Kingdom PERSECUTION

Knock, Knock… Are You Still Here, God?

What is the societal context within which persecution of Christians may arise in the United States? Barna Group -- a private, non-partisan, for-profit organization -- has been conducting and analyzing primary research since 1984. Its focus has been to understand cultural trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. Barna's research reflects the waning state...
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Evicting THE KING From His Condo… ?!

It has been said that a man's home is his castle... and he is the king. But what happens when the King of kings gets evicted? Clarence and Donna Dunbar have been in the national spotlight before. They founded the Lighthouse Outreach Center in Port Charlotte, Florida -- a soup kitchen ministering to the homeless....
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This Coffee is Extra-HOT!

Hot... and bitter, too. Cafe Justice is a small coffeeshop at the courthouse in Rancho Cucamonga, California. For the past eleven years its owners -- Carlo Magno and his wife -- have been serving hot coffee and warm muffins to the people who frequent the courthouse. Plaintiffs. Defendants. Staffers. Attorneys. Judges. Now, the latter two...
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Putting Words In My Mouth?!

Some people collect coffee mugs. Others collect baseball caps. I collect t-shirts. I'm a Walking Billboard. :) Sporting t-shirts with messages I wear with pride. I can't imagine anyone ever trying to force me to wear a message I couldn't support... or worse, one that violated my beliefs. But how about the person who prints those t-shirts? Is...
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Facing The Giants!

Christian ministry in the marketplace happens in every sector of the economy (private and public) and at all levels of employment (from the owner/CEO to the frontline worker). So does the persecution that springs from such ministry. Case in point: KellyMarie Griffin, an employee of the City of Portland (Oregon), was severely harassed by her coworker,...
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Speak No Evil

We've seen in numerous posts that Kingdom PERSECUTION is often experienced in courtrooms. Lawsuits are brought against people of faith by parties feeling offended by their actions (or inaction) in the marketplace. But what if the lawyers themselves are the ones perpetrating the offense? In 2016, the American Bar Association (ABA) changed its model ethics...
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Keeping this Land of the Free… FREE

What are the stages of religious persecution in a society? Would it be helpful for us to know them... so we (anyone affected) could better assess where our present experience falls on that continuum? So we could help each other do something about it? Johnnette Benkovic, from Women of Grace, identified Five Stages of Religious Persecution...
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This Bell No Longer Tolls… Not Yet.

A small art gallery / bistro in Iowa, the "home away from home" for its owners, was forced to close its doors. It was a tough choice for the owners. But a tough one they were willing to make. "We're more certain than ever that what we did was right. We wouldn't have chosen this...
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Beautiful Battlefield Blessings!

Sometimes the rising tide of persecution doesn't just lap at distant shores. It laps at shores close enough to get our own feet wet. Like it did for me... seven years ago. I was chief executive at the heathcare organization I had co-founded. Like a for-profit business, it provided patients with a vast array of...
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Hot Off The Press!… Out of The Oven?

Two days ago -- late February 5, 2018 -- California Superior Judge David R. Lampe handed down a ruling declaring, "A wedding cake is not just a cake in a Free Speech analysis. It is an artistic expression by the person making it that is to be used traditionally as a centerpiece in the celebration of...
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