Christian Heritage News

By John W. Whitehead - Posted at The Rutherford Institute: “ Children are being targeted and sold for sex in America every day .”—John Ryan, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children There can only be one winner emerging from this year’s Super Bowl LIV showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, but the biggest losers will be the hundreds of young girls and boys— some as young as 9 years old —who will be bought and sold for sex during the course of the big game. It’s common to refer to this evil practice, which has become the fastest growing business in organized crime and the second most-lucrative commodity traded illegally after drugs and guns as child sex trafficking, but what we’re really talking about is rape. Adults purchase children for sex at least 2.5 million times a year in the United States. It’s not just young girls who are vulnerable to these predators, either. According to a USA Today investigative report, “ boys make up about

CLIP FROM ABORTION SURVIVORS COMMERCIAL -FACES OF CHOICE (Voice of the Persecuted) Posted at Voice of the Persecuted: URGENT PRAYER and ACTION NEEDED:   In 2014, I met Lyric Gillett who was only 23 at that time. I kept my eye on her because I knew the Lord had big plans for this special girl. A little over 2 years ago, I asked many to pray for this brilliant, young woman who has a heart bigger than Texas and a tenacity to take on any challenge and reach the goal. God’s plans for her, I didn’t know but was very excited to find out. While I followed and and prayed for Lyric, I would often be reminded of Isaiah 6:8—Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” I asked the Lord to guide Lyric’s path, give her strength, gather strong believers to encourage her and to expand her territory. It comes as no surprise that has God led her to form and launch Faces of Choice , a mission which deeply touches my

Posted at Calvinist Ruminant: For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. Romans 2:24 In the most recent episode of the Mortification of Spin podcast, Todd Pruitt and Carl Trueman discussed the phenomenon of protestant popes. This is the phenomenon of a pastor or church leader who wields immense power and control over an institution. Having been freed from the tyranny of one pope through the Reformation, protestants now have the burden of a thousand popes. You can listen to the podcast here . The problem that this phenomenon creates is the problem of abuse. Powerful men in positions of authority are susceptible to abusing their power for personal gain. This could be for personal wealth, power, or pleasure. Todd and Carl rightly identify this problem as rooted in the mini-popedoms of protestantism with the recent scandals coming from the Southern Baptist Convention as the most recognizable. Seeing this abuse of power, many people

Posted at Reformation Scotland: “Existential” is the word of the year according to Dictionary.com . Apparently “it speaks to this sense of grappling with our survival, both literally and figuratively, that defined so much of the discourse.” It is frequently accompanied by the word crisis especially when connected with Oxford dictionary’s word of 2019 “climate emergency”. Aside from panic about threats of doom we are also in existential crisis about identity. The singular pronoun “they” was selected as Merriam-Webster’s word of the year. It is used to describe those who consider themselves neither he nor she, opening up a linguistic as well as identity crisis. It is a crisis of confusion within western culture about who we are and where we are going. How did we get here? From a biblical perspective existential angst is the inevitable consequence of shutting God out of our minds and lives. Our culture has denied what the light of nature clearly teaches us about God’s being and ex

By Mark Pinsky - Posted at MinistryWatch : For someone who has reached the pinnacle of the American legal system — if defending the president of the United States in his impeachment trial can be said to be the pinnacle — Jay Sekulow came perilously close to complete failure as a young lawyer. In 1987, Sekulow was a partner in his own small Atlanta law firm when he stumbled into a morass of changing IRS regulations regarding some residential renovations he was handling for clients. As a result, he was sued, forcing his firm to collapse in bankruptcy. Documents filed at the time with federal bankruptcy court said the firm had $13,071,748 in debts and $638,000 in assets. Bereft and depressed, Sekulow was rescued not long after by an old friend: Moishe Rosen, the founder of Jews for Jesus, the Messianic group that accepts Jesus as savior but retains traditional Jewish forms of worship. At the age of 18, while a student at Atlanta Baptist College, now Mercer University, Sekulow had le

By Jeff Johnston - Posted at The Daily Citizen: Representative Fred Deutsch introduced “The Vulnerable Child Protection Act” to the South Dakota legislature to protect children struggling with their sexual identity. House Bill 1057 (HB 1057) prohibits medical professionals from prescribing puberty blockers or opposite sex hormones to minors whose self-perception is inconsistent with biological reality. The bill also forbids doctors from performing surgeries – including castration, mastectomies and hysterectomies – on minors who think they are the opposite sex. “The Vulnerable Child Protection Act” makes it a Class 4 felony for medical professionals who violate the act, with penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment and fines up to $30,000. The bill currently has 46 co-sponsors – 34 representatives and 12 senators. HB 1057 does not apply to children “born with a medically-verifiable genetic disorder of sex development,” commonly called “intersex” conditions. In a press release , D

Posted at Christian Heritage Fellowship: The United States Constitution does not allow for three equal branches of government. The judiciary was intentionally made the weakest of all three branches. January 22, 1973 (Roe vs Wade) was a glaring act of social engineering by a judiciary determined not to be constrained by the Constitution. “We the people” are the first three words of the Constitution, but since the 1940s, American government has been dominated by, “We the judges.” Sanctity of human life, Bible reading and prayer in public schools, the display of the Ten Commandments, Christmas nativities, same-sex marriage, and a host of additional social, religious, and moral issues have been decided, not by “We the people,” but by “we the judges.” Throughout the twentieth century, the judiciary has accrued powers for itself that America’s Founding Fathers never intended. The Declaration of Independence, listed four abuses (complaints 8, 9, 15, and 18) that were associated with

Pastor Lawan Andimi - Morning Star News By Diana Chandler - Posted at Baptist Press: Northeast Nigeria (BP) -- Boko Haram insurgents have killed a Nigerian pastor they kidnapped weeks ago, news media said Tuesday (Jan. 21), amid a resurgence in northeast Nigeria of the splintered terrorist group blamed for Christian genocide. Terrorists killed Lawan Andimi yesterday (Jan. 20), according to Today.NG , which described Andimi as a Michika pastor who led a local chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). Andimi died as several Boko Haram attacks signal a resurgence of the group in northeast Nigeria, including an attack on an electrical power grid Jan. 17 that cut power to an entire city; and an attack with machine guns on a United Nations facility and the destruction of a nearby bridge, both on Jan. 18, Vanguard said Tuesday. None of the UN workers were harmed, Vanguard reported, but the UN said it "was outraged by the extremely violent attack on this key hum

By Warren Cole Smith - Posted at Ministry Watch: Non-profit organizations do great work in this country. Non-profits employ more than 12-million people and contribute $2-trillion to our national economy. They also mobilize millions more in volunteer activities, reducing and sometimes eliminating the need for government services. The value of non-profits is so great that our tax code treats them in a special way. Donors can deduct gifts to non-profits. The non-profits themselves are exempt from most taxes. In fact, what most of us think of as “non-profits” or “ministries” are identified by law as “tax-exempt” organizations. Historically, we have gladly given these tax exemptions recognize the great value these organizations bring to our country and the world. But we require tax-exempt organizations to do one important thing. We ask them to provide evidence they are doing what they say they are doing. An important way that exempt organizations meet this requirement is by c

Jeff Durbin of Apologia Church By Sainted Sinner - Posted at ICXC NIKA: Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ I have a deep and abiding respect for Jeff Durbin, he is someone I have had the pleasure to hear, meet and even eat with. I firmly believe that he is a brother in Christ who has done much good for the Kingdom of God. It was his videos and podcast even back in the early days of the post Apologia period that taught me how to engage with Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses. This all is amazing work and to try and write down all of the many great things that he has done would be a task I could not at all do. From saving the lives of countless children, I admire and envy the passion and abilities that he has. One thing I enjoyed about the content that he and the rest of the Apologia gang produced was that it was fantastic stuff. It showed and taught believers how to engage and disarm the cults that would try to decieve people. The Gospel would be proclaimed, defended

United States Declaration of Independence ( Wikipedia ) By Rev. David T. Myers - Posted at This Day in Presbyterian History: Many Presbyterians know that the Scotch-Irish had a pivotal part in the birth of our country. But they may not be aware that there were twelve Presbyterians who put their names on the line as well as their sacred honor to actually sign their name on the Declaration of Independence. Philip Livingstone was one of those signers. Livingstone came from a distinguished family. His grandfather had been a minister in the Church of Scotland; refusing to take an oath of allegiance to King Charles II, he fled to Holland where he was pastor of a Presbyterian Church. Livingstone’s father, Robert, came to the colonies where Philip was born on January 15, 1716. At age 17, Philip graduated from Yale College with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in business. Moving to New York City, he soon made his mark as a merchant and importer. In 1740, he married Christina Ten

New Life Impact Church, led by the Rev. Clarence Smith Jr., at 3540 W. Cermak Road in Chicago on Friday, Jan. 3, 2020. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) By Anne Stych - Posted at Ministry Watch: A Chicago pastor has been indicted on federal charges that he stole more than $800,000 intended for food programs for needy children and spent it on a luxury car and other personal expenses. The Rev. Clarence Smith Jr., 45, of New Life Impact Church is charged with overreporting the number of meals his organization fed children as part of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and overcharging the federal grant program, which is partly administered by the Illinois State Board of Education. Smith received almost $1 million for services from the state in July 2016 then spent $142,000 soon after on a 2015 Bentley automobile, the Chicago Tribune reported. Continue reading...

By Stephen Daisley - Posted at Spectator USA: The humor may or may not be to your taste but it’s hardly about to bring the republic crashing down in a slurry of ignorance. Going viral is ordinarily pay-dirt for a small website: new readers, more subscribers, and a bigger slice of that sweet, sweet Google Ads revenue pie. Unfortunately for satirical Christian news-site the Babylon Bee , it went viral in the wrong way: it made fun of Democrats. Last week, its spoof story ‘ Democrats Call For Flags To Be Flown At Half-Mast To Grieve Death Of Soleimani ‘ attracted 750,000 shares on social media. The headline and the body of the text are patently absurd and obviously satirical. Of course Democrats didn’t call for the flag to be flown at half-mast for Soleimani. It’s not like he was Osama bin Laden or anything. Donie O’Sullivan, who covers ‘disinformation, politics and technology’ for CNN, saw darker forces at work. He intoned : ‘To put this in perspective, this is the same number

By Diane Langberg, PHD - Posted at DianeLangberg.com : There has been much discussion about what a church should do when confronted with an abuser in its midst. Such a question cannot begin to be adequately or wisely answered unless we first grasp the truth of what it means to be an abuser of the vulnerable. To see abuse as simply a wrong action that needs to be stopped (though it certainly does) is to minimize and externalize what is a cancer of the soul and does great damage to the abused. We often seem to think that when we understand the outside of things we are fully aware. We are not. Our God looks on the inward condition that gave birth to the outward actions. God does not classify evil by a catalogue of deeds done. He always goes to the internal root of the matter (Genesis 6:5). To abuse a vulnerable child (or adult) is to alter the course of their life. The shape of their life and their sense of self has significantly changed. Those heinous actions are spillage from the

By Paul Smith - Posted at The Evangelical Times: Morality is back. Once again, moral absolutes are not just possible but popular. The #metoo movement has demanded universal standards of sexual morality. People are talking about social justice and the need to liberate the oppressed. This all gives tremendous gospel opportunities, because it invites the question: on what basis can universal moral standards be asserted? It also brings tremendous challenges, because acceptance of the new morality is required to have a voice in society. So, should Christians embrace social justice? Social justice seems, at first glance, to fit with biblical standards. After all, did not the prophets urge rulers to treat people, especially the poor, with justice and mercy? The problem is that the dominant narrative in current conceptions of social justice is not right and wrong but a power struggle between oppressors and oppressed. And oppression is taken to be anything that hinders individual self

By Rob Nelson - Posted at Reformation Charlotte: Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. Let me ask a hypothetical question about a hypothetical person. Let’s say this person is a twenty-seven-year-old man. Let’s name him Ralph for simplicity’s sake. Ralph is a well-established man with a good job and is an active member of a church. However, Ralph has one dark secret he has never disclosed. Ralph is attracted to little girls. Ralph absolutely hates this about himself. He is ashamed but admittedly has a hard time kicking this attraction. Here’s the question, is Ralph’s attraction sinful? Some of you who read that probably feel disgusted. You would say, “Of course!” “Ralph is a pervert!” If you feel this way I would agree Ralph is guilty of a desire rooted in sin. Yet let’s rephrase the question. This time instead of Ralph being attracted to little girls lets say he is attracted to other men, what do you say now? If you have changed your opinion I wou

By Emily McFarlan Miller - Posted at Ministry Watch : Bishops and leaders of a number of United Methodist groups have announced a proposal that would result in a split of the United Methodist Church. The news draws varying opinions on how a split would impact the Church’s future. The proposal, called the Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation , would create a new conservative “traditionalist” Methodist denomination that would receive $25 million over the next four years. Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, noted a “denominational schism would be historic and largely the first of its kind since 1840s when Methodists and Baptists divided regionally over slavery.” He also believes a split will be “messy and often tragic,” but ultimately could allow more “evangelistic-minded Methodism to plant new congregations and grow.” “My prediction: General Conference will approve a version of this plan. During several subsequent years of sort

Westminster Assembly - Wikipedia Posted at Reformation Scotland : Everywhere people are resolving to make a positive change in their lives. They plan to get rid of something they don’t want or achieve something desirable. Whether or not these are successful is a matter of debate. Resolution is, however, a far deeper and more spiritual matter than these lifestyle changes. A spirit of God-centred resolution should govern the way that we live. This is a boldness of faith that arises from the nature of the gospel and God Himself. Whatever else we may resolve let’s make sure we have this spirit of resolution. Put simply, this spirit is an unconquerable resolution to be for God. This is how Andrew Perne (member of the Westminster Assembly) describes it. It means being resolved to stick unwaveringly to God and His ways no matter what others do or what happens as a consequence. He says that this is what makes the heart to be in heavenly tune and the right key, pleasing and acceptable to

By Andrew Kerr - Posted at Gentle Reformation: I thought it might be appropriate, as we move on into 2020, to consider, briefly, Paul's zeal for "pressing on" with the Lord. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith - that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do no

Persecuted Chinese pastor Wang Yi, shown with his wife Jiang Rong, was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges stemming from his leadership of Early Rain Covenant Church in Sichuan, China. (Baptist Press - ChinaAid photo) By Diana Chandler - Posted at Baptist Press: SICHUAN, China (BP) -- The United States and the European Union are urging China to free pastor Wang Yi, sentenced to nine years in prison in what religious liberty advocates call Christian persecution. China pronounced Wang guilty Dec. 30 of "illegal business operations" and "inciting subversion of state power," convictions religious liberty advocates say stem solely from his leadership as founding pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, Sichuan. U.S. Sec. of State Mike Pompeo expressed alarm at Wang's sentence on charges that Pompeo said were "trumped up" and issued with no defense lawyer present. "We call for his immediate and unconditional release,"

Li Yingqiang (Photo: ChinaAid) Posted at ChinaAid Li Yingqiang: the “Alien” ChinaAid note: This is part one of an article written by ChinaAid correspondent Yu Ren regarding the persecution of Early Rain Covenant Church. During December, the season of Advent, Christians throughout the world look forward to Christmas. Christians in Jiangxin Building in Chengdu welcomed this day of universal jubilation in a unique way, which they had practiced for several years. By the afternoon of Dec. 10, 2018, however, hundreds of Christians, including pastors, elders and fellow workers, had unexpectedly lost contact with each other. Below the Jiangxin Building, the location of Early Rain Covenant Church, police cars and trucks had lined up. Police officers methodically removed all books, audio/video products, and other assets from the church. Police also transported a primary school student attending the church’s school to the police station for questioning. Police officials then deploye

(1791-1857) Posted at This Day in Presbyterian History: Here is an opportunity to learn from two esteemed and learned brothers in the faith, as they each step out into a new year. Note that they do not offer resolutions, but meditations—on the goodness and mercy of God; on the depth of His love; and on their place in His kingdom. Much to learn from here, by their examples. From The Life of Daniel Baker , p. 64— Friday, January 1st, 1813. This morning I have been almost overwhelmed with a sense of the infinite majesty of Almighty God, and my own insignificancy and unworthiness. O, how astonishing is the grandeur, love, and condescension of Jehovah! He who created and sustains universal nature; who keeps in quiet and unceasing motion the countless and stupendous systems of planetary worlds; who causes them all to roll along and revolve with inconceivable velocity, and most exact order and harmony. ... Dr. Jacob Jones Janeway (1774-1858) From The Life of Dr. Jacob Jones