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Biden State Department Issues First Passport With X Gender Marker

The State Department on Wednesday issued the first U.S. passport with an “X” gender marker, granting a third option for American passport holders who do not identify as female or male. The move was announced by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and said it means Americans will no longer require a medical certificate to opt-out of choosing a specific gender. The department did not specify to whom the passport was issued. Evangelist Franklin Graham criticized the move and urged Christians to pray for the nation. Read more about the passport here.

 

Second City In Ohio Criminalizes Abortion

The city of Mason, Ohio, recently voted to criminalize abortion. As per the ordinance, anyone who violates the ban could receive a $2,500 fine per abortion and up to a year in prison. Additionally, anyone who “aids and abets” an abortion will become “a criminal and a felon.” The ordinance was drafted by the Mason City Council in collaboration with Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn, a Texas-based nonprofit. The group has previously helped at least 39 cities in Texas, Nebraska and Ohio ban abortions. Mason’s abortion ban, scheduled to go into effect in November, is the second city in Ohio to ban abortion after the city of Lebanon. Read more about the ban here.

 

Popular Astronomer Says World Was Made By Aliens In A Lab

Avi Loeb, bestselling author and the former chair of Harvard’s astronomy department, penned an op-ed in Scientific American this week positing that the universe could have been formed in a lab by an “advanced technological civilization.” Loeb has also insisted in the past, that aliens have already visited the earth. Ken Ham, Director and CEO of Answers In Genesis, answered Loeb’s claims by responding. “It’s obvious our universe didn’t come from nothing and that there is a Creator – but sinful hearts suppress the truth and will believe in anything (literally anything) rather than accept the truth of God’s Word,” Read more about the alien theory here.

 

British scientists working in Ghana have rediscovered a “holy grail” giant owl that has lurked almost unseen in African rainforests for 150 years. “Shelley’s Eagle Owl” was spotted in October in what has been hailed as a “sensational discovery” by ecologists. With only a few thousand thought to be in existence, the species is officially classified as being at risk of extinction. Before the photo snapped earlier this month, there have been no confirmed sightings of the giant bird since the 1870s. It is one of the largest species of owl, and females can grow to a total length of 30 in., with a wingspan of 6 ft 2 in., with males being slightly smaller. Read more about the owl here.

Pastor Faces federal Charges For Performing Fraudulent Marriages For Green Cards

Joshua Olatokunbo Shonubi, a/k/a Olatokunbo Joshua Shonubi, age 50, of Bowie, Maryland, received a federal charge of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and visa fraud and for presenting false documents to a federal government agency, in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain permanent resident status for foreign nationals by arranging marriages to U.S. citizens. Shonubi faces a maximum of five years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit visa fraud and marriage fraud and a maximum of five years in federal prison for each of six counts of presenting false documents to a federal government agency. Read more about the charges here. 

 

Apple Pulls Bible App From App Store In China

In a move showing Apple has little concern over the freedom of religion atrocities committed in China, the company has pulled a Bible app and a Quran app from its App Store in China after the Chinese government complained that the apps violated local laws on religious texts. The Chinese market makes up a significant portion of Apple’s sales, and the company depends heavily on manufacturers in the country to make its products. Some say that the relationship makes it difficult for the tech giant to turn down the government’s requests. Yet others criticize the company for making profits the bottom line, overlooking China’s oppression of Christians and Muslims. Read more about Apple’s move here.

 

GOP Representative Suspended From Twitter For Calling Transgender Woman A Man

The official account of U.S. Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) was suspended shortly after he made a comment about Rachel Levine, the assistant secretary for health within the Department of Health and Human Services. Levine was born male but identifies as female. “The title of first four-star female officer gets taken by a man,” Banks said in a tweet that Twitter deleted. Twitter suspended Banks saying he  violated a policy that prohibits harassment of individuals on the basis of gender identity. Twitter suspended Banks’ official account but left untouched his personal account, where on Saturday, he posted a statement saying he was “censored for tweeting a basic truth.” Read more about the suspension here.

 

Michael J Fox Raises 1.5 Billion For Parkinson’s Cure

Actor Michael J Fox, who has suffered with Parkinson’s since the age of 29, has been on the hunt for years for a cure. And so he started his own foundation. As the world’s largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson’s research, The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to accelerating a cure for Parkinson’s disease and improved therapies for those living with the condition today. Funding over $1.5 billion in research so far, the non-profit has fundamentally altered the trajectory of progress toward a cure. One thing Fox is sure of: He says he won’t stop fighting until there’s a cure. Read more about his foundation here. 

Research Shows Only 6 Percent of American Adults Have A Biblical Worldview 

George Barna, the senior research fellow for the Center for Biblical Worldview at the Family Research Council and the head of the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, says research his year shows that only 6 percent of American adults have a biblical worldview, even though 51 percent believe they do. “Part of that relates to the fact that evangelical churches in America do not teach the Bible as often or as deeply as used to be the case,” Barna said. “What America is struggling with the most is a worldview crisis. It’s the thing that drives all of these other difficulties that we have in America today.” Read more about his findings here.

 

Thieves Steal Church Bell

World Leaders Blame Social Media For Rise In Antisemitism

Participants at a Holocaust remembrance conference in Sweden blamed social media Wednesday for contributing to a global rise in antisemitism. Government and social media representatives attending the International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance in Malmo vowed to crack down on hate speech, disinformation and the denial of facts both online and off. Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said the company is “now removing 15 times more hate speech than we were just five years ago. And we are not going to stop.” Read more about the conference here.

 

Wildlife Officers Remove Tire From Elk’s Neck

For more than two years, wildlife officers tracked an elk that was spotted with a tire around its neck. Saturday, the elk was found and, at long last, it is free of the tire. Wildlife officers tranquilized the elk, sawed off its antlers and removed the tire that had been around its neck for half of its life, according to a statement from Colorado Parks and Wildlife. When they removed the tire, it was full of nearly 10 pounds of pine needles and dirt, but there was little damage to the elk’s neck, only a small wound and areas where hair had rubbed off slightly. Read more about the efforts here.

 

California Retailers Must Have A Gender Neutral Section Face Fines 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Saturday signed Low’s legislation, Assembly Bill 1084, which will force large retailers to have non-gendered toy sections starting in 2024. The requirement will apply to retailers with 500 or more employees in California. Those failing to meet it starting on Jan. 1, 2024, will face a $250 fine for a first offense and $500 for any after that. Several business and conservative groups fought the bill becoming law. Read more about the new law here.

 

Superman’s Son Will Come Out As Bisexual

In furthering their “woke” agenda, On Monday, DC Comics announced that Jon Kent, Superman of Earth and son of Clark Kent and Louis Lane, will be coming out as bisexual in the newest issue of Superman: Son of Kal-El, the fifth in the series, to be released on Nov. 9. DC Comics made the announcement on National Coming Out Day, an annual LGBT awareness day started in the US. The move is outraging parents who say they will refuse to allow their children to read or purchase any comics from DC Comics any longer. Read more about the coming out of Superman’s son here.

 

NFL Wide Receiver Leaves To Follow The Voice Of God

Former New Orleans Saints wide receiver Austin Carr announced that he is “committed to following the voice of God” and will be retiring from the NFL. “After much prayer and consideration, I’ve decided that it’s time to turn the page on my career in the NFL,” Carr wrote. “It feels surreal to be moving on from this 20-year stint of lacing up the cleats every fall, but I’m committed to following the voice of God, and it has become clear that up ahead He has a new and exciting future prepared for my family and me.” Read more about his daring faith transition here.

 

Archeologists Discover Oldest Black Church

The brick foundation of one of the nation’s oldest Black churches has been unearthed at Colonial Williamsburg. The First Baptist Church was formed in 1776 by free and enslaved Black people. They initially met secretly in fields and under trees in defiance of laws that prevented African Americans from congregating. By 1818, the church had its first building in the former colonial capital. The 16-foot by 20-foot (5-meter by 6-meter) structure was destroyed by a tornado in 1834. Read more about this amazing discovery here. 

Temporary Block Placed On Texas Anti Abortion Law

A federal judge temporarily blocked Texas’ near-total abortion ban Wednesday as part of a lawsuit the Biden administration launched against the state over its new law that bars abortions as early as six weeks of pregnancy. The state of Texas quickly filed a notice of appeal and will almost definitely seek an emergency stay of the judge’s order.  Abortion providers in the state, who want the law struck down permanently, have said that with the restrictions lifted for now, abortions will be resumed as soon as possible. Read more about the court case here.

 

Christian Nurse Sues Hospital After Claims She Forced Out Of Job For Cross Necklace

Devout Christian Mary Onuoha claims she was forced out of her job of 18 years at Croydon University Hospital in London, because the crucifix was a health and safety risk. Onuoha, who wears the necklace as a symbol of her faith, says she was subjected to a campaign of harassment in which she was “treated like a criminal”, despite other religious staff members being allowed to wear jewelry, saris, turbans and hijabs. She says the situation escalated in August 2018 when bosses ordered her to remove the cross on the grounds that it breached the hospital dress code and was therefore a health risk to her and the patients. Read more about her lawsuit here.

 

6,000 People Receive Christ As Their savior At SoCal Harvest Event

Pastor Greg Laurie welcomed people to Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California Sunday for SoCal Harvest while others around the world enjoyed the event online. “We are all still rejoicing over what God did at the SoCal Harvest last Sunday night at Angel Stadium. The stadium was packed with people worshipping God,” Laurie wrote in a Facebook post. “My message title was, ‘What You Are Really Looking For.’ 40,000 were in the stadium and 200,000 watched online around the world. Best of all, 6,000 people made professions of faith, both in-person and online! To God be the Glory! Thank you all for your prayers!” Read more about the event here.

 

Doctors Help Critically Ill Pregnant Woman Survive and Save Her Baby

Earlier this year 37-year-old Candice Cruise, was given an explanation for why she was struggling with an increasingly worsening shortness of breath: she had a disease called pulmonary hypertension. But being 21 weeks pregnant, meant extra complications. So doctors sustained Cruise for weeks on a specialized life support mostly used for COVID-19 patients, all to hold off a necessary lung transplant long enough for a team to deliver her premature baby. Doctors are saying it’s a world first, and a wild ride for both the family and the team that gathered to see mother and child through it safely. Read more about this miracle mom and baby here.