Progressive Lutheran Church Recites the LGBTQ+ Version of the Apostle's Creed

 

A progressive Lutheran church is facing criticism after a clip of the congregation reciting an LGBTQ+ version of the Apostle’s Creed surfaced online.

On Sunday, June 25, Edina Community Lutheran Church (ECLC) in St. Edina, Minnesota, recited the so-called  “Sparkle Creed,” led by co-pastor Anna Helgen.

“I invite you to rise in body or spirit and let us confess our faith today in the words of the ‘Sparkle Creed,’” Helgen said before the congregation.

The creed includes several controversial claims, including that God is non-binary and Jesus had “two dads.” The Holy Spirit is also referred to as “the rainbow Spirit” in the doctrine.

The “Sparkle Creed” reads as follows:

I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural.

I believe in Jesus Christ, their child, who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads and saw everyone as a sibling-child of God.

I believe in the rainbow Spirit, who shatters our image of one white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity.

I believe in the church of everyday saints as numerous, creative, and resilient as patches on the AIDS quilt, whose feet are grounded in mud and whose eyes gaze at the stars in wonder.

I believe in the calling to each of us that love is love is love, so beloved, let us love.

I believe, glorious God. Help my unbelief. Amen.

According to ChurchLeaders.com, the “Sparkle Creed” was initially written in 2021 by Rev. Rachel Small Stokes, pastor of Immanuel United Church of Christ in Louisville, Kentucky.

Several Christian leaders and conservatives denounced the clip after it was posted to Twitter.

“Remember when everyone was debating whether they’d want someone to go to a church like this or no church at all? This is, without qualification, idolatry,” pastor and podcaster Patrick Miller tweeted. “It is liturgical malpractice. It is … ‘the sparkle creed.’”

Author Neil Shenvi urged pastors to use the clip as a cautionary tale for other congregations. “Pastors: the best way to love your ‘woke-sympathetic’ neighbors/congregants is to speak the truth clearly. Show them where their thinking inevitably leads,” he wrote.

Michigan pastor JJ Mannschreck gave two “big reasons” why the “Sparkle Creed” is wrong.

“It’s basically just a big trash bag full of favorite buzz words,” Mannschreck wrote, “When the goal is just to cram buzz words into familiar sentence structures – it actually becomes about the person talking, and gives us no information about God,” he added.

The ECLC is affiliated with Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and has been a part of the denomination’s Reconciling in Christ initiative since 1985. The Reconciling in Christ initiative seeks to encourage “the full welcome, inclusion, and equity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual/aromantic (LGBTQIA+) Lutherans.”

https://www.christianheadlines.com/contributors/milton-quintanilla/progressive-lutheran-church-recites-the-lgbtq-version-of-the-apostles-creed.html?recip=559058616&aps=45d996accbfd36c3837ab03d1775182de3af75990f114699abb5aa9734e3dc72&lctg=559058616

It's Cartoon/Meme Time! #331

 

JUST IN: Brazilian Justice Nullifies Political Rights of Former President Jair Bolsonaro Until 2030

By Fernando de Castro in Brazil

Conservative and populist former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had his political rights nullified for 8 years in a trial conducted by the Superior Electoral Court on Friday, the 30th.

Bolsonaro was the target of a weak accusation of power abuse and economic wrongdoing. He was accused of attacking democracy by holding a meeting with ambassadors last year to alert the international community about vulnerabilities in Brazil’s electronic voting system – similar to the system adopted by Dominion Voting Systems.

By 5 votes to 2, the Superior Electoral Court determined the nullification of Jair Bolsonaro’s political rights for a period of 8 years. During this time, he will not be able to participate in the presidential race or any other election in Brazil.

Bolsonaro said this Friday (30), before the majority was announced, that he will appeal the case to the Supreme Federal Court. But his chances of succeeding are minimal, as just like in the Superior Electoral Court, the Supreme Court is composed mostly of ministers appointed by the communist President Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro’s main opponent.

“I did not attack the electoral system, I showed possible flaws and vulnerabilities,” Bolsonaro stated about the case.

Just like Donald Trump, leftists are relying on legal persecution to keep conservatives away from electoral contests and prevent voters from choosing conservative candidates.

Bolsonaro is the first former president of Brazil to lose his political rights without any corruption charges.

And Joe Biden and the CIA worked to oust this democratic leader from office last year.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/06/just-brazilian-justice-nullifies-political-rights-former-president/

"France---fallen?" manfred127

This article is thanks to manfred127

https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/arson-riots-looting-engulfs-parts

Arson, Riots, Looting Engulfs Parts Of France As Outrage Rises Over Police Shooting Of 17 Year Old Who Drove Away From Police In Bus Lane

Report: Almost 500 Public Buildings Already Burned Down?

https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1674678830190002177?s=20

Largest public library in Marseilles burning:

https://twitter.com/GoldingBF/status/1674711583996493825?s=20

Background:

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1674549011053793280?s=20

Look What a Few Minutes of Baseball-Sized Hail Did to Massive Nebraska Solar Farm: Pictures

Renewable energy is the alternative that Democrats and other environmental nuts want to replace reliable oil, gas and coal.

But time and time again, people who rely on wind and solar power have had to learn the tough lesson that such alternatives are both undependable and susceptible to the same elements they are supposed to harness.

Nowhere was that more true than in Nebraska, where a thunderstorm dumped baseball-sized hail on a solar farm on Friday at a speed of 150 mph — destroying the facility in just a few minutes.

Cowboy State Daily reported a storm moved east out of Wyoming where it wreaked havoc just across the state line on a solar farm in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

The facility previously touted its benefits for the area on its website.

“Scottsbluff, Nebraska’s 5.2 MW Community Solar project is a part of NPPD’s Sunwise program,” the facility states. “The solar array has over 14,000 solar panels, which are installed on trackers that will follow the sun throughout the day.”

It doesn’t look like the panels will be tracking anything for the foreseeable future. The facility appears to be a total loss:

Scottsbluff City Manager Kevin Spencer told Cowboy State Daily, “Just by looking at it, it looks destroyed to me.”

Writing for the outlet, Kevin Killough reported, “The hail shattered most of the panels on the 5.2-megawatt solar project, sparing an odd panel like missing teeth in a white smile.”

He added, “The Federal Emergency Management Agency ranks this area in its highest category for hail risk on the national index.”

Given that information, it is confusing as to why the Scottsbluff facility was ever constructed in the first place.

Of course, government-encouraged green energy projects with today’s lack of reliable technology often deny logic while they also decimate wildlife.

The region of the country in question is not a proper place for a solar farm by any objective metric, and yet there are plans to build another one of these eyesores.

Killough reported, “Wyoming has only one commercial-scale solar farm, but a second project is under construction south of Cheyenne.”

Brilliant!

Just for some context regarding how green energy has failed those who have relied on it in recent years, let’s revisit some visual examples of similar failures that never got the attention they deserved:

None of these images mention one tragic fact: Texas’ power grid, which relies on wind and solar power for a substantial amount of juice, failed during a winter storm in February 2021.

Hundreds of people died statewide in a situation that could have been avoided.

Solar and wind power make sense in some circumstances and in some regions. Massive solar farms in Arizona and Nevada generally are not imperiled by severe storms seen in the Midwest and the Southeast.

Their use can help alleviate strains on the grids.

Wind farms on the west coast also are not subjected to the kind of weather in places such as Florida.

But green energy alone is not the answer to powering a country of more than 330 million people — and their use in places where the outcome is predictable destruction is evidence of how little thought advocates for these projects put into them.

Until the green crusaders offer the public a genuinely reliable alternative to time-tested oil and gas, Americans must demand logic over political advocacy.

If you aren’t convinced, I have a new junkyard in western Nebraska I’d like to sell you.

https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/look-minutes-baseball-sized-hail-massive-nebraska-solar-farm-pictures 

MI House Passes Bill Making it a HATE CRIME Punishable of Up to $10,000 Fine and Imprisonment For Using Wrong Pronouns

 A bill that was passed by the Michigan House of Representatives would make it a hate crime to use the wrong gender pronouns to identify someone.

Bill HB 4474 aims to criminalize the act of causing someone to feel threatened by using words that do not correctly identify them.

This piece of legislation states that someone who intentionally “intimidates another individual” or threatens them “by word or act” based “in whole or in part on an actual or perceived characteristic” including sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression, is “guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or by a fine of not more than $10,000.”

“Intimidate” is defined in the bill as a “willful course of conduct involving repeated or continuing harassment of another individual that would cause a reasonable individual to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened.”

“Gender identity or expression” is defined as “having or being perceived as having a gender-related self-identity or expression whether or not associated with an individual’s assigned sex at birth.”

Critics of this legislation are accusing it of being in violation of the First Amendment because it outlaws the personal choice to adhere to the traditional, scientific views of sex and gender.

Due to its unconstitutional nature, many believe it will get squashed by the Supreme Court.

Conservative author John Hawkins tweeted that, if the bill passes, it’s “eventually going to get shot down at the Supreme Court because it’s almost comically out-of-step with the First Amendment.”

Speaking to The Daily Wire, former federal judge Professor William Wagner said, “Make no mistake about it. Those advocating for this legislation will wield these policies as a weapon capable of destroying conservative expressions or viewpoints grounded in the sacred.”

“One merely needs to look at the scores of cases brought against schools, churches, businesses, and individuals around our country,” Wagner added. “Proponents use these laws to silence and financially cripple those who dare to adhere to a different viewpoint and oppose their agenda.”

The bill will now move on to the Michigan State Senate. If approved, it will be sent to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) who is expected to sign it.

https://100percentfedup.com/just-in-mi-house-passes-bill-making-it-a-hate-crime-punishable-of-up-to-10000-fine-and-imprisonment-for-using-wrong-pronouns/

Biden Border Patrol Cuts Razor Wire Fence on Private Property to Let Illegal Aliens Enter Texas

Video obtained by Fox News reporter Bill Melugin shows a Biden Border Patrol agent cutting a razor wire fence on private property on the Eagle Pass, Texas side of the Rio Grande to allow illegal aliens to enter the U.S.

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has deployed personnel and materiel to the border in an effort to staunch the flood of illegal aliens being let in by the Biden administration.

More than a dozen men, women, children and infants are seen being let in the cut razor wire fence by the agent. A coyote can be seen turning back his fan motorboat after unloading his human cargo and heading unmolested back to Mexico.

Melugin reported the Texas Department of Public Safety said they had permission from the property owner to set up the razor wire fencing on their property:

“NEW: Video from source in Eagle Pass shows Border Patrol cutting through razor wire placed by the state of TX to allow migrants to enter & be processed after crossing illegally. @TxDPS tells me this is the first time they know of this happening, and that it’s being looked into for potential destruction of TX property. The federal government’s position is that once migrants are on U.S. soil, under U.S. law, they need to be processed, and cannot be repelled or turned away. Texas is taking a much different approach, and has been physically blocking migrants under orders from Governor @GregAbbott_TX. TXDPS tells me the location this video was shot at is private property, and that they have permission from the owner to lay down razor wire and arrest migrants for criminal trespassing. This Border Patrol agent is likely just doing what he’s been told – but this will likely lead to more friction between TX & the Feds, who have drastically different approaches at the border.”

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) responded, “What the hell? I’m going to assume for now that this particular CBP agent is following orders that he hates following. Either way, the Biden Administration is now destroying Texas property to fulfill an open border agenda. Texas must respond.”

Earlier this week, Melugin posted video of illegal aliens calling for Border Patrol after they were stopped by Texas’ deployment of razor wire fencing at Eagle Pass, “NEW: Video from @TxDPS shows a group of 50+ migrants who crossed illegally into Eagle Pass, TX being blocked with razor wire and denied entry by TX. They begin chanting for Border Patrol to arrive, expecting to be let in by Feds, but only TX in this spot, so they place more wire.”

Apparently Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas heard the pleas of the illegal aliens.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/06/video-biden-border-patrol-cuts-razor-wire-fence/