America’s humanitarian foreign aid tradition emerged out of the missionary movement. As Walter Russell Mead observes in his magisterial work on the various streams of American political thought, “most contemporary international organizations that provide relief from natural disasters, shelter refugees, train medical practitioners for poor countries, or perform other important services on an international basis can trace their origin either to missionary organizations or to the missionary milieu.” It was a natural progression for the United States to get involved in foreign aid and international religious freedom as American missionaries abroad sought the same.

Today, organizations like Samaritan’s Purse are sustaining that important tradition, even as the progressive Obama and Biden administrations have turned away from it, using our foreign aid and international institutions to promote global abortion and a disorienting LGBT agenda. In doing so, these progressives have sacrificed meeting basic needs food, shelter, and medicine in favor of brainwashing foreign populations with their left-wing ideology.

Nigeria is a prime example of this. Despite the billion-dollar foreign aid check the U.S. cuts Nigeria every year, there are horrendous atrocities taking place in the country. According to one group monitoring the situation, Open Doors International, “In Nigeria, a Christian is killed for their faith every two hours; that’s nearly 13 Christians a day and 372 Christians a month.” Their research shows that “in 2021, more Christians were murdered for their faith in Nigeria than in any other country. Last year, Nigeria accounted for nearly 80% of Christian deaths worldwide, with more than 4,650 believers killed.”

Vision of Humanity first started tracking international acts of terrorism in 2011 with its Global Terrorism Index. During President Obama’s first term, Nigeria was the eighth worst country on its list. By the end of Obama’s second term, in 2016, Nigeria had surpassed Russia, Somalia, and even Afghanistan to become the second largest hub for terrorism, just behind Iraq. On Obama’s watch, the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram emerged in Nigeria as the world’s deadliest terrorists. Boko Haram has killed and massacred thousands of human beings since then, and displaced millions more. In 2014, the terrorist organization abducted hundreds of schoolgirls, including many who still have not been reunited with their families.

However, under the Trump-Pence administration, the United States worked to crush Boko Haram and other religious persecutors like the Islamic State. We sent attack planes to Nigeria, we put a bounty on the head of Boko Haram’s leader, and we brought the full force of the U.S. government to bear on terrorists in the region. By the end of the last administration, Boko Haram was defeated, and ISIS was no more. Nigeria was a safer and more stable country and was poised to make further progress.

But then, against the recommendations of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the Biden administration shirked in its duty. Without explanation, Biden’s administration delisted Nigeria from the list of Countries of Particular Concern, which the U.S. uses to put economic pressure on countries that are human rights violators. At the same time, the Biden administration pulled out of the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a compact of 34 countries initiated by the Trump-Pence administration to get international aid back to its roots. The Biden administration decided to push an agenda of abortion and sexual libertinism rather than basic aid, health, and human rights like religious freedom.

Today, it is clear that basic human rights are in dire straits in Nigeria. The Biden administration has taken its eye off the ball, pushing for sexual orientation and gender identity in a country that cannot even guarantee its citizens religious liberty. While it is pushing for so-called “abortion rights” in Nigeria, Nigerian officials are using the reins of power to force women into abortions. Biden’s agenda could not be more tone-deaf to the real suffering on the ground in Nigeria.

But it does not have to be this way. The United States can restore its mantle as the global leader of human rights. Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) has introduced a bipartisan resolution calling on the Biden administration to relist Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern and appoint a special envoy to crack down on these horrific acts. That would be a good first step as we seek to restore the mission and purpose of U.S. international aid, one that remains true to its roots in the missionary movement, and to those noble Americans who gave and continue to give their lives to serve the world as Christ did.

Read more at The Washington Stand.

Last year, in a moment that stuck with many Americans, President Joe Biden was asked directly about skyrocketing gas prices and what he planned to do about them. The president remarked, “They’re going to go up. … Can’t do much right now. Russia is responsible.”

The thought that the United States can’t do anything about our energy crisis isn’t just wrong — it’s unacceptable. Americans have suffered from rising energy costs everywhere they turn for two years. Rampant government spending, liberal politics and progressive energy policies have accompanied the worst inflation reports in decades, and America remains dependent on adversaries for oil, gas and critical minerals. There can be little doubt: today, American energy is facing a crisis on all fronts.

This crisis resulted from the administration’s war on American energy. The administration has discouraged energy production through permitting delays, put a stranglehold on oil and gas land lease sales, and implemented a swath of oppressive climate mandates.

On Biden’s watch, America rejoined the disastrous Paris Climate Accord, domestic energy production was stunted by the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, and our strategic petroleum reserve was depleted. In less than a year, Biden turned a surplus of American oil and gas into a deficit while doubling the amount of crude oil imports from Russia. Unsurprisingly, excessive spending, burdensome regulations, and woke policies have actively driven record inflation — raising prices for Americans at the grocery store, the gas pump and everywhere in between.

We are seeing the fallout from this failure in leadership in states like New Mexico — rich in natural resources but crippled by nonsensical regulations. Over the last decade, New Mexico’s energy production has skyrocketed. Oil production alone has more than quintupled since 2019; the state now produces almost 60,000 barrels of oil a month, good enough for a nationwide top-three performance in crude oil production.

Despite the dramatic growth in a sector that directly correlates to state revenue, the New Mexico energy industry is under direct attack. State Democratic leadership — marching to the beat set by the Biden administration — seeks to reverse the record-setting gains, creating the paradox of an industry that is simultaneously booming and endangered. Sadly, this phenomenon is a symptom of the root problem: a failure in national leadership that actively disincentivizes energy production and punishes energy producers.

The Republican majority in the House of Representatives recently voted to reverse the damage done and restore American energy leadership when they passed the Lower Energy Costs Act. This critical legislation would put our country back on a path to energy dominance while lowering costs for families nationwide.

The act directly embraces two fundamental goals vital to unleashing American energy while growing the economy: energy security and comprehensive permitting reform. Perhaps most important, this legislation would — for the first time in two years — offer genuine support on the national level for a pro-American energy future. National leadership on energy and permitting reform is as long overdue as it is necessary, and the Lower Energy Costs Act is a bold step in the right direction.

For the last two years, the Biden administration has been presented with opportunity after opportunity to unlock our domestic energy potential and restore America as an energy leader. Instead, Democrats in Congress and the White House have actively disincentivized American energy production at every turn. Thanks to House Republicans, another opportunity has been presented to the Senate and the White House to right this wrong and again put the American people first.

The Lower Energy Costs Act delivers the roadmap to prosperity, and House Republicans promised to put us on that path. Now, it is time for the Senate and the White House to do the same. The energy crisis we face today didn’t develop overnight, nor can it be fixed overnight. Reinvesting in American energy may take time and effort, but the alternative is far more costly.

Read more at Prescott eNews.

Today, Advancing American Freedom Founder Vice President Pence issued the following statement after a judge in Texas ruled to stay the FDA’s approval of the dangerous chemical abortion drug, mifepristone.

“Life won again today. When it approved chemical abortions on demand, the FDA acted carelessly and with blatant disregard for human life and the wellbeing of American women, and today’s ruling fixed a 20 year wrong,” said Advancing American Freedom founder Vice President Mike Pence. “Advancing American Freedom will always fight for the sanctity of life and defend the unborn and women in crisis pregnancies.