Baker Who Refused Gay Wedding Cake Can't Cite Faith

A Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple because of his religious beliefs has lost his appeal to the state's court of appeals. 

Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2012.

Phillips said he told the couple that his faith would not allow him to bake them a wedding cake, but that he would create any other baked good that they wished.

The couple filed a complaint with the the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.
    
A judge for the commission ruled that Phillips discriminated against the couple and ordered him to change his store policy or face fines ranging from $50 to $500 and required Phillips "re-educate" his employees.

Phillips appealed to the Colorado Court of Appeals.

On Thursday, the court said Phillips cannot cite his religious beliefs in refusing service to gay couples because it would lead to discrimination.
    
Phillips now faces fines if he refuses to make wedding cakes for gay couples.  He said he has no problem serving gays at his store, but reiterated that making a wedding cake for gay couples violates his Christian beliefs.
    
The Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Philips, said it would consider appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

"Americans are guaranteed the freedom to live and work consistent with their faith," the ADF said in a statement. "Government has a duty to protect people's freedom to follow their beliefs personally and professionally rather than force them to adopt the government's views."

"Jack simply exercised the long-cherished American freedom to decline to use his artistic talents to promote a message with which he disagrees," the statement continued. "The court is wrong to deny Jack his fundamental freedoms. We will discuss further legal options."

Harvesting Fetal Parts without Consent?

The Center for Medical Progress, the whistleblower who's been exposing Planned Parenthood's daily practice of harvesting fetal body parts, has released another video.

The latest video suggests the nation's largest abortion provider sometimes harvests baby body parts without obtaining consent from their clients.

Holly O'Donnell, a former blood and tissue procurement technician for StemExpress, one of the companies that partners with Planned Parenthood said sometimes they "just take" what the want.

"If there was a higher gestation and the technicians needed it, there were times when they would just take what they wanted. And these mothers don't know. And there's no way they would know," O'Donnell explains.

Stop Planned Parenthood from harvesting and selling babies' organs. Sign the petition.

Federal Law requires patient consent to the tissue donation following a decision to go through with an abortion.

O'Donnell says Planned Parenthood would give StemExpress employees access to patient records and schedules ahead of time so the harvesting company could plan which patient "supply" would be greatest.

"They give you a sheet, and it's everybody for that day -- who's coming in for an ultrasound, who's coming in for an abortion, medical or a late-term abortion," O'Donnell continues.

Another shocking revelation: patients simply seeking a pregnancy test at Planned Parenthood were considered part of the supply.

"Pregnancy tests are potential pregnancies, therefore potential specimens. So it's just taking advantage of the opportunities," O'Donnell says.

The undercover videos prompted several congressional investigations of Planned Parenthood and calls to defund the agency continue.

Bringing Relief to Flood Devastated Myanmar

CBN Humanitarian and Disaster Relief teams are bringing aid to the people of Myanmar. The nation was devastated by massive flooding responsible for the deaths of more than 100 people - and displacing at least 300,000.

In the wake of the severe flooding people are suffering from food shortages, especially in hard to reach villages.

Aye Aye Aung and her children were stranded for two weeks because of the flood waters.

Aung told CBN News  ," I was very scared and my children were crying. We sat on the bed waiting for people to come and give us food."

CBN relief teams provided goods to close to 300 families inside the village in Mandalay.

"Thank you for the food. This is a big help to us. My daughter is very happy with her new blanket," said Aung.

U Chit Thin, the village humanitarian head, also expressed gratitude to CBN for the help.

Thin said, "Thank you CBN. We appreciate your help and your words of encouragement. "

As the efforts continue, CBN Myanmar County Manager Sandy Baratha is looking for ways to minimize future flood damage.

"The flood will happen again and again. From my point of view we need to do rehabilitation projects so they will be relieved from the flood in the future, " said Baratha.

She says relief is about more than just meeting physical needs.

"We want to equip the body of Christ so they can reach and share the love of God in the community," Baratha added.

This latest crisis to hit Myanmar has provided Christians with an unprecedented opportunity to share their faith with the people of the country.

Cuban Rule Change Allows More Business, Ministry

Senator Marco Rubio, (R) Florida, is blasting President Obama for his handling of Cuba, saying he has made no efforts "to stand on the side of freedom." The criticism comes as the U.S. embassy opens in Havana for the first time in five decades.
          
Meanwhile, a change in Cuban government rules has allowed a small number of residents to become private business owners.

A few Cubans, like photographer Eduardo Perez, have done quite well. But Perez is not as concerned about making a profit as he is about blessing the church. 

Eduardo Perez stepped into the unknown five years ago when he got permission to start his own business in Havana. His talent for photography quickly led to professional success. 

Today, Eddos Studio is not only making a profit, it also gives Perez a platform for supporting a cause close to his heart.  

"This business has always been a tool God gave us to talk about him," Perez explained.

"Whether it's photos for clients or our personal work, we always want to highlight the beauty of God through photography. That's what we were called to do. From the beginning we were very clear that this should be a business that serves others, not just a means for financial gain. As we've gotten better we have done well financially, that has helped us support other ministries." 

Grisel Perez, Eduardo's wife, told CBN News how the business grew beyond photography.

"We began with nothing, then we expanded our photography to other goals, like social work that we've done in communities, in schools," she said.

Eddos Studio became known for unique crowd photos of the Christian community, one of the fastest-growing groups in Cuba, yet virtually ignored by Cuban media.

The Perezes have documented public activities of the church and even managed to display those pictures in secular exhibitions, a major accomplishment in Cuba.  

"We are trying to capture highly attended church activities on a national level, and create a photo report so that it's documented," Eduardo said. "We want the people in the eastern and central parts of the country to know what's being done in Havana and vice versa."

"Every chance I get, I show other believers that we're more than they think, that more things are being done than we think, that God is opening more doors than any of us realize," he said.

Israel to Jewish Extemists: Killing Babies 'Not Us'

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israeli security has been stepped up following two recent arson attacks allegedly carried out by Jewish extremists.  Authorities are on guard for further acts and the possibility of violence in the form of Palestinian revenge. But the incidents have also forced the country to examine its own society.

When an apparent Jewish extremist hurled a firebomb into an Arab home, killing a toddler and his father, it led to outrage from Israeli leaders and citizens. 

"Every society has extremists and has murderers," said Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch. "The test of the morality of a society is how it responds to those extremists and how it responds to those murderers."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin visited the family targeted in the attack and rabbis prayed for their recovery.

Israeli leaders also quickly condemned an arson attack on the historic Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes in the Galilee in June.

Hebrew graffiti scrawled at both sites led authorities to conclude that Jewish extremists were behind the attacks.

And the violence continued Thursday when someone set a Bedouin tent on fire near the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority has its headquarters. 

"We're talking about a youth culture that is in opposition to the Israeli state as it is, to Israeli society as it is [and] would like to change Israeli society to something else," said Dr. Shlomo Fischer, an expert on Jewish extremism at the Jewish People Policy Institute.

Fischer says these extremists believe they are carrying out God's will.

"They say they would want to have more biblical law, more biblically oriented, more religiously oriented -- maybe change some of the governing arrangements," Fischer told CBN News. "They talk about a monarchy."

That means inviting a king to rule Israel and ridding the country of idolatry as they see it.

"They would not want what they consider to be idolatry, which does include Christianity, especially eastern Christianity," he said. "The rabbinical establishment does not accept that definition."

While this phenomenon isn't new, Fischer maintains it's on the fringe of society.

"Israel does have a self-image that it is [a] democracy, that it's committed to humanistic values, that it values human life of everyone who's created in the image of God," Fischer said. "And when incidents happen that threaten that, Israelis, all Israelis get very uncomfortable. That's not us. That's not us. Killing a baby is not us."

For Israel, the other consequence comes in the form of revenge from Palestinian Arabs; yet that violence receives no condemnation. On the contrary, when Israelis are killed or wounded in this form of terrorism, Palestinians rejoice.

"Israel loathes, ostracizes and actually prosecutes any Israeli who would dare to kill a Palestinian," Marcus told CBN News. "The Palestinian Authority does just the opposite. They honor, they even reward with financial rewards Palestinians who would kill an Israeli." 

Marcus says the Palestinian Authority makes role models and heroes out of terrorists.

"There are 25 schools we have found, and there are probably more, that are named after terrorists -- schools named after terrorists like Dalal Mugrabi, who was responsible for the death of 37 in a bus hijacking," Marcus said.

"They name sporting events after them. They build memorials and name town squares after the terrorists," he added.

Mueller Rape by ISIS Leader Confirmed, Not Surprising

Kayla Mueller was repeatedly raped by ISIS leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi. The parents of the American woman, who was killed while being held captive by the terror group, confirmed the U.S. government told them about the sexual abuse suffered by their daughter.

Her father, Carl Mueller told the Associated Press about their conversation, "They told us that he married her, and we all understand what that means."

Mueller's mother Marsha said she knows it was forced, "Kayla did not marry this man. He took her to his room and he abused her and she came back crying."

ISIS is known not only for beheading and crucifying its male captives for holding females as sex slaves.

A 14-year-old Yazidi girl who was being held with Mueller and others managed to escape captivity. She told U.S. commandos about the repeated raping of Mueller and others. U.S. intelligence agencies finally confimed the account and passed the information on to Mueller's parents.

The teenager also told U.S. soldiers that Mueller tried to shiedl them from abuse and ultimately decided not to escape with them since she was American and would draw attention to them.

"Kayla tried to protect these young girls. She was like a mother figure to them," Mueller's mother said.

Mueller was killed in February. ISIS said she died in a Jordanian air strike. Her death was confirmed by U.S. agents but not the claims by ISIS.

Sadly, Al-Baghdadi's use of Kayla Mueller as a sex slave is not surprising. ISIS's leadership has specifically condoned sex slavery in various publications and statements, and ISIS foot soldiers have followed suit.

ISIS has systematically enslaved women and young, pre-teen girls from the Yazidi minority in Iraq and are using the prospect of sex with them as a recruiting tool. Girls as young as 9 and 10 years old are held captive and raped repeatedly by ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria and the group actually holds modern day slave markets where Yazidi women and girls are bought and sold.

ISIS considers these non-Muslim women to be inhuman--infidels--and therefore born to be enslaved under Islamic Sharia law. Again, this view comes from the very top leadership of ISIS, so Baghdadi--the group's overall leader--clearly believes, practices and sanctions it. Not only was Kayla Mueller a non-Muslim "infidel"; she was also American, a fact which undoubtedly led her to suffer even harsher abuse at the hands of Al-Baghdadi. 

Iraqi Christian Radio Reaches Millions Amid ISIS Threat

WASHINGTON -- Iraq is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world for Christians. Some two-thirds of its once large Christian population have fled the country in the past 12 years alone. And even in cities not controlled by ISIS, like Baghdad, Islamic jiahdists have placed a bullseye on the backs of believers in Jesus. Most of Baghdad's Christians have fled the endless violence. But one Iraqi pastor has not only stayed behind -- he's leading Iraq's first Christian radio station. "When we started this project, it was a pioneering project," Pastor Maher Fouad told CBN News. "No one ever applied for a radio station in the history of Iraq, especially a Christian radio station." Pastor Maher leads Baghdad's New Testament Baptist Church. He told CBN News he founded 102.9 FM in Baghdad a decade ago to reach Iraqis with the Gospel. "During the time, violence was a major problem in Baghdad, with the sounds of explosions and car bombs," Pastor Maher said. "And out of all these radio stations that broadcast violence and negative news, our radio station appeared broadcasting the Gospel and the Good News of Jesus Christ." Since then, the violence hasn't stopped -- and neither has Pastor Maher. The station's daily programing now reaches up to 8 million people in and around Baghdad. "I pray publicly on our radio station so all the Iraqis will hear it." he said. "Not only Christians but also Muslims call us live on the air requesting that we pray for them." His bold stance has brought countless death threats -- and with ISIS declaring war on Christians, things have only become more dangerous. "The situation here in Baghdad is not only bad, it is very bad," Pastor Maher told CBN News. "When ISIS occupied Ramadi, we became in danger because Ramadi is not very far away from Baghdad. On one side, we have ISIS threatening us. And the second danger we face is from car bombs and explosions." But Pastor Maher remains on the air and he's spreading the message beyond Baghdad. In 2010, with the help of U.S.-based High Adventure Ministries, he established another Christian radio station in Basra, in southern Iraq. That station can be heard as far away as neighboring Kuwait and Iran. "We rejoice because many, many people are listening and receiving the message and are responding to the message of the Gospel," Pastor Maher said. In the meantime, he says he has no plans to leave Iraq. "The Lord protected us," he declared. "And I believe the Lord will protect us also in the coming days." Web page converted to PDF with the PDFmyURL PDF creation API! 5 He says thousands of Iraqi Christian refugees need aid -- and he's praying the U.S. government and the American Church will step up to help as ISIS continues to wreak havoc.