Religion

Pope Francis has told his aides he may not survive his recently diagnosed pneumonia, which has now spread to both of his lungs after he was rushed to the hospital last Friday.

The Pontiff, 88, told aides he “might not make it this time,” according to a report by Politico.

Despite the Vatican stating that Francis’s condition was stable, subsequent reports suggest he fears he will soon die and is “tying up loose ends” ahead of his successor.

According to those close to the Pope, he is suffering from intense pain and is now completely at the mercy of “doctors’ orders.”

The Pontiff is also distressed after being barred from delivering his regular morning Angelus sermon. Earlier this month, Francis was admitted to a special ward at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital after suffering from bronchitis.

Doctors told the Pope “in no uncertain terms he was at risk of dying” if he stayed at the Vatican.

However, the Vatican warned on Monday that a longer hospital stay was needed in the face of a “complex clinical picture” that involved a “polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract.”

Following the news, all of the Pope’s engagements have now been canceled, and his double-lung pneumonia diagnosis has left him with little hope of survival.

A statement issued by the Vatican yesterday read: “The chest CT scan that the Holy Father underwent this afternoon […] demonstrated the onset of bilateral pneumonia that required further pharmacological therapy.”

They also added that Francis’ respiratory infection involved asthmatic bronchitis, which requires extensive antibiotic treatment. The Pope had part of his lung removed years ago and is now vulnerable to pulmonary conditions. Expert Italian pulmonologist Barbara Moscatelli said the Pope’s condition is “neither easy to define nor to manage.”

Read More at the Daily Fetched

South Dakota’s House Education Committee passed a bill Friday mandating the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom, as well as being taught as part of the core curriculum.

Senate Bill 51 passed through the House Education Committee on a vote of 8 to 7 on Feb. 7, according to the Rapid City Journal. The bill will now move to the House Floor, where legislators will vote whether to move it forward once again. Should the bill clear the floor, it’ll go directly to the state’s Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden.

The bill was introduced by Republican Sen. John Carley, who “said his goal is to provide students a greater understanding of how the Ten Commandments shaped the moral and legislative pillars of founding documents,” the outlet reported. Should the legislation pass, it would require every classroom to have a three-part, roughly 225-word statement near an 8-by-14 inch poster of the Ten Commandments.

“I am thankful the Ten Commandments has been passed through the South Dakota Legislature. This foundational content has been so instrumental in the foundations of America – it’s great to see this come back to our public square. I appreciate the support of all of those still encouraging this to move forward,” Carley told Million Voices when asked for a statement.

If the legislation is passed and signed by Rhoden, there are concerns it’ll be followed by heavy litigation, as it has in states like Louisiana. Such potential cases have to fight against a massive change in our legal system that happened in June 2022. This change shifted America back on track to religious freedoms.

In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-to-3 in favor of high school football coach Joseph Kennedy’s right to pray at the 5-yard line at the end of each game, claimed NPR. “Respect for religious expressions is indispensable to life in a free and diverse Republic. Here, a government entity sought to punish an individual for engaging in a personal religious observance, based on a mistaken view that it has a duty to suppress religious observances even as it allows comparable secular speech. The Constitution neither mandates nor tolerates that kind of discrimination. Mr. Kennedy is entitled to summary judgment on his religious exercise and free speech claims,” wrote Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch at the time. 

The decision overturned a short-held legal precedent regarding the constitutionality of public religious displays. It’s believed the Ten Commandments were a prominent part of American education for almost three centuries prior to 1980, when the prior legal precedent was held against it. The first purely American educational textbook “New England Primer” was published by Benjamin Harris in Boston in 1690, featuring an in-depth section on the Ten Commandments.

In the context of American history, 45 years, from 1980 to 2025, without having the Ten Commandments in our education system doesn’t seem like a very long time, especially when you take into account it was part of our curriculum from at least 1690 to 1980 (that’s 290 years). But ask yourself: how do the last 45 years compare to the previous 290?

North Dakota, Montana, Tennessee, Oklahoma and more are all poised to bring God back into their classrooms in 2025. In Louisiana, the law requires a poster-sized printout of the Ten Commandments in all K-12 public school classrooms and state-funded universities, according to the First Liberty Institute.

The legal challenge in Louisiana was brought by several families with children in public schools, all of whom are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

“Unfortunately for the ACLU, their entire case is built on sand. Stone v. Graham is a relic of a previous time when the Lemon test censored religion from public life and is no longer good law,” First Liberty general counsel Hiram Sasser said in a statement.

Read More at Million Voices

Amazon Prime is set to release the first three episodes of “House of David” on February 27, dropping the epic-trailer at the end of January. We cannot wait to see how this plays out.

“‘House of David’ tells the story of the ascent of the biblical figure, David, who eventually becomes the most renowned and celebrated king of Israel. The series follows the once-mighty King Saul as he falls victim to his own pride. At the direction of God, the prophet Samuel anoints an unlikely, outcast teenager as the new king. As Saul loses his power over his kingdom, David finds himself on a journey to discover and fulfill his destiny, navigating love, loss, and violence in the court of the very man he’s destined to replace. As one leader falls, another must rise,” the series synopsis reads, according to The Christian Post. Does that sound incredible?! 

Balancing the humble beginning of David, during his years as a shepherd boy, an outsider. The cast includes Ali Suliman (“Jack Ryan,” “Arthur the King”) as King Saul, Stephen Lang (“Avatar,” “Don’t Breathe”) as Samuel, Ayelet Zurer (“Angels and Demons,” “Man of Steel”) as Queen Ahinoam, and Martyn Ford (“Mortal Kombat 2,” “The Sandman”) as Goliath, the CP added, with Michael Iskander in the titular role.

Relationship To Christian Cinema

The production of “House of David” comes to us from “Jesus Revolution” legend Jon Erwin and “Ordinary Angels” Jon Gunn. The concept was initially developed by “The Chosen” creator-producer-director Dallas Jenkins, along with Erwin.

This will likely be one of many series coming to us from Amazon MGM Studios’ Wonder Project, which will focus on Christian and biblical entertainment. 

“We love God’s Word. We believe it’s perfect. We’re just taking it and bringing it to the world in a fresh way while still honoring the text,” Jenkins recently told the CP of his work, suggesting “House of David” is part of this honor.

“With ‘House of David’ being the first project under this new deal, we’re setting the stage for a series of compelling, values-driven movies, and TV shows,” Erwin also said at an earlier date. “This is a milestone for The Wonder Project, and we’re thrilled to be working with a company that understands and supports our mission and our audience in such a groundbreaking way.”

Read More at Million Voices

South Dakota’s House of Representatives will vote Friday on whether public schools will be mandated to publicly display the Ten Commandments.

The state Senate voted on Tuesday (18-17) to move forward a bill that would mandate all public school classrooms display the Ten Commandments and have their historical significance be part of the curriculum, according to The Dakota Scout. South Dakota’s Senate has 31 Republicans and 4 Democrats.

“These are historical principles that have been used in the tradition and founding of America,” said Republican state Sen. John Carley, who proposed the legislation.

What Does The Law Entail?

If passed, each classroom would have to display a three-part, roughly 225-word statement near the 8-by-14-inch posters of the Ten Commandments. The legislation would replace the existing language within South Dakota’s state law that allows school boards to choose whether or not they display the posters or something similar.

Civic and history classes would also contain pertinent lessons on the historical significance of the Ten Commandments, presenting them “as a historical legal document, including the influence of the Ten Commandments on the legal, ethical, and other cultural traditions of Western civilization.”

Purpose Of The Bill

Like in many other states that are pushing through similar legislation, the purpose of the bill is to understand “where we came from as a country,” Republican state Sen. Lauren Nelson explained.

North Dakota is also deliberating a similar series of bills. In 2023, House Bill 1145 would also mandate the Ten Commandments be displayed, and “overwhelmingly passed the House and the Senate and was signed by Governor Burgum that would allow public schools to post the Ten Commandments with school board approval,” The Jamestown Sun reported in late January. 

Texas first introduced the legislation, but the law still hasn’t been picked up in the state. Louisiana has passed the bill, while Kentucky lawmakers brought their own version to the attention of state citizens in late January.

Read More at Million Voices

Superstar actor Denzel Washington received his minister’s license this month, surprising fans with a beautiful testimony following his baptism.

Denzel Washington gets baptized and becomes a licensed minister in training. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/rrVFv7miT1

— My Mixtapez (@mymixtapez) December 22, 2024

Washington was baptized December 21st at the Kelly Temple in New York City at the age of 69-years-old. “It took a while, but I’m finally here…If [God] can do this for me, there’s nothing He can’t do for you,” said Washington, according to Archbishop Christopher Bryant. “The sky is literally the limit.”

A post shared by Bryant on social media explained that he and his church “celebrate the addition of Minister Denzel Washington into the clergy, having received his minister’s license in the Church of God in Christ today, in a truly uplifting moment.”

“In the same service, he received water baptism,” the post continued. “Both the baptism and the licensing took place at the Historic Kelly Temple in NYC, a place close to his heart. Denzel Washington attended this church as a child and testified to being filled with the Holy Spirit after visiting another church with actor Robert Townsend in the 80’s.”

Washington recently stated that most people “can’t talk” about religion in the movie industry. “When you see me, you see the best I could do with what I’ve been given by my lord and savior,” he wrote for Esquire. “I’m unafraid.”

“The biggest moment of my life was when I was filled with the Holy Spirit. It happened in the West Angeles Church of God in Christ, Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles,” he stated.

“And I got back there, and they were praying and telling it to us. I’m hallelujah-ing. I was just feeling. It felt like I was getting lifted up. It felt like my back was arched, and I had my eyes closed. Not that I was going up in the air, but—I can’t exactly describe it. And I was blabbering, and kept blabbering, because I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I could hear the people gathering around me. They had seen this before. I could feel them ministering to me, touching me. Talking to me. Protecting me,” he wrote. “And then—this is going to sound like I was doing acid again—I came down.”

“I was slobbering, and I was crying. I felt embarrassed because I didn’t know exactly what had happened. I hadn’t experienced it before, or even seen it. Growing up I’d seen members of the church jumping and running up and down the aisles and all of that. But this scared me. It was too powerful. It was too much. It was too much.”

Read More at Million Voices

Bible sales are officially up 22% in the U.S. compared to the same time last year (2023), with first-time buyers fueling the surge.

“People are experiencing anxiety themselves, or they’re worried for their children and grandchildren,” Evangelical Christian Publishers Association president Jeff Crosby told the Wall Street Journal about the sudden boom in Bible sales. “It’s related to artificial intelligence, election cycles…and all of that feeds a desire for assurance that we’re going to be OK.”

Booksellers say folks are coming into their stores to find the Bible as means of rediscovering hope. And the stats are pretty startling. “Bible sales rose to 14.2 million in 2023 from 9.7 million in 2019, and hit 13.7 million in the first 10 months of this year,” WSJ wrote in their article. Readers are also stocking up on related works, such as analyses, insights, and modern interpretations of the Word.

“I’d like to say there is a craving for knowledge of scripture, but a lot of smart people are thinking about Bible marketing and catering to every whim for Bible study,” J. Mark Bertrand, founder of Lectio. org said.

Read More at Million Voices