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It's Saturday, September 23, 2023.

Today’s edition covers the legal battle that could overturn the national legalization of same-sex marriage, the allegations of sexual misconduct and other unethical behavior facing the hero portrayed in Sound of Freedom, and much more.

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Of Christian Concern

FORMER KENTUCKY COUNTY CLERK’S LEGAL BATTLE COULD OVERTURN SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Kim Davis denied marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2015. (Screenshot: WHAS11)

Former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis has been ordered to pay $100,000 to a gay couple that sued her for refusing to sign their marriage license in 2015. She plans to appeal the decision.

Davis got national attention in 2015 for refusing to sign same-sex marriage licenses after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide with its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Davis was jailed for contempt of court, and sued by two different same-sex couples. Last year, U.S. District Judge David Bunning ruled that Davis had violated those couples’ rights. Jury trials to determine damages took place last week, with one couple being awarded nothing by one jury and the other couple being awarded the $100,000 by a separate jury.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Davis is being represented by the Liberty Counsel, the founder of which says last Wednesday’s verdict has “paved the way” for the case to go to the Supreme Court. The legal team intends to argue that the Obergefell decision should be overturned.

HERO PORTRAYED IN ANTI-SEX TRAFFICKING FILM IS ACCUSED OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT

Tim Ballard defends himself from allegations of unethical behavior. (Screenshot: Fox News 13 Utah)

Tim Ballard, the anti-sex trafficking operative portrayed by Jim Caviezel in the hit film Sound of Freedom, has been accused of “sexual misconduct involving seven women,” Vice reported on Monday. These sexual allegations constitute the previously unknown reason for his departure in June from Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), the nonprofit he founded in 2013 to fight child sex trafficking.

Ballard, who may be preparing to run for Senate, is alleged to have coerced female employees and volunteers of OUR into sleeping in the same bed or showering together during undercover operations. He allegedly told these women, who are said to have been playing the role of his wife, that these actions were necessary to trick the traffickers. He reportedly sent one woman a photo of him in his underwear, and asked another “how far she was willing to go” to save children.

In a statement, Ballard called the allegations “false” and “baseless inventions designed to destroy me and the movement,” adding that he and the other operators followed “strict guidelines” that he had designed, when in the field. “Sexual contact was prohibited, and I led by example.”

Ballard is also alleged to be in hot water with his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for other unethical actions which he likewise denies (read his official response here).

Related, Ballard testified before a House committee on September 13, making the case that current U.S. policies at the southern border have turned our institutions into “a child-trafficking delivery service.”

Also Noteworthy

→ Donald Trump criticized Ron DeSantis’s six-week abortion ban in Florida as “a terrible thing.” The comment garnered backlash from leaders in the Pro-Life movement.

→ Uganda evangelist Philip Bere was murdered by Muslim extremists after leading many to Christ, including Muslims, at an evangelistic event in Kituuti town. Bere was ambushed and beaten to death with a large stone on his way home from the event.

→ Rubble & Crew, a spinoff of the popular animated kids show Paw Patrol, sparked controversy with its introduction of a nonbinary character voiced by a nonbinary actor.

→ The Episcopal Church released its annual Parochial Data report, which shows a decline of over 88,000 “active baptized members” in 2022, but an increase of over 80,000 in worship attendance on Sunday mornings.

→ The Taliban in Afghanistan arrested 18 aid workers, members of a charity called The International Assistance Mission, for allegedly “propagating and promoting Christianity.” One of the workers is an American woman.

Content Catch-Up

Recent, notable content by Christian creators.*

→ Sexual Shenanigans in High Places: Pastor Doug Wilson of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho responds to three recent high-profile cases of political figures engaging in sexual immorality: Susanna Gibson, Kristi Noem, and Lauren Boebert. (Video)

→ Not A Christian Nationalist: Christian writer Samuel Sey, on his blog Slow To Write, explains what he sees as the several different kinds of Christian nationalists, and why he doesn’t identify with any of them. (Article)

→ Biblical Slavery vs. American Slavery: Todd Friel, host of Wretched, interviews Pastor Jesse Johnson of Immanuel Baptist Church in Springfield, Virginia, and contributing writer at The Cripplegate, about the differences between biblical slavery and American slavery. (Video)

*Not necessarily an endorsement

The Bible, Briefly

The (Bad) Example of Nineveh (Part 1)

The Fall of Nineveh, by John Martin (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Which book of the Bible do you think of when you think of Nineveh? Most Christians probably think of the book of Jonah, which recounts—as discussed a couple weeks ago—the prophet’s reluctant mission to that wicked city. Famously, upon hearing God’s message, they repented and averted God’s wrath, much to Jonah’s chagrin.

But fewer Christians realize there’s another book in the Bible about Nineveh: the book of Nahum. In a sense, Nahum is the sequel to Jonah. Written around 150 years later, it records yet another prophecy of coming judgment to the city.

All those who had repented in Jonah’s day were dead and gone, and a different generation had arisen and fallen back into wickedness. Only his time, they didn’t repent. Perhaps Nahum’s message is the one Jonah would have liked to deliver.

Here’s the background. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the nation that had obliterated the northern kingdom of Israel. Assyria was the world’s greatest superpower at the time, and God’s message through Nahum—a proclamation of coming judgment—was ultimately a message not just for Nineveh but for the entire nation.

What was Nineveh’s evil? Violence, deception, greed, and sexual immorality, at least. The prophet exclaims, “Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder—no end to the prey!” (3:1). The result of their evil: “hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end—they stumble over the bodies!” (3:3) And why all this bloodshed? “And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with her whorings, and peoples with her charms” (3:4).

Consider those words in light of modern-day evils. Could our own land be charged with these same sins? — More on Nahum next week.

Church History Tidbit

St. Patrick’s Autobiography

Stained glass window in Carlow Cathedral, Ireland, portraying St. Patrick preaching to Irish kings, photographed by Andreas F. Borchert (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE).

Around the time of the Western Roman Empire’s collapse, when the Church again faced a heathen world to evangelize, there arose a man with a mission to a nation that was never apart of the Empire, and thus had never ceased to be heathen. That man’s name was Patrick.

St. Patrick is commonly associated with Ireland, and with good reason—but he wasn’t from Ireland. So why with good reason? His autobiographical work Confessio, one of his two extant writings, tells the tale.

He begins by introducing himself as a sinner of humble birth, raised in a Christian home but not a believer in his early youth. At age 16, he was captured by Irish raiders from his grandfather’s home in or near Britain, and enslaved in Ireland for six years.

During his captivity, becoming aware of his lack of faith, he turned to God and found solace in prayer. In a vision, he received a message from God instructing him to escape captivity. Patrick made a daring journey, walking over 200 miles to reach a ship that would take him back to Britain.

Back in Britain, he was reunited with his family. However, he had another vision in which he heard the voice of the Irish people calling him back to Ireland to spread the Christian faith. He pursued religious studies and eventually became a deacon and bishop.

St. Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary and faced numerous challenges, including opposition from pagan rulers. Nevertheless, he persevered and is credited with converting many Irish people to Christianity. 

There are a number of legends often associated with this great 5th century missionary that are owed to later tradition—such as his use of the shamrock to explain the Trinity, driving out all the snakes from Ireland, and lighting a Paschal fire that pagans could not put out. However, even without these details, his own telling of his life story is intriguing and miraculous as it is. Read it in full here.

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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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