Christian Heritage News

By Dr. R. Scott Clark - Posted at The Heidelblog : Years ago, in the second house in which Mrs Heidelblog and I lived, water seeped into the basement every time it rained and it rained frequently. As the ground became soaked water would push in and up through the basement. We had a pump under the stairs to keep the basement fairly dry but it could get a little damp. Even when it was completely dry we could see residue from the water. It left a mark. Before we could sell and move I had to chisel out all of the fine little cracks through which water seeped. Then I had to fill those cracks with a material that would prevent the water from getting in. The Christian life is a lot like our basement and theological error is much like the water that seeped in. Theological error, like water, seeks its level. We might think that we might be able to separate books on “social issues” from theological questions but when the books are written by proponents of a serious error, like the water in m

By Jordan Standridge - Posted at The Cripplegate : Garrett Swasey was the officer killed trying to rescue people at a planned parenthood facility in Colorado Springs . Swasey was shot while saving people at a place he abhorred. He was an elder of a church that believed in the inerrancy of scripture, and that abortion is evil. Let that sink in. A man who hated abortion and hated murder–who gave his life helping others–didn’t hesitate about going to Planned Parenthood to save lives. Read more here...

By Daniel Victor and Jack Healy -  Posted at The New York Times: Mr. Dontanville noted that although Officer Swasey would “disagree with the abortion industry,” it would not have been a factor in his actions on Friday.  “I don’t think that was on his mind,” he said. “He was there to save lives. That’s the kind of guy he is.” Garrett Swasey, 44, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs police officer who was shot and killed while responding to a shooting at a Planned Parenthood office, was described by his fellow church members and friends as a courageous man and loving father who drew strength and inspiration from his Christian faith. He was married, with two young children, and had been on the campus police force for six years. He also spent seven years as a co-pastor at Hope Chapel in Colorado Springs. “Here’s a guy who worked full time as a police officer, and then gave a great amount of time to his local church and didn’t get a dime for it,” said Scott Dontanville, a

Posted at Wintery Knight: We’re getting to the end of Obama’s regrettable Presidency and it’s a good time for us to take stock of what kind of man Obama is, now that we can look at his actual record and see the failure that results from electing a President by affirmative action. To achieve this goal of calling Obama what he is, I have a debate for you between two sides of the question. Andrew Klavan defends the “Obama is incompetent” view and Bill Whittle defends the “Obama is evil” view. This was sent to me by my good friend William. Read more here...

Thanksgiving Proclamation 1789 [New York, 3 October 1789] By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation. Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor-- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness. Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be-- That we may then all unite in rendering unto him

By Angela Wittman "Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people." ( 1 Chronicles 16:8, KJV ) While preparing for the gathering of family and friends this Thanksgiving season, let’s not forget to also prepare our hearts in humble gratefulness to God for the blessings and grace which He has bestowed upon us as individuals and as a nation. Here is a bit of history about Thanksgiving which you may not have been taught in school as taken from the website “A Puritan’s Mind” by Dr. C. Matthew McMahon : “The celebration we now popularly regard as the ‘First Thanksgiving’ was the Pilgrims' three-day feast celebrated in early November of 1621 (although a day of thanks in America was observed in Virginia at Cape Henry in 1607)...  “The Pilgrims left Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1620, sailing for a new world that offered the promise of both civil and religious liberty. The Pilgrims had earlier left England in 1608, as the Ch

Posted at ChristianHeadlines.com : A group of Iraqi Christians is facing deportation from the U.S. while the Obama Administration looks to welcome 10,000 mostly Muslim Syrian refugees. Christian Today reports that the small group of Iraqi Christians--27 men, women, and children--entered the U.S. from Mexico in April and May of this year after fleeing persecution in their homeland. The refugees want to join the community of Iraqi Christians in the San Diego area, but 22 of their applications for religious asylum have been denied while they all wait at the Otay Detention Center in San Diego. Read more here...

Posted at Voice of the Persecuted : “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.” Hebrews 13:3 ( Voice of the Persecuted ) As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving and the blessings of God and family, again we ask for you to remember the millions of our brothers and sisters around the world who are being persecuted, brutalized and separated from their families. Saeed Abedini, also an American citizen, will be spending a fourth Thanksgiving in a brutal and violent prison cell separated from his family. His crime? His Christian faith and for refusing to deny Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Four other Americans are also being held in Iranian prisons. see information here It is critical that we remember the Persecuted Church and stand in solidarity with them. Therefore, will you leave a place setting on your holiday table in remembrance of Pastor Saeed along with the 4 other Americans imprisoned in Iran, and t

Posted at Regeneration, Repentance and Reformation : By the mid-17th century, the custom of autumnal Thanksgivings was established throughout New England. Observance of Thanksgiving Festivals began to spread southward during the American Revolution, as the newly established Congress officially recognized the need to celebrate this holy day. The first Thanksgiving Proclamation was issued by the revolutionary Continental Congress on November 1, 1777. Authored by Samuel Adams, it was one sentence of 360 words, which read in part: “Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to him for benefits received…together with penitent confession of their sins, whereby they had forfeited every favor; and their humble and earnest supplications that it may please God through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance…it is therefore recomm

Posted at Regeneration, Repentance and Reformation : Understanding Thanksgiving The celebration we now popularly regard as the “First Thanksgiving” was the Pilgrims’ three-day feast celebrated in early November of 1621 (although a day of thanks in America was observed in Virginia at Cape Henry in 1607). The first Thanksgiving to God in the Calvinist tradition in Plymouth Colony was actually celebrated during the summer of 1623, when the colonists declared a Thanksgiving holiday after their crops were saved by much-needed rainfall. The Pilgrims left Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1620 , sailing for a new world that offered the promise of both civil and religious liberty. The Pilgrims had earlier left England in 1608, as the Church of England had curtailed their freedom to worship according to their individual consciences. The Pilgrims had settled in Holland for twelve years, where they found spiritual liberty in the midst of a disjointed economy (which failed to provide

By Raymond Ibrahim In a CNN interview this week, presidential candidate Jeb Bush said that only Middle East Christians should be granted refugee status in the U.S. (a point I argued for two months prior to the Paris terrorist attacks which prompted Bush’s statement). In the midst of an otherwise good interview, however, Bush made a  bizarre statement : There are a lot of Christians in Syria that have no place now. They’ll be either executed or imprisoned, either by Assad or by ISIS. “Executed or imprisoned” by Assad? This is an absurd and patently false assertion. Not only have Christian minorities long been protected under the secular regime of Assad — himself a member of a religious minority — but many Christian refugees who fled the jihad in Iraq (which Jeb’s brother George uncorked) fled to Assad’s Syria for sanctuary. As Russian President Vladimir Putin once correctly opined : “People are running away not from the regime of Bashar Assad, but from Islamic State, which

By Jason Reynolds - Posted at Tennessee Christian News : Law enforcement agencies in Tennessee and Georgia are looking for an anonymous man who sent ominous, eerie letters signed “The Waster” to dozens of churches, NBC News reports. The photocopied, handwritten letter — which criticizes “you preachers, ministers, and chaplains” for not teaching all of the commandments of the Bible — has been sent to at least 50 churches in the last two weeks in McMinn and Monroe counties in Tennessee and in Murray County, Georgia — and likely elsewhere, authorities said. Read more here...

Posted at Voice of the Persecuted : Nigeria : ( Voice of the Persecuted ) For the past year, the world’s focus has been on the terror group ISIS, but many have overlooked the 6 year Nigerian nightmare called Boko Haram. For years, Voice of the Persecuted  has warned about the insatiable bloodlust of this notorious Islamic group and compared their deadly campaign equal to, if not worse than, the Islamic State’s (ISIS). But news coming out of Nigeria garners little interest, even our own Nigerian reports barely get a glance. This has led our team to often call persecuted North Nigerian Christians, the invisibles . It isn’t hard to see why God has called our hearts and hands for our Nigerian brothers and sisters. The lack of interest has caused greater hardship and suffering for Christians in the north of the country. Attacks and military clashes have forced a staggering number of North Nigerians from their homes. 2.2 million people have been labeled as IDP’s, internally displaced peop

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ1ExvcsyLk&feature=youtu.be

By Jesse Johnson - Posted at The Cripplegate: Relevant Magazine recently ran a post called “ What the Bible says about how to treat refugees .” To help you understand where they are coming from, remember that Relevant seems to exist primarily to tie Christian ethics to whatever cause célèbre has captured the kids these days. The list was frustrating to read not because of what it said, but what it omitted (to spare you the click, the gist is that Christians should open their boarders to refugees). But the actual refugee problem runs deeper than that, and it is yet another evidence of the juvenilization of evangelical thought that actual theologians think the issue of Syrian refugees should be settled by pointing to Levitical law about letting foreigners reap in your grain field. At risk of sounding pedantic, this is a complex issue with competing interests and ethics. Namely: Christian ethics in government? First, should governments exercise Christian ethics? If in the context of a

By Bill Bumpas - Posted at OneNewsNow : A human-rights organization that tracks Christian persecution worldwide says the Paris terrorist attack shows the threat that Islamic State poses around the world. Todd Daniels of International Christian Concern  says the deadly attacks demonstrated that ISIS can operate beyond the Middle East region. "Unfortunately an event like this," he says, "is often what it takes for the broader world to realize the reality that Christians and other minorities in the Middle East Face on a daily basis." Read more here...

Posted at Culture News: Planned Parenthood and two other abortion clinics face fines by the South Carolina public health agency for violations of regulations concerning the disposal of aborted fetuses (a.k.a. dead babies). “Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our patients.” -- Jenny Black, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic Read more here... 

Posted at Wintery Knight: Let’s start with the Washington Times . They write: Less than 3 percent of the Syrian refugees admitted to the United States so far are Christian and 96 percent are Muslim, the result of a referral system that Republican Sen. Tom Cotton says “unintentionally discriminates” against Christians.  [...]Figures from the State Department Refugee Processing Center updated Monday showed that 96 percent of the Syrian refugees accepted so far are Muslim, while less than 3 percent are Christian. The other 33 identified as belonging to smaller religious faiths or said they had no religion.   [...]The current system relies on referrals from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Syria’s population in 2011 was 90 percent Muslim and 10 percent Christian, CNS said. So, the population as a whole is 90% Muslim, 10% Christian, but the refugees we've accepted are 96% and 3% Christian. And this is despite the facts that Chistians are being treated

By Dr. R. Scott Clark - Posted at The Heidelblog : From the early 4th century, when Christianity was declared a legal religion and properties were returned to Christians and persecution of Christians was forbidden, the Christian church gradually become intertwined with the empire. Gradually, paganism was marginalized and then eventually made illegal. Emperors in the 4th century and following intervened directly in the life and assemblies of the church. The emperor convened the Council of Nicea in 325. In 380 the empire sided with Nicene orthodoxy and declared its opponents to be heretics. In the East and in the West Christianity gradually became the de facto state religion. As with developments in worship, the 4th century was decisive for future patterns in the way that the church would relate to the broader culture. The church enjoyed more than 1,400 years of favored status. In the 16th and 17th centuries, during the Reformation and post-Reformation periods, the debate between Rome

Naghmeh Abedini By Diana Chandler - Posted at Baptist Press: NASHVILLE (BP) -- The wife of imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini has voiced regret for emails she sent to close friends reportedly accusing the pastor of spousal abuse stemming from what was described in press reports as his addiction to pornography. In two emails to close friends, Abedini disclosed that her marriage to Saeed Abedini has been troubled by "physical, emotional, psychological and sexual abuse (through Saeed's addiction to pornography)," Christianity Today reported Nov. 12. Naghmeh Abedini expressed regret a day later. "I regret having sent the emails," she said in a statement released Nov. 13 through the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). "I was under great psychological and emotional distress. I am now taking time off [from public advocacy for her husband's release] to heal and to rest and to spend much needed time with my kids." She did not specify the

By Nathan Busenitz - Posted at The Cripplegate : Last week, I posted an article (with an embedded video) about Seventh-day Adventism. I expected some reaction, but perhaps I wasn’t quite prepared for the verbal lashings I received, especially from passionate defenders of SDA doctrine. In the comments on Facebook, I was called a “half misunderstanding man,” a “counterfeit preacher,” a “Jesuit infiltrator,” an “antichrist,” “one of Satan’s forerunners,” and a “liar and the truth of God is not in him.” While unfounded name-calling doesn’t bother me, especially on Facebook, a few of the critics complained that I had misrepresented Seventh-day Adventist beliefs. Some even accused me of violating the ninth commandment, and intentionally bearing false witness about what Seventh-day Adventists believe. Since my desire is not to bear false witness, I decided to write one more article regarding SDA doctrine. While I doubt it will appease my critics, I hope it will bring additional greater c

By David Murray - Posted at HeadHeartHand : If you’d lived during the industrial revolution, you probably wouldn’t have thought, “Oh, wow, this is a revolution.” No, it’s hard for people in the middle of massive changes to make sense of them, to see the bigger picture, to see where all the different bits and pieces are pointing. It’s usually only with hindsight that historians can look back and say, “These were revolutionary times — times of epochal change and radical transformation.” If the world is spared long enough, I believe that many will look back on these years and say, “That was a revolution. The world was radically and irreversibly transformed in the first 10-15 years of the 21st century.” They will put together all the multiple pieces – 9/11, the Iraq War, Madrid, London, Paris, Syria, Al Qaeda, ISIS, etc., – and see how they all fit together and what a different world picture they created. But behind these infamous dates, places, and names are deeper forces that have be

By Rev. Ian Brown The greatest of all Protestant Reformers was the Frenchman Dr. John Calvin (1509-64). Born in Noyon, Picardy, he lived, testified, and died during the time of Islam’s greatest expansion into Eastern Europe. Calvin studied theology in the University of Paris from 1523 and later proceeded to the College de France in Paris to study Greek. He experienced a “sudden conversion” in the early 1530s and grasped Protestantism. Having attacked the abuses in the French Catholic church, he fled Paris and took up residence in Geneva for his own safety. By 1453, the Turks had captured Constantinople. They then started to overrun Southeastern Europe during the lifetimes of the two great Protestant Reformers, Martin Luther (1483-1546) and John Calvin (1509-1564). Commented Calvin: “When we see the troubles that are nowadays in the World – let us not be overcome by them! Neither let our Faith be defaced! But the more the devil labours and enforces himself to undo it --

Allah Logo - Wikipedia By Dr. Stephen Flick - Posted at Christian Heritage Fellowship : Across the political and social spectrums, politicians, preachers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and a host of other well-educated cultural leaders continue to refer to the followers of Islam who, at the end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first century, have terrorized numerous points around the globe as “radical Muslims.” The facts demonstrate, however, that these terrorists are not part of “radical Islam,” but real Islam which follows the example of Muhammad, the founder of Islam. To continue to refer to such individuals as “radicals” is uninformed, dishonest, and a deliberate distortion of the historical facts; these individuals are real Muslims. More so than moderate-Muslims, these ardent followers of Islam seek to return to the beliefs and practices of Muhammad himself. If it may be demonstrated that they follow the example of Muhammad, then they are true or real Musli

Allah in Arabic ( Wikipedia ) Editor's Note: Originally posted at Morning Star News 1 day before the terror attacks in France. AW (Morning Star News) – Two remarkable pieces about Islamist violence were published last week in mainstream media – one answering the ambivalence thoughtful people feel on what to do about the Islamic State, and the other answering perplexity on what to do about Islam. They are remarkable first because, unconcerned about political correctness, they strongly assert that anyone should do anything about either. They are also remarkable in that they fly in the face of the inertia of the majority. Few in the United States are eager to go back to war in Iraq, and few in the postmodern era are apt to critique a religion, much less have the stomach to suggest reforming one that includes widespread elements threatening to kill its critics. But there they go again: Advocating Islamic reform by recognizing the roots of Islamic extremism in Islamic scrip

Posted at Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog : SLAUGHTER IN PARIS: ISIS claims responsibility for deadliest terror attacks in Europe since 2004. French President vows “pitiless” revenge against Islamic State. Yet Obama says ISIS has been “contained.” On Friday morning, President Obama told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the apocalyptic terror movement known as the Islamic State finally had been “contained.” “I don’t think they’re gaining strength,” the President told George Stephanopolous. “What is true is that from the start, our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them. They have not gained ground in Iraq, and in Syria they’ll come in, they’ll leave, but you don’t see this systemic march by ISIL across the terrain.” By Friday night, however, ISIS had launched a savage and deadly series of coordinated attacks throughout Paris. One day earlier, ISIS launched two suicide bombing attacks in Beirut. Just days before that, ISIS claimed to have blown a Russian ci

Editor's Note: This was originally posted at Voice of the Persecuted on November, 11, 2015 - 2 days before the terror attacks in Paris. AW ( Voice of the Persecuted ) Written by a Christian brother who has been directly affected by persecution in Syria. He has suffered the greatest loss anyone can experience, his family. The persecution of his family was a turning point in his life. He realized the need to tell the truth of what’s happening in Syria. He realized he needed to warn and wake the West. While the extremism and persecution is being directed against Christians in the Middle East, which is a crime against civilization as well as humanity, the effect of this campaign of violence and intimidation has been devastating for Christianity in Syria. Syria boasted a flourishing Christian population of at least 3 million. Today, the small number of Christians left is a astounding. Most of these Syrian Christians have fled the country, but a staggering number have been kil

By Nathan Busenitz - Posted at The Master's Seminary: This article is not about politics. But Dr. Ben Carson’s involvement in the Republican primaries has raised questions in the minds of many evangelicals about his religious affiliation as a Seventh-day Adventist. Those questions include things like, “What is Seventh-day Adventism?” and “How should evangelicals evaluate the SDA movement?” A seminary student recently asked me to address those questions. Today’s post gives me an opportunity to do just that. What Is Seventh-day Adventism? The Seventh-day Adventist church began as a distinctive movement with the teachings of a lay preacher named William Miller (1782–1849). Miller embarked on a personal study of Scripture (and particularly Daniel 8:14 ) which convinced him that Christ would return between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. When that prediction failed, Miller and his followers adjusted the date, determining that October 22, 1844 would be the day of Jesus’ second ad

By Alan Dowd - Posted at byFaithonline : The stories seem to be picking up in frequency: a Marine court-martialed because of a Bible verse on her office computer, a formal reprimand for an Army chaplain who talked about faith in Jesus during a suicide-prevention seminar, a threatened legal challenge against a “God Bless the Military” sign posted on a Marine base in Hawaii, a Navy chaplain reassigned for expressing his views on homosexuality, another chaplain stripped of his authority for refusing to allow the base chapel to be used for same-sex ceremonies, still another threatened with early retirement for sending an email discussing changes to the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy , demands that an Air Force general be punished for giving credit to God, an Air Force cadet ordered to remove Bible verses from his personal whiteboard. These stories remind us that U.S. troops don’t defend only our religious freedom ; from time to time, they also have to defend their own reli

By Neisha Roberts/The Alabama Baptist - Posted at Baptist Press: Marines burrow in the volcanic sand on the beach of Iwo Jima. Horace Lee, now 91, was among the Marines who first stormed the island's beaches to wrest the strategic island from the Japanese. Photo from commons.wikimedia.org BLOUNT SPRINGS, Ala. (BP) -- Horace Lee was 12 when he "gave my heart to the Lord" at a Baptist church in Alabama; 17 when he entered the Marine Corps in 1940; and 21 when he was wounded in Iwo Jima as the U.S. wrested the strategic island from the Japanese. "God taught me a great deal" in the military, Lee, now 91, said. "The Marine Corps complemented God's work by their fellowship … because it's teamwork and fellowship, and if you don't have that then you cannot depend on that fellow behind you.... "It's similar to the Great Commission, working together to go and tell." The second-oldest of five children, Lee grew up on his family'

Posted at Challies.com: Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling is a phenomenon that shows no signs of slowing down. According to publisher Thomas Nelson, it “continues to grow in units sold each year since it was released [and] has surpassed 15 million copies sold.” Nelson is involved in an expansive new marketing campaign that involves a new web site and daily radio devotionals. ECPA reports that “Thomas Nelson began its partnership with the Salem Media group to provide 60-second daily messages on Eric Metaxas’ show, which is carried on more than 100 stations nationwide and worldwide on SiriusXM Radio. The Jesus Calling radio devotional reaches more than 500,000 people each day through these segments.” With 15 million copies sold, it has marched its way into rare company. Yet it is a deeply troubling book. I am going to point out 10 serious problems with Jesus Calling in the hope that you will consider and heed these warnings. 1. She speaks for God. Far and away the most troubling aspect

By John MacArthur - Posted at The Master's Seminary : On June 12, 1944, just six days after D-Day in World War II, a young lieutenant named Richard Winters led his men to the outskirts of Carentan. As the officer in charge of Easy Company, of the 101st Airborne, he was tasked to clear the large French town of its German defenders. It would be a small battle, but it played a significant role in the massive effort to rid the world of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. As Winters led his company up the road toward town, the company started taking machine gun fire from a German MG42. The men instinctively dived for cover into ditches on either side of the road, and stayed there—they froze. Not only was the success of the mission in jeopardy, but the men were easy targets for enemy machine gun and sniper fire. What happened next proved to be the turning point in the battle for Carentan—it’s the stuff legends are made of. Lt. Winters went into the middle of the road and, with bullets hi

By EvangelZ - Posted at The Domain for Truth: We are different members of the same body (1 Cor. 12:12-27). The head is Christ. If one is missionary and evangelistically minded and not apathetic towards the harvest, let’s not guilt-monger people into your one-size fits all type of ministry. We must avoid false dichotomies. The paradigm of: “If you’re not with us, you’re against us” implies the mentality by some parachurch activists who emphasize one particular sin. When you accuse the brethren who is Gospel-centered, you are the problem, not them. Biblical ecclesiology dictates that no parachurch ministry is to usurp the authority of the local church. Otherwise, this opens up a Pandora box. You might as well have missionary organizations dictating the local church how missions should operate. They might as well preach in front of their churches too if they are not welcomed by Gospel-centered elders. Read more here...

By Vincenzina Santoro - Posted at MercatorNet: Wikipedia “For Warren, it’s economic. He thinks that unless women can control their fertility—and that it’s basically their right to control their fertility—that you are sort of wasting more than half of the brainpower in the United States,” Judith DeSarno, the Buffett Foundation’s former director for domestic programs, said in a 2008 interview for a reproductive health oral history project. “Well, not just the United States. Worldwide.” Contraceptive market sales in the United States alone were estimated to be US$6 billion in 2013. The major promoters of “family planning products” are known to be some of the world’s richest philanthropists who fund projects and products through their bountiful foundations. However, one significant controversial development was kept under the radar until a sharp financial journalist recently discovered how a reinvented IUD was funded, researched, approved and became marketable. The full story was brought t

By David Murray - Posted at HeadHeartHand : One of the most common pieces of advice in business and self-help books is about the need to prioritize. We all have so much to do, that we need to plan and organize our lives so that we get the most important and urgent things done. There are various complex schemes and principles for achieving this productivity nirvana. But there’s a divine priority that blows them all out of the water, and puts everything else in Quadrant 4: neither important nor urgent . “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness?” (Matt. 6:33). But what does that look like? How do we do that? Here are 10 ways to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Enter the kingdom first. There’s only one entrance – and that’s through the door of regeneration (John 3:3,5). Before you do anything else, surrender to the King and submit to His rule. Make the kingdom your greatest interest . Instead of asking “How is my team doing do?” “How are the pol

By Heather Clark - Posted at Christian News Network: DEKALB, Ill. — Officials at Northern Illinois University have agreed to remove all Bibles from the guest rooms at their campus student center following a complaint from a prominent atheist activist organization. The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) reports that it recently sent a letter to the university to assert that the presence of the Bibles was unconstitutional. Co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor and her husband Dan Barker discovered the Bibles while staying at the Holmes Student Center Hotel during a visit to the area to speak to a chapter of the Secular Student Alliance. “Providing Bibles to Holmes Student Center Hotel guests sends the message that NIU endorses the religious texts,” the letter read. “Including Bibles sends the message to non-Christian and non-religious guests that they should read the Bible, and specifically the version of the Bible provided: the Gideon Bible.” Read more here...

By Nick Napier - Posted at The Confessional ARP : Dear broadly evangelical friends, There is a video going around on Facebook of an outraged, Christian man who is proud that he has cleverly “outwitted Starbucks.” The premise of the video is that if you are a real Christian, you are offended that Starbucks doesn’t say, “Merry Christmas,” or have it written on their cups. The video opens with the man making some trite statements about being “open minded” and how Starbucks wants to take Christ & Christmas off their cups—more than that, their employees are *gasp* not allowed to say, “Merry Christmas.” He then says that instead of boycotting Starbucks, he wants to start a movement of patrons who answer that their name is Merry Christmas . Clever. Wow! What a wonderful way to demonstrate that you are a Christian. Doing this obviously means that you love and serve Jesus more than others. Obviously. (Because lying in order to carry on a holiday that He did not command, is exactly

By Andrew McDonald - Posted at The Protestant Standard: The rise of social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter has had a huge impact on how people interact with each other. Our lives are now communicated to others 24 hours a day, news travels faster than it ever did before, almost instantaneously. We communicate with more friends, more often, and more easily. Whilst social media websites can bring problems they have also brought many opportunities, not least for how Christians can seek to spread the message of the gospel and be a witness for Christ. Here are 10 tips on how you can use websites such as Facebook effectively as a Christian. 1. Ensure that your online testimony is consistent Are the pictures and videos that you post giving a clear message, or have things become muddied by the videos and links that you post? The effect of posting a gospel text is greatly diminished if moments before you had uploaded pictures of yourself a rock concert! Very often more peop

Posted at Deep Roots at Home : My heart is breaking for our younger generation of girls. I’m aware that it is likely that I will receive negative reactions from my readers, however I feel the need to speak out. Please do not confuse my thoughts as snooty legalism or me thinking I have all the answers~ it is that I care deeply about our young girls. My purpose is not to judge anyone, but to hopefully awaken parents of young children to the damage that is being caused by knowingly or unknowing immersing our young girls in a culture that is sexualizing them earlier than ever before and with terrible consequences. Please extend me grace as I try to share difficult thoughts, but it is so important to raising our young girls to be whole, modest of heart, and content with who God created them to be. They will some day grow up to have little girls and boys of their own, and they will need to be well-grounded in much, much more than the latest makeup and how to be eye-candy for the boys. O

Posted at The Federalist: The Supreme Court has decided to take up all seven of the cases challenging the Obamacare mandate that requires workplaces to provide birth control to female employees. Read more here...

"Texting" by Alton - Wikipedia Posted at Culture News : Cañon City (Colorado) High School administrators, cooperating with the criminal sexting investigation of local police, say that as much as half of the entire student body participated in the production and distribution of child pornography of themselves and their classmates, perhaps including some eighth graders. The combination of today's electronic marvels and the sexual revolution has created a legal morass wherein the children are both the victims and perpetrators of their own sexual predatory crimes — class 3 felony offenses requiring registration as a sex offender. "The scope is large, and we have secured in evidence hundreds of images of students. . . . It's going on everywhere, my suspicion is, with modern technology." -- Supt. George Welsh, Cañon City RE-1 Fremont School District Read more here... 

By Shane Lems - Posted at The Reformed Reader: Amazon Sadly, there is such a thing as a church bully. He’s the guy who manipulates, pressures, blames, and coerces people to follow his ideas or agenda (for example, see what happened to Peter in Galatians 2:12). This kind of person is very similar to an abusive husband (or wife – but most of the time a husband): he plays mind games on his wife, plays the Bible trump card of submission and patriarchy, and tricks people along the way with his compulsive lies. One big question is, “How do church bullies and abusers deceive us?” The answers to this question are important. Jeff Crippen and Anna Wood have some helpful answers. I’ve listed them below and edited them for length. (Note: Crippen and Wood specifically talk about abusive people, but many of these points could also apply to church bullies.) 1) They create an atmosphere of chaos and confusion. One of the most common effects of the abuser’s tactics is the creation of a

By Ken Amaro - Posted at First Coast News : “Can you imagine grieving for a child you had to terminate to find out you're still pregnant with the child?”Mother JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It wasn't that she didn't want the child. She didn't think she could manage it financially. The mother of three was already struggling to make ends meet when she chose to seek an abortion. "I said why bring a life into this world if I can't afford it." According to a complaint filed with the Department of Health, in March, she went to the All Women's Health Center of Jacksonville on the city's Southside, and paid $400 for the procedure. "I don't know what the abortion doctor did," she says. "She dilated my cervix. I know she was up there poking and jabbing. I thought the procedure was over, because I was in a lot of pain." Watch news report and read more here...