The 3 - January 9, 2022

This week's edition of The 3, highlighting three stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes court action on COVID vaccine mandates, which are seen by a number of Christians and Christian organizations as government intrusion in trying to override personal conscience decisions. Also, a controversial statue at the U.N. that was considered to be a representation of an end-times villain, has been removed.  Plus, pastor across the U.S. are being called upon to speak on Biblical principles regarding sexual morality next week, as the result of a new Canadian law banning counseling about unwanted same-sex desires. 

High court hears vaccine mandate cases, lower courts put mandates on hold

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments related to the Biden Administration's vaccine mandate for businesses, as well as mandatory vaccines for health care workers in facilities receiving federal funds.  A FoxNews.com report shared these statements:

In early arguments, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Neil Gorsuch suggested that government officials had overstepped, with Roberts declaring that it is "hard to argue" that officials had been given the power to act by Congress. Justice Brett Kavanaugh also noted that Congress had yet to pass any type of vaccine statute.

"This is something the federal government has never done before," Chief Justice John Roberts said.

The Fox website also reported that:

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor came under withering criticism Friday after she falsely suggested that upwards of 100,000 children in the United States are hospitalized from COVID-19, many of them on ventilators.

During oral arguments on the Biden administration's mandate on private businesses for employees to be either vaccinated or frequently tested, Sotomayor drastically overstated the number of young people who have fallen severely ill from coronavirus.

"We have hospitals that are almost at full capacity with people severely ill on ventilators. We have over 100,000 children, which we've never had before, in serious condition, many on ventilators," she said.

After the Sixth Circuit lifted the stay on the vaccine mandate several weeks ago that had been put in place by the Fifth Circuit, a variety of plaintiffs, including Christian ministries, had appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, a federal district judge issued a ruling on behalf of Navy SEALS who had challenged the Administration's mandatory COVID vaccines for the military. On Monday, First Liberty announced that:

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas today issued a preliminary injunction, stopping the Department of Defense from punishing military service members who have religious objections to the vaccine mandate. First Liberty Institute filed a federal lawsuit and motion for preliminary injunction on behalf of dozens of U.S. Navy SEALs and other Naval Special Warfare personnel against the Biden Administration and the Department of Defense for their refusal to grant religious accommodations to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The press release quote Judge Reed O'Connor, who said: “The Navy servicemembers in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect. The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms. There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment. There is no military exclusion from our Constitution.”

Also, this week, The Hill reported that the Sixth Circuit "upheld a decision to temporarily block a vaccine mandate for federal contractors in three states...," stating that: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit said in their ruling that they were denying a request by the government to stay an injunction on a vaccine mandate for federal contractors in three states — Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky — “because the government has established none of the showings required to obtain a stay.”

Statue dubbed "End Times Beast" at U.N. removed

It has been receiving some attention on Christian media, and a large statue on display at the United Nations has been removed. The Christian Post reported:

Weeks after it was first displayed on the Visitors Plaza outside the United Nations headquarters in November, the controversial “Guardian for International Peace and Security” sculpture many Christians likened to a biblical “End Times beast” is now gone.

Initial reports to The Christian Post suggested that the sculpture was removed from the Visitor’s Plaza in late December due to complaints from the public. Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary-general, explained, however, that the display was temporary and was removed as scheduled.

So why was this statue so controversial?  The Post goes on to provide a description, saying that Christians objected "...after the U.N. tweeted an image of the exhibit on Nov. 9, prompting references to certain scriptures in the Bible, including Daniel 7:2–4 which highlights a vision of beasts, representing governments; one of which is depicted with a body like a lion and wings like an eagle."  It also mentions that:

Christians also cited Revelation 13:2 which symbolically refers to a beast given power and authority by Satan. Further reference was also made to I Thessalonians 5:3 which speaks of the End Times when people will say, “There is peace and security,” only to experience unexpected ruin.

Canada set to impose ban on counseling those with unwanted same-sex attraction, American pastor urges pastors to preach on morality

This week, a new Canadian law is going into effect, essentially banning what is known as "conversion therapy," which is a pejorative name for counseling to overcome unwanted same-sex attraction.  When notified about this new law by a Canadian pastor, John MacArthur, Senior Pastor of Grace Community Church in California and speaker on Grace to You, heard on Faith Radio, issued a statement and a challenge.

ChristianHeadlines.com reported that:

MacArthur posted an open letter to “ministers of the gospel,” urging them to join in solidarity with Canadian pastors in preaching a sermon on sexual morality on January 16. MacArthur’s letter included a message from a fellow Canadian pastor asserting it is now “against the law to preach, teach, or counsel regarding God’s design for marriage and sexuality” in Canada.

MacArthur wrote: “Our united stand will put the Canadian and the U.S. governments on notice that they have attacked the Word of God,” adding, “We are all well-aware of the evil power and destructive influence of the homosexual and transgender ideology. Our government is bent on not only normalizing this perversion, but also legalizing it, and furthermore criminalizing opposition to it.”