View this email in your browser

It's Saturday, August 12, 2023.

Today’s edition covers allegations of racial and religious discrimination by Best Buy, NHS England’s approval of transgender treatment for children, and more.

First time reading? Sign up here.

Of Christian Concern

BEST BUY DISCRIMINATES AGAINST RELIGION, WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIMS

James O’Keefe reports on Best Buy discrimination allegations. (Screenshot: James O’Keefe)

Journalist James O’Keefe—formerly of Project Veritas, and now of O’Keefe Media Group (OMG)—reports this week that the electronic retailer Best Buy discriminates against religion, per a whistleblower.

The news comes after an OMG post from earlier in the week revealed screenshots showing that Best Buy offers a leadership training program only to employees who are not white. The application instructions state that applicants must “Identify as Black, Latino, Hispanic, Asian, or Pacific Islander.”

Shortly after that revelation, the CEO of Best Buy Corie Barry switched her account on X (formerly called Twitter) to “private,” critics began calling for a boycott of Best Buy, and the aforementioned whistleblower, Enis Sujak, came forward with additional allegations.

Sujak, an employee of Best Buy’s technical support subsidiary Geek Squad, provided audio recordings of a conversation with his manager Mike Hirsch. In the recordings, Hirsch argues that Pride flags are acceptable in the Best Buy office but Christian symbols are not.

Sujak, who works in Jacksonville, Florida, also says he walked out of a mandatory meeting during a presentation on LGBTQ history. The coworker who was giving the presentation allegedly retaliated by displaying additional Pride paraphernalia around the office.

O’Keefe states that after the initial OMG post, other whistleblowers from other companies have come forward with similar allegations, which may be revealed in coming days.

NHS ENGLAND TO APPROVE 7-YEAR-OLDS FOR TRANSGENDER TREATMENT

Seven-year-olds in England can be referred for transgender treatment. (Photo: Alexas_Fotos)

The Telegraph reports that the National Health Service (NHS) of England plans to approve transgender treatment for children as young as seven. These children will allegedly “be offered psychological support and therapy that will focus on issues that may have led to their feelings about their gender.”

The plans imply that a seven-year-old has “developed their intellectual understanding of, and comprehension of, sex and gender” enough to understand the reason for a referral to a gender specialist.

There was previously no minimum age limit for such a referral, and an average of three children under seven were being referred each month—including children as young as three years old.

However, some experts warn that seven is still too young. Dr. David Bell, a whistleblower from a transgender clinic, says the referral itself is significant: “It risks the child’s difficulties being viewed by themselves and their family as primarily to do with gender,” which can “easily” lead to “medical transition.”

Also Noteworthy

→ Singer Jimmy Levy and Florida pastor Richard Lorenzo Jr. were banned from the Mall at Millennia in Orlando last week for leading a worship meetup in the atrium of the shopping center.

→ Pastor Dusty Deevers of Oklahoma, a vocal proponent for abolishing abortion, announced his bid for the state senate last week.

→ Sound of Freedom, the hit film about child sex trafficking, has now grossed nearly $168 million in ticket sales as it continues its theater run. For a rundown on which aspects of the film are factual and which are fictional, click here. For a new documentary series presenting the actual events with footage from the real life operation, see here.

→ In a special election on Tuesday, Ohio voters rejected State Issue 1, which would have made it harder to change the state constitution. This is widely understood as a blow to abortion opponents, because a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights into the constitution is set for a vote in November. 

→ Songwriter Oliver Anthony released a song that has gone viral, reportedly becoming “the most listened to song in the world in the past 24 hours” as of 8:00 am yesterday. The song, called “Rich Men North of Richmond,” laments the state of the United States. Some self-professed Christian Nationalists have claimed the song as an “anthem of Christian Nationalism,” despite its “non-Christian” aspects, such as the use of curse words. Author and podcaster Jon Harris explains the perspective.

→ William Wolfe resurfaced and criticized a comment Pastor Matt Chandler made at the MLK50 Conference in 2018, in a post now viewed over 440K times. Chandler said, regarding his church’s search for pastors, that he would prefer “an African American 7” over “an Anglo 8.” Along with the quote and video clip, Wolfe included the text of James 2:1, suggesting that Chandler’s comment revealed unbiblical partiality. Wolfe explained his reasons for bringing up the years-old clip here.

→ Pastor and author Dale Partridge has been under fire in recent weeks for a number of misleading statements and misrepresentations. On Thursday he published an article stating he has repented for “deception,” and detailing measures he will be taking to “eliminate the temptation of embellishment and welcome increased accountability.”

Content Catch-Up

Recent, notable content by Christian creators.*

→ Pro-Life Is Bad?: Conservative commentator and podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey interviews abortion abolitionist and attorney Bradley Pierce, who explains the difference between the Pro-Life movement and the Abortion Abolition movement. (Video)

→ Space Aliens and Christians: Nate Sala of Wise Disciple discusses the recent hot topic of exterrestrials’ existence, offering a Christian perspective. (Video)

→ Abolition News: In a periodical summary of news regarding the fight to abolish abortion, Steadfast Women reports on Dusty Deever’s senate race, Allie Beth Stuckey’s interview with Bradley Pierce, and other abolition-related news and content. (Report)

*Not necessarily an endorsement

The Bible, Briefly

The Divine Council: Other Gods In The Bible? (Part 2)

Last week we introduced Psalm 82, which describes God (elohim in Hebrew) talking to other “gods” (elohim, same word). We saw that the late Dr. Michael Heiser identified these gods as “other divine beings who are part of the heavenly host.” So, they must be the benevolent spirits we colloquially call angels, right? Not so fast.

We now turn our attention to what God says to these beings:

“How long will you judge unjustly 

and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; 

maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. 

 Rescue the weak and the needy; 

deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

These divine beings are apparently not the morally perfect beings we generally imagine when we think of angels. Rather, God accuses them of judging unjustly and showing partiality to the wicked, and He charges them to do better. Then the psalmist interjects with this narration:

“They have neither knowledge nor understanding, 

they walk about in darkness; 

all the foundations of the earth are shaken.”

That certainly doesn’t fit the description of angels as we usually think of them, either. Angels don’t “walk about in darkness,” do they? So, what are these dark beings whose neglect of justice shakes the foundations of the earth?

For starters, Heiser points to Daniel 10: “Daniel 10 is that passage in Daniel that links certain divine beings—they’re called ‘princes’ in Daniel 10—to certain geographical places on the planet: ‘prince of Persia,’ ‘prince of Greece,’ [etc.].” It is clear from the passage, he observes, that these are not human rulers but spiritual entities.

With that in mind, he turns to Deuteronomy 32:8:

“When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, 

when he divided mankind, 

he fixed the borders of the peoples 

according to the number of the sons of God.”

The event referred to here as the dividing of mankind, Heiser argues, is when God dispersed humanity after they attempted to build the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11). At that moment in history, “God divides up the nations…according to the number of the sons of god,” Heiser says. “Well, what does that mean? It means he assigns the nations to be under the authority of other divine beings, not Himself.”

If the idea of other “gods” ruling in the world seems odd at first, a closer look may prove it to be a more familiar concept than one might have thought. More on this next week.

Church History Tidbit

The First Council of Nicea

The Council of Nicea (AD 325), also called the First Ecumenical Council, met in response to Arius, who—as discussed last week—put forward the heresy now known as Arianism. Arius maintained that only the Father is God, and that although the universe was created through the Son, the Son himself was also created by God out of nothing. Arius’ view was rejected by some bishops but found support from others, resulting in Emperor Constantine’s decision to call a council on the issue.

According to historical doctrine scholar Tony Lane, around 220 bishops attended the council, which condemned Arius and produced the Creed of Nicea (not to be confused with the Nicene Creed, which was formulated at the Council of Constantinople 56 years later).

Despite a popular misconception, the council did not address the canon of the Bible. Unfortunately, it did not settle the issue it was supposed to, either. “Far from ending the debate about the deity of Jesus Christ,” Lane writes, “Nicea inaugurated it.” The council effectively split the church into the “Nicene party” (largely in the West) and the “Origenists” (largely in the East). Though the bishops in the East had signed off on the creed in deference to Constantine, they still had issues with it.

The controversy centered around the term homoousious (“of one substance”) in the creed’s statement, “We believe…in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten from the Father, only-begotten, that is, from the substance of the Father…”

For a quick overview of the debate around homoousious, see here.

Learned something new? Share it.

More Christians should know more.

Spread the knowledge by sharing  

Project 18:15 with your friends.

Your feedback is vital. The success of this project depends on hearing from you, the reader, with your thoughts and ideas about how this digest can best serve you. Please reply to this email to let us know how we’re doing, and what we can do better.

Why "18:15"? The name Project 18:15 is based on Proverbs 18:15: “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” The aim is for this weekly email—a Christian news briefing, a Bible study, and a Church history lesson rolled into one—to be one way you keep abreast of current events and acquire knowledge you might not acquire elsewhere.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Copyright (C) " target="_blank">unsubscribe