Christian Heritage News

Posted at ChinaAid: (Washington D.C—June 25, 2019) ChinaAid joins a coalition of human rights advocates, religious scholars, and secular leaders in signing a letter calling on the administration of President Donald Trump to make “international religious freedom a top priority in all areas of American foreign policy with respect to China.” Released under the banner of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable (IRFR) and dated June 25th, signatories to the letter include Russell Moore, President of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), Faith & Freedom Coalition executive director Timothy Head, and Open Doors USA President & CEO Dr. David Curry. The letter’s authors note China’s inconsistencies with “international human rights and religious freedom norms, standards, and law” as government officials attempt to “sinicize” all religious practices in the country. Continue reading...

By Diana Chandler - Posted at Baptist Press: WASHINGTON (BP) -- The U.S. is among 33 top countries fighting human trafficking but falls short in prosecuting traffickers, aiding victims and tackling forced labor in particular, the U.S. State Department said in its latest report. Faith communities can help countries address human trafficking, which currently victimizes an estimated 25 million adults and children worldwide in sex trafficking and forced labor, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large John Cotton Richmond said in releasing the 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP). "Traffickers continue to operate with impunity and only a small fraction of victims receive trauma-informed, victim-centered support services," said Richmond, ambassador-at-large to monitor and combat trafficking in persons. "Yet, by working together, governments, civil society organizations, survivor advocates, and faith communities can reverse this troubling pattern." Continue reading... 

By Grace Thornton - Posted at Baptist Press: WASHINGTON (BP) -- Despite "glimmers of progress" in religious freedom globally last year, key concerns were noted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in releasing the 2018 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. Travis Wussow of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission said he looks forward to the report's release each year "because I know how critical American leadership is to advance religious liberty abroad." Abuses in China warranted a special section in the IRF report, Pompeo said in a news conference following the report's release June 21. Among the concerns: the plight of at least 800,000 and up to possibly more than 2 million Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs and members of other Muslim groups -- mostly Chinese citizens -- held in detention facilities in Xinjiang. Sam Brownback, U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said the Chinese camps are "

By Chris Gordon - Posted at Abounding Grace Radio: Where are all the young people going? Why do the visitors never seem to stick? Why have there been so many fights in our church? Why are there so many rules in the church that do not seem to come from Scripture? Unfortunately, these are common questions in the church. In my years as a pastor, I have been shocked over how much antipathy there has been toward the visible church. It took me more than a few years to get a handle on why the reaction has been so strong. The sad reality is that many people have witnessed fighting, church splits, abuses, hatred, contentions, jealousies, all undergirded by a hard kind of legalism within the confines of a closed community that demonstrates little of the joy of Christ. What are we to think of these things? Are there legitimate criticisms of Reformed theology, piety, and practice that we should evaluate? Continue reading...

By Elizabeth Prata - Posted at The End Time: There has been quite a hue and cry over the Open Letter to Beth Moore that I and 5 other ladies published on June 18. That is a direct testament to the influence and fame of Beth Moore. In the Letter we posed 5 simple questions, asking her to make clear her stance on homosexuality. Huge Following, Huge Influence means Souls are at Stake Living Proof Ministries (LPM) participated in multiple conferences and simulcasts last year. Moore taught at LPLive events plus other various events with a total of 284k total attendees. Her weekly TV program reached 2.7m households. 24,000 units of her video and written material were shipped. LPM’s online ministry outreach utilizes Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, Moore’s social media which currently have a combined following of 1.6 million people. Once we add in the people who access Moore’s teachings via LPM’s app, various non-official Youtube videos, and the Living Proof Blog, her following reaches

Kaduna state, Nigeria. (Wikipedia) Posted at Morning Star News: JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Muslim Fulani herdsmen on Monday (June 17) killed four Christians in north-central Nigeria’s Kaduna state, including three children, on the same day nine other Christians were slain in neighboring Plateau state, area sources said. Christian residents in Kaduna state’s Kauru County told Morning Star News that between 3 a.m and 4 a.m. well over 200 armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen invaded predominantly Christian Ungwan Rimi Kamuru village, killing 8-year-old Monday Yahaya, 9-year-old Zhime Danladi and Samson David, 15. “They were all buried today after a brief prayer at the grave site,” area resident Thomas John told Morning Star News in a text message. A Kaduna police spokesman reportedly confirmed the killings but identified the 9-year-old as Ashimile Danladi and cited Samson David’s age as 17. Continue reading...

By Kayla Kosloski - Posted at Christian Headlines: Nearly a half a dozen woman Bible teachers have called Christian author Beth Moore’s views on homosexuality into question this week. In an open letter signed by Susan Heck, Debbie Lynne Kespert, Michelle Lesley, Martha Peace and Elizabeth Prata, the women ask Moore why she has not spoken out on the issue of homosexuality, despite being a loud voice against misogyny and racism. The women noted how Moore speedily condemned the Covington Catholic School boys earlier this year whom the media falsely portrayed as racists and bigots, but how in regard to homosexuality, she has avoided making comments altogether. “It is this Johnny-on-the-spot readiness to engage issues related to misogyny and racism that makes your virtual silence on the issue of homosexuality so puzzling,” the letter notes. Continue reading...

By Andrea Morris - Posted at CBN News: The state is now saying that, due to recent legislation, it is no longer possible for a private boarding school to operate without a considerable amount of licensing and oversight by the Department of Social Services. A Christian school in California is facing a huge battle with the state. Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) is representing River View Christian Academy in northern California. The school was raided earlier in the year, SWAT style, by the state. According to PJI , the raid was carried out by 16 armed law enforcement from California Highway Patrol, two canine units and 17 social workers. Students and staff were horrified by the sudden and unexpected attack. The state was misled into thinking that the school was harboring illegal drugs, amassing ammunition, and preparing for doomsday. Read more and watch the video here.

By David Curry - Posted at USA Today: The American church is feeding itself to death as the worldwide church is being murdered. On May 18, extremists in Nigeria interrupted a church choir practice and abducted 17 Christians . They are being ransomed and might never see their families again. Some of the Christian women may be sold into slavery or raped and forced to marry the jihadist. It’s the latest attack in the escalating violent war on Christians within Nigeria, where 3,731 Christians were killed last year. If such violence had occurred in Nashville rather than Nigeria, it would dominate nightly news broadcasts and saturate social media feeds. American churches would be launching fundraising campaigns for victims’ families and addressing it in their weekly gatherings. In this case, however, the American church has barely acknowledged it. Unfortunately, when violence occurs somewhere “over there” instead of in our backyard, it is often dismissed as just another story. American

By Dr. R. Scott Clark - Posted at Abounding Grace Radio: Had you told me that as a grown man with two adult children that I would, for any reason, write the words My Little Pony (MLP) in an article (or anywhere) I would have advised you to seek psychiatric care. Nevertheless, here we are. The company that produces the children’s television show, MLP has announced that they are adding a homosexual couple to that television show. In the same article we learn that the children’s show Arthur already has a gay character. Of course television production companies are adding same-sex characters and couples to their shows. The new morality demands it but this is not mere virtue signaling. It is catechesis, instruction. Catechesis is a Greek word for instruction. It is the noun from which we get another noun, catechism . Confessional Protestant churches (e.g., Lutheran and Reformed) have used catechisms since the mid-16th century as a way to instruct the children of believers. A ca

By Adelle M. Banks/Religion News Service - Posted at Christian Headlines: (RNS) — A new Southern Baptist Convention report on sex abuse, filled with the voices of survivors, acknowledges numerous ways the denomination has failed to protect members of its churches. The “Caring Well” report also summarizes a range of next steps to address the issue, including educating congregations about abuse, preparing them to help survivors and fostering abuse prevention. “We lament the fact that it took a national movement of reckoning for abuse to force us to take this issue seriously in our own convention,” reads the 52-page report, which followed an investigation published May 31 in the Houston Chronicle detailing accusations involving dozens of Southern Baptists. “It should now be obvious that the problem has been and still is more widespread than anyone has realized,” the SBC report said, “affecting our congregations all over the country, from the smallest church pastored by a bivocationa

Location of Burkina Faso (dark blue) – in Africa (light blue & dark grey) – in the African Union (light blue)  – [ Legend ] - Wikipedia Posted at Christian Today: At least 19 people were killed in another attack in Burkina Faso on Sunday. Open Doors sources in the country believed the victims to be Christians. Suspected jihadists carried out the attack in the district of Arbinda, in the north of the country. A local official who asked to remain anonymous said that three vehicles had been stopped and set on fire, with one driver being killed, before several armed men opened fire on people in the town. "Several dozen armed men carried out an attack on the district of Arbinda, shooting several people dead," the official said. Another 13 people were injured in the attack, according to the government. Open Doors said the grip of Islamic militants has been growing in the northern and eastern parts of Burkina Faso. Continue reading...

Karl Marx By Jeff Maples - Posted at Reformation Charlotte: No matter what’s happening around us, Socialism is almost always in the limelight. An idea that grew to prominence in the 19th century, courtesy of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, is presented as a solution for every problem there is in the world—and yet we know through history that it doesn’t work. Before we deconstruct why this ideology and the proposed method of “governance” (or self-governance) doesn’t and wouldn’t work, let’s understand it first. Socialism, Communism, Marxism: What’s the Difference? Often when people think of these terms, they tend to use them interchangeably, or synonymously. Although similar and derived from the same fundamental ideology, there are some differences. Continue reading...

By Samuel Smith - Posted at The Christian Post: Cartoon Network, the popular television channel watched by millions of children, promoted LGBT pride month by using one of its widely popular shows to encourage fans to “stand proud." LGBT activists have designated June as “pride month” to celebrate alternative sexual lifestyles and gender identities, and Cartoon Network took to Twitter last week to voice its solidarity with the movement as thousands take part in events nationwide. “We want to wish everyone a HAPPY PRIDE and encourage all of our LGBTQ+ fans to stand proud all year long!” the network, which is owned by Warner Bros., tweeted along with emojis representing a rainbow flag, heart and a unicorn. The tweet also included a picture of characters from its popular reboot show “Powerpuff Girls.” The tweet included the hastags “ #powerpuffyourself ,” “#pridemonth” and “#powerfuffgirls.” Continue reading...

By Mike Ratliff - Posted at Possessing the Treasure : 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. 17 This I command you, that you love one another. 18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. John 15:14-19 (NASB) I have been reading through the book of Acts over the last few weeks and I followed it up with a documentary about the Book of Acts in which every verse was read and acted ou

By Heather Clark - Posted at Christian News Network: TORONTO — A Canadian preacher was arrested on Tuesday and charged with disturbing the peace as he was met with opposition while sharing the gospel in a section of Toronto known as “the Gay Village.” David Lynn of Christ’s Forgiveness Ministries had been on a preaching tour throughout Toronto, and says that he was not specifically targeting homosexuals when he began preaching at Church and Wellesley. In video posted to social media, Lynn can be heard explaining that all men have sinned, whether heterosexual or homosexual, as all have violated the laws of God. “Jesus died for the sinner. Did you know that every person is a sinner?” he preached into a microphone. “Every heterosexual has sinned. Every homosexual has sinned. And sin is when we violate the laws of God and we go contrary to the things of faith.” Continue reading... 

Monergism.com By John Hendryx - Posted at Monergism: Do not replace Christ with political tribalism or the state. These are false christs which cannot save you. When Christians or Christian ministries spend most of their time fighting and posting about politics ... when 90% of their posts on social media are responses to today's political news, the gospel tends to get lost. But don't get me wrong. This is not a statement against being involved in politics. We ought to be. I wholeheartedly affirm that Jesus is Lord over all things and that includes the State and the Magistrates. Rather, I believe, as Christians, we ought to be against REPLACING Jesus with political tribalism and a worship of the state -- which is a clear and present danger among some in the church. There are Christians and Christian ministries appear to be so caught up in politics, that they are in danger of being devastated when they lose, which reveals that they have replaced Christ with politics. It

Troops from the U.S. 1st Infantry Division land on Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944. Photographed by Robert F. Sargent ( wikimedia). By Eric Davis - Posted at The Cripplegate: "Harrowing accounts surfaced from the men who survived Omaha. I recently had the privilege of hearing one of those accounts of a courageous American soldier. What follows is a first-hand account of the extraordinary providence of God in impossible war circumstances." It was 75 years ago. The globe was deep into World War II, the deadliest conflict in history. Germany had conquered and gained control of much of Europe. Four years earlier, the Nazis had grabbed a tight grip on France. The United States officially joined the war and linked arms with the Allies in 1941 after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Among other things, the Allies had their eyes on Europe. Taking France from the Nazis was essential to liberating the continent. Enter Operation Overlord. General Dwight Eisenhower had been appoi

By Lindsay Elizabeth - Posted at FaithWire: Published June 2, 2019 On Sunday afternoon, President Trump visited an evangelical church in Northern Virginia to honor and pray for those that lost their lives in the Virginia Beach shooting this past weekend. Trump made an unannounced stop at McLean Bible Church   President Trump made an unannounced stop at McLean Bible Church in Virginia today.  Posted by WGME CBS 13 News, Portland on Sunday, June 2, 2019 After leaving his golf club in Sterling, Virginia Sunday morning, the President made an unannounced stop at Mclean Bible Church in Vienna, Virginia. Continue reading... See also: Trump Quietly Showed Up at David Platt’s Church and Asked for Prayer This Weekend  (Church Leaders) Platt Explains Prayer for Trump at Church: ‘My Aim Was in No Way to Endorse President, But to Obey God’s Command’ (Christian News Network)

Make Sodom Great Again? Trump’s ‘Celebrate Pride Month’ Tweets Urge Nations to Join in Effort to Legalize Homosexuality By Heather Clark - Posted at  Christian News Network: May 31, 2019 WASHINGTON — President Trump posted two tweets on Friday in recognition of homosexual and transgender “Pride Month,” asking Americans to “stand in solidarity” with homosexuals who live in countries where such sexual practices are illegal, as well as for nations to join his administration’s campaign to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide. “As we celebrate LGBT Pride Month and recognize the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great nation, let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation,” he wrote . “My administration has launched a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality and invite all nations to join us in this effort