The Top 5 (May 13)

This very challenging week has included a quick trip to Wichita to see my little sister Sherry who is suffering from severe dementia, and then discovering a friend in such distress that we had to call the rescue squad and then spend the day with her in the hospital. Alas, the sadness and difficulty of both of those situations is ongoing. There have been a few other trials too but, for the child of God, there are always blessings aplenty as well. One needs only to lean into His abundant grace, stay the course through faith in His word, and anticipate that glorious and forever victory that will soon be ours.

On the news front? The border crisis becomes worse and worse while President Biden laughingly insists there's nothing at all wrong. And yet, if there IS anything wrong, it's Donald Trump's fault!...The vandalism against pro-life pregnancy clinics now includes the grotesque bodies of decapitated animals scattered on the lawns...A special needs student at a California high school was called a "bigot" by her teachers for not using preferred pronouns, objecting to participating in a lesson about "scissoring," and refusing to get undressed near male teachers...In Colorado, a school created a secret club for sixth-graders that claimed too be an art club but turned out to be a gender and sexuality awareness club where radically obscene matters were presented to the kids...Communist Belarus is escalating its already horrendous persecution of Christians (Example: 7 young Protestants were arrested, handcuffed, detained at the police station for over 8 hours, fined  and handcuffed the seven, took them to Central District Police Station, and then fined about two months' average wage each. The crime? They were caught talking to others on a city street about the meaning of Easter.)

This week's Top 5?

* A Pastoral Response to Gender Confusion: Caring for Those Caught in the LGBTQ Religion (Jesse Johnson, Master's Seminary Blog)

* How anti-Semitism became unleashed in the West (Melanie Phillips, Jewish World Review)

* Prayer as Thought Crime: Stop and pray on the street in front of an abortion facility in England or Wales and you could find yourself under arrest. (Alliance Defending Freedom)

* The Culture War Isn’t The Most Important Issue Of 2024, It’s The Only Issue (John Daniel Davidson, Federalist)

* Weaponizing Death (Victor Davis Hanson, Daily Signal)