Christian Heritage News

By Stoyan Zaimov - Posted at The Christian Post : Asia Bibi, the Christian mother of five who has been on death row for blasphemy since 2010, has been acquitted by Pakistan's Supreme Court. Although the decision was made back on October 8, it was held hidden from the public until its announcement on Wednesday. "The appeal is allowed. She has been acquitted. The judgement of high court as well as trial court is reversed. Her conviction is set aside," Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar declared in the 56-page judgment . "Her conviction is set aside and she is to be relieved forthwith if not required in other charges," he added. The ruling related to a 2015 appeal against the death sentence for Bibi, who in 2009 was accused by a group of Muslim coworkers of having insulted the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Read more here. See also: Video: Radicals protests Asia Bibi’s release, Pakistani Christians request our prayers  (Voice of the Pe

Our Front Porch - Christian Heritage Fellowship By Stephen A. Flick - Posted at Christian Heritage Fellowship: One of the favorite places Beth and I used to sit and share in each other’s lives was the swing on our front porch. Handcrafted by Amish Dutch in western Pennsylvania years ago, it was brought to our home by Mom Flick when she came to live with us in Mississippi following her diagnosis of terminal liver cancer in 1998. But since this past summer, that porch swing which has been a silent observer of so much of our family’s history is now—for the most part—unoccupied, no longer witness to our hopes, dreams, and disappointments. While the patterns of life have enormously changed over the last three months, there is one thing that has not changed; I am still living with a promise! The Promise of God Not long after our accident that claimed the life of my precious wife, Beth, I selected a screen saver on my computer that allowed me to insert a portion of Scripture. Th

By Clint Archer - Posted at The Cripplegate: When Martin Luther pounded the 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, the effects rippled throughout space and time, changing the world then and there, as well as here and now, 501 years later. We may take for granted the impact that feisty monk’s actions had on Europe in 1517 and are still having on our lives this very day. We ought to be grateful to God for what he wrought in our lives with blunt instruments, Martin Luther, John Calvin, et al. 1. If you read your Bible today in your own language that’s because of the Reformation. Christians in 1517 did not have access to a Bible unless they had been schooled in Latin, a privilege reserved for the wealthy and the ecclesiastical order. So if you wanted to read the Bible you had to take a vow of celibacy, poverty, and obedience, and become a monk or priest. It was Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible into German that brought about the truth encapsulated

By Laurence M. Vance - Posted at Tenth Amendment Center : An article in the September issue of The New Yorker makes the case that education is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution. It’s not. Public schools in Detroit are failing to educate students. Just like they are failing to do so in many large cities throughout the country. A case in the federal court system, Gary B. v. Snyder , filed by Public Counsel and Sidley Austin LLP on behalf of a class of Detroit students, argues that students in Detroit public schools who failed to learn how to read were denied their due process and equal protection rights under the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment. The case was dismissed by a federal district court in Michigan in June, but has been appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. The plaintiffs, as well as the writer of the piece in The New Yorker (Jill Lepore) cite the Supreme Court case of Plyler v . Doe (1982). In his book The Schoolhous

By Heather Clark - Posted at Christian News Network: THORNTON, Colo. — Some parents of students at a middle school in Colorado are expressing objection after learning that a man who works as a “drag queen” was among the entities who spoke to students at a recent literacy day. According to reports, the man, who goes by the stage name “Jessica L’Whor,” appeared at Rocky Top Middle School on Friday, visiting various classrooms to talk about his profession and to read a book about acceptance. The man changed his name to “Ms. Jessica” for the occasion as he believed his full stage name would not be appropriate for children. He was one of over 100 visitors to the school for “Rocky Top Reads,” which included first responders, professional athletes, journalists, politicians, clergymen and others. The purpose of the event was to spotlight “the connection between literacy and a successful career.” Read more here.

By Tim Challies - Posted at Challies.com : I would like to think we’re coming into a golden age for documentary film and television. There are many reasons for this, though most are related to the new digital economy. Not only does the internet provide new channels for distribution, but it also provides new methods for fundraising. Creating a film is extremely expensive, but crowdfunding (via Kickstarter or its many competitors) can defray that expense across hundreds or thousands of people. Meanwhile investors and other financial supporters are seeing greater promise in the medium. Filmmakers are responding by creating some excellent new works that may not have been possible even a decade ago. New to the field is American Gospel: Christ Alone , a film about what Americans understand to be the good news of the Christian faith. It asks, “Is Christianity Christ + the American dream?” It then tells “how the prosperity gospel (the Word of Faith movement) has distorted the gospel mess

Location of Kaduna State in Nigeria (Wikipedia) Posted at Morning Star News : JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Muslims attacked a market in Kaduna state, in north-central Nigeria, on Thursday (Oct. 18), killing dozens of Christians and burning a church building, sources said. Area residents said a Muslim at the market in Kasuwan Magani, 36 kilometers (22 miles) south of the city of Kaduna, began yelling “Thief!” in the late afternoon in a move calculated to cause pandemonium ahead of an attack on Christians and their homes and businesses. “A Muslim raised a false alarm about a thief in the market, which caused stampede, and then other Muslims started chanting ‘Allahu Akbar [the jihadist slogan, God is Greater],’ attacking Christians, burning houses and shops belonging to Christians in the town,” area resident Kefas Mallam told Morning Star News. Read more here.

By Adam Parker - Posted at Reformation 21 : It's been two weeks since I deleted my Facebook account. I do not see myself going back. The reasons for leaving have nothing to do with cybersecurity or privacy - they have to do with what Facebook is doing to me as a person. I began using Facebook about a decade ago. Ten years ago my life was very different. My wife and I had lived in a different state for a stretch and recently had moved closer to home again. My life had been going through changes as our family had grown from 1 children to 4 children. As a young family, the idea of being able to share our lives online with family and friends was quite appealing: why not post photos for grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other friends we had made while living in multiple states to see? There was a stretch of time when I was quite happy with Facebook and found its utility to be helpful. My mom would "like" photos of her grandkids, I knew when my uncle or

Posted at Reformation Scotland : Political sovereignty is not usually a widely and hotly debated topic. Yet the question of whether the EU undermines sovereignty dominates discussion. How do we define sovereignty and does it matter? We can get some help from past thinkers who have helped to shape our constitutional heritage. Our ideas of political power and its limitations were significantly shaped by Reformed writers. Such principles helped the Covenanters to resist autocratic rule. They remain relevant today. Samuel Rutherford published a key statement of these principles in Lex, Rex (The Law and the King). This book is a hammer blow against state claims for absolute power. It contained such a powerful argument that Charless II ordered it to be burnt by the hangman. Rutherford was charged with treason, dismissed from his post and placed under house arrest. He only escaped execution through being seriously ill. Rutherford said that “he would willingly die on the scaffold for t

By Kayla Koslosky - Posted at Christian Headlines: After releasing pastor Andrew Brunson just days ago, Turkish authorities detained another U.S. missionary. According to Middle East Concern , missionary David Byle, who has been preaching in Turkey for 18 years, was arrested in Ankara on Saturday by the Anti-Terror Police Department. Byle was reportedly released Sunday afternoon, soon after he was interrogated. The missionary was then ordered to leave the country within the next 15 days. "[We] have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support, not only from believers here in Turkey, but from literally all around the world. It means a lot to us and encourages us greatly to know we're not alone, that we're a part of such a great family, God's family," Byle and his family shared in a message. The Christian Post reports that Byle has been arrested several times while he has been a missionary in Turkey. Read more here. HT: Worthy News