VA Med Center: Pay No Attention to that Man Behind the Curtain

Religious Freedom,

The Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center in Iron Mountain, Michigan, has a dedicated chapel open to the public 24 hours a day, but the med center has placed a curtain around the altar, cross, and statue of Jesus at the front of the room.

The center wrote on its Facebook page that the VA’s federal policy is to maintain “the chapel as religiously neutral only when chapel services are not being conducted or being used by a specific faith group.” So when a Christian group wants to use the chapel for services, the curtain can be drawn back; otherwise, the curtain must stay in place.

(more…)

READ MORE

The Battle Is the LORD’s

Marriage, Religious Freedom, ,

The following blog post is by Family Council staff member Deborah Beuerman.

David was a young boy whose task it was to tend his father’s sheep.  His older brothers usually were in the field with him, but they had been called to fight the war with the Philistines.  The word from the battle front was that things were not going well for King Saul’s army.  The enemy had a secret weapon—a giant man—who intimidated and daily challenged his opponents to send one man to fight him.  The Israelites trembled in fear and no man would step forward to what they all assumed to be death.

Jesse was concerned about his sons and sent David to take them food and find out how they were faring.  David was there to hear the daily taunting from the giant, Goliath, and was amazed saying, “who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”  David went to Saul and volunteered to fight Goliath.  He took his staff and put five smooth stones in his shepherd’s pouch and went out toward Goliath with his sling shot in his hand.

(more…)

READ MORE