressing abortion and other matters of concern to Christian social conservatives. Just last October, Lifetime ran—without protest—D. James Kennedy Ministries’ blockbuster documentary, Billionaire Radical: George Soros and the Scheme to Remake America.
Yet in February Lifetime joined the growing number of private media firms—among them Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple and others—who are deplatforming and silencing outspoken Christian and conservative voices.
“We will not cave to the cancel culture,” Wright asserted. “D. James Kennedy Ministries is committed to proclaiming biblical truth and defending freedom in America. We simply cannot water down our message to please Lifetime and be faithful to our mission.”
Wright added that DJKM is actively working to find new broadcast distribution channels to replace its lost platform on Lifetime—which reaches 105 million TV households nationwide. Doing so, Wright said is enormously expensive and is made all the more difficult because of the recent decision by some networks to eliminate all religious programming.
“We are extremely grateful to our partners who are praying for us and standing with us by their much-needed financial support now,” Wright said.
“But this is not just about us,” Wright continued. “We are at a critical turning point in our culture. The cancel culture is in high gear and coming after anyone who speaks with courage and candor to the great moral and cultural issues of our day. With God’s help, we will not bow.”
To request an interview with Dr. Frank Wright, contact John Aman, Director of Communications, at j.aman@DJKM.org.
D. James Kennedy Ministries is a media ministry whose television programs, Truths That Transform and The Coral Ridge Hour, air nationwide. It actively communicates the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the supremacy of His Lordship, and a Biblically informed view of the world.
SOURCE D. James Kennedy Ministries
CONTACT: John Aman, j.aman@DJKM.org
+ D. James Kennedy Ministries, An Outreach of Coral Ridge Ministries Media, P.O. Box 11184, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33339, 866-534-1294, letters@djameskennedy.org
The following is excerpted from “4 Main Things Christians Need to Know about CRT,” Pulpit & Pen, Aug. 6, 2019: “Invented by Derrick Bell and other attorneys as a spin-off of Critical Legal Theory in American law schools in the 1980s, these theorists were disenchanted with the results of the Civil Rights Movement. Bell, Richard Delgado, and other CRT thinkers viewed classical liberal ideas such as meritocracy (people being rewarded based on their individual merits), equal opportunity, and colorblind justice (like that promoted by Dr. King) to all be factors that cause systemic, invisible, intangible racism. What many people don’t understand is that CRT rejects most of the things that the 1960s Civil Rights Movement fought for, like treating people equally in institutions and under the law. Instead, CRT teaches that if power is to be properly redistributed from the ‘haves’ to ‘have-nots’ (which in their eyes include minority identity groups), the law may actually need to be biased in favor of minority identity groups. … CRT is a system that rejects both human biology and Biblical doctrine and teaches that mankind should be separated into various ethnic minority groups. With CRT, people are encouraged to identify with their ethnicity (which CRT thought-leaders inaccurately label ‘race’), rather than with greater and more significant distinguishing factors, like Jesus, their nation, or their community. It’s also important to understand that Critical Race Theory–although it may seem counter-intuitive–doesn’t just deal with race. CRT promotes division between ‘identity groups,’ dividing people into either the ‘oppressor class’ (usually, White and ‘straight’ men holding to the majority religion) versus ‘victim identity groups’ which can include so-called ‘sexual minorities,’ the disabled, abuse victims, women, the ‘transgender,’ as well as ethnic groups. CRT is used by homosexuals, the transgender, and women as much as it is used by ethnic minorities. In CRT, ‘whiteness’ refers to anything identifying with power or privilege as it relates to the ‘majority class’ (usually, those who hold ethnic or religious majority). For CRT theorists, to be white is to have privilege, and to have privilege is to be white. The term Whiteness, as used in CRT, refers to any majority group that has majority status and–in the world of CRT–that is synonymous with power and privilege.” https://pulpitandpen.org/2019/08/06/4-main-things-christians-need-to-know-about-critical-race-theory/
+ Way of Life Literature, Post Office Box 610368, Port Huron, Michigan 48061, 519-652-2619, fbns@wayoflife.org
[3] Christian Coalition Call on Government To Postpone Controversial Sex Education Programme
A coalition of Christian educators and bodies has urged the Secretary of State for Education to postpone this year’s planned summer implementation of Relationships and Sex Education (RSE).
Written by Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, on behalf of the constituent bodies of the Christian Coalition For Education (CCFE), the letter states that amidst the continued chaos and uncertainty of the pandemic, parents have not been properly consulted on the new curriculum, which is required by law.
The letter states therefore that ‘if schools are to have any chance of truly “taking their parents with them” in this, there cannot be any shadow of doubt the mandatory process has been completed properly.’
Furthermore, the signatories, which include Christian leaders from schools, universities, and educational bodies from across the UK, state that if the Department for Education (DfE) were to go ahead as planned it would be ‘bizarre’ and ‘confusing’ for children, parents and teachers in an educational system already reeling under the current pressures.
In May 2020, the Department for Education (DfE) had announced that while the new regulations making RSE compulsory would still take effect from September 2020, schools would be able to delay introducing it to their pupils until Summer term 2021 due to the impact of Covid-19.
The letter states that RSE, which could involve the teaching of sexualised themes to children as young as four, has already ‘given rise to school protests, lawsuits and a huge rise in home-schooling in certain areas and communities’, and that ‘to require implementation by the summer term would place parents, pupils and schools under unconscionable strain.’
Addressing the challenges of a summer implementation on schools, the group presents that RSE’s: ‘forced arrival in the summer term will exhaust and dismay many throughout the teaching profession and lead it to being dismissed at a time when the welfare, well-being, mental health and managing exam pressures on students are more pressing.’
The group also cite new guidance, issued by the DfE on 24 September 2020, which aimed to help school leaders implement the new statutory RSE curriculum.
The guidance presented a sharp departure from the DfE’s previous messaging about the programme, which had been significantly influenced by special interest lobbying groups.
However, the September 2020 guidance stated that schools ‘should not reinforce harmful stereotypes, for instance by suggesting that children might be a different gender based on their personality and interests or the clothes they prefer to wear.’
Plus, the guidance made it clear that schools ‘should not work with external agencies or organisations that produce such material’ or suggest to children that they may have been born in the wrong body.
The group argue that this message represents such a departure from previous guidance that ‘schools need time to assess and consult with parents fully’, due to the number of political and partisan groups continually seeking to influence schools across the country on this issue.
Therefore, the group ‘strongly urge’ Gavin Williamson, the current Secretary of State for Education, to delay the implementation of the programme again until September 2021.
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali said: “Parents have the right to expect that their children will be taught according to their religious and philosophical beliefs. The State and schools are strictly ancillary to parental responsibility for the upbringing of their children and both must listen carefully to what parents are saying if the world of education is to be one of mutual respect and harmony”.
Steve Beegoo, Christian Concern’s Head of Education, said: “Many parents have been totally left in the dark about what their school deems appropriate to teach their children about sexual activity, LGBT+, transgender ideology or pornography.
“Due to the pressures on schools during the pandemic, many, if not the majority of schools have had no capacity to fully disclose their RSHE curriculum or properly consult with the parents on this highly controversial area. It is deeply disturbing that the Department for Education is yet to announce any flexibility for schools to fulfil their legal duties, opening up the possibility of many more parental complaints which is the last thing schools need.”
+ Christian Concern, 70 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8AX, England, 020 7935 1488, Contact Page
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