The Power Over Christian Publishing We’ve Given To Amazon

The great “heresy” is that God created and defines our sexuality and that as his creatures we are accountable to live according to his ways. It seems likely to me that the first book to go will be on this very topic ….

Afew days from now, or maybe a few months, or even a year, Amazon will pull a book from its site. One day it will be there available for purchase with all the rest, and the next it will be gone. One day people will be able to order it and have it shipped to their homes, and the next day it will have ceased to exist, at least as far as Amazon is concerned. This will inevitably be a book that Christians have embraced as orthodox but that the culture has rejected as heretical. And, of course, the great “heresy” of the day relates to sexuality—especially homosexuality and transgenderism. The great “heresy” is that God created and defines our sexuality and that as his creatures we are accountable to live according to his ways. It seems likely to me that the first book to go will be on this very topic. Perhaps it will be Kevin DeYoung’s book or Denny Burk’s or one of Rosaria Butterfield’s or Christopher Yuan’s. And while I am no prophet, I do believe the day is not far off.

When it happens, it should come as no great surprise. Amazon is hardly a company founded by Christians or run according to Christian principles. To the contrary, it is a company founded by worldly people and run according to worldly principles. We cannot be shocked when non-Christians are affronted or offended by genuinely Christian ideas. We cannot demand of non-Christians any more than of Christians that they violate conscience to sell materials they consider repugnant. Thus, surely the day I’ve predicted cannot be far off.

The great problem here is that we Christians have given Amazon immense power over us. As Amazon has grown in its retail domination, first across America and then across the rest of the world, it has become the go-to bookstore—and, really, the go-to everything store—for Christians and non-Christians alike. If we look back just 10 or 15 years, we can see there was a much more diverse Christian marketplace for books. There were far more brick and mortar retailers and there were also more online retailers. Sadly, very few have been able to keep up with the juggernaut that is Amazon. Amazon won this battle because they wooed us with a vast selection and free shipping and Prime Video and all sorts of great perks the other retailers simply could not match.

But as Amazon surged and other stores shuttered, we inadvertently handed Amazon a near-monopoly over the sale of Christian books. We did this with the good-faith assumption that they would continue to sell whatever we published. But times have changed and are changing and it seems increasingly unlikely that Amazon will continue to sell it all. It seems increasingly likely that they will cede to cultural pressure—pressure that exists both within and outside of the company—and begin to cull their offerings. And then what? It’s not like these books cannot be sold by the Christian retailers that remain. But will publishers even be willing or able to publish them if they cannot be sold at the world’s biggest marketplace? Will you and I even be able to find out about them if Amazon isn’t recommending them to us? And will we be willing to pay a premium to have them shipped to us from smaller retailers with higher prices and no ability to offer free shipping?

At exactly the point the culture is on the attack, is the very place we’ve possibly weakened our ability to understand and respond.

It seems clear to me we’ve put ourselves in a perilous position at the very point where we most need the Bible-based guidance of good books. At exactly the point the culture is on the attack, is the very place we’ve possibly weakened our ability to understand and respond.

(Of course, the story of moving to Amazon is not quite so simple as I’ve made it. Many Christian retailers were and still are far too willing to sell “Christian” books that are actually incredibly seditious and destructive to the true faith. A general lack of spiritual discernment has pervaded the industry for far too long. And in that way, I think many discerning Christian shoppers deliberately stopped supporting the kind of stores that so willingly declared foes of the gospel to be its greatest friends.)

I have often spoken about my decision to go all-in with digital reading, and especially the decision to focus more on Kindle than printed books. At the time, the decision made a lot of sense, even if only because I have such a tiny house without room for wall-to-wall bookcases. But when I made the decision, it seemed to reflect little more than a preference between media—paper or electronic. In retrospect, I can see it had far deeper consequences. It was not just about choosing who would get my money, but who would be the gatekeeper of Christian publishing. It was not just about choosing one retailer over another, but who would be able to ultimately determine, by their retail dominance, which books would get printed and which ones wouldn’t. And lest you think ill of me, you probably brought about the same consequence even if you stuck with paper books but chose to buy them through Amazon.

The upshot is that as Christians we have given a great deal of power over Christian publishing to the distinctly non-Christian Amazon. What can we do about it? To be honest, I’m not too sure. It may be too late. Obviously we can and should choose to support good Christian booksellers, and be willing to pay at least a small premium to buy from them. This premium isn’t just being nice Christians but is a means of showing that we want them to continue to have some influence over the writing, publishing, and distribution of valuable, Bible-based resources. Beyond this, I think we need to collectively think and pray about ways of taking back at least a good measure of power from a company that doesn’t deserve to have it. I’m eager to hear your ideas. Tim Challies

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For a technology and social media company that grew into a behemoth thanks entirely to the fact that it was founded in the freest, most open society on the planet, Facebook has since adopted a distinctly anti-American posture that alienates well over half the country.

Recently, four U.S. senators — Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) — called out Facebook in a letter over its enduring anti-Christian bigotry and censorship aimed at pro-life activists from Live Action.

“Your company, like Twitter, Google, Pinterest and so many of the other major social media firms in Silicon Valley, has repeatedly been presented with evidence of bias against those with conservative viewpoints, especially on the issue of abortion,” the letter noted. 

The senators’ correspondence comes after an Aug. 30 notification from Facebook informing Live Action, which is a leading nonprofit group with the biggest online following in the pro-life movement, that a pair of videos it posted reaffirming the widespread viewpoint that “abortion is never medically necessary” were labeled as “false.”

The notification stemmed from an alleged “fact check” from two abortionists, Drs. Daniel Grossman and Robyn Schickler, both of whom said that the medically necessary claim was “inaccurate” and “misleading.”

In its notification, Facebook informed Live Action that the page of Live Action President, Lila Rose, and any links to liveaction.org would now have “reduced distribution and other restrictions because of repeated sharing of false news.” In other words, Facebook planned to intentionally limit the distribution of Live Action posts even to its own followers, which is a blatant antitrust violation.

Combined, Live Action and its president, Lila Rose, have more than 3 million followers. 

“This so-called ‘fact-check’ came as part of a Facebook initiative to combat false news involving partnerships with groups like The Associated Press, FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, and others,” the letter said. “You claim that your fact-checkers are ‘certified’ through the ‘non-partisan’ International Fact-Checking Network.”

Facebook is violating rights — and maybe even the law

In reality, the senators wrote, “Facebook’s ‘independent fact check’ of the Live-Action videos was performed by two pro-abortion activists with significant ties to abortion-rights advocacy organizations, both of whom are paid to perform abortions.

“No reasonable person would describe [either physician] as neutral or objective when it comes to the issue of abortion, yet Facebook relied on their rating to suppress and censor a pro-life organization with more than 3 million followers,” the letter continued, which is a clear violation of the IFCN principle and the social media giant’s alleged commitment to non-partisanship.

They also demanded that Facebook issue a correction and remove “any restrictions placed on the pages of Live Action and Lila Rose.” They also said Facebook, “at a minimum,” must allow external examiner access to internal company documents and procedures while allowing that auditor to question employees and senior officials about said policies. (Related: Girl Scouts now celebrating young girls who push abortion, despite the fact that HALF of all abortions are baby girls.)

Fat chance of that happening without subpoenas and threats of government action, however.

In fact, Facebook doubled down on the censorship, sending another notification to Live Action’s followers that the group was spreading ‘fake news.’

Live Action✔@LiveAction · Sep 11, 2019Replying to @LiveAction and 11 others

“Thank you to Sens. Hawley, Cramer, Cruz, and Braun for their leadership. The platform should be a place for the free exchange of ideas, not one where only pro-abortion arguments are allowed.” @LilaGraceRose

Full statement: https://www.liveaction.org/ussenate/ 

Live Action✔@LiveAction

BREAKING: Following this morning’s letter from various US Senators demanding @Facebook rectify this situation, @facebook has just sent ANOTHER push notification our followers claiming that we are spreading “false news”

This is truly unacceptable.

3921:17 PM – Sep 11, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacy252 people are talking about this

Mind you, Live Action has previously received disciplinary action from Facebook even though the group accurately reported about the Dublin Declaration, which is a document signed by more than 1,000 OB-GYNs, other doctors, and healthcare experts that indeed, abortion is never a medical necessity. 

Other conservative news organizations including Natural News, The National Sentinel, Big League Politics, and others have reported being censored by Facebook and denied access to their followers — even those that were bought and paid for through marketing efforts — over the platform’s false accusation of reporting ‘fake news.’

Not all social media are as anti-Christian. The Brighteon Video platform is a free-speech zone where pro-life views are welcome.

Sources include: BigLeaguePolitics.com HealthFeedback.org LiveAction.org NewsTarget.comFacebookTwittergoogle_plusShare

1 John 4:3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world.

It is now being widely reported that a multi-year crusade against Jack Phillips, the Colorado cake baker who’s been under endless assault by the L.G.B.T. mafia for refusing to bake cakes for homosexual “weddings” and transgender “conversion” parties, is finally out of the Leftists’ crosshairs following a recent decision by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission (C.C.R.C.) to basically stop persecuting Phillips simply because of his faith. But the eye-opening reality is that, despite this small but noteworthy victory, the demonic war being waged against Christians in this country has only just begun.

While we might not be hearing much about Phillips anymore, Christians at large throughout America should expect to feel the heat of escalating hostility against their free speech rights, particularly online. In case you haven’t noticed, censorship on all of the major tech platforms, including Facebook, Google, Pinterest, Apple, Twitter, and Instagram, has been on the rise in a major way in recent years – and one of its primary targets is Christianity and all things associated with it.

You see, the spirit of antichrist, backed by a growing army of mindless L.G.B.T. foot soldiers, is on the move in these final days to destroy all Christians wherever they might be found. And it won’t stop until every last thing that’s good, moral, and right in the eyes of God is completely obliterated from society, using whatever means necessary.

Eliminating internet free speech seems to be the current tactic, as Big Tech has all but completely morphed into an extension of the “deep state” thought police in trying to regulate what people say and share online. One of the latest trends pushing for this abolition of the First Amendment online involves Leftists falsely accusing Christians, conservatives, and other Big Government “defectors” of engaging in “hate speech” every time they express their views – “hate speech” having already been programmed into the minds of the brainwashed masses as being an unforgivable no-no.

By classifying Christianity as “hate,” Leftists hope to abolish it in the name of “tolerance” and “love”

The Southern Poverty Law Center (S.P.L.C.), for instance, a hate group pretending to support “civil rights,” has actually made it a fundamental policy to designate any and all Christian organizations it comes across as “hate groups,” perpetuating the myth that any person or group of people that espouse beliefs contrary to what Big Brother deems acceptable is somehow embodying and perpetuating “hate,” and thus needs to be silenced.

“The SPLC regularly designates Christian organizations as ‘hate groups’ because of their support for Biblical marriage,” reports Bonnie Pritchett for WORLD magazine, noting that a far-Leftist group known as “Change the Terms” has already been tasked with identifying and targeting for elimination all forms of Christian “hate speech” online.

“Cloaked as a bid to purge neo-Nazis and white supremacists from internet platforms, the group admonishes tech companies to ‘combat hate activities while protecting minority voices.’ Its members include the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Center for American Progress.”

Bible-believing Christians already know that, as revealed in the Bible from long ago, antichrists will roam the earth seeking out whomever they can lay their hands on in order to completely devour. In this current day and age, much of the persecution and tribulation being inflicted upon Christians as a result of their faith in Jesus Christ is happening online – through the elimination of all free speech, including speaking directly with others in everyday life, is sure to be next on the chopping block.

“That’s the whole idea. Trying to wear out the saints,” wrote one commenter at CBN News about how the Cult of L.G.B.T. and others often seek to silence Christians by embroiling them in endless legal proceedings. “But we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.”

Facebook Walks Into Legal Trap After Claiming To Be ‘Publisher’ In Laura Loomer Lawsuit

Facebook may have just stepped on a legal landmine amid an ongoing battle with journalist Laura Loomer – after the Silicon Valley giant claimed in a motion to dismiss Loomer’s lawsuit that it can bar the political activist under their rights as a publisher, according to RT. 

Notably, Facebook has long defined itself as a tech company which simply provides a platform for users’ free speech – maintaining that they’re a neutral party which is protected from legal repercussions. 

“Under well-established law, neither Facebook nor any other publisher can be liable for failing to publish someone else’s message,” reads the company’s motion to dismiss Loomer’s defamation lawsuit – adding that terms like “dangerous” or “promoting hate” cannot be factually verified, and are therefore protected opinions for a publisher according to the report. That said, the company claims it never applied either term to Loomer despite banning her under their “dangerous individuals” policy. 

The company may have just stepped on a landmine, however. As RT notes: 

Defining itself as a publisher opens Facebook up to lawsuits for defamation and other liability for the content users publish, something they were previously immunized against. All the lies, personal attacks, and smears launched by users going forward can now be laid at Facebook’s feet. That’s a Pandora’s box they might not want to open, legal analyst and radio host Lionel told RT.

Platforms like Twitter, Google, and – until now, apparently – Facebook are protected from the legal consequences of their users’ speech by section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Facebook even makes reference to section 230 later in its motion, suggesting that it is trying to have its cake and eat it too.

Lionel points out that Facebook could go back to life as a platform, if it was willing to sacrifice its usefulness to those in power by allowing some political speech to reach users and blocking the rest. –RT Source

Our government has been overthrown. As evidenced by Trump’s capitulation on the border, his recent servitude to the GMO industry and his acquiescence to the warmongers, our President has been compromised. Our liberties are being eliminated one by one. Gun confiscation is next. The Constitution is gasping its last breaths. Our borders are destroyed and our culture has been turned upside down by every perversion known to man.

Sources for this article include: CBN.com NaturalNews.com WNG.orgFacebookTwittergoogle_plusShare

StevieRay Hansen
Editor, HNewsWire.com

Let Me Make This Abundantly Clear. (I Am Apolitical) While I Have a General Distaste for Politicians No Matter the Party They Belong To, I Am Unashamedly Politically a Bible Believing Conservative Christian. I Have a Severe Distrust of Government. I Believe It Is the Most Inefficient and Ineffective Way to Accomplish Most Things. While I Strongly Disagree with Liberals/Progressives and Conservative on Most Political Issues, and While I Believe Liberals/Progressives and Most Politicians Are Terribly Misguided and Naive About What Big Government Will Eventually Result In, I Strive to Not Question Their Motives. at the Same Time, While I Find Myself in Agreement with Conservative Politicians on Some Issues, I Do Not Believe Electing Republicans Is the Answer to Everything. for Me, Very Sadly, the Main Difference Between Republicans and Democrats Is How Quickly They Want to Drive the Car Towards the Cliff. Simply Put, I Do Not Believe the Government Is the Solution for Everything. I Do Not Place Any Faith, Trust, or Hope in Any Politicians to Fix What Is Wrong with the World. “Come Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)

Our government has been overthrown. As evidenced by Trump’s capitulation on the border, his recent servitude to the GMO industry and his acquiescence to the warmongers, our President has been compromised. Our liberties are being eliminated one by one. Gun confiscation is next. The Constitution is gasping its last breaths. Our borders are destroyed and our culture has been turned upside down by every perversion known to man.

Education is useless without the bible (Daniel Webster)

Usually, the Lord doth no great thing for or against his people, without giving warning of it before it comes.

John Wesley who said that what we tolerate in our generation, will be embraced by the next. Wesley is 100% correct! We are living in sick times.

Evil Exists So Spiritual Warfare Becomes Necessary!

1. Corinthians 4:8-11 New King James Version (NKJV)
2. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9. persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10. always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Satan has power over (LGBTQE-TRANS PEOPLE). The “sons of disobedience” referred to in Ephesians 2:2 are those who have not trusted Christ as Lord and Savior (cf. Acts 26:18; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 13:12). The demons are also under the rule of Satan (Matthew 12:24), and one of his titles is “prince of demons” (Matthew 9:34). Satan has a kingdom (Matthew 12:26) and a throne (Revelation 2:13). Satan is called a prince because he is a ruler and possesses the power to manifest evil in the world through influencing people and commanding demons.

HNewsWire- “All political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.” Just look at some of our modern-day examples: torture is “enhanced interrogation techniques”; murder is “collateral damage”; the aggression initiation of war is a “pre-emptive strike”; the theft of taxpayers’ money is a “bailout”, and the theft of depositors’ money in a bank is a “haircut” or “bail-in”.In a blatant example of Newspeak, the New World Order controllers (through the psychiatric DSM V) have tried to rename pedophiles as “minor-attracted persons” and redefine pedophilia as “sexual orientation”. This makes no sense since sexual orientation has to do with gender, not age, with whether you are attracted to males or females, not how old they are. There are even organizations (like B4UAct.org) which are claiming that pedophiles are being unfairly stigmatized for their feelings!

If homosexuality has been posed as healthy, good and normal, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, so can pedophilia. Pro-pedophilic articles are making their way into academia.

The Cult of LGBTQE-E for EVIL and is often a cover for child-molesting perverts

Tagged Under: abuse, children’s health, gender-confused, gender issues, gender madness, the left cult, LGBTQE, un-godly Mob, Lunacy, mutilation, transgender, Child molesting perverts LGBTQE- E For Evil, drag queens, perverts

Unfortunately, not all alternative sources are reliable, even some Major Christian (and I use Christian loosely) news sources have been corrupted. They will NOT tell the truth. They just parrot the deceptive narratives perpetrated by those who currently control our government and media. Even those who are honestly trying to present the truth can miss it sometimes. There is so much deception out there. In these last days, you must be wise as serpents and gentle as lambs. It is no time to sleep or slumber. Diligence and vigilance are required. It is critical that you think for yourself and not be a Lemming.

Tagged Under: Alt-Left, Anti Christ, bigotry, christ, Christianity, hate crime, hatred, intolerance, Islam, left cult, Liberal Mob, liberals, religion, Amazon, society