Click HERE to see Part 3 of “The Chapel Door is Open”.
Click HERE to see Part 2 of “The Chapel Door is Open”.
Click HERE to see Part 1 of “The Chapel Door is Open”.

One of the things we’ve talked about on the open threads is provided for in the Chapel in the Woods which Sundance has constructed at the lower right.

Comments and conversations about what the Bible has to say about world events have always been welcome here in the woods, and the Chapel is where we can extend those conversations.  It will be open 24/7, just like the Prayer Request thread, functioning as a “perpetual open thread.”

The Chapel is the place to drop in when we notice that our questions or statements, reasonings or fears are best expressed with a Judeo-Christian historical and spiritual context. Anyone who doesn’t care to talk about or pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is  just as welcome in the Chapel as they are in the Treehouse.

The tone and content of Chapel conversations is expected to be the same as elsewhere in the Treehouse: honest and thoughtful.  The Chapel has been built to provide a place for folks to discuss what the Bible says about any number of things~~past, present or future.

Argumentiveness and unkindness will be quickly deleted.  Anyone who comes through the Chapel door to argue against the Bible as our primary source of information about God and what He thinks about things will be ushered out by the ushers.  Anyone who comes to the Chapel for the purpose of Christian-bashing will be thrown out on their ear.

This nation has been a gift of God for well over 200 years, displaying among the nations what a fine thing it is when people are allowed to enjoy those things given by their Creator; among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  The United States of America is our nation-house, and there are people trying to burn it down.

This nation is a blessing given to all of us, and there is no supposed “spiritual reason” for people who believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to sit back and fold their hands and somehow assume that it would be wrong for them to stand up and fight.  We will fight and we will stand~~and we consider ourselves free to talk about, refer to, think about and pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob while we do it.

So come on in.  The Chapel’s open.
Our thread was getting pretty slow to load, so this should get us back up to speed!

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against the state of New York and Governor Andrew Cuomo in a late night emergency ruling barring the state from reimposing limits on religious gatherings.  [full pdf here]

In the 5-4 ruling the newest supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett sided with the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, while justice John Roberts sides with the liberal justices in the minority, but seems to agree on the merits.

“Stemming the spread of COVID–19 is unquestionably a compelling interest, but it is hard to see how the challenged regulations can be regarded as ‘narrowly tailored,’” the court wrote in an unsigned opinion.

“They are far more restrictive than any COVID–related regulations that have previously come before the Court, much tighter than those adopted by many other jurisdictions hard-hit by the pandemic, and far more severe than has been shown to be required to prevent the spread of the virus at the applicants’ services.”

“It is hard to believe that admitting more than 10 people to a 1,000–seat church or 400–seat synagogue would create a more serious health risk than the many other activities that the State allows.” (full pdf)

Complete Ruling Below

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‘No weapon formed against you shall prosper‘… U.S. President Donald Trump attended church services today at the International Church of Las Vegas where Pastor Paul Marc Goulet and the congregation prayed for provenance and blessed our President.

Kayleigh McEnany, Dan Scavino and Hope Hicks attended with President Trump.

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Article six of the constitution, and the first amendment outlining the bill of rights within the United States constitution, affirms that every American citizen has the unassailable right to practice their religion in accordance with their own beliefs; no litmus tests are permitted. However, under the doctrines of Marxism religion is a threat to state control.

Modern Democrats are Marxists. In a push-back to the preferred doctrine of modern democrats U.S. Senator Josh Hawley gives a passionate opening remark during the senate committee hearing for Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett. WATCH:

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Tens-of-thousands traveled to Washington, D.C., today to participate in the 2020 Prayer March with Franklin Graham.  People from all 50 states assembled in prayer for our divided nation.  Vice-President Mike Pence delivered remarks on behalf of the administration.

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Cissie Graham Lynch and Mike Huckabee provided commentary during the live broadcast event.

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A federal judge in the Western District of Pennsylvania had ruled that Governor Tom Wolfe’s dictates, decrees and rules were/are unconstitutional restrictions on liberty.

U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV concluded the governor’s stay at home orders, limits on gatherings and closure of “non life-sustaining” businesses violated citizens’ Constitutional rights. The judge was responding to a lawsuit brought by a group of Pennsylvania businesses.

“The Constitution cannot accept the concept of a ‘new normal’ where the basic liberties of the people can be subordinated to open-ended emergency mitigation measures. Rather, the Constitution sets certain lines that may not be crossed, even in an emergency.” ~ Judge Stickman [full pdf below]

The well-thought ruling, while accepting and appreciating the challenges presented to government, finds the arbitrary and capricious definitions/applications of rules amount to ever-changing dictates that infringed on basic constitutional rights without any due process in place.  Full ruling below.

One win for freedom.

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It’s an interesting comparison to note.  The ideological interests behind the 2010 “Arab Spring” uprising are the exact same ideological interests behind the 2020 “Black Lives Matter” protests/uprising.  Not merely similar people, but the exact same people.

The exact same group of U.S. people who were promoting the mid-east Arab Spring in 2010 are the same people now promoting the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.   The same politicians; the same media voices; the same newspapers; the same social media activists. Almost every participant, and their support for the uprising ’10 -vs- ’20 is identical.

In the background of the Arab Spring, the root control organization was The Muslim Brotherhood.  Considering all of the connective similarities; and considering the U.S. advocates for the brotherhood are the same voices advocating for BLM; does it not stand to reason the BLM movement is an extension of the same overarching ideology.

It is not an esoteric intellectual exercise to compare the two movements because we’re not only talking about a similar level of protest, we’re seeing an identical set of actions in both groups.  Not only are the advocates the same voices; but their purposeful action, the behavior to remove and destroy common cultural connection/heritage is the same.

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Earlier today, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visited the Saint John Paul II National Shrine and presented a ceremonial wreath to observe remembrance of the former Pope. [Video Below]

After placing a wreath at the Statue of Saint John Paul II, the President and First Lady visited the Luminous Mysteries Chapel, John Paul II Blood Relic, and the Madonna Icon.

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Earlier today President Trump, First Lady Melania, Vice-President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence hosted a National Day of Prayer service in the Rose Garden of the White House. It was a very special event. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Please. Thank you. Be seated, please. And, Melania, thank you very much, on the second anniversary of the BE BEST Initiative. You’ve done a fantastic job. And everybody appreciates it. But I want to — (applause) — thank you. And I want to thank you, on behalf of the entire nation, for all that you do for America’s children and on fighting the drug addiction problem that we have in this country. It’s all over the world. But I want to thank you very much. Great job you do. You work so hard.

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From the press release this is an interesting, and oddly colloquial, way for the United States Dept of Justice under AG Bill Barr to define the first amendment.

…”Social distancing, while difficult and unfamiliar for a nation that has long prided itself on the strength of its voluntary associations, has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of American lives from an imminent threat.”…

I never quite thought about the first amendment as being so casual.  Let’s all attend our ‘voluntary associations’ on Sunday.  Alrighty then… Though, well, I do wonder what an involuntary association would be. I digress; I’m being petty.

[DOJ] “Today, the Department filed a Statement of Interest in support of a church in Mississippi that allegedly sought to hold parking lot worship services, in which congregants listened to their pastor preach over their car radios, while sitting in their cars in the church parking lot with their windows rolled up. 

The City of Greenville fined congregants $500 per person for attending these parking lot services – while permitting citizens to attend nearby drive-in restaurants, even with their windows open.[1]  The City appears to have thereby singled churches out as the only essential service (as designated by the state of Mississippi) that may not operate despite following all CDC and state recommendations regarding social distancing.

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