Union Time on the Taxpayer Dime; Prioritize Your Church...more

Tense Days for Union Time on the Taxpayer Dime
 Elizabeth McDargh earns a six-figure salary and generous benefits as a senior environmental officer for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. But she’s the first to admit that on some days she spends little time doing any environmental work.

She is not alone. Although no one in government even keeps track, thousands of such federal employees do not do their stated jobs. The IRS alone was reported to have more than 200 such employees, according to documents...

The Transgender Revolution and the Rubble of Empty Promises 
Over the last year, transgender issues have been at the forefront of national news. Last year President Barack Obama issued a directive to public schools on how to accomodate transgender students in school restrooms. The debate over this action was reignited a few months ago when President Trump rescinded the directive, and the Supreme Court declined to hear a case regarding transgender students and restrooms.

Yet while these and other policy questions are important, the cultural conversation on gender identity issues requires more than good policy. It demands a gospel-centered response from the church...

Challies: Prioritize Your Church
...The local church is central to God’s plan for the world. In fact, in many ways the local church is God’s plan for the world. Much of what God means to teach the world, he teaches through the local church; much of what he means to display to the world, he displays through the local church; much of what he means to accomplish in the world, he accomplishes through the local church. No ministry can outshine it, no program can replace it, no power can topple it. The local church is God’s plan, and he has no backup.

God means for each Christian to be involved in a local church, and his Word knows nothing of Christians who will not be part of one. The local church welcomes into membership those who believe and puts out those who have abandoned the faith, so that each church is a community of Christians bound together by their common profession of faith...

Battle for Britain’s Soul
News of yet another terrorist attack will have had a numbing effect on many of us. The fact that seven died at London Bridge, and that it once again brought back memories of the 7/7 horror of 2005 when my brother was among the severely injured, only added to feelings of despair and sadness just as a concert was being held in Manchester in memory of the 22 who died there less than a fortnight earlier.

But we have lost God’s protective cover because we have stopped serving him; we have said we don’t want him or his laws; and this has made us particularly vulnerable to attack...

Texas Gov. Signs Bill Banning Dismemberment Abortions Tearing Babies Limb From Limb Texas Senate Bill 8 prohibits dismemberment abortions, a method typically used in the second trimester to kill nearly fully-formed, living unborn babies. It is a barbaric and dangerous procedure in which the unborn baby is ripped apart in the womb and pulled out in pieces while his or her heart is still beating.

State Sen. Charles Schwertner, who wrote the bill, said the legislation will “ensure the dignity and protection for the unborn child” in Texas...