Who "owns" the Bible?  Isn't is treasured by billions as the inspired word of God written for all people of the world?  Doesn't it seem that we all need it more and more these days!!

IF you need more proof of that, this story ought to do the trick.  The IRS has recently determined that a Christian voter advocacy group called Christians Engaged should be and was, denied tax-exempt status.

Sound familiar?  Remember Lois Lerner and Obama's IRS doing something similar a lot of times to conservative organizations in the TEA Party era back around 2010?   Being denied tax exempt status crushes fund raising and basically snuffs out an organization's effectiveness.  The democrat directed IRS was putting extra investigations and extra delays on legitimate organizations to thwart their fund raising potential.  For the most part they got away with it...so here we go again.

So why this time?  What rationale has the IRS given for its recent decision?   Answer: Partisan Politics.  The IRS says the Bible is Republican in nature!   There should be some kind of "hell to pay" for this going forward but first... Here's a website with the lowdown on the massive numbers surrounding the Bible's production and sales...not bad for an instrument of Republicanism!

More than 2,100 languages have at least one book of the Bible in that language.

 

Between 1815 and 1975, it was estimated that there could have been 5 billion Bibles printed.

There are more than 168,000 Bibles that are sold or given to others in the United States every day.

That’s the number of Bibles that are sold each year in the United is 20 million States with annual sales of all versions of the Bible routinely topping $425 million.

The percentage of Americans who own at least 1 Bible, whether it was given to them or purchased: 92%.

Wile sales of individual Bibles are still strong the future in in the app world.

YouVersion, a top downloaded Bible app for mobile devices, has over 100 million total downloads and counting. It was one of the first 200 apps that were available on iTunes. It’s also been a top 100 free app for 3 consecutive years.

More than 66,000 people are using a Bible app at any given second. 3 people share a Bible verse on their social network every second as well.

Isaiah 53:5 is the most shared Bible verse on the internet today.

77% of people say that they read the Bible more frequently because they have it available on a mobile device.

60% of people use a digital Bible at church instead of hauling their own printed Bible.

SO...the Bible is BIG...World Wide Big... but what exactly is the IRS saying about its use in Republican Politics?

.Here's the quote from a letter read by IRS Exempt Organizations Director Stephen Martin explaining the rejection.   “Specifically, you educate Christians on what the Bible says in areas where they can be instrumental including the areas of sanctity of life, the definition of marriage, biblical justice, freedom of speech, defense, and borders and immigration, U.S. and Israel relations....Bible teachings are typically affiliated with the [Republican Party] and candidates. This disqualifies you from exemption under IRC Section 501(c)(3).”

 

Townhall’s Michael Brown says,  “While the IRS ruled quite wrongly in denying Christians Engaged tax-exempt status, it ironically got one thing right: if you teach the Bible accurately, by and large, you’ll end up siding with the Republicans rather than the Democrats.”  The ruling is under appeal with potential very real and wide spread consequences.

 

 

 

 The Washington Examiner writes, "The First Liberty Institute, which is representing Christians Engaged says from its religious perspective, Christians Engaged provides nonpartisan religious and civic education, focusing on encouraging and educating Christians to be civically engaged as a part of their religious practice."
Nice try IRS.  I give you an A for effort and an I or incomplete for effectiveness -we'll see how the appeal plays out.  But here's a question...I wonder what Kind of grade God is going to give the creators and purveyors of this attempt to cheat people while hiding behind his Holy Book?  Might want to clear the room when that one goes down, the smell of sulfur gets pretty strong!

 

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