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Abortion control order comes into force: Widespread protests in Texas

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The most radical abortion law in the US has gone into effect, despite legal efforts to block it.

A near-total abortion ban in Texas empowers any private citizen to sue an abortion provider who violates the law, opening the floodgates to harassing and frivolous lawsuits from anti-abortion vigilantes that could eventually shutter most clinics in the state.

“Abortion access will be thrown into absolute chaos,” says Amanda Williams, executive director of the abortion support group the Lilith Fund, a plaintiff in the suit that challenged the law. “Unfortunately, many people who need access the most will slip through the cracks, as we have seen over the years with the relentless attacks here in our state.

“It is unbelievable that Texas politicians have gotten away with this devastating and cruel law that will harm so many.”

Senate Bill 8, ushered through the Republican-dominated Texas legislature and signed into law by the Republican governor, Greg Abbott, in May, bars abortion once embryonic cardiac activity is detected, which is around six weeks, and offers no exceptions for rape or incest. Texas is the first state to ban abortion this early in pregnancy since Roe v Wade, and last-minute efforts to halt it through an appeal to the US supreme court by Tuesday did not succeed.

While a dozen other states have passed similar so-called “heartbeat” bills, they have all been blocked by the courts. The Texas version is novel in that it is intentionally designed to shield government officials from enforcement, and thus make legal challenges more difficult to secure. It instead incentivizes any private citizen in the US to bring civil suit against an abortion provider or anyone who “aids or abets” the procedure.

The law “immediately and catastrophically reduces abortion access in Texas”, say state abortion providers, and will probably force many abortion clinics to ultimately close. It will prevent the majority of Texas women (85%) from accessing abortion care, as most aren’t aware they are pregnant as early as six weeks.

Joe Biden condemned the new law and reaffirmed the White House’s support for abortion rights. “This extreme Texas law blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v Wade and upheld as a precedent for nearly half a century,” Biden said in the statement.

Planned Parenthood, which operates 11 clinics in the state, and Whole Woman’s Health clinics told the Guardian they would comply with the extreme law despite the fact that it is contrary to their best medical practices. In the days leading up to the law’s enactment, Texas clinics say they have been forced to turn away patients who need abortion care at the law’s cutoff point this week and into the near future.

Some abortion physicians in Texas have opted to discontinue offering services, choosing to forgo the potential risk of frivolous and costly lawsuits. For instance, most of the physicians across the four Whole Woman’s Health clinics in Texas will not continue care to prevent jeopardizing their livelihoods, said the clinic founder, Amy Hagstrom Miller.

“We are all going to comply with the law even though it is unethical, inhumane, and unjust,” Dr Ghazaleh Moayedi, a Texas abortion provider and OB-GYN, said. “It threatens my livelihood and I fully expect to be sued. But my biggest fear is making sure the most vulnerable in my community, the Black and Latinx patients I see, who are already most at risk from logistical and financial barriers, get the care they need.”

The law will force most patients to travel out of state for care, increasing the driving distance to an abortion clinic twentyfold – from an average of 12 miles to 248 miles one-way, nearly 500 miles round-trip, the Guttmacher Institute found. And that is only if patients have the resources to do so, including time off work, ability to pay for the procedure, and in some cases childcare.

Providers and abortion fund support groups – who help finance travel, lodging, and direct service for low-income women through donations – have spent months scrambling to coordinate with out-of-state clinics, including in New Mexico and Colorado, to ensure patients receive timely care when SB8 goes into effect. Last year, the state was offered a glimpse of what would happen if abortion care ceased: when the state barred most abortion procedures amid the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, the number of patients who traveled out of state for care jumped nearly 400%.

Many abortion-seeking women are expected to be delayed until later in pregnancy and others will be forced to carry pregnancy to term or try to end their pregnancies without medical oversight, abortion providers caution. As with most abortion restrictions, low-income women and women of color will bear the greatest burden under SB8.

Physicians are not the only ones that could be targeted under SB8: a breathtakingly wide range of people and groups, including clinic nurses, abortion fund workers, domestic violence and rape crisis counselors, or even a family member who offers a car ride to the clinic could now face suit from strangers. Those who sue can collect a minimum of $10,000 if they win, but if providers are legally successful they cannot recoup any legal payment. The law, say providers, will spur abortion “bounty hunters”.

The law’s radical legal provision is the first of its kind in the country.

The state’s major anti-abortion lobby group, Texas Right to Life, have already helped empower anti-abortion activists to enforce the law by creating a website that invites “whistleblowers” to report violations of SB8. (In response, pro-choice advocates have flooded the digital entry forms with satirical information.)

Abortion providers, funds, and clergy members, represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the American Civil Liberties Union, filed suit against SB8 in July, writing that the law would “create absolute chaos in Texas and irreparably harm Texans in need of abortion services.”

A preliminary injunction hearing was originally set for Monday 30 August in federal court. However, the largely conservative fifth circuit court of appeals cancelled the hearing on Sunday afternoon and denied the plaintiffs’ request to allow the district court to block the law. Providers then appealed to the US supreme court for emergency relief.

But the court failed to act before the law took effect on Wednesday, allowing it to proceed. While the nation’s high court, which now holds a strong anti-choice contingent, plans to consider a Mississippi 15-week ban that could test Roe v Wade during the next term, its lack of action in the Texas case signals the possible early unraveling of Roe.

Texas is already one of the most difficult states in the US in which to access abortion due to a slew of state laws pushed by the Republican-dominated legislature over the past decade, including a 24-hour waiting period, a 20-week abortion ban, restrictions on telemedicine, and a prohibition on private and public insurance. It is home to the highest number of abortion deserts – cities in which an abortion-seeking patient must travel at least 100 miles for care – in the country.

Following the passage of a 2013 multi-part law known as House Bill 2, roughly half of the state’s abortion clinics shuttered – dropping from 40 to less than 20. While the law was eventually struck down by the US supreme court in 2016, many clinics were unable to reopen. Large swaths of the state – including the Panhandle and west Texas – are without an abortion clinic, forcing women to travel great distances for care.

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Nearly 2,000 Students Choose Christ in 1 Night at Ohio State: ‘God Is Moving in This Generation’

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Thousands of college students gathered at Ohio State University on Tuesday night to seek the hope that’s found in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and nearly 2,000 of them made decisions to give their hearts to God.

It was the second massive revival event of 2025 organized by the Unite US movement, and this time students braved sub-freezing temperatures down in the teens to get baptized in the backs of U-Haul trucks.

“We’ve been in awe of how God has already been moving on this campus over the past year, and He met us here again tonight,” Unite US said in a social media post. “Over 6,500 students gathered in The Schott to lift the name of Jesus and almost 2,000 responded to the altar call – experiencing the freedom only He can bring.”

“God is moving in this generation, and we know that He’s just getting started!” the post exclaimed.

Tonya Prewett, the founder and visionary behind Unite US, also posted to Instagram saying, “What a night at The Ohio State University! …close to 2,000 students made a decision to go all in with Jesus! I am in awe of how God is moving on college campuses!”

The Ohio State revival follows a Unite US outreach held last week at the University of Kentucky where more than 2,000 students gave their lives to Jesus Christ and many were baptized as well.

The next Unite US outreach will be held at Purdue University in Indiana on March 5. Since September of 2023, the ministry’s events have reached more than 70,000 college students across multiple campuses.
Sources:CBN News

http://theendtimeradio.com

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‘Amazing Salvation Numbers’: Seismic Spiritual Shift in World’s Largest Catholic Country

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RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil is witnessing a seismic shift in its religious landscape that’s rapidly reshaping the country’s spiritual and social fabric. As  News discovered, evangelicals are poised to outnumber Catholics as the largest faith group there.

In the heart of Brazil, amidst the rhythmic beats of samba and the vibrant colors of carnival, something spiritually profound is unfolding. “We are on the verge of a religious change in Brazil’, said Brazilian sociologist Dr. José Alves.

If there’s one image that symbolizes Catholicism’s influence here, it’s Rio de Janeiro’s 98-foot-tall Christ the Redeemer. Inaugurated in 1931, the iconic statute celebrated the country’s rich Catholic heritage. There’s also the beautiful blue Cathedral of Brasilia – one of the largest Catholic churches in Brazil’s capital city. But despite these historical landmarks, Alves says the faith’s dominance is rapidly declining.

“In 1950, 93 percent of Brazilians identified as Catholics. The Church was losing about 1 percent of followers every decade,” said Alves. “However, from 1991 onwards, the Catholic Church started to lose 1 percent of followers every year, resulting in a dramatic drop.”

Evangelical Christianity, once a minority faith here, is now growing at unprecedented levels. The surveys show that what was once the world’s largest Catholic nation, will be overwhelming evangelical by 2030.

Signs of this growth are everywhere—mega-churches dotting the landscape, filled with thousands of worshippers each week. That includes Andre Fernandes’ church in São Paulo.

“We are living in the fulfillment of a promise,” said Fernandes, who pastors Lagoinha Church. “For many decades, we have heard that Brazil would experience a wave of revival that would be exported around the world, and I believe that this is what we are experiencing at this moment.”

It also includes Lourival Pereira’s congregation in the Amazon region—boasting more than 10,000 members across roughly 600 cell groups.

“The foundation of our growth is these cells,” said Pereira, pastor of a Foursquare Church in Belem. “The real revival is taking place outside the church walls. Every day, people are meeting in small groups in homes; it’s the biblical model.”

Then there’s J.B. Carvalho’s church in the capital city of Brasília.

“We started the church in 2003 with only 25 people. Today, we have about 12,000 people in Brasília alone,” said Carvalho of Community of the Nations Church. “We also have another 15,000 people in Fortaleza. Our churches are spread throughout Brazil.”

And Silas Malafaia’s church in Rio de Janeiro is one of the largest and most influential Pentecostal churches in Brazil with more than 100,000 members.

“In the next seven years or so, we will be the majority in the country,” declared Malafaia of the Assembly of God Victory in Christ church. “Today, we make up about 35% of the population, and God’s Kingdom has influence in every corner of Brazilian society.”

Marcelo Crivella, a well-known evangelical pastor turned politician, once served as mayor of Rio de Janeiro. He says that, years ago, evangelical Christians hesitated to get involved in politics—but that’s no longer the case.

More than 30% of the country’s legislators are now evangelical. “We are more than 140 deputies and more than 20 senators,” said Crivella, a Brazilian Congressman.

Many of them gather each Wednesday in the halls of Brazil’s Congress for worship and prayer.

Celina Leão, the vice governor of Brasília, tells CBN News that God is also at work in other branches of the government.

“I used to participate in those prayer meetings when I was in Congress,” Leão told CBN News. “Now, every month in the governor’s office, we meet for prayer, and people come to my office. It’s a wonderful time to see friends and be in communion.”

The country’s first evangelical church opened in 1922. By 1990, the number had grown to more than 7,000 congregations. Nearly 30 years later, it grew to almost 110,000.

The growth is so staggering that one study found 17 new evangelical churches opening every day across Brazil.

“Now in Brazil we have 550,000 – 550,000 churches,” declared Crivella.

Ezenete Rodrigues says this dramatic transformation began, as in many great movements, with the most profound of practices: prayer.

“I’ve always believed that prayer is like planting: You plant, plant, plant, and at some point, it will sprout, and then the explosion will come,” Rodrigues told CBN News.

Rodrigues is one of the country’s most well-known intercessors. She has organized countless prayer rallies nationwide, urging her fellow countrymen to turn to God.

“Brazil has been hungry and thirsty for God, and the key has been intercession—bending our knees, seeking God, and letting the Spirit of the Lord guide us in everything we do,” said Rodrigues. “Today, we can look back and see so many beautiful fruits of this commitment.”

Those who have been tracking the explosive growth of the evangelical movement here in Brazil say worship has also played a monumental role in the church’s growth. And one Christian artist, above all, has been at the center of it all.

Her name is Ana Paula Valadao.

“Even growing up, I had glimpses of crowds, of multitudes worshipping the Lord,” Valadao told us.

From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, her group’s music became synonymous with a powerful worship movement that emphasized intimacy with God, passionate worship, and personal revival.

“As I was songwriting, the Lord always made me very intentional,” Valadao said. “The whole idea was about transformation, was about changing the nation.”

Paula’s songs played across Brazil, helping many experience a deeper connection to their faith. “It was about healing the land, and we started seeing amazing salvation numbers,” said Valadao.

She held concerts in strategic locations, drawing millions of people, many of whom were Catholics.

“Like the carnival sight in Rio de Janeiro and in the soccer stadiums, Jesus broke every record, gathering more people than any soccer tournament,” Valadao recalled.

Because of her songs, many Catholic services in Brazil today—like one CBN News attended in São Paulo—have embraced a more evangelistic style of worship, shifting away from traditional liturgies to incorporate contemporary music.

Father Antonio Luiz Catelan Ferreira, who leads the Cathedral of São Sebastião in Rio de Janeiro, says the change is part of an effort to encourage former Catholics to ‘come home.’

“People are attracted to environments where worship celebrations and moments of prayer are done in a more charismatic way,” Ferreira told CBN News. “Today, a growing number of Catholics are returning precisely because prayer meetings are conducted in a more Pentecostal style.”

Still, for Brazil’s Catholic majority, the question is no longer whether they will lose their dominance, but how quickly.

The answer? Probably, faster than anyone ever expected.
Sources:faithwire

http://theendtimeradio.com

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‘Only God’: Massive ‘Miracle’ as Thousands of Students Choose Jesus, Confess Sin, Get Baptized

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Author and speaker Jennie Allen is witnessing what she calls a real-life “miracle.”

Allen told CBN News she was absolutely astounded last Wednesday night, when UniteUs, a ministry serving young people, arrived at the Rupp Arena at the University of Kentucky and saw thousands of students show up to praise the Lord.

“This is this is just all a miracle,” Allen said. “We are on our 12th University. Next week, we will go to 13th at Ohio State, and, in every single case, it has been miraculous.”

Images and photos show hordes of young people engaging in praise and worship, with many coming forward to accept the faith and get baptized.

“So many kids come forward, confess sin, follow Jesus, and we’re baptizing usually into the morning,” she said. “And it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s unlike anything I’ve even been bold enough to pray for … until recently.”

Allen continued, “You can just see all over the stadium, huddles of kids, wiping tears, nodding, praying, holding each other. I mean, it’s so precious and brave.”

After the event, four people baptized droves of young people for around an hour and a half, showcasing the full impact of these events. Allen mentioned one young man who was lost and not living right whose friend had been praying for him.

“He said, ‘I’m tired of living the way I was living and I want something to change,’” she said. “And he goes, ‘I’ve been going this way and now I need to go this way.’”

It was incredible for the man’s friend, who had been praying for him, to see him change right before his eyes.

“It can only be God,” Allen reiterated.

Despite never dreaming such events could be possible, Allen has been blown away by all God has done. It’s especially remarkable because these campus events are organized by local student teams who do all the fundraising and work to make it unfold.

The young team responsible for the University of Kentucky event had prayed fervently beforehand, doing a massive, 42-mile prayer walk around their campus.

Allen, who is gearing up for her own event, Gather25 — a “25-hour global broadcast event telling the inspiring stories of the global Church, by the global Church” — said it’s remarkable to see these revival-like moments unfolding on campuses across the globe.

Ultimately, she believes these simultaneous spiritual revivals are all God-ordained.
Sources:CBN News

http://theendtimeradio.com

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