View this email in your browser

It's Saturday, July 15, 2023.

Today’s edition covers why the latest abortion numbers can be misleading, how a hit film about child sex trafficking has been criticized by national news media, and much more.

If you get value out of this briefing, please share this link with a friend.

Have something to say about this content? Submit your thoughts here.

Of Christian Concern

LATEST ABORTION NUMBERS DON’T TELL THE WHOLE STORY

Requests for abortion pills reportedly increased after Roe v. Wade’s reversal (Screenshot: YouTube).

The pro-abortion group Society of Family Planning released the latest edition of their #WeCount report last month, in which they estimate that around 24,000 fewer abortions were performed from June 2022 to March 2023 after the reversal of Roe v. Wade. This number puzzled some researchers, since it is smaller than the organization’s previous estimate of 32,000 that spanned a shorter period (July 2022 to December 2022).

However, neither number tells the whole story. The abortion advocacy group states that their report does not include self-managed abortions, such as abortions by medications or pills ordered online. That is a significant exclusion, since, as of 2020, medication abortions account for more than half (53%) of all abortions. 

Additionally, though some states have criminalized the act of providing abortions, no state has criminalized the act of procuring an abortion for oneself. “You can still get abortion pills…in all 50 states,” pro-abortion organization Mayday Health recently tweeted.

Abortion abolitionists point out that obtaining abortion pills is legal and easy in every state, and these self-managed abortions have “absolutely skyrocketed” since Roe v. Wade was overturned (see image above). In a video released in February, abolitionist T. Russell Hunter remarks, “There is simply no hard evidence to suggest that shutting down the mills [i.e., abortion clinics] has actually decreased abortion numbers.”

SOUND OF FREEDOM: HIT FILM ABOUT CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING GETS LAMBASTED BY MEDIA

Jim Caviezel as Tim Ballard in Sound of Freedom (Screenshot: YouTube).

The film Sound of Freedom, which tells the true story of how former Department of Homeland Security operative Tim Ballard quit his job to rescue children from sex trafficking, has become a box office hit, beating out Disney’s Indiana Jones on the day of its release. Ironically, Disney formerly owned the rights to Sound of Freedom, which was filmed in 2018, but had no plans to release it. The film was acquired by Angel Studios, the group that produces the hit series The Chosen, and released on July 4. It has now grossed over $58.4 million, more than four times its $14.5 million budget.

Sound of Freedom’s success has caught the ire of many in the national news media, with critical headlines giving the film labels like “The Qanon-Adjacent Thriller Seducing America,” “a Superhero Movie for Dads with Brainworms,” and “an Anti-Child Trafficking Fantasy Fit for QAnon.” This strong negative reaction to a film that draws attention to the problem of child sex trafficking and tells a true story of children being rescued has raised questions about the motives of such criticism, and has stoked further interest in the film.

Moviegoers around the country have reported strange difficulties arising in their attempts to see the film, including tickets being refunded, problems with air conditioning in theaters, theaters appearing almost fully booked online but being nearly half-empty in person, evacuations due to fire alarms and bomb threats, and more. AMC Theatres in particular was rumored to be using such tactics to dissuade people from seeing the film. The CEO of the theater company firmly denied those allegations, and Angel Studios co-founders responded affirming that AMC has been a supportive partner of the film.

Also Noteworthy

→ A Christian in India named David Thiek was beheaded and three others shot dead amid the ongoing tribal conflict in Manipur. | New Christian convert Abudu Amisi of eastern Uganda was stabbed to death last Saturday for leaving Islam.

→ Chinese pastor Pan Yongguang of Mayflower Church, who led his congregation of more than 60 Chinese believers out of China to seek asylum in the U.S., was highlighted at a congressional hearing on Wednesday as religious freedom advocates discussed how actions in the U.S. can promote religious freedom around the world. 

→ Gallup reports that only “36% of Americans have confidence in the church or organized religion.” This stat comes less than a month after Gallup reported that only “81% believe in God, down from 87% in 2017.”

→ The Church of England will draft pastoral guidance regarding prayers of blessing for same-sex relationships following a civil marriage, despite not allowing same-sex marriages in their churches.

→ The CDC published advice for trans and non-binary people to “chestfeed” their infants, drawing criticism from some doctors. | A man who presents as a female won the Miss Netherlands pageant last Saturday. |  Libs of TikTok posted a video clip of a “male trans activist” talking about wanting to be the first transwoman to have an abortion, by way of a uterus transplant.

→ The Crown Prosecution Service in the UK released new guidance saying that refusing to pay for the gender transition of one’s partner would be considered domestic abuse.

→ A Christian coffee shop ministry in Denver called The Drip Café has been the target of protests and vandalism due to its parent organization’s stance against homosexuality.

The Bible, Briefly

Faith Alone, or Not?

The apostle Paul wrote, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Romans 3:28). But the apostle James wrote, “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24).

Who’s right? Are we justified by faith alone apart from works, or by works as well as faith? Is this a helpless contradiction in the Bible? 

The late beloved Presbyterian minister R.C. Sproul addressed the issue like this: “I’m convinced that we don't really have a conflict here. What James is saying is this: If a person says he has faith, but he gives no outward evidence of that faith through righteous works, his faith will not justify him. …That faith has to be genuine before the merit of Christ will be imputed to anybody. You can't just say you have faith. True faith will absolutely and necessarily yield the fruits of obedience and the works of righteousness. …James is saying, not that a man is justified before God by his works, but that his claim to faith is shown to be genuine as he demonstrates the evidence of that claim of faith through his works.”

In other words, it’s not that a sinner can do something to make himself right before God. Rightness before God only comes through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. Rather, it’s that a person’s faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross is proved to be genuine by what that person does. James is not railing against a works-less salvation but against a works-less faith. He’s arguing against those who would say it’s possible to have faith without putting that faith into action (see James 2:18-19).

In context, then, when James says, “a person is justified by works,” it can be deduced that he’s referring to “works” that prove the person’s faith to be true. When he says, “and not by faith alone,” he’s referring to a “faith” that is empty and disingenuous because it doesn’t involve or result in righteous works.

In the words of Bible teacher and YouTuber Mike Winger, “Some people think it’s faith plus works equals salvation. Others would say it’s faith equals salvation plus works. …And that’s the one I would go with.”

Church History Tidbit

Early Church Heresies, Summarized

Throughout its history, Christianity has had its share of controversies, many of which have stemmed from false doctrines—either misreadings or outright rejection of biblical teachings. These false doctrines, called heresies, have in some sense driven the development of Christian theology, as the faithful have had to defend the truth and find ways to express it with increasing precision in response to the falsehoods that pop up. In the words of church historian Justo L. González, “even those whose views were eventually rejected by the church at large, and came to be known as heretics, left their mark on the church and the way it understood itself.”

Here’s a quick overview of some of the most important heresies to know about from the first couple centuries after Jesus’ ministry.

Docetism: the belief that Jesus did not have an actual physical body, but only "appeared" to. The apostle John may have been opposing this heresy when he wrote, “every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God” (1 John 4:2).

Marcionism: the belief that the God of the Old Testament is not the true God, but a lesser, evil god. In this view, the Old Testament books and the New Testament books that support it are rejected, and Jesus is thought to be the only revelation of the true God.

Montanism: the collection of beliefs centered on the supposed personal revelations of a man named Montanus and two women named Maximilla and Priscilla. They maintained that their revelations were as authoritative as the gospels and the apostles’ teachings. Maximilla, for example, is quoted as saying, regarding the church’s rejection of her, “I am driven as a wolf from the sheep. I am not a wolf. I am word, spirit and power.”

Gnosticism: the belief that there is a sharp distinction between the body, which was considered evil, and the spirit realm, to which proponents sought to be released by gaining divine knowledge (gnosis). There were a number of independent, mutually exclusive strands of Gnosticism, led by leaders like Carpocrates, Basilides, and Valentinus.

Learned something new? Don’t keep it to yourself!

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 and 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.

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