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It's Saturday, July 6, 2024.

Today’s edition covers recent persecutions of Christians around the world, some new and notable state supreme court decisions, the fall of Constantinople in 1453, and more.

“With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.” (Proverbs 11:9)

Of Christian Concern

AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY AND WORLDWIDE PERSECUTIONS

Photos: Sharefaith and Ahmet Öktem

The United States celebrated its 248th year of independence this week.

“Independence from what?” Christian author Jack L. Richardson IV asks in a video posted Thursday. He answers: “Independence from tyranny.” There are “those in this country,” he says, who want “to put us back into tyranny. Let’s not do that…. Celebrate your independence. And it’s not about the fireworks; it’s about freedom of thought and your freedom of speech…” Then, he issues this reminder: “without freedom of speech,” there are “no other freedoms.”

Indeed, despite ongoing developments of profound concern, Americans have myriad exceptional blessings for which to be grateful. Christians in the United States have balances to strike…

• between gratitude for the nation’s blessings and urgency against the nation’s mounting evils

• between cherishing this earthly country and “desir[ing] a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16), and

• between holy, gospel concern for this nation in particular and holy, gospel concern for “all nations” in the world (Matthew 28:19).

On this last point, here are several recent stories from around the globe that have affected other members of Christendom worldwide.

• A Catholic man in Pakistan was jailed for blasphemy after inadvertently stepping on papers alleged to be pages of the Quran.

• At least 20 were killed in an apparent terrorist attack against synagogues and Orthodox churches in southern Russia on June 23.

• Suspected Fulani Muslim terrorists killed five Christians in Nigeria on June 17.

• Attacks on Christians in Israel increased last year, including 7 cases of violent attacks, 30 cases of spitting, 32 instances of Church property attacks, and more, according to a recent report.

• Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega’s regime “has closed 256 Protestant organizations” “in recent years,” Evangelical Focus reported last week.

• Village officials in central Laos arrested a pastor and five other Christians during a prayer session on June 22.

• An evangelist in Uganda named Richard Malinga, “who won many people, including Muslims, to Christianity,” was murdered after receiving death threats from Muslims and sending a message to his pastor saying he was “surrounded by the Muslims” on June 17.

• A Christian man in Pakistan was charged with blasphemy and sentenced to death on June 30 for allegedly sharing anti-Muslim content on social media “after one of the worst mob attacks on Christians in the eastern Punjab province last year.”

• Five Iranian converts to Christianity have been sentenced to a collective 25+ years in prison for undisclosed reasons, per a June 19 report. Converting from Islam to Christianity is illegal in Iran.

• Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, in a video posted to social media, demanded a ransom for Nigerian pastor Paul Musa, whom they abducted along with his wife Ruth in March of last year.

In many ways, the United States is better off than much of the world. However, in others—such as abortion, trans/drag culture, the education system, etc.—it’s doing far worse than many people realize. In this context, Christians have a God-given role to play:

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5:13-16

Also Noteworthy

Photo: Pavel Danilyuk

→ Oklahoma state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters issued a compulsory mandate that the Bible be taught in Oklahoma schools, only days after the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that a religious charter school would be unconstitutional.

→ New Mexico has seen a 565% increase in out-of-state abortions since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2020.

→ The Texas Supreme Court upholds a state law banning “sex-change surgeries” and “hormonal intervention drugs” for minors.

→ The Iowa Supreme Court upholds the state’s “heartbeat bill,” a six-week ban on surgical abortions. Pop quiz: what percentage of abortions occur at or before six weeks? Answer: In Iowa, a whopping 49.3% (and in the US overall, 45.3%) of recorded abortions are performed within the first six weeks. A six-week ban does not protect these preborn humans. — Plus, these figures do not account for unrecorded pill abortions, which many mothers order online outside of the medical system and receive by mail. No state criminalizes abortion for the mother.

Church History Tidbit

The Fall of Constantinople

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. (Photo: Ahmet Cengiz)

The fall of Constantinople in 1453 marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, which had been a continuation of the Roman Empire in the East. The Ottoman Turks, led by Sultan Mehmed II, laid siege to the city and, after 53 days, breached its formidable walls using advanced military technology, including massive cannons. The Ottomans' innovative tactics, such as transporting ships overland to bypass the chain blockade in the Golden Horn, played a crucial role in their victory. Despite the defensive efforts of the Byzantines and their allies, who were vastly outnumbered and outgunned, the “Queen of Cities” fell to the Ottomans on May 29, 1453, and was renamed Istanbul.

The conquest led to significant religious and cultural consequences, as it marked the end of Christian Byzantine rule and the beginning of Islamic Ottoman rule in the city. Hagia Sophia, the great cathedral of Constantinople, was converted into a mosque, symbolizing the city's transformation. Moreover, the fall of Constantinople gave the Ottomans control over crucial trade routes between Europe and Asia, thus enhancing their economic and strategic power.

The capture of Constantinople also prompted an exodus of Greek scholars and texts to Western Europe, reintroducing classical knowledge and playing a significant role in sparking the Renaissance. This event solidified the Ottoman Empire's position as a dominant power in the Eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Europe, shifting power dynamics in the region. The fall of Constantinople is often considered a key event in the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance and the modern era.

Editor’s disclosure: AI assisted with the composition of this text.

The Bible, Briefly

Fact-Checking the Serpent (Part 2): Misleading Inquiry, continued

The Fall of Man (obverse), Hans Reinhart the Elder, 1536. (Public Domain)

Last week, we began to examine the serpent’s words to Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-5), which consisted of one (1) question and three (3) statements. We observed that his question, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?,” was manipulative, introducing Eve to the practice of questioning God and implying that God was withholding some good from her.

Since it is not a statement, the question is technically neither true nor false but is nonetheless MISLEADING. That said, a falsehood is embedded in the question. We now turn our attention to that falsehood.

The Embedded Falsehood

Embedded in the question—which, again, is “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”—is the idea that God had forbidden eating from “any” tree in the garden. God had done no such thing, as the serpent knew very well. So, the question is intended to set up a kind of straw man—not a straw man to “knock down,” as in a straw man fallacy, but one to serve as a decoy. We could say it was a kind of bait and switch. How so?

The serpent surely expected Eve to answer in the negative (which she did), so his purpose clearly was not to convince her that God had forbidden eating from “any” tree. Instead, he asked Eve about something God didn’t say, anticipating she would deny it so he could pull the rug out from under her with supposed insights about what God had actually said (3:4-5). Likely, he intended for the question to catch her off guard, to disequilibrate her rational faculties and misdirect her before delivering a final overwhelming blow to her worldview.

Also, by asking about something God hadn’t said, perhaps he wanted to pull her thoughts so far away from reality that, when she retreated toward the truth, she would not make it all the way. To use another illustration, he was stretching her “doubt” and “confusion” muscles so her doubt and confusion would be stronger even when she recoiled from the initial, obvious falsehood.

It is also possible that the serpent was using the question to gauge from Eve’s response just how familiar she was with God’s command or how well she understood it, which possibly was not as well as she should have, considering that she misquoted it (she added “neither you shall touch” [3:3] to God’s command, “You shall not eat” [2:16]).

In the final analysis, Eve was not deceived by the embedded falsehood—and the serpent did not intend for her to be—but she was deceived by the implications of the question. What does that suggest about what we must watch out for to avoid falling prey to deception?

>> Next week: a fact check of the serpent’s three statements.

_______________

P.S. It is not illegitimate to use questions, as the serpent did, to indirectly lead people to an implied conclusion or other desired response. God Himself did this in His questioning of Job, starting with, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (Job 32:4). Jesus also did this when He asked the Pharisees, “Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” (Luke 20:3-4).

So, asking a question with an ulterior motive can be legitimate if the motive is righteous (see here for how to use leading questions as an apologetics tactic). What is illegitimate is to use such a question to lead people to a sinful conclusion, and that’s what the serpent was up to in Genesis 3.

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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.

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