After hearing from the president on Tuesday, America took a turn listening to the people vying for his job. And the GOP candidates made one thing clear right off the bat: their take on the state of our union is radically different than Obama’s. Governor Chris Christie (R-N.J.) highlighted that in one of the funnier quips of the night, saying that he tuned in two nights earlier. “…I watched story time with Barack Obama, and it sounds like everything in the world was going amazing.”

But that’s far from the picture Republicans painted in Charleston at their sixth presidential debate. On the contrary, one of the biggest points of agreement was how urgent it was to turn the page from the last seven years of religious oppression, security insecurity, international cowardice, and a general lack of leadership. For the seven men on the main stage, the importance of the event could not be understated. With less than three weeks until the Iowa caucus, Republicans worked hard to distinguish themselves from the field, but most of the night — like latest polling, belonged to Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

The two frontrunners (and at times, Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla.), stole the show by finding an extra gear the others struggled to match. Cruz, who lived up to the hype of his college debate pedigree, had a worthy opponent in Trump — who, like him, deftly handles even the toughest of questions. The two sparred over several issues — with each man stealing points in the most talked about moment of the night. At one point, Senator Cruz suggested that Trump hasn’t abandoned his “New York values,” pointing to an interview the mogul had done with Tim Russert in which “he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he’s describing now,” Cruz challenged.

Trump replied with genuine emotion that his city had gracefully handled one of the worst tragedies in American history. “When the World Trade Center came down,” he said, “I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York… The people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, even the smell of death — no one understood it. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everyone in the world watched and loved New York and New Yorkers.” Geography played an even bigger role in the hot topic of Senator Cruz’s citizenship, which many felt he answered by explaining that the poll numbers may have changed, but the Constitution had not.

Speaking of those poll numbers, Trump and Cruz are in a virtual dead-heat in Iowa, the starting gun of the caucus and primary season. Elsewhere Trump is blowing away the competition, opening up an even wider lead on the pack after this week. But, as the Wall Street Journal points out, there’s an interesting twist. “[The latest WSJ/NBC survey] exposes one possible weakness in Mr. Trump’s otherwise strong Republican support: He loses in a head-to-head test match-up with Mr. Cruz, 43% to 51%. Last night on our daily "Washington Watch” radio show, I talked with CBN’s David Brody about what’s driving Trump’s popularity. Essentially, we agreed: the American people are looking for strong leadership, someone who will speak truth to power.

Both Cruz and Trump refused to be silenced by the political and media elite. And at a time when conservatives (and especially Christians) are sick and tired of their values being marginalized — even by some Republicans — these men speak up. They take on the politically correct class at a time when others turn and run — or worse, send someone else to do the talking for them. In a day and age when Christians can’t even have a Bible in their workspace, these men aren’t afraid to take on the liberal bullies. And when people like Donald Trump say the things on most people’s minds, conservatives feel like they have cover to do the same. Wouldn’t that be a refreshing change from the current administration — where the only talk of Christians is driving them underground?

Originally published here.

Richards Tailors Suit to Hush Critics

If Planned Parenthood is so “proud” of its business selling baby body parts, why is it suing to cover it up? That’s a question most Americans should be asking, now that the country’s largest abortion business is taking the Center for Medical Progress to court. David Daleiden’s group, the one responsible for blowing the lid off of this controversy with a string of undercover videos, has single-handedly transformed the debate — and people’s opinions — about Cecile Richards’ group.

Now, months later, Planned Parenthood is desperately trying to change the conversation away from their wrongdoing to someone else. Unfortunately for Planned Parenthood, no amount of court proceedings can erase the memory of its own employees joking and laughing about the going rate for tiny baby organs. For Daleiden, whose group was fully prepared for the legal pushback, the videos have already accomplished their goal: prompting more Americans to reevaluate the government’s hefty investment in Planned Parenthood’s dark and callous world. “Game on Planned Parenthood!!” Daleiden wrote on Facebook. “I look forward to taking your depositions.”

For his part, Daleiden is unfazed. “Planned Parenthood is under investigation by the United States Congress and multiple law enforcement agencies, while their business is drying up and the public is turning against their barbaric abortion for baby parts trade,” the Center said in a statement. “Now they are filing a frivolous lawsuit in retaliation for CMP’s First Amendment investigative journalism that has done nothing more than tell the truth about Planned Parenthood’s lawless operations. This last-ditch move of desperation is going to expose all of the sordid dealings of the California Planned Parenthood affiliates to the light of the legal system and the public will see them for the corrupt abortion and baby body parts profiteers that they really are.” Hear from David in person next Friday, January 22, at FRC’s annual ProLifeCon!

Originally published here.

Watch… and Learn

The Obama administration may be reluctant to call the Middle East situation Christian genocide, but Open Doors USA is not. This week, the well-known advocacy group for the persecuted church released its annual “World Watch List,” highlighting the countries where Christian persecution is highest. Unfortunately, the predictions from 2014 had come true — hostility and violence toward Christians increased on every continent in the last year. While much of the attention on recent persecution of Christians is on certain Islamist hot-spots such as ISIS-controlled areas, the threat of radical Islam is also growing in less-likely countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti (among others).

What some people may not realize is that the majority of countries on the World Watch List have a variety of motivations and ideologies behind their persecution of Christians. For example, perennial offenders like #1 North Korea (which has been #1 for 13 straight years) continue to make a chilling impact with their incredibly repressive state-sponsored, atheistic persecution. According to the list, the ten worst nations for persecution of Christians throughout this past year were:

• North Korea
• Iraq
• Eritrea
• Afghanistan
• Syria
• Pakistan
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Iran
• Libya

Two of those countries — Iraq and Syria — have been front and center in the debate, largely because of ISIS. Their atrocities have been committed against a number of groups, but Christians are certainly high on ISIS extermination list. And that’s a fact even Secretary Hillary Clinton has now recognized, pitting her against one of the world’s only holdouts on labeling the horrors against Christians “genocide:” President Obama. Some within our State Department seem to understand the gravity of this problem, but the White House has been too sluggish to respond.

History will not look kindly on the injustice of nations with the power to act instead standing by and watching these atrocities apathetically. We need only look back to the regret of failing to prevent such atrocities in Rwanda when we could have — what were we thinking then? What are we thinking now? It’s time for America to act and that begins with us, Christians, who have the ability to speak out on behalf of our persecuted brothers and sisters.

Originally published here.