There’s nothing quite like a crisis to bring out the best in people. There’s also nothing quite like a crisis to bring out the worst in people. Case in point, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer’s idiotic defense of prohibiting doctors from performing “non-essential” surgical procedures, including joint replacements, while allowing doctors to continue to perform freely chosen, that is, elective abortions.

Before discussing Whitmer’s idiotic statement, let’s remember that abortion—i.e., the deliberate killing of a human prior to his or her delivery—is never necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman. While there are emergencies that require a pregnancy to be terminated to save the life of a mother, terminating a pregnancy never requires the prior and intentional killing of her baby—also known as human slaughter. To be clear, a pregnancy can be terminated via a Caesarean section, which does not involve the direct killing of a baby. Sometimes the emergency delivery of a baby prior to full gestation will result in its death, but such a death is not an abortion. Therefore, abortion is never necessary to save a mother’s life, and if it’s never necessary to save a woman’s life, abortion is by definition non-essential.

Governor Whitmer begs to differ, arguing irrationally the following after being asked about her pandemic regulations regarding abortion:

We stopped elective surgeries here in Michigan. Some people have tried to say that that type of a procedure is considered the same and that’s ridiculous. A woman’s health care, her whole future, her ability to decide if and when she starts a family is not an election, it is fundamental to her life. It is life sustaining and it’s something that government should not be getting in the middle of.

Whitmer, like so many other leftists, can’t even bring herself to say “abortion” (let alone the more fitting term “feticide”). Instead, she uses the cumbersome euphemism “that type of procedure.” Whitmer’s statement, dripping with irony that was apparently lost on the witless Whitmer, refers to the intentional slaughter of the unborn as a “life-sustaining” procedure.

Still avoiding the term “abortion,” Whitmer employs the strategically useful go-to term of cultural regressives everywhere: “woman’s health care.” Someone should ask Whitmer how the slaughter by abortion of 431,000 little women every year in the U.S. alone constitutes “health care” for those females.

While deciding whether or not to allow a human in the womb to continue to live may affect a woman’s “future,” affecting one’s future does not make a procedure essential. Nor does deciding “if and when” to start a family make a medical decision “essential.” In describing the “procedure” of feticide as deciding “if and when” to start a family,” Whitmer inadvertently reveals that feticide is, indeed, elective, and if it’s elective, it’s non-essential.

Whitmer must believe the entire country just fell off the turnip truck if she expects anyone to believe that joint replacements to end daily and often excruciating pain and disability are elective and must cease during the pandemic while freely chosen abortion—a procedure that leftists call “pro-choice”—is non-elective and essential.

And she must believe all Michiganders are dupes when she says government should not be “getting in the middle of” health care decisions as she—the government—gets in the middle of health care decisions.

Whitmer tweeted a photo of herself wearing a pink hat that says in all caps, “PLANNED PARENTHOOD MAKES AMERICA GREAT,” accompanied by her words “The future is bright… and pink!” That photo encapsulates the depraved “progressive” vision of a “great” America. For “progressives,” slaughtering the unborn at any point from conception to birth for any or no reason and forcing taxpayers to subsidize this elective, non-essential human slaughter makes America great.

Whitmer’s hubris and  incompetence extend beyond her “getting in the middle of health care” by designating the practice of women freely hiring “doctors” to kill their offspring “health care.”  She also banned  “lawn and landscaping services, motor boating and golf. Large stores can’t sell paint, furniture or garden equipment. People aren’t allowed to travel between residences, which blocks them from visiting second homes and hunting cabins.” In so doing, Whitmer provided yet more evidence that regressives lack both moral compasses and an ability to think coherently. We should have learned through history that leaders who lack both morality and rationality use the exercise of raw power to achieve their destructive ends.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Leftists-Say-Freely-Choosing-Feticide-Is-Now-Non-Elective.mp3

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Written by Austin Scott Davies

On March 9, 2020, Governor J.B. Pritzker declared every county in Illinois a disaster area. The Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act (20 ILCS 3305/7) allows the governor to proclaim a disaster exists by which he can give himself authority under the Act to exercise certain emergency powers.

The most noteworthy of the powers he has exercised is the power to control the movement of persons within a disaster area and the power to control and restrict the use, sale, or distribution of goods and services.

The governor is constrained by the Act to exercise the emergency powers for a period that is not to exceed 30 days following the proclamation of a disaster. Under the Act, the governor’s emergency powers have expired.

The federal and Illinois’ constitutions also limit the governor’s power through their due process and equal protection clauses. The Bill of Rights, found in both constitutions, restrain the government from violating our rights. However, the government is allowed to burden our rights under certain circumstances.

If a fundamental right is burdened by the government, for example the free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, or movement, some questions asked by courts to determine whether the government’s act is constitutional are whether the act substantially burdened the fundamental right, whether the act furthered a compelling government interest, and whether the government used the least restrictive means possible to pursue that interest. This analysis is called strict scrutiny.

If a non-fundamental right is burdened, courts use the rational basis analysis. Judicial precedent deems economic and business rights to be included as non-fundamental. In determining whether a government act is constitutional here, courts determine whether an act is rationally related to a legitimate government objective. Both strict scrutiny and rational basis analysis are also used for equal protection analysis, when the government applies laws differently based on classifications it creates.

Both fundamental and non-fundamental rights have been burdened by the governor’s orders, and businesses and activities have been classified as “essential” or “non-essential.” In particular, by Order 2020-10, which chose certain businesses that had to close and certain activities that people were no longer allowed to engage in. This “stay-at-home” order shuttered thousands of businesses and restricted fundamental liberties of people in Illinois.

Is prohibiting church services and gatherings of over a certain number of people but allowing people to buy recreational cannabis and liquor–even if “social-distancing” is practiced during each activity–the least restrictive means to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (also known as the disease “COVID-19”)? Are these classifications rationally related to preventing the spread of the virus? What does shutting down schools have to do with protecting the elderly and immuno-compromised who are most at risk for hospitalization? These questions are beginning to be asked across the nation by litigants, courts, and legislatures. Some doctors believe that isolation and “social distancing” should only be practiced by those most at risk, and that “social-distancing” and isolation will in the long term lead to more death than if we built up herd immunity quicker among the healthy while giving the option to those at risk to choose to social-distance and stay home.

Courts will also be asked to decide whether the government can lawfully arrest or fine people for violating the governor’s orders. In short, no, the government cannot arrest you merely for violating the governor’s orders. Unlike some states, Illinois’ Emergency Management Act does not provide any penalties for violations, so for the executive branch to impose a penalty for a violation would be a violation of procedural due process, which prohibits enforcement of penalties that are vague or, as in this case, non-existent. Even if the governor issued an order specifying a penalty, it would still be unenforceable. In our tripartite, constitutional republic, only the legislature can make law. If the governor purported to create a penalty by order, and that is not present in the statute, that part of his order would be void.

Local municipalities have passed ordinances that provide for penalties if the governor’s order is violated. Some of these ordinances may be lawful while others may not be. For example, Chicago’s Department of Public Health issued an order that requires sick people not to leave their homes except for certain essential activities. The order references Chicago ordinance 2-112-340 for enforcement of its order, which provides that anyone violating an order by the Illinois Department of Public Health or Board of Health can be fined between $100-$500 dollars. The Chicago Department of Public Health gets its authority from the Illinois Administrative Code, which allows for the Illinois Department of Public Health to delegate its authority to to local health authorities. Therefore, the Chicago Department, like the Illinois Department of Public Health, is constrained in its actions by the Illinois Department of Health Act (20 ILCS 2305).

Section 2 of this Act allows the Illinois Department of Public Health, and local health authorities, to order quarantine, isolation, and closure of places to prevent the probable spread of a dangerous or infectious disease. However, these agencies cannot make such orders without a prior court order, or consent by the person or persons effected. The only exception to this is if, in the reasonable judgment of the agency issuing the order, exigent circumstances exist that require immediate action to protect the public, they can make such orders. The agency issuing the order is still required either obtain consent or court order within 48 hours of doing so, unless the courts are unavailable or circumstances make it impossible to obtain a court order. Then, the orders can only stay in place until the agency can obtain the court order through reasonable means.

Illinois’ courts may require video and telephonic hearings at this time, but they are not closed. There have been no reports that the Chicago Department of Health has obtained a court order authorizing the quarantine or isolation of anyone. For this reason, if Chicago law enforcement does issue any fines pursuant to the ordinance, it may be possible to have the fines dismissed. It is also possible that law enforcement would charge you with a Class A misdemeanor for violating an order of a health department agency, found in the act at 20 ILCS 2305/8.1, which may be defended on the same grounds. A Class A misdemeanor carries with it up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

Threat of criminal penalty has also been made by the governor. When pressed what punishment people could face for violating his order, Gov. Pritzker stated that the police could get a court order or charge people with reckless conduct. Reckless conduct (720 ILCS 5/12-5) is conduct that is performed recklessly and that endangers the safety of another person and is a Class A misdemeanor. The government would have a hard time proving your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. If you are not under court-ordered quarantine, if you go in public while practicing “social-distancing” and wearing a mask, even while sick, your actions may not be reckless or endangering anyone else. If you are not sick, even if you are not practicing “social-distancing” or wearing a mask, it is hard to imagine the government proving that you endangered another person. It would likely have to be proven that the government knew you were positive for the virus before they arrested you for going into public and that you were reckless by not practicing social-distancing or wearing a mask.

Illinoisans may have another right regarding the pandemic. That is the right to just compensation for a government “taking.” The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that the government will not take anyone’s property without just compensation. This Amendment is incorporated to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment. The same clause can be found in Section 15 of Article 1 of the Illinois Constitution. U.S. Supreme Court precedent states that one method for the government to take something is to deny it all economically viable use.

Many businesses have been denied all economic viability. Such a large scale taking and compensation is unprecedented, but it does appear that there is a justifiable argument for relief.

The Illinois General Assembly may be back in session sometime next month. Whether they act to check the governor’s power remains to be seen, but it is not likely since both branches are controlled by the same political party. As more Illinoisans struggle under the governor’s orders and local ordinances, more lawsuits will be filed, and the courts may be the only arbiter of the extent of the government’s power during this pandemic.

Austin Scott Davies is an attorney, former prosecutor, and an active member of the Winnebago County Republican Party. He is also a board member for Concerned Citizens for America, a local chapter of Illinois Family Institute.

The information contained in this article is not legal advice and is for general information purposes only. Do not act or refrain from acting on the basis of this information. Readers should contact an attorney to obtain advice with respect to any legal matter.

Written by Peter Heck

How he managed to say it without choking on his own tongue I will never know. As President Trump began to dress down the hostile press that was attempting to use his Monday White House briefing to smear him as negligent, CNN cut away immediately to anchor John King who managed to prattle out these words without even a sniff of irony:

“To play a propaganda video at taxpayer expense in the White House briefing room is a new — you can insert your favorite word here – in this administration.”

For anyone at CNN to feign objection over “propaganda” is as convincing a testimony you will ever see to the staggering lack of self-awareness capable by seemingly coherent human beings.

This is, after all, the network of Jake Tapper, who just days ago allowed socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to repeat without correction the now widely debunked rumor that President Trump called coronavirus a hoax. Tapper actually defended his own silence saying that while he knew it was a lie, he let it slide by because President Trump lies about other things. Seriously:

I guess that’s the problem with a politician who lies so often; while I agree that Democrats are mischaracterizing what he said, what he did say was also false so it’s tough to justify taking the time for a fact check when it’s not taking a stand defining the truth.

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 22, 2020

Tapper also allowed Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi to accuse Trump of “fiddling” without ever holding her to account for “fiddling” herself when she single-handedly delayed the coronavirus relief bill for a week.

This is the network of Brian Stelter who anchors a program unironically called “Reliable Sources,” and utilizes that platform to peddle misinformation on behalf of the Democrat Party:

I RT’ed a former LA Times reporter who had tweeted pics that mistakenly ran on the ABC local news broadcast. When I found out the story was erroneous, I deleted the tweet. Gosh, Brian, why does your tweet omit the MSM error that started it? Or does CNN only exist to attack GOP? https://t.co/ehvPHPMrGh

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 13, 2020

It is also Stelter who turned disgraced lawyer and convicted felon Michael Avenatti into a mainstay on his program in order to attack Trump, and even encouraged the Stormy Daniels attorney to think about running for president himself. With Avenatti in jail now, Stelter fills his time regularly attempting “gotcha” moments with President Trump that end just about as well. Like this:

Admin officials "say the White House has made a deliberate political calculation that it will better serve Trump’s interest to put the onus on governors — rather than the federal government — to figure out how to move ahead."

Let that quote sink in… https://t.co/v2QVZBXslD

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 11, 2020

Yes, let it. Because there’s a name for the concept articulated in that quote, of course. It’s called “federalism,” the central pillar around which our constitutional order and system is constructed. Let the fact that CNN’s chief media corresponded didn’t realize that sink in for a minute.

Besides, it isn’t too difficult to figure out what Stelter and company would be saying if Trump had seized power and claimed emergency authority to dictate nationalized policies to “move ahead.”

This is the network of Don Lemon, an activist masquerading as a newsman who is so sharply partisan that long-time journos cringe at the damage he continues to do not only to CNN’s credibility, but the industry itself.

This is the network that breathlessly covered every potential angle of every perceived accusation against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings, yet now remains the only major news organization that has not even mentioned the credible allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden by one of his former employees.

This is the network that at the very same press briefing that John King couldn’t bear to air another second of, allowed a staffer manning the chyron machine to post these on-screen Democrat talking points with the apparent blessing of both editors and producers:

I’m almost impressed with how hard the CNN chyron writers of my former network effort to get their revulsion for Pres Trump just right!

I don’t miss it… pic.twitter.com/FLQr2Nwz8a

— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) April 14, 2020

Incredible. As in, lacking in all credibility.

After recently surviving a bout with COVID-19, CNN host Christopher Cuomo made some startling remarks, indicating that he was re-evaluating his career at the network. Among other things, Cuomo called out CNN for trafficking in “ridiculous things.”

He not wrong in that assessment, even though I’d choose a different, more precise term for what this low-rated televised rumor mill peddles: propaganda.

This article was originally published at Disrn.com.

Big Brother—er, I mean—the Mendocino County, California Health Department has issued an Order mandating the following for streaming church services:

No singing or use of wind instruments, harmonicas, or other instruments that could spread COVID-19 through projected droplets shall be permitted unless the recording of the event is done at one’s residence, and involving only the members of one’s household or living unit, because of the increased risk of transmission of COVID-19.

This Order applies to streaming church services even if “Only four individuals” are present and they observe the social-distancing requirements that include,

maintaining at least six feet of physical distancing from other individuals … , frequently washing hands with soap and water for at least twenty seconds as frequently as possible or using hand sanitizer that is recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as effective in combatting COVID-19, covering coughs or sneezes (into the sleeve or elbow, not hands), regularly cleaning high-touch surfaces, not shaking hands, and, for those who are not on camera, to wear facial coverings as much as possible.

Could a church even have a streaming service that included music with fewer than four people? Remember, the off-camera persons managing the technical aspects of streaming a service would need to be present.

While singing may be deemed non-essential to non-Christians, they have no moral right to impose their non-Christian beliefs on Christians—including on four Christians in a nearly empty church who are standing six feet apart with bleached hands during a pandemic.

God’s holy Word has a lot to say about singing:

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! (Psalm 100: 1-2)

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! (Psalm 95:1-2)

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. (Psalm 104:33)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the Lord; exult before him! (Psalm 68:4)

While the U.S. Constitution expressly protects the free exercise of religion and the right to assembly , “progressives,” many of whom have stated they respect neither religion nor the U.S. Constitution, are discovering in the penumbras formed by emanations from the Chinese Communist coronavirus (and the “LGBT” ideology) rationalizations for the erosion of our most precious rights. As the Bill of Rights is being devoured right before our eyes, the ravenous, slavering “progressive” blinkered beast who was once known by the gendered name Big Brother grows.

What happens when politicians and unelected government bureaucrats with barely concealed contempt for theologically orthodox Christians discover that pastors project droplets when they preach?

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Exploiting-a-Pandemic-to-Ban-Church.mp3

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please consider a tax-deductible donation to sustain our endeavors.

The events of recent days have thrown all of us into unchartered territory. With schools, restaurants, libraries, events, and even churches suspending normal operations, our lives have been disrupted in ways large and small. The impact is real, and depending on how long this lasts, it has the potential to deepen even further.

How should God’s people respond?

In Acts 10:38, in the midst of his sermon to Cornelius and his household, Peter tells us that Jesus “went about doing good.”

That’s an interesting—and compelling—description. Too often, I think we view Jesus’ ministry exclusively through the lens of spiritual redemption. Yes, that was His main point and purpose in coming to earth, but He underlined His concern for our spiritual well-being by meeting countless physical needs. He fed the hungry, healed the sick, raised the dead, and washed dirty feet. He mourned alongside Mary and Martha and cooked fish for hungry disciples. He was concerned about every dimension of the well-being of those around Him.

Likewise, the early church acted with radical self-sacrifice to help those with needs. The idea that Christians should only be concerned with the spiritual well-being of others isn’t found in Scripture. Yes, we should be concerned for the lost, but like Jesus, we can go about doing good—spiritually and materially. Sometimes helping others in the material realm will be the door God uses to allow us to minister spiritually.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers about how the church can serve our communities in a time of pandemic. There are cautions to be observed, to be sure—both for our own safety, and for the safety of those we would help. But even with those cautions, we can be alert to opportunities to meet needs around us. And when we do, we’ll not only be a blessing to our communities, we’ll be following in the footsteps of Jesus.

How can we serve? That’s a conversation my wife and I been having recently. We’ve made ourselves available to help one of our next-door neighbors with errands. He’s an older fellow believer who lives with a compromised immune system. Why should he go out to the store when he has young(er), healthy neighbors who can do it for him? I’ve also told our pastor that we’re available to help out other church members if there’s a need for a meal delivered or groceries picked up.

We’re also planning to assist my elderly grandparents in any way we can. My grandmother has been declining mentally for the past several years to the point that she’s become very difficult for my grandfather to care for. It used to be a relief to him to be able to get both of them out of the house a few times each week to meet friends or family at a restaurant for dinner. With all restaurants closed, he not only has lost that diversion, he also has the added burden of extra cooking. We plan to help ease that burden as we’re able.

These are small things, perhaps, but if we all take care of our own small acts of kindness toward those around us, perhaps we can lessen the burden of the coming weeks or months. Even a cup of cold water given in Jesus’ name is worthy of notice in God’s eyes.

Many families may also be facing financial hardships as the economic fallout builds. Perhaps there’s a single mom near you who just lost her job and doesn’t know how she’ll cover her bills. Or maybe there’s a small business owner who wants to keep his doors open after all of this is over but can’t pay the rent when he doesn’t have any customers due to the virtual shutdown. If God has given you the financial means to bless others, now would be a great time to look around to see who needs help. Ask your pastor, friends, or neighbors if they know of anyone who’s been hit hard and see what you can do.

I don’t know what additional opportunities we may have to serve others in the coming days. We all have our own families to think about and provide for, but I certainly want to be alert to opportunities as God brings them along. I challenge you to do the same.

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Written by Patricia Mosley

As part of their COVID-19 response, the U.K. initially approved new measures to allow women to take the complete abortion pill regimen at home. Now, it appears that this measure has been reversed. The reasoning given was, “This was published in error. There will be no changes to abortion regulations.”

The abortion pill is a two-drug regimen that is basically a do-it-yourself method anyways, but normally, the woman would have some type of interaction with a physician by taking the first pill (mifepristone) under their supervision at the clinic and then going home to take the second drug (misoprostol) 24-48 hours later.

Because the U.K. considers abortion an “essential service” amid the pandemic, their response was to completely place the burden of abortion on women. These women would have been popping both pills at home with no physician oversight.

But this is what the abortion industry all over the world has been calling for even before the current pandemic—for abortions to be unrestricted, unregulated, and do-it-yourself. Gone are the days when they were calling for “safe, legal, and rare” to protect against desperate women performing their own “back-alley” abortions. Now abortion pills are the new back-alley method, credentialed by the world’s most prestigious medical institutions.

Because the U.S. has FDA restrictions (REMs) on the abortion pill (U.S. brand “Mifeprex”), it cannot be a “complete” DIY method, but either way, restrictions or no restrictions, the abortion pill method is set up to be an at-home, multi-day, traumatic process that comes with the risk of serious complications.

Chemical abortions carry four times the rate of complications compared to surgical abortions. The two side effects observed to be more prevalent during chemical abortions than surgical abortions were hemorrhage and incomplete abortion. An incomplete abortion means there needed to be surgical intervention to extract any remaining parts of the unborn child from the woman’s uterus. Prolonged hemorrhage requiring blood transfusion can occur. It’s already been reported to the FDA that over 500 blood transfusions, over a thousand hospitalizations, and 24 deaths took place as result of Mifeprex. And that is just what’s been reported.

Fortunately right now, the U.S. has strong pro-life leadership from the top down, so at a national level it’s unlikely that we will see abortion be declared an “essential service” at a time like this. However, that will not stop the abortion industry from demanding that it should be. Some states have already deemed abortion “essential.”

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and their allies have already put out a statement complaining that abortions are being left out of essential health care services that need to remain open at this time. Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio is at war with the state Attorney General and Health Department as they continue to perform abortions even though they have been directly ordered not to.

Planned Parenthood claims they can still achieve the goal of conserving medical resources for essential health care personnel combatting COVID-19 by remaining open. How would they do this? They didn’t explain.

It doesn’t take a lot of time to deduce that the abortion industry is likely dispensing abortion pills to pregnant women who are past the FDA-approved gestational age limit of 10 weeks. The abortion industry has already been experimenting with performing abortions past 13 weeks on vulnerable women in Burkina Faso, Columbia, and Mexico.

Even the once abortion-neutral humanitarian aid group Doctors Without Borders (DWB), with the approval of the World Health Organization, has instructional guidelines on how women can perform their own drug-based abortion up to 22 weeks!

Although they claim these instructional videos are for training their medical workers, they acknowledge that they expect women to go to the site in order to learn how to induce their own abortions.

The fact that chemical abortions already carry significant complications and that the rate of those complications only increase as the gestational age of the pregnancy increases shows that Doctors Without Borders are bordering on medical malpractice.

The complications that can arise from taking the abortion pill place women in life-threatening situations that may require follow-up visits to the abortion clinic and the emergency room. We are now likely to see scenarios where women who have taken the abortion pill regimen will need blood transfusions, treatment for infections, and possible follow-up surgery to complete the abortion, which means they will need to go to the emergency room and wait for treatment next to possible victims of the coronavirus pandemic. How is this conserving medical resources? How is this protecting the safety and health of women?

Thankfully, there are still some reputable medical leaders, such as AAPLOG, who refuse to put women in this type of danger by categorizing abortion as an “essential service.”

Killing innocent children in the womb should never be considered any type of “service,” in the midst of a pandemic or not. By encouraging women to self-manage an abortion up to 22 weeks and calling do-it-yourself abortion a “paid” service, the abortion industry has been and is currently showing us that they have no regard for human dignity whatsoever—for the child or the mother.

This article was originally published at the FRCblog.com.

President Donald J. Trump has called for a National Day of Prayer this Sunday. While there is never a lack of serious issues to pray about, the level of anxiety and even fear among citizens is at a level many of us have never seen before. The need for national corporate prayer by Christians is indisputable.

While some politicians and media pundits are working overtime to have us believe that the federal or state government can save us, we know that God is sovereign (Psalm 103:19) over the affairs of all creation. It is to Him we must turn when we encounter various trials. While we should heed the recommendations of scientists about hand-washing, social-distancing, and stocking our pantries, we shouldn’t panic or worry. (Mat. 6:34)

The Apostle Paul tells us:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ~Phil. 4:6-7

Work places, schools, churches, sports stadiums, casinos and even the state legislature are closing due to the coronavirus. This is a serious pathogen that can become dangerous, if not deadly, for many of our vulnerable family members, neighbors, and friends. It is wise to take precautions so as not to allow it to spread. But it is infinitely more important to bow our heads and bend our knees before Almighty God to make our appeals known to Him. Again, the Apostle Paul exhorts us to rejoice in hope, persevere in tribulation, and be constant in prayer. (Rom. 12:12)

• Please pray for the peace of Christ to rule and reign in our hearts, so that we may shine the Light of Jesus to those who are without hope. May we cast all our anxieties on Him, and let Him sustain us. (1 John 4:18; 1 Peter 5:7)

• In this time of trial and testing, pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we may know His peace. May God help us to be patient and kind to one another.

• Pray for one another as we face this difficulty. Pray that through this tribulation, Christians will grow nearer to our Creator, and that the Lord will use it to sanctify us and give us many opportunities to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel.

• Pray that our rebellious, agnostic, and/or unbelieving neighbors will wrestle with the reality of their own mortality and diligently seek God. (Deut. 4:29; Prov. 8:17; Jer. 29:13; Mat 7:7; Luke 11:9; Ps. 105:4)

• Pray that God would bring peace and healing to those who are afflicted with the illness, to provide supernatural strength and protection for the medical personnel struggling on the front lines, and to bless every official at every level who are working to help the people affected by this pandemic. Pray that they would seek and acknowledge God’s loving, omnipotent purpose for all of this.

This situation also provides us a perfect opportunity to pray for and communicate with our state lawmakers who will be spending more time in their district offices now that next week’s Springfield session has been cancelled. Introduce yourself to them if you have never met with them. Encourage others to make calls as well.

You can begin your conversation by thanking them for their public service, which they likely do not hear very often. You can relay your concerns about bills that have recently been introduced or are still alive from last year.

Click HERE for the list of bills IFI is watching for this session.

To find the contact information for your state senator and state representative, click HERE. Once you enter your zip code and address, these 2 officials will be at the bottom of the section for Your State Officials.

Additional Prayer Points:

• Pray that God would intervene in the hearts of lawmakers who are sponsors of the anti-life, anti-family bills.

• Pray that Christians would go to the voting booth on (or before) Tuesday and vote to elect people who align with God’s principles of life, marriage, and sexual purity and monogamy within marriage, etc.

• Pray that President Trump would continue to seek God’s wisdom during these tumultuous times.

• Pray for the decision-makers, who decided to cancel events and restrict travel.

• Pray for God’s mercy on Illinois and our nation.

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