Tag Archives: Washington

Satanists Outraged Over “In God We Trust” Sign

A group of Satanists are outraged that a county in Washington is hanging a sign in their public hearing room that has the national motto of “In God We Trust.”

The Satanic Temple of Seattle is saying the sign is advocating Christian “tyranny”.

“We see Satan as our symbol of the rebel against tyranny,” said Satanic Temple’s Lillith Starr, who founded the Seattle chapter in late 2014, according to KING 5 News.

The sign was donated to the county by a local non-profit group, so there is no taxpayer dollars going to the sign.

The Satanists are demanding that they be able to place a sign of their own with any message they choose to add.  They said most likely the sign would say “E Pluribus Unum” meaning “From the Many, One.”

Clark County’s manager said he doubted the council would welcome such a sign.

Church Converts Strip Club To Outreach Center

A church in Washington state is taking a place one home to stripping and prostitution and turning it into a center to show the light of Christ to the world.

Bethany Community Church, a multi-site Seattle-based church, rents a former strip club called “Sugars.”  The building has been turned into a site for the church to launch missions and serve the surrounding community.

Pastor Scott Sund told the Christian Post they found the building available when a staff member saw a sign for rental in their neighborhood.

“A local businessman purchased the property from the federal government which had seized it because of money laundering and prostitution charges against the strip club in the facility,” explained Sund.

“When it came up for rent, our children’s ministry director Anna Guerrero, who lived in the same neighborhood, brought it to my attention. At the time we were looking for a full time rental in order to facilitate our Sunday worship services.”

The building now has offices in the back portion for seven staff members and the bulk of the rest of the building is “One Cup”, a coffee house where all profits go to charity.

We now serve breakfast from out front of the Café every Tuesday to homeless and drug addicted people. From that outreach ministry we’ve started a Bible study,” Sund said. “We have a great relationship with the methadone clinic and nearby neighbors have begun work to clean up and transform their own spaces.”

ACLU Trying To Force Hospital To Perform Abortions

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington is attempting to force a hospital to perform abortions in their facility.

The lawsuit claims that Skagit Regional Health is violating a state law that requires medical facilities that provide maternity care to also kill babies via abortion.  The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a woman who is doctoral nursing student.

“As a woman and a health care provider, I care deeply about reproductive health issues. I want to make sure that women throughout Washington have access to the full range of reproductive health care services,” Kevan Coffey said in a statement. “And I personally want to have all options, including abortion, available to me.”

“The right of women to choose or to refuse to have an abortion is fundamental and has long been recognized under Washington law,” said ACLU Executive Director Kathleen Taylor. “We want to ensure that all women in our state can access the full range of reproductive health care at public health facilities in their communities.”

The state has said numerous times that hospitals have to provide abortion services if they want to provide maternity services.

“Milky Rain” Across Pacific Northwest

Scientists across the Pacific Northwest are investigating a rain that left a residue on cars in two states.

The “milky rain” fell on both Oregon and Washington states, leaving a powdery resident on vehicles and buildings.  Samples have been collected by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Benton Clean Air Agency in an attempt to discover what was in the rain.

So far the scientists have competing theories.  One is that a volcanic eruption in Japan has resulted in volcanic ash mixing with clouds to create the rain.  The other is that dust from central Oregon somehow mixed with a storm.

The National Weather Service has taken a mostly impartial view, stating dust storms were the likely cause but it could not rule out volcanic ash.  The NWS says they do not have the equipment necessary to analyze the rain and discover its origin.

Robin Priddy of Benton Clean Air says that air monitoring stations detected nothing during the rain but that they don’t feel it poses a health risk.

“We don’t have any reason to think there’s anything wrong, but there’s no reason not to be cautious if you’re concerned,” she added. “You may want to wash it off your car with water, rather than with your hands, and avoid touching it and breathing it in.”

President Obama Not Meeting with Netanyahu

President Obama will not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he comes to Washington to address a joint session of Congress.

The White House stated that it is due to the close proximity of the Israeli elections.

“As a matter of long-standing practice and principle, we do not see heads of state or candidates in close proximity to their elections, so as to avoid the appearance of influencing a democratic election in a foreign country,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan stated.

House Speaker John Boehner exercised his right at Speaker of the House to invite a foreign leader to address Congress.  In this case, Boehner wants Netanyahu to speak to the Congress about problems with Iran and the need for stronger sanctions against that nation.

President Obama is working to ease sanctions against Iran.

Netanyahu will speak to Congress on March 3rd and being asked to appear in January.  The Israeli leader had previously planned to be in the U.S. for a conference in Washington on the March date so the speech was rescheduled to fit that trip.

Boehner said that he wants to move forward quickly on sanctions against Iran and that the speech from Netanyahu will allow members of Congress to understand what’s at stake in the region.

“Let’s send a clear message to the White House — and the world — about our commitment to Israel and our allies,” he said.

Christian Student Who Shared Christ Suspended From School

A high school student in Everett, Washington has been suspended from school multiple times for sharing Jesus with his classmates.

Michael Leal, a senior at Cascade High School, has been suspended three times since September for his efforts to provide the truth of Christ to classmates.  He hands out gospel literature and preached at an open air school event.

The school says that Leal is a disruption and has threatened him with expulsion if he does not stop talking about Christ to his classmates.

Cascade High School attorney Michael Patterson claims it’s not because of the Christian content even though the principal of the school told Leal it’s “breaking the law” if he distributed Christian materials.

“At no time was Mr. Leal told that his distribution of material or his statements were inappropriate at school because of their religious content,” he wrote. “Rather, he was informed of district policy … and told that he needed to comply with it. He was also informed that he could not create a substantial disruption at school or school events.”

The Pacific Justine Institute is defending Leal and says that at no point did Leal harass any student or staff member and did not disrupt any event.

Mars Hill Church To Disband

The Seattle area megachurch founded by Mark Driscoll is disbanding at the end of the year.

The announcement last Friday sent shockwaves through the church’s multiple locations as they have only a few weeks to decide if they want to become an independent church, merge with another congregation or simply disappear.

The “Mars Hill” ministry itself will also cease to exist.  They will fire all of their existing staff.

The church has been struggling through transition after the resignation of founding pastor Mark Driscoll.

Several former Mars Hill leaders expressed optimism that this news could end up bringing benefit to the Seattle area.

“God makes good out of bad:  New local ‘Mars Hill’ churches: Redemption Church, Redeemer Church, A Seattle Church, Downtown Cornerstone, Reach; all these seeds have fallen from the dying Mars Hill tree.  God is very much alive in Seattle,” former Mars Hill deacon Mike O’Neil wrote.

Two dead, four wounded after student opens fire Washington state school

A student opened fire in the cafeteria of his Washington state high school on Friday, killing a classmate and wounding at least four others before he was killed amid the chaos of students scrambling to safety, authorities said.

All of the victims were young people, and three were in critical condition with gunshot wounds to the head and in surgery, said Joanne Roberts, chief of medicine at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett.

The fourth wounded victim suffered less serious injuries in the gunfire at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, about 30 miles north of Seattle, and had been transferred to another hospital. Two of the victims were male and two female, hospital officials said.

Source: Reuters – Two dead, four wounded after student opens fire Washington state school

Seattle Pacific University Hero: “God’s Grace” Saved Lives

The 22-year-old engineering student who disarmed a gunman bent on mass killing at Seattle Pacific University has broken his silence after the event, saying that God’s grace is what saved the lives of others.

Jon Meis, a building monitor at the Christian university, pepper-sprayed and then tackled 26-year-old Aaron Ybarra as he was reloading.  Other students then held down Ybarra, who was not a student at the school, until police arrived on the scene.  Police said that the gunman had a significant amount of ammunition on him and likely would have killed and wounded dozens more without Meis’ heroic actions.

“He was hellbent on killing a lot of people today,” an officer told the Seattle Times.

Meis, who had been avoiding the spotlight after the incident, finally released a statement to the press.

“I know that I am being hailed as a hero, and as many people have suggested, I find this hard to accept,” Meis wrote. “I am indeed a quiet and private individual; while I have imagined what it would be like to save a life, I never believed I would be put in such a situation. It has been deeply touching to read the comments online and realize that my actions have had such a strikingly widespread effect.”

“[W]hat I find most difficult about this situation is the devastating reality that a hero cannot come without tragedy,” Meis continued. “In the midst of this attention, we cannot ignore that a life was taken from us, ruthlessly and without justification or cause. Others were badly injured, and many more will carry this event with them the rest of their lives.”

Police say the gunman Ybarra has a history of mental illness and has been on suicide watch since the incident.  Meis has called for the community to respond to the gunman in a spirit of love.

“When I came face to face with the attacker, God gave me the eyes to see that he was not a faceless monster, but a very sad and troubled young man. While I cannot at this time find it within me to forgive his crime, I truly desire that he will find the grace of God and the forgiveness of our community.”

Magma Rising In Mount St. Helens

Scientists say that magma is slowing starting to build inside Washington’s Mount St. Helens.

However, the scientists say there is no indication of an impending eruption like the one that killed 57 people in 1980.

“The magma reservoir beneath Mount St. Helens has been slowly re-pressurizing since 2008,” the U.S. Geological Survey said in a Wednesday statement.  “It is likely the re-pressurization is caused by the arrival of a small amount of additional magma 2 to 5 miles beneath the surface.”

The USGS said they will be working this summer with the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at the University of Washington to monitor ground deformation and seismic activity at the volcano.  They will also measure gases and gravity field which can monitor subsurface magma.