Bridge of Grace

On October 16, 2020, French school teacher Samuel Paty was murdered by an 18-year-old Jihadist terrorist for showing cartoon images of Muhammad, the founder of the Islamic faith, while giving a lesson about freedom of speech.  The French President Macron responded with an act of defiance, vowing to stand for Freedom of Speech and showing images Mr. Paty and Muhammad cartoons on French government buildings.  Islamic leaders all over the world expressed outrage toward Macron's actions and began calling for a boycott of France ( Link to Video ). These leaders are not only demanding a boycott, but are also calling for the complete banning of any kind of criticism of Islam whether in public or on social media.  The reaction of these nations is complete and utter hypocrisy.  Turkey's Islamist President responded to Macron's action by openly stating that Macron needed a mental check and accuses other "Fascist European leaders" of spread "Islamophobia."   This i

In the United States today, the state of Nevada has some of the worst cases of sex trafficking in the nation.  The primary reason being that many counties in the state are making prostitution legal.  There are at least 20 legalized brothels in the state. Too many people have deceived themselves into thinking that a woman should have the power to decide whether or not she wants to sell herself for money.  That it's her life, it's her body, and therefore, her choice.  The truth is, it does the exact opposite.  Legalized prostitution gives the message that in truth, men are in control of women, that there are nothing but commodities that can be bought, sold, and disposed of when they're no longer profitable.  Legalized prostitution does not empower women, it turns them into a commodity.   Even worse than this, legalized prostitution is in truth, legalized slavery.  The brothels' that operate in Nevada charge a 50% commission for the services that the prostitutes provide, a

In the year 2005 reports began to filter out that a Qu'ran had been desecrated in Guantanamo Bay.  This news soon spread around the world, leading to massive demonstrations throughout the Islamic world.  Some of the demonstrations quickly became violent.  One in Afghanistan turned into a massive riot, leaving 17 dead.  Fifteen more people died in similar riots across the world.  This sort of reaction is not necessarily the exception, it's more so the norm.  In April of 2011, rioters attacked the UN compound of Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan.  The rioters killed and beheaded three UN workers and four Nepali guards after an American named Terry Jones publicly burned a Qur'an after stating it was guilty for inspiring crimes against humanity.  For many in the West, this is a phenomenon that they don't understand.  Nobody in the world reacts in such a manner if the Bible is desecrated.  When the U.S. government burned Bibles at the Bagram airfield in Afghanistan, there was no v

Years ago when I began my personal faith journey, I knew little about the teachings of the different faiths of the world.  I had some understanding of Christianity from by CCD lessons as a child as well as a basic understanding of Islam from the Islamic history course I took in college, but when I began pursuing my journey, I was soon made aware little I knew about both faiths, and how I knew even less about Buddhism, Mormonism, and the other faiths of the world.  For years, I had viewed the Qur'an as the "Muslim Bible."  I simply figured that the Bible was the "Book of the Christians," the Qur'an was the "Book of the Muslims," and that was it.  However, a year into studying both books, I came to an important realization: The Qur'an and the Bible are nothing alike.   The Bible is divided into two main books: the Old Testament, and the New Testament.  The Old Testament shows us how mankind fell out of God's Grace, and that God laid out a pla

Mayra Rodriguez, an Arizona native, was an employee for Planned Parenthood for 17 years.  A strong advocate for women's heath, Mayra was a novel employee and for a time, managed several Planned Parenthood offices.  However, when assigned to managed the Glendale Abortion clinic, Mayra began to learn a terrible truth.  The truth being that this abortion giant cares about abortions above everything else, including the well-being of their patients.   For many years, Planned Parenthood promotes the lie that abortion only represents 3% of its business.   After years of working in Planned Parenthood, Mayra was stunned to not only learn about this terrible lie, but also discovered that the company routinely engaged in unsafe abortion practices while working hard to cover it up.  When Mayra, who had been named "Employee of the Year" in 2016, Mayra began to openly voice concern about Planned Parenthood's safety procedures. Mayra noticed that the patients of one particular abort

In the region of Djulfa, located in the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhichevan, on the banks of the Araxes River, sat the largest Armenian cemetery in the world.  At its height, the graveyard consisted 10,000 kchackars (cross stones), the earliest dating back to the 6th century.  In the 16th century, the Persian Empire forced the Armenian Community to leave the region, but the kchackars remained.  Unfortunately, natural disasters and ongoing armed conflict decimated the site to the point when the Soviet Union officially took over the region in 1920, fewer than 3,000 kchackars remained.  This led the UNESCO in 2000 to pass a resolution calling for the cross stones to be preserved.  Tragically, the nation of Azerbaijan not only ignored this order, they had their soldiers deliberately destroy the remaining kchackars ( The New Tears of Araxes ) and dump the crushed remains into the Araxes River.   During the Armenian Genocide 100 years earlier, the Turkish killers often dumped the bodies of sl

In December of 2015 Petr Jasek was about to fly home to Prague after conducting a four-day fact-finding mission in Sudan for the Voice of the Martyrs.  Petr worked for VOM since 2002 and was no stranger to their plight in Suday.  He had visited numerous areas of the nation, including the Nuba mountains, from 2002-2011.  However, this trip would prove to end much differently than his previous ones.  As Petr was in the airport of Khartoum, preparing to fly home, he was stopped by Sudanese authorities and taken in for questioning.  Under Sudanese law, anyone trying to shed light on the plight of the Christians, the Africans of Darfur, or any other targeted group could be charged with the crime of "espionage."  What began as a four-day fact-finding mission ultimately became a 445 day incarceration in various Sudanese prisons.  There were times when Petr wondered if he would ever leave Sudan alive.   Christians were no strangers to persecution in this country.  Ever since Presiden

The Boko Haram Insurgency of Northern Nigeria has been going on for over 11 years.  Boko Haram, Fulani militants, and other Jihadists have been waging an ongoing campaign to create an Islamic Caliphate in Northern Nigeria as well as the surrounding nations of Chad and Cameroon.  It is estimated that the insurgency has claimed over 50,000 innocent lives and internally displaced over two million.  However, many fail to realize that these conflicts are not just about statistics.  It's about people who's lives have been cruelly taken away, who suffer permanent physical and psychological scars.  Their only crime is being a Christian, a Muslim of the wrong sect, or anyone who refuses to endorse their murderous agenda.  Here are some of the stories of those innocents who have suffered at the hands of Boko Haram.   This first story is about a little boy named Weng.  When Weng was only three weeks old, Boko Haram attacked his village and burned down his home.  His mother was killed as s