Christian Heritage News

By Angela Wittman Taken from a compilation of Thanksgiving information posted at A Puritan's Mind: “Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.” (1 Chron. 16:8). “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1 Thess. 5:18). THE FIRST THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION – JUNE 20, 1676:  “The Holy God having by a long and Continual Series of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the present War with the Heathen Natives of this land, written and brought to pass bitter things against his own Covenant people in this wilderness, yet so that we evidently discern that in the midst of his judgments he hath remembered mercy, having remembered his Footstool in the day of his sore displeasure against us for our sins, with many singular Intimations of his Fatherly Compassion, and regard; reserving many of our Towns from Desolation Threatened, and attempted by the Enemy, and giving us especially of late w

 By J.K. Wall - Posted at Gentle Reformation: "...We should vote and engage vigorously in politics—it too is part of God’s world. But life does not, as my neighbor claimed, all happen due to political decisions. In fact, very little of it does. There is so much else to life—things to enjoy and even things to worry about. We shouldn’t make it all about politics." Americans are just a week away from Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays. What better way to turn your mind to God than to hold a feast to remind ourselves that we receive so many blessings thanks to a good God who controls the circumstances of our lives. It’s a reminder I need—I think we all need—after a brutal year, including a brutal presidential campaign. Read more...

 By Donn R. Arms - Posted at the Mid-America Institute for Nouthetic Studies: Jay Adams entered into his eternal rest with his Lord on November 14, 2020. He was 91 years old. Adams was best known as the founder of the modern Biblical counseling movement, launched with the publication of his groundbreaking book Competent to Counsel in 1970. He was a champion for the cause of biblical sufficiency and against the encroachment of secular psychology into the counseling rooms of pastors and Christian laypersons. Early life and conversion Jay Edward Adams was born on January 30, 1929, in Baltimore, Maryland. His father was a beat cop and his mother a secretary. Neither of his parents attended church, and he received no instruction in spiritual matters as a child. Adams was a precociously bright youngster and skipped a year of high school to graduate when he was just 15 years old. His first consideration of any spiritual matter occurred when a neighborhood friend complained to him about a boo

 By Clint Archer - Posted at The Cripplegate: “Oceans rise, empires fall, we have seen each other through it all.” The musical, Hamilton , is an apropos soundtrack for the current political turbulence in the USA. This is a country birthed by revolution, while the world turned upside down. And since independence, the administration has been swinging between the poles of big government and small government, with the interminable regularity of tidal oscillation. Washington, Adams, Jefferson … Obama, Trump, _______, etc. Now we are all wondering: what comes next? Read more...

 By Denny Burk At the end of a bitterly fought election season, it is good for us Christians to consider what we owe a president. At the very least, we owe our president a commitment to pray for him. In 1 Timothy 2:1-4 , Paul writes: 1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Verse 2 specifies the kinds of people Paul wants Timothy and his congregation to pray for: “kings and all who are in high positions.” This phrase obviously refers to the governing authorities in their Roman imperial context. Nevertheless, the command to pray applies to all Christians who answer to governing authorities. We must pray for them because our leaders can implement p

 By Brian Myers - Posted at Caffeinated Thoughts: "What I find really disheartening is knowing that nothing will be done about what may well have been the biggest corruption scandal in my lifetime." On Saturday, media outlets declared Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 Presidential race. Court challenges aside, it appears that Trump’s presidency will be drawing to a close. There’s plenty to be concerned about from my perspective. Biden is already talking about a “mandate” (he wins in a squeaker and says that?) “for action on COVID, the economy, climate change, systemic racism.” I shudder to think what those actions will be, but, whatever they are, I suspect they will be frivolous, expensive, restrictive, and ineffective. Then, of course, there’s the whole business of “packing” the Supreme Court. Depending on how things shake out in the Senate, I suppose that’s actually a possibility. That would be an unmitigated disaster. Read more here...    

 By Jared Olivetti - Posted at Gentle Reformation : It is election day in America as I write. When this is posted, the results of the elections may or may not be clear. My prayers for the election have centered on seeking God's mercy instead of judgment in raising up leaders who love Him and know His Word, and on seeking God's mercy by preserving peace during a time of increasing violence. But my deeper prayers and, honestly, my greater concerns are for the testimony of the church. We are being swept by the undertow of a wildly polarized time. Media outlets and social media both work to push us toward one side or the other, and teach us to see people only in light of their political leanings. Few civil leaders show any interest or ability in righting the ship by displacing politics with genuine community at the center of our society. Genuine, deep and polite debates are nowhere to be found. Our leaders now take delight in insults and half-truths. And the church seems to be caug

 By David Campbell - Posted at Banner of Truth: One of the abilities that we have as human beings (and it’s one that distinguishes us from all the other creatures), is our ability to ponder the future — to wonder, to imagine, to look forward to, to fear what lies before us. And we all do it! Our minds are often turning to the future and what that future might hold for us. For all our pondering, however, there is not a single one of us who can penetrate the future. The wisest of all Jewish kings, King Solomon, once said, ‘we do not know what a day may bring forth’, and that is just as true today as it was when Solomon first said it millennia ago. Gazing into the future is like gazing into the blue of a cloudless sky. No matter how hard we strain our eyes we cannot see the wonderful array of stars that we know lies beyond. So it is with respect to the future. We cannot see what lies beyond the present. It is not a mystery to God! He knows what is before us down to the smallest detail. Bu

 By Karl Mahlburg - Posted at Cross + Culture : Most of us have heard of Watergate—the political scandal that engulfed the Nixon administration in the 1970s. So infamous was that chapter in American history that we’ve since borrowed the “-gate” suffix in the English-speaking world to portray any political scandal—serious or otherwise—with intrigue or grave criminality. What was Watergate? Put simply, unknown men broke into the Watergate building in Washington DC to photograph documents and bug the office of the Democratic party which was seeking to defeat President Nixon at the upcoming election. Having arrested the men, authorities slowly uncovered a chain of command that led all the way back to the upper reaches of the White House and to Nixon himself. The scandal ultimately forced the president to confess his guilt and resign. Fifty years later another scandal is unfolding in Washington DC, and it is no exaggeration to say that Watergate pales in comparison to it. It is a complicate